Deschutes is toast.

Rob Allen

Rob Allen

Life of the Party
The Deschutes river in Oregon is no longer a quality trout fishery. Sad to say but it is nothing compared to what it was 10 years ago. I've been out 3 times this spring twice around Maupin during the stonefly hatch, then again yesterday for caddis and PMDs.
All 3 times my timing and location were perfect bugs were around and on the water.
3 skunks out of 3. The Deschutes has always been a superb dry fly fishery now it's crap.. and yes a trout fishery where you have to nymph is a terrible fishery.
By the way BNSF I completely ignored your sign. yes I went to South Junction yesterday.. nothing in the riflfes , absolutely nothing in the back eddy. All the trails are overgrown. It appears that no one ever fishes there anymore.
 
Interesting chat with a retired fish biologist on my fave lake last week, discussing the ongoing trend of warmer lake and river temps much earlier in the year than historically normal, and his explanation of it's impact on both fish numbers and size.
Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that even when we're not catching fish, we're outside, surrounded by beauty, and that beats the hell out of not being there...
 
The demise of the D has been going on for years since PGE installed "selective water withdrawal" towers which allowed warmer water to heat up the river. Read the Deschutes River Alliance report. The warmer water allowed algae to cover the rocks where aquatic insects that trout feed on could no longer survive in the numbers that existed in colder water. It's a problem that can be remedied, at least partially even in a period of climate change but that remedy requires a political solution and I won't go there in this forum.
 
Rob Allen said:
By the way BNSF I completely ignored your sign. yes I went to South Junction yesterday.. nothing in the riflfes , absolutely nothing in the back eddy. All the trails are overgrown. It appears that no one ever fishes there anymore.
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BNSF giving trespassing citations probably caused the lack of use conditions you observed. Thanks for giving them the finger. To bad you couldn't find some fish for taking the risk.
 
Rob Allen said:
The Deschutes river in Oregon is no longer a quality trout fishery. Sad to say but it is nothing compared to what it was 10 years ago. I've been out 3 times this spring twice around Maupin during the stonefly hatch, then again yesterday for caddis and PMDs.
All 3 times my timing and location were perfect bugs were around and on the water.
3 skunks out of 3. The Deschutes has always been a superb dry fly fishery now it's crap.. and yes a trout fishery where you have to nymph is a terrible fishery.
By the way BNSF I completely ignored your sign. yes I went to South Junction yesterday.. nothing in the riflfes , absolutely nothing in the back eddy. All the trails are overgrown. It appears that no one ever fishes there anymore.
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Agreed. I used to fish there regularly when I lived in Oregon in the 80’s. I went back 3-4 years ago to Maupin and was very disappointed.
 
Snopro said:
BNSF giving trespassing citations probably caused the lack of use conditions you observed. Thanks for giving them the finger. To bad you couldn't find some fish for taking the risk.
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They probably don't deserve the finger they just do what the lawyers tell them to. It's more a sign of my bad attitude than any wrongdoing on their part..
Anglers killed at south junction by train human history = 0
 
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It might not be what it once was, but the fish are still around. I always do better before the big bugs hatch. Once the salmon flies are out the fish get full and pounded on by the masses. Trout spey is the way.

Besides, shouldn't you be fishing closer to home? Its prime time there, get it before she goes dirty.
 
Yard Sale said:
It might not be what it once was, but the fish are still around. I always do better before the big bugs hatch. Once the salmon flies are out the fish get full and pounded on by the masses. Trout spey is the way.

Besides, shouldn't you be fishing closer to home? Its prime time there, get it before she goes dirty.
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Been out on the Klick 3 times. Nothing yet, but I am not doing the sink tip weighted fly thing that's what winter is for.

I am sure fish are still there, their behavior however is radically different. 40 years of fishing the Deschutes I have never not seen fish rising in the South Junction back eddy... never seen the campground empty either.

Catching tons of smallies on poppers on the angler devoid Columbia today.. no big ones, but constant top water action.
 
Rob Allen said:
I am sure fish are still there, their behavior however is radically different. 40 years of fishing the Deschutes I have never not seen fish rising in the South Junction back eddy... never seen the campground empty either.
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I stopped going 6-8 years ago. Low fish numbers, smaller fish (not to mention the black spot fungus), lack of risers, etc.
 
Hoping we can keep this thread focused on the original message. The Deschutes fished well two weeks ago in the Maupin Area after the stonefly hatch, especially in the evenings when the sun went over the canyon rim. They still remembered the larger bugs and I fished a small stonefly pattern with a caddis emerger as the dropper. The stonefly was a small olive and orange stimulator that I can see. When it disappears, there probably is a trout on the caddis, but they were taking the stonefly as well. The stonefly hatch is challenging to time and years ago, we started doing our annual trip from Trout Creek to Maupin after the insanity of the hatch. They still remember the big bugs and the crowds are gone. I believe the issues that @bobduck raised about operation of Pelton Dam are the reason the reduction of quality fishing on the Deschutes. That is why I support the DRA financially as well as donating a box of flies that I tie to the annual auction. I have also volunteered my time on the river cleaning up various sections. While the Deschutes may not be like the “good old days,” the same can be said for many fisheries. As I age, I just enjoy being there and don’t fish as hard as I used to. On my recent trip, the trout Spey worked well with an olive Gartside sparrow on a sink tip.
 
