Middle Deschutes Fishing Trip
Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 9:46 pm
What a day. Just returned from fishing the Middle Deschutes River--from my house about 1:15 drive and a 20 minute walk down about 600 ft to the bottom of the canyon. Took my new pack rod and a 2 piece 8 1/2' 5 weight fly rod that I picked up at a ski swap (go figure) several years ago but had never used. When we got to the bottom of the canyon it began to rain and I put on my poncho but my friend had no rain gear because somebody told him he didn't need it! Of course I always carry raingear. The good news is that it rained for just a few minutes the bad news is my friend realized he left his fishing license (that he had bought this morning) at home! Rigging the new packrod as a spinning rod my 3rd cast resulted in a 6 inch brown. Since the goal was to "really" fly fish (not my usual fly and bubble techniqe) the fly rod was prepared for action. After 15 minutes I caught a 12 inch mountain whitefish--it actually took 3 separate strikes before managing to hook itself (I was using a big nymph and a strike indicator). Then I flailed away and staggered along the riverbed, wearing wading shoes but my regular hiking pants, to no avail. Finally a light bulb went on. Fish were jumping and little white mayflies were emerging. Attaching a size 14 Adams resulted in a bunch of strikes, and catching and releasing maybe 8 plump rainbows (redsides to Eastern Oregonians) all about 11 inches long and most with a tendency to jump 2 feet or more out of the water. What a gas! The last fish I caught jumped 6 times. I didn't take any photos this trip but last week I hiked down with a couple of other old farts (sans fishing gear) and took a few shots of the area we fished today. Oh yes if the weather is halfway decent tomorrow we will return so my friend will get a chance to play with the fish!
mike