Steelheading has begun
The last six weeks have flown by with multiple camp trips on both the upper and lower stretches river and plenty of day trips in between. Trout fishing has been pretty good for those willing to get out early and beat the heat in the early mornings and steelhead fishing is just kicking off. Last week we had two fish on the swing in one day. Both of them would be what my friend and fellow guide Brian Silvey affectionately calls Unlandables. Our early season steelhead can be some of the hottest fish you’ll ever encounter on the swing!
River Conditions -
The flows coming out of the dam right now are currently sitting at 3,700 cfs. Last week they dropped the flow by a couple hundred cfs and slowly stepped it back up to where it had been prior to the slight changes. If you noticed a day or two of challenging fishing this may be the culprit. Our trout don’t love changes in flow this time of year. Flows at the mouth of the river are currently sitting at 4,100 cfs.
Temps coming out of the dam are currently ranging between 55-57 degrees and temps at the mouth are currently ranging between 63-69 degrees. The temps at the mouth have spiked to 70 degrees on a couple of our hotter days, but most days they are topping out at 69 degrees. I encourage all anglers to take a thermometer with them and consider refraining from fishing when the water temps rise above 67 degrees. This shouldn’t be for too long as the cooler nights will help drastically with our water temps throughout each day.
The White River has been behaving itself so far this year with little to no turbidity as of yet. My hope is that with the cooler summer we are having that it will continue to hold steady. The White River rears its ugly head most when the snowpack gets so depleted on the mountain that the glacier melts excessively.
What’s Happening With Trout -
Let’s start with upper river and we’ll move downriver from there. The trout fishing from Warm Springs to Maupin has been good. From Warm Springs to Trout Creek you will find fish a bit less cooperative than below Trout Creek. Day trippers have been educating them thoroughly in that section so be sure to bring your A game.
If you are floating from Trout Creek to Maupin then you should be able to find plenty of fish that are less pressured. Caddis and Aquatic Moth hatches are still going strong on the upper. We still have some sporadic Pale Morning Duns and Pale Evening Duns hatching in select zones. If you are hoping to fish dries I would recommend getting out to fish first and last light when the sun has dropped behind the canyon walls. If you are unable to fish those time frames then just look for shade cast by larger trees or deeper grass lines. The shade makes trout brazen and can be the difference between finding fish on dries or not.
Dry Dropper fishing is and always will be one of our standbys on both the upper and the lower sections of river. For the upper section I like to fish a longer dropper in the 3.5 ft length. The plunge pools and breaks in the upper lend themselves well to a longer dropper. There are of course some areas that hold fish where this dropper length needs to be cut back a bit but I always start longer. In addition to that nymphing has been a great way to add some fish to the day if the dry dropper fishing wanes in the mid-day heat.
Caddis Hatches below Maupin have definitely fallen off a bit compared to the upper reaches of the river. This does not mean you won’t find fish eating dries, however it will be with less consistency than a month ago. My approach to fishing the lower river has been fishing early in the day with dries or dry dropper. My choice of dries and droppers is indicative of how many bugs I’m seeing from the previous day’s hatch. If there doesn’t appear to be many caddis or moths I’ll fish a smaller chubby with a dropper about 2.5 ft below. If there are plenty of Caddis or Moths around then I’ll fish a Caddis or Moth imitation by itself or with a small lightly weighted dropper. Once the sun is high and the fish slide into deeper lies to avoid the heat I’ll switch to longer droppers or nymphing to get the flies closer to the fish.
Trout Spey has been really good on both the upper and lower stretches of river. We’ve been swinging both riffles and boulder fields with Olive Leeches and smaller Olive Sculpin patterns on med fast sink tips. Don’t hesitate to start short with your trout spey rod, many of the fish taken on a trout spey happen with just the sink tip out lightly animating the fly through the head of a riffle. Be sure to play around with your presentation alternating between animating the fly while it swings and just passively swinging. Each day is different—one day they like a smooth passive swing with a leech and other days they want to chase down an injured sculpin.
What’s Happening With Steelhead -
We have made our fish passage numbers in order to stay open! For those like myself, who have been swinging flies already, keep on swinging and hoping for the next grab. For those of you waiting to hear whether your fall trip is still happening, you can breathe a sigh of relief and start tying some flies.
Though still a bit early in the season for consistent action in the Maupin area I have personally seen 4 fish hooked on the swing just last week. Three were hooked in my day trip stretches and 1 hooked lower in the system near the mouth. I hope to see more as I’ll be heading to the mouth on a 3-day float this week in pursuit of steelhead. Reports from some of my friends who run sleds on the lower have been decent with a couple fish found each day by those putting in their time.
Early mornings are especially important if you want a shot at a Steelhead on the swing. The water temps will be best first thing in the morning and steelhead are most likely to take a swung fly when the shade is still on the water. This means for all my steelhead trips I meet about an hour before first light so that way we can be waiting on a run ready to swing a fly at first light.
Skaters, Muddlers, and traditional Hairwings are the first choice when swinging flies for Deschutes steelhead. There are of course times when the sun is high or the clarity diminishes that it can be advantageous to swing a larger profile fly on a sink tip, but as I continue to preach year after year: smaller is better here! It took me a long time to get confident in the ability to catch a 10 lb fish on a size 8 or 10 Hairwing and a 70 ft cast, but after seeing countless steelhead taken on small flies I’m a believer.
If you get a grab, first thing to do is put it back out there with the same distance cast and attempt to speed up the swing with a downstream mend. Sometimes seeing the same fly moving faster across their path will elicit another eat. If the same fly fished through a faster swing doesn’t do the trick then back up about 6 steps and change your fly to a smaller and more muted tone pattern. After the fly change work your way down towards the fish taking a single step in between each cast until you feel that you have covered the area that the initial grab happened. If the stars align and the first grab didn’t spook the fish, then there is a good chance that steelhead will take another swipe at the new offering.
Flies That Have Been Working -
Henry’s Fork Foam Stone Size 14, and 16
Hi Vis Micro Chubby in assorted colors Size 14 and 16
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 Roza’s Green Tag Jig Size 16
Pink Bead Tasmanian Devil Size 16
Pink Bead Pheasant Tail Size 16, 18 and 20
Pink Bead Hares Ear Size 16, 18 and 20
Copper Bead Olive Hares Ear Size 16 and 18
Copper Bead Quilldigon Size 16 and 18
Egan’s Frenchie Size 16, 18 and 20
Olive 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
Olive Bugger Size 10
Mayers Mini Leech Size 12
Turkey Wing Orange Muddler Size 6 and 8
Steelhead Bee Size 8
Tied Down Steelhead Caddis Size 8
Rusty Bomber Size 6
Any of your favorite Hair-wing or Skater Steelhead flies in smaller sizes
Tight lines to all who get out fishing in the coming weeks. In the wise words of my wife, remember to stay hydrated and wear lots of sun protection! Until next time I’ll be swinging flies and watching trout aggressively eat dry dropper setups in the shade of the canyon. Happy fishing to all and don’t forget proper fish handling practices in our warmer water temps.
