Steelhead Prospects

It’s that time of year when sleep takes backstage and caffeine becomes more important than ever. There are few things as peaceful as watching the world wake up while swinging a wet fly or skater in search of summer steelhead on the Lower Deschutes. If steelhead is not your bag then this is also a great time of year for the early risers to target their trout counterparts.

River Conditions-

Flows have stayed pretty consistent over the last couple weeks with only minor fluctuations of around 150 cfs happening due to slight changes in dam release. The Madras gauge is hovering around 3,500 cfs and the Moody gauge is hovering around 4,100 cfs. Even though we have these lower flows there is still a slight tinge of green to the river, so extra stealthy trout tactics are not necessary to find fish. River temps are currently ranging between 55 and 57 degrees coming out of the dam near Madras. River temps down at the mouth are ranging between 63 and 69 degrees. The hotter the day the more important it is to cut your evening session short in order to protect our trout and steelhead from undue stress. We have had a fairly cool week providing some decent evening fishing; however, hotter days are in the forecast this coming week.

What’s Happening-

Over the month of July the caddis numbers have definitely started to wane. We are still having some really great mornings fishing caddis dries though it has not been as consistent as it was in June. This doesn’t mean that the trout aren’t still eating though. During my day trips I have been trying a myriad of tactics and finding fish consistently each day with multiple methods.

Fishing size 16 and 18 caddis dries in foam lines and micro eddies has been good on mornings when caddis are around. If the trout aren’t coming to a small dry as consistently as you would like, then adding a 2.5 ft dropper below a larger caddis or small foam stimulator can be a great way to up your productivity. There have been some days lately when trout have turned their noses up to our regular size 16 patterns but shown a ton of interest in small size 18 lightly dressed pheasant tails or midge patterns like the Egan’s Frenchie, Silvey’s Super Sinker, and Zebra Midges.

Trout spey has been pretty consistent lately with trout eating some smaller sculpin and leech patterns. Olive seems to be the best color on trout spey flies, but I have been finding fish on some natural muddler patterns quite a bit while swinging for steelhead.

As water temps rise in the afternoon we are seeing some movement of fish from fast riffle breaks to slightly deeper pockets downstream where they are staying close to the bottom to beat the heat. If you notice that your short dropper in fast water is no longer producing the way it was early in the day you should move down the pool a bit and fish a longer dropper in the trough of the run or bust out your European nymphing rod to get those nymphs deeper and closer to the bottom.

Steelhead Fishing-

We have made it to our first benchmark and steelhead fishing will remain open until at least the September 14! For the time being any of you die hard steelhead anglers have the opportunity to get out and chase the early push of fish. These early fish we see in the river may not be here in the same abundance that we see later in the summer, however when they eat, THEY EAT!

Just last week I hit the water with a couple of guide friends and it was no more than 20 minutes in to the first run when my friend’s reel lit up mid-swing. They grab intense and the run so fast he didn’t dare put his hand anywhere near the reel handle for fear of a broken finger. He lifted slowly, feeling that he had waiting long enough for the fish to fully turn with his fly, and in one heavy head shake the fish was gone. Even though we never saw the fish that he had hooked that encounter gave us the drive to fish hard all day. We didn’t find any other fish that day, but as any steelheader knows it only takes one encounter to make the day memorable. John Hazel once told me that it’s not the fish you land that leaves the biggest impression on you, it’s the fish that tears you a new one cartwheeling downriver that will keep you up at night.

I don’t know about you, but it just takes one steelhead to motivate me to keep getting up at 3 a.m. to swing.

When targeting summer steelhead don’t be in such a rush to fish a sink tip and large fly. Even when fishing a tip mid day with sun on the water I will fish a smaller fly. Our steelhead, especially during this time of year, like to eat smaller flies. They aren’t winter run fish looking for a pink intruder. Think small traditional hair wings, muddlers in neutral tones, and buggy looking wet flies and skaters.

Flies that are working-

• Henry’s Fork Foam Stone Size 10, 14, and 16

• Hi Vis Micro Chubby in assorted colors Size 12, 14 and 16

• Chubby Chernobyl in assorted colors Size 8, 10, and 12

• CDC Bullet Head Caddis in Olive or Brown, Size 16 and 18

• Finfetcher Caddis in Olive or Tan, Size 16 and 18

• Elk Hair Caddis in Olive, Tan, or Brown Size 16 and 18

• Silver Bead Green Glo Brite Perdigon in Size 16 and 18

• Silver Bead Blue Glo Brite Perdigon in Size 16 and 18

• Silver Bead Roza’s Green Tag Jig Size 16

• Pink Bead Tasmanian Devil Size 16

• Pink Bead Pheasant Tail Size 16 and 18

• Pink Bead Hares Ear Size 16 and 18

• Copper Bead Olive Hares Ear Size 16 and 18

• Copper Bead Quilldigon Size 16

• Egan’s Frenchie Size 16 and 18

• Olive and Partridge Soft Hackle Size 14 and 16

• Peacock and Partridge Soft Hackle Size 14 and 16

• Tan and Partridge Soft Hackle Size 14 and 16

• Sculpzilla in Natural and Olive Size 4 and 6

• Kreelex Minnow in Gold and Silver Size 4 and 6

• Olive Bugger Size 10

• Mayers Mini Leech Size 12

• Turkey Wing Orange Muddler Size 6 and 8

• Fly Du Jour Size 6 and 8

• Silvey’s Snow Cone Pink and Purple Size 6 and 8

• Any of your favorite Hair-wing or Skater Steelhead flies in smaller sizes

Thanks for tuning in. Tight lines to all! For those of you tempting summer steelhead with fur and feathers, I hope the shade of the canyon brings you what you are in search of. For those of you hunting trout, keep up the good work and don’t forget to check water temps on hotter days. I hope everyone has success doing what they do. I’ll see you on the water!