Central Oregon fishing always seems to kick my butt yet gives me just enough to keep me fascinated and sad to leave. This visit was during Fresh Hop season, and since Bend has more breweries per capita than any other place around, their fresh hop offerings were seriously good. Fresh Hop Season also sees an end of the summer heat and some good fishing.
I should start by listing just some of the many fisheries I didn't make it to this last week: Deschutes, Crooked, Crane Prairie, Hosmer, both Lava's, Davis, Three Creeks, Wychus, Paulina...I need a month down here with no other activities.
Besides hunting for the best fresh hop offerings in town, we started the week hanging out in Sisters during their annual Folk Festival and finding my way over to my favorite guitar company, Preston Thompson (Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle play their guitars). I got to chat for a while with their supremely talented top "voicer" Gareth Jenkins who told me a few things I'd never known before about their company and how they make their guitars. An impromptu jam by a visiting musician and one of their luthiers after talking with Gareth made my day.
Even with so many unfished places, we had a great time on our five outings.
Fall River is always a tease...large, stocked rainbows, hovering over watercress in crystal clear waist deep water often under your rod tip. Somehow we hit it right last year (mid/late Oct) and it seemed almost too easy. The Fall River returned to its typical behavior with trout rising non-stop all around, yet only a few responses to our dries. I did connect with a couple of trout that weren't paying attention in class and somehow rose to my flies. My new-to-me Goodwin Granger 8642 Favorite bamboo rod got a good workout and is now "fished" in my bamboo collection.
We also visited the other local tease...the epic Metolius River. Our first stop was the wonderful Camp Sherman Store and I made my pilgrimage to the back counter where that 7' Payne bamboo rod with the $5k price tag is calling my name.
I'm guessing at least a half dozen different bugs were hatching, en masse, with the trout repeatedly rising in bunches, then going quiet, then rising, then stopping, over and over. The most interesting insect was the October Caddis which I've never seen in such large numbers. Yet the trout seemed to be focused on something in the surface film or just under. Once again, I managed to catch the class dunce, breaking my years long skunk on the Met. Finally. And to catch it on my Granger Favorite was the icing on the cake for me. On our walk back to the car we talked with another local from Burien who joined me in the "kicked our butt" walk of shame. But it was beautiful and since we so rarely see big hatches back home in Western WA, it was awesome to be in the middle of probably six or more all at once.
My other three outings were all to my personal favorite, East Lake. The first day was cloudy and drizzly and the browns were having a fall gray weather party. Somehow, my usual fall favorite fly worked great, a small red ice cream cone chironomid under an indicator.
By the end of the day I landed about half rainbows, half browns and to my surprise, a 14" Kokanee in spawning colors.
The largest fish of the day was a good sized brown which was not very happy that its red chironomid meal was not what it had expected.
I returned to East Lake two more mornings, both bluebird sunny days and the browns were harder to find. The rainbows were still somewhat active and one more nice brown made it into my net. The red chironomid was ignored both days (of course!) and I eventually figured out that even in Fresh Hop Season the East Lake fish still hunt for callibaetis nymphs. I also learned that more fish than I'd like to admit managed to snap me off on the bobber take down, I'm certain it was due to their epic sizes and not due to my lousy technique, LOL.
I'm looking forward to coming back again in Fresh Hop Season. Hope these guys will still be hanging out with us again...
See you next fall.
I should start by listing just some of the many fisheries I didn't make it to this last week: Deschutes, Crooked, Crane Prairie, Hosmer, both Lava's, Davis, Three Creeks, Wychus, Paulina...I need a month down here with no other activities.
Besides hunting for the best fresh hop offerings in town, we started the week hanging out in Sisters during their annual Folk Festival and finding my way over to my favorite guitar company, Preston Thompson (Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle play their guitars). I got to chat for a while with their supremely talented top "voicer" Gareth Jenkins who told me a few things I'd never known before about their company and how they make their guitars. An impromptu jam by a visiting musician and one of their luthiers after talking with Gareth made my day.
Even with so many unfished places, we had a great time on our five outings.
Fall River is always a tease...large, stocked rainbows, hovering over watercress in crystal clear waist deep water often under your rod tip. Somehow we hit it right last year (mid/late Oct) and it seemed almost too easy. The Fall River returned to its typical behavior with trout rising non-stop all around, yet only a few responses to our dries. I did connect with a couple of trout that weren't paying attention in class and somehow rose to my flies. My new-to-me Goodwin Granger 8642 Favorite bamboo rod got a good workout and is now "fished" in my bamboo collection.
We also visited the other local tease...the epic Metolius River. Our first stop was the wonderful Camp Sherman Store and I made my pilgrimage to the back counter where that 7' Payne bamboo rod with the $5k price tag is calling my name.
I'm guessing at least a half dozen different bugs were hatching, en masse, with the trout repeatedly rising in bunches, then going quiet, then rising, then stopping, over and over. The most interesting insect was the October Caddis which I've never seen in such large numbers. Yet the trout seemed to be focused on something in the surface film or just under. Once again, I managed to catch the class dunce, breaking my years long skunk on the Met. Finally. And to catch it on my Granger Favorite was the icing on the cake for me. On our walk back to the car we talked with another local from Burien who joined me in the "kicked our butt" walk of shame. But it was beautiful and since we so rarely see big hatches back home in Western WA, it was awesome to be in the middle of probably six or more all at once.
My other three outings were all to my personal favorite, East Lake. The first day was cloudy and drizzly and the browns were having a fall gray weather party. Somehow, my usual fall favorite fly worked great, a small red ice cream cone chironomid under an indicator.
By the end of the day I landed about half rainbows, half browns and to my surprise, a 14" Kokanee in spawning colors.
The largest fish of the day was a good sized brown which was not very happy that its red chironomid meal was not what it had expected.
I returned to East Lake two more mornings, both bluebird sunny days and the browns were harder to find. The rainbows were still somewhat active and one more nice brown made it into my net. The red chironomid was ignored both days (of course!) and I eventually figured out that even in Fresh Hop Season the East Lake fish still hunt for callibaetis nymphs. I also learned that more fish than I'd like to admit managed to snap me off on the bobber take down, I'm certain it was due to their epic sizes and not due to my lousy technique, LOL.
I'm looking forward to coming back again in Fresh Hop Season. Hope these guys will still be hanging out with us again...
See you next fall.
