Deschutes Steelhead
Fishing remains strong on the Deschutes. By this point in the season, there are fish spread throughout the lower river. Things should be picking up nicely up high. Down low, the recent blast of heat (now gone) had significantly warmed the Columbia. This created a perfect situation to drive in tons of strays destined for rivers further east. The moral of the story is, if you want to get a fall trip in out there, pick your favorite zone and go! The weather forecast is absolutely beautiful. It's all lining up for some great times out there.
As for the fishing, wow, has the dry line bite been good! It always is, but it's been exceptional this time around. Many anglers that are not intimately familiar with the river assume that getting down deeper is more productive, but that's really not the case until the water temps get much colder. Common practice is to fish a dry line in the shade and switch over to a sink tip in the high sun. This is a very effective approach, but there are ways to get them near the surface in high sun. A big part of that is spot selection. If you are not a sink tip person, think a lot about sun angles with your floating line. If you can, pick a spot where the fish will be chasing your fly away from the sun and/or toward a dark background. It doesn't hurt to go with a bigger/darker hair wing or muddler, either. They don't quit grabbing flies near the surface in the sunlight, but fishing something that they can see and track easily dramatically ups the odds.
Deschutes Trout
It's sure starting to feel pretty trouty out there! Water temps are cooling and all methods are working. In the bug world, there have been some massive hatches of smaller BWO's as of late along with the caddis. With cooler nights, look for the best caddis fishing to be in the evening on warmer days. It seems like the they have been on the fade a little compared to a few weeks ago. There have also been some sightings of Golden Stones, of all things. Though I wouldn't expect to see much in the line of a surface bite on these, there must be plenty of active stonefly nymphs out there. For all of you streamer junkies, this is a great time to get going with your favorite Trout Spey. This is the perfect time to streamer fish.
Mount Hood Lakes
Early fall is a wonderful time to sneak in some stillwater fishing. The weather is lovely and the crowds of summer have faded. Be ready for the few remaining Callibaetis to be going on warmer days. Beyond that, chironomids should make some sporadic showings. Smaller terrestrials will also get fish looking up on a sunny afternoon. Aside from that, the subsurface fishing should really get cranking. The high alpine trout become keenly aware of the fact that cold weather is around the corner. They take the opportunity to pack on some weight before the deep freeze sets in. Yet another excellent fall fishing opportunity here in the PNW!
.jpg)
