Just got back from a great trip to Charleston, S.C. to visit a good friend of mine and to fly-fish for Redfish. I had never been to Charleston before and was looking forward to exploring the city as well as the Red fishing.

            The weather was great for us, with above average temperatures and plenty of sunshine, which you tend to appreciate more when you live in a place that’s much colder during the winter months. We did have a good amount of wind that we had to deal with while fishing. Not only is it harder to cast in the wind, but the wind also tends to churn up the water & muddy bottom making for poor visibility and spotting fish more difficult. You can still find fish, but you have to look for muds (dirty spots where feeding fish have stirred up the bottom), or nervous water (a disturbance on the surface caused by moving fish below).

            We fished most days and found fish on every occasion. We were casting & stripping baitfish patterns to small schools of Redfish in open water or along grass flats depending on the height of the tide. During the summer months, you would target fish that were tailing on the grass flats feeding on crabs.

            Redfish are a big-shouldered saltwater fish that can run in size from a juvenile fish of a couple pounds (called a rat), to upwards of 40 lbs. or more. They readily take flies when presented properly and put up a bulldog of a fight when hooked. Our most productive fly was an Enrico Puglisi baitfish pattern tied on a 1/0 hook, although we did catch a number of fish on other deceiver style patterns. Casting accuracy and presentation seemed to be more important than the actual fly pattern used.

            We caught lot of Redfish that ran between 5 and 15lbs, and enjoyed being able to see most of the takes. On the worst of our water visibility days, we would spend a lot of time blind casting to where we thought the fish were based on muds and nervous water, but the best was when the water was clear enough to sight cast to small schools of feeding fish.

            We were fishing Winston 7wt. BII-MX fast action rods with floating Redfish lines & 16lb. Redfish leaders, which was the perfect set-up for the size of fish we were catching and fighting the wind.

            The amazing thing about this great fishery is that it’s available right in town or just minutes from anywhere. You can hook up the boat at home, drive to the water, launch and be fishing for Redfish in less than 30 minutes. Now that’s urban angling at its finest.

The Patient Angler
Peter Bowers

            I’ve hit the Maupin area of the Lower Deschutes a couple of times in the last week or so and have had pretty good luck finding fish. The reports have been kind of all over the board with some anglers catching fish and some that have not. I was in the “have not” group the first trip down with Thu. She was able to hook three fish and the only fish I caught was a trout.

            I decided after the verbal beating I took on the way home, that I would try to redeem myself and go back down in a couple of days and try again.  I left Bend at 4:00 am and made to the first run I wanted to fish just before daylight.

            The river has been clear and running around 5,000cfs, with a cool temperature of 44 degrees. I geared up with a 15’ T-10 sink-tip & a Craft Fur Stinger fly and stepped in at the top of the run.  I was only in the water about 15 minutes before I had my first solid take by a small, but chrome bright wild fish that ran around like crazy before I could land her and take a quick picture. Just 10 casts later I got my second take, but after just catching one a few moments before and being all jacked-up, I lifted the rod on the take and he came unbuttoned after a little thrashing. YES, I Farmed Him! I can make a mental mistake just as easy as you can! Anyway I pushed on and hooked a third fish in the bottom of the run, which turned out to be another wild hen of about 5 or 6 pounds. I fished two more long runs before I ran out of daylight (and charged battery packs for my electric socks), and had the grace of the steelhead gods to hook 3 more steelhead. I only landed one of those but it was a really nice size buck that was all colored up and put up a heck of a fight before I was able to bring him to hand for a quick picture and release.

            It’s a long day to drive to Maupin at 4:00am, fish hard all day and then drive home after dark, but the tiring day is a lot more bearable when you catch some fish.

The Patient Angler                 patientangler.com

Peter Bowers

            I ran over to the John Day River to fish for steelhead with a friend the other day. Jimmy and I headed over early in the morning and arrived just after daylight. It was a COLD morning with a temperature in the twenties and it seemed like it took forever for the sun to get high enough to hit the river and warm our bodies. The water was in great shape running clear and just over 500cfs at Service Creek, and was a little on the cold side with a temperature of just 36 degrees.

