The Lower Deschutes has been fishing fair to good since the opener last week. There are thousands of little 8 inch steelhead smolts in the river right now that can be tough to keep off your flies. Fishing faster and deeper water is where you’ll find more redsides than smolts. Fish should be fully keyed on stonefly nymphs right as they begin to migrate towards the shore to hatch in a few weeks. Double or single rubber leg setups will produce a lot of eat over the course of the next few weeks. It is going to take some warm weather in the forecast to get the hatch started so keep an eye on the weather report. Swinging small streamers has been good too if you are tired of staring at an indicator all day. Shouldn’t be too much longer before we start to see the big bugs crawling onto shore! The hatch will start down by the mouth and gradually progress its way upstream toward Maupin and Warm Springs. Foam body Chubby Chernobyl’s in the heavier riffles and Norm Wood Special type hairwing flies in the glassy water under trees is a good approach when it comes to fly selection.
Middle Deschutes River
Similar report as the Lower right now. The middle D is a good option and fish are keyed on big stonefly nymphs. The hatch will generally start around the same time as the Lower on this section of river. Double nymph rigs or streamer fishing is a good way to get the attention of some nice brown trout.
Metolius River
The Met is a great option in the spring. Trout fishing is good on euro rigs as well as indicator rigs. One of my favorite two fly setups on this river are a mega prince up top followed by a zebra midge below. I’ve noticed the trout don’t really start eating until mid to late morning so no need to get their at the crack of dawn. Pale morning duns are the main bug hatching in the afternoons right now. Green drakes are just around the corner so get ready for some hot dry fly action.
Bull trout are eating stripped and dead drifted streamers good. Stripping flies around log jams and structure will get some big takes. If you can spot them holding in tailouts, try dead drifting a small sculpin under an indicator. It’s a presentation those fish don’t see a lot of and is deadly.
Mount Hood Lakes:
Lawrence Lake Update.
Lawrence Lake opened on Friday April 22. The current situation is with snow and road culvert repair needed the access is gated at the Middle Fork settling pond. This is about 2.5 miles before Lawrence lake. The spring stocking of Lawrence has been postponed until access allows.
Steelhead -
For the latest on fishing regulations in your angling zone visit https://myodfw.com/recreation-report/fishing-report/
Smallmouth Bass / Carp:
Smally fishing was good over the weekend. I talked to a friend who had a banner day on Saturday fishing back sloughs with some depth and rocky structure. He was using an intermediate full sink line with some smallish streamer/baitfish patterns on a slow strip and the bass were all over it. Should remain good throughout the next few months.
"The Gorge"
Gorge Fly Shop Team - 541.386.6977
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