Deschutes River Fishing Report 2017
This year marks one of the lowest return numbers to the Columbia basin seen in over 20 years; but nobody told the fish! Fishing has been somewhat- well let’s say surprisingly to say the least. With light pressure we are finding steelhead most days on the river. With a gap of about 13,000 fish between the Dalles dam and the John Day Dam (the Deschutes enters the Columbia between these dams) we can extrapolate that there are nearly that many fish roaming the cooler haunts of the lower Deschutes river. The Columbia river has been consistently at 72 degress most of the summer and as these fish migrate up the Columbia hit the cool waters of the Deschutes most of those fish take a hiatis from the hot waters of death and enjoy the oxygenated, cool waters of our favorite river.
Floating lines are the favorite here where we swing flies for aggressive grabs right on the surface in morning and evening shaded water. The thrill of this take is one of the best parts of any fly fishing- truly addicting! Favorite fly patterns for shaded water check out the Royal Treatment Fly. We also have done well fishing sunny water with sink tips and the Crandall’s Provider. An excellent mid-day fly pattern that has been producing very well right along with another all-time best mid-day producer- Crandall’s Wedding Dress.
Trout fishing is picking up a bit with cooler fall days ahead it can be prime time for fat trout. Most days we see some caddis action, mahogany duns, a few of the big October caddis starting to show and lots of midges. Trout averaging 13″ are common on the D with some much bigger.
Water levels have hit summer lows and are running about 4,000 cfs at Madras. Water temps are around 61-62 degrees at the mouth (Moody Rapids) and 53-54 degrees at the dam near Madras.
So far we have not seen any major events with White River- the tributary of the Deschutes which comes off the glacier on Mt Hood. White River can turn the lower D into a milkshake and shut down fishing. This year we’ve worked off an incredible snow pack and have had no problems to speak of. As summer grinds down the glacier a thunderstorm in the right spot could spell trouble. Keep an eye for late summer thunder storms on Mt Hood as that can change the game on the lower D.
All that to say- can’t catch them sitting at your computer!
Good luck on the water!
RobC