Rob,
After you saw us carpin, and we lost our sun, we bombed down to Maupin. We parked at the locked gate above town. A guy coming out caught 3 and he had been there all day. He mentioned he should have fished nymphs, but doesn't enjoy it. Who does?
I wanted to check out the fire damage and see our beloved "Camping Rock" across the river. Spent many a night just downstream from it. The eddy on the back side of that big rock changed at some point. We used to slay them on a Hare's ear in there. Barely an eddy now. The inside corner of the big righty that pours into that has also changed. I used to catch fish in 2' of water under these trees during the salmon fly hatch-
20240629_175141.jpg

Anyway, we didn't venture far so not surprised we didn't catch anything, but the thing I noticed was the weeds in the river. As @bobduck mentioned, the situation of the mixing in the reservoir has been a complete disaster. And nobody wants to fix it.

We stayed just long enough for some shade on some really good water and noted no hatching going on at all. No caddis, mayflies or golden stones. No sallies. Nothing. I had my only fish on a white scupzllla since I was just staying relaxed and swinging. And I also swung some very buggy soft-hackles that always get some attention, especially from the dinks. Nada.

I usually fish trout in May when things are easier or in October for steel. In my limited time fishing it the last few seasons it just seems so obvious that the water is just way warmer so the end of June is more like the end of July. It's really sad. Unless they change back to the old ways (yeah, I know some lake smolts might lose their way) of releasing cold water out the bottom it's just going to get worse and worse.
 
The D might not be what she used to be but nothing is. Nothing is what it was. I will say it's managed incredibly well by comparison to the steelhead and salmon rivers of the OP. I'm a visitor to the D these days but it's always a better experience than the circus Washington has to offer. Mileage may vary but it's easy to lose sight of good in the quest for great. I'm an aging fly angler that remembers better times as my father and his father remembered better times than I got to experience. I'll take what I can get till I can't take it anymore and I'm close to that point. There's just more of everything and less room and less fish. This post isn't intending to piss in anyone's cereal but merely intended as a perspective check.
 
Dustin Chromers said:
The D might not be what she used to be but nothing is. Nothing is what it was. I will say it's managed incredibly well by comparison to the steelhead and salmon rivers of the OP. I'm a visitor to the D these days but it's always a better experience than the circus Washington has to offer. Mileage may vary but it's easy to lose sight of good in the quest for great. I'm an aging fly angler that remembers better times as my father and his father remembered better times than I got to experience. I'll take what I can get till I can't take it anymore and I'm close to that point. There's just more of everything and less room and less fish. This post isn't intending to piss in anyone's cereal but merely intended as a perspective check.
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I agree, in general, but... you knew there was a but coming didn't you? ;) The hard part is the fisheries folks on the Deschutes can only manage what they're given.
Hopefully, the river they've been given improves by getting colder one of these days.

There is one trout river, in Washington, that is better than it was 10 or even 20 years ago. And it's probably surpassed the D. Having fished both of them over the last few years it's not even a question for me. The fish in the D still fight harder, but the quality and quantity in the Washington river is pretty ridiculous these days. Especially considering how much it gets fished & guided. It's really quite remarkable.
Having said that, I still prefer the experience on the D. I really like that you can't fish from a boat. I like that it still has a legit steelhead run.

I'm with you on the perspective thing. I take every outing as a bonus.
 
Dustin Chromers said:
The D might not be what she used to be but nothing is. Nothing is what it was. I will say it's managed incredibly well by comparison to the steelhead and salmon rivers of the OP. I'm a visitor to the D these days but it's always a better experience than the circus Washington has to offer. Mileage may vary but it's easy to lose sight of good in the quest for great. I'm an aging fly angler that remembers better times as my father and his father remembered better times than I got to experience. I'll take what I can get till I can't take it anymore and I'm close to that point. There's just more of everything and less room and less fish. This post isn't intending to piss in anyone's cereal but merely intended as a perspective check.
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I have seen this in the inverse as well. There are a few places that I fish and hunt now that are unquestionably better now than they were 10-15 years ago.
 
Not much to do with this thread but hired a guide for the Deschutes a few years ago in early May. Great guide and good dude. Hired out of main shop there in Maupin. Anyways. We are doing some bushwhacking to rivers edge to get some access…: after a few trips to the river’s edge he tells us about a client they had a year before who was bitten by a rattlesnake doing what we were doing. the dude had to be rushed to the hospital and alll and turned out okay. Apparently several months later the same dude in the fall season sits down by a log to have some lunch and gets tagged by a rattler in the groin. He survived but another hospital trip. We were so paranoid after that story and moved so cautiously around the river. If true horrible!
 
Rob Allen said:
Smallmouth fishing on the Columbia appears as good as ever.. I see lots of carp but........ ewwwwww
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The LM fishing is amazing as well. When I was bass fishing a 20# bag of LM rarely happened and if it did it was only in the spring. I stay in regular contact with buddies that are still fishing competitively and several 28-30# bags of LM have been weighed in the last few years. One of them was in late July.

Bear hunting in WA is better now than it was when I was a kid.

I’m told my new local river is fishing as good or better than many can remember.

There are elk in some of my white tail spots that were not there 15 years ago.

You can also shoot WAY more wolves than you ever could have dreamed of 20 years ago🤣.

Sorry for the drift
 
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