Deschutes River Report

Deschutes River - Maupin, OR

Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Fly Fishers Place

by The Fly Fishers Place
7-31-2021
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The Middle Deschutes from Bend to Lake Billy Chinook is a good bet from dawn to lunch and from 6 to dark.

Purple Haze, Yellow Sparkle Dun, X Caddis, Corn Fed Caddis, small purple or olive Stimulators and my personal favorite the Renegade will take fish on top.
Perdigons, Jigs, Psycho Prince, Copper Johns, Spilt Back PMD and BWO Micro May’s for nymphing.

I am curious to hear if anyone has fished the Upper D from Tenino to Bull Bend. With all the fish that escaped Wickiup last fall, I wonder what is happening there?

The Headwaters area of the Upper Deschutes is fishing pretty well. Nymphing the holes for whitefish and brook trout has been productive on Perdigons and Euro Jigs. Go with one fly on a 4 foot section of 6x fluorocarbon for good results. Why one fly? a few reasons: a lot of slimy green growth in some of the runs makes it way easier to maintain the clean fly than having to clean 2 at a time. #2, a better drift with one when you are steering the fly over obstacles like logs and weeds. #3, some of the spots you’ll cast to are T-I-G-H-T with cover over the water. One fly is easier to snake in tight spots, and one fly is also not so hard on the pocket book (not to mention heart) to lose!

Water is cold and running well. Not much dry fly action but at times a PMD hatch or an attractor like a Stimulator or even a Clark’s Stone will turn a fish up. Ants are a good bet on forest rivers always.