Trout - Deschutes River:
The Deschutes in the upper half of the river, above Maupin, is a good bet for trout. Remember, below Sherars Falls, there is a hoot owl regulation where you must stop fishing at 2pm each day. This is to protect both the trout and steelhead as water temps continue to soar to 70-71 degrees in the late afternoons. PGE did lower the water temps down to 54-55 recently, but have since raised them and it is currently coming out of the dam at 58.3 degrees. If you are going to fish below Sherars Falls, start early in the morning when the water is 63-64. Use heavier tippett and stouter rods so we can land fish as fast as possible and get them released. The streamer fishing is good first thing in the morning, then pretty slow when the sun gets high and hot. Nymphing is your best bet. Jigged frenchies, flashback pheasant tails, red copper johns, rubber leg stones and various caddis pupa are all productive patterns right now. Caddis were coming off pretty hard in the afternoon this weekend and we found a few fish looking up in the back eddies for a well presented x caddis.The lakes are a great place to beat the heat and cool off and catch a mess of fish. Stripping nymphs and small leeches/buggers on an intermediate line is a great method up there. You can use a floating line as well, but I would make a really long leader and some weighted flies to get down in the column. Nymphing with chironomids and balanced leeches under an indicator is another productive lake technique. Have fun up there!
Steelhead -
There are some early steelhead showing up in the lower lower river. They started swimming up the Deschutes after PGE lowered the river temps because before, the Columbia was slightly cooler so those fish didn’t want to swim up into the D. Again, hoot owl regs down on the Deschutes so be mindful of this and some days that are extra hot, it might be good to stop fishing even before 2pm… Carry a Fishpond thermometer and check the temps throughout the morning.
Smallmouth Bass / Carp:
Really tempting to get out on the big C for some smallie action especially with the calm wind conditions. Your best bets are going to be early morning and late evening. Will be hard to find any in midday. Go topwater and focus on the shaded areas. Work the weed edges and sharp boulder drop offs.
This is an excellent time to search for carp on the shallow flats.
-Zach Parker
"The Gorge"
Gorge Fly Shop Team - 541.386.6977
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