            We started fishing our way upstream and Jimmy broke the ice (no pun intended) and hooked the first bright native John Day steelhead in our first run of the day. It’s a good news/ bad news story when you hook a fish on a blistering cold day. The good news is that it’s great to catch the beautiful chrome steelhead you came for, but the bad news is that you have to land it, unhook it and release it in frigid temperatures with wet hands!

            In our second run of the day, lady luck shined on me as I got a solid take in the middle of the run. Unfortunately, it came unbuttoned shortly after hooking up and we were unable to find any other willing fish in that run.

            After lunch we found a nice long run with a deeper trough running down the middle that looked like great holding water. As it turned out, it was as good as it looked. I started at the very top in the riffle and Jimmy started below where the riffle started to flatten out. It didn’t take long for Jimmy to find another willing fish to take his fly. After a little give and take, another bright wild fish came to Jimmy’s hand for a quick picture and release.

Jimmy was gracious enough to slide down lower in the run and let me take over the money water where he left off.  Fifteen minutes later, my line came tight with a hard pull from another beautiful native John Day fish. This was a really nice fish that was a little bigger than average and had the fight in him to prove it. He had taken my fly just after my cast and mend, so this fish was out there a ways and didn’t want to give up any line. Slowly I put more pressure on him and finally got him turned and worked him upstream where I eventually landed him for a hero shot and release.

Jimmy then took another turn at the money water, starting where I left off and continued working through the run. Once again, it didn’t take long for Jimmy to hook and land his third wild fish of the day.

We fished through this last run until a beautiful sunset filled the sky and called an end to our fun and very productive day on the water.

Jimmy fished his SAGE 7136-4 Z-Axis and I fished a SAGE 7126-4 TCX with type three sink-tips and rabbit leech patterns.

The John Day tributaries have been freezing and thawing in the last few days causing the river level to bouncing between 300cfs and 500cfs on a daily basis. I would wait until the flows steady a bit before I would head out to the John Day to fish.  
 

The Patient Angler           Patientangler.com

Peter Bowers

The Ana River

Everybody has fished the Ana at one time in their life, for most, that has not been recently.  Last week I decided to make the 98-mile trek to the Ana River located in the Summer Lake basin.  I’ve been suggesting the Ana to many customers in the Shop, where to park, access etc., and realized that it had been awhile since I had last been there.  I had better refresh my memory.  Yes, 98 miles (approx. 2 hours), probably the reason I last fished it, 2 years ago.

It was a great day for this time of year, warm, dry and no wind.  I was fishing that day with Mark Chan, an Aussie willing the fish at the mere mention of fish.

Well, access is good, not great.  The Ana lies in the Great Inland Lake Basin, therefore the soil is fine clay and can be slippery.  A truck is recommended but not necessary.  Access on the northeast side of the river is better, but is a bit of a walk.  The fish are mostly 10 to 12 inches, fat and healthy with an occasional fish 15 to 17 inches.  I have seen a bonified 20-inch fish taken on a nymph in the Ana.  The day we were there, an incredible BWO hatch was on (#16 to #20).  The hatch lasted from about 10:30 to 3:00, the fish where looking up and we fished dry’s all day.  We probably caught 24 fish each therefore; conversation on the drive home was animated, as we both felt it was a good day on the water.

Bob

Walked into the Lower Deschutes River from Mecca Flats with a friend of mine the other day, to see if we could find a few steelhead. After a stormy night the evening before, I was surprised to find a very mild day when we arrived at the river.

The river is running about 4800cfs from the dam, clear and with a temperature of 45 degrees. The best part was there was nobody there! In fact, we didn’t even see another angler until after noon.

            Jimmy and I worked our way down river fishing some likely spots without a pull until we stopped at one of my favorite pieces of water. Jimmy fished the top of the run and I fished the bottom and again we came up empty. After a short break for lunch, we decided to fish through again with Jimmy taking the bottom this time and I walked up to fish the top of the run. I was the first to hook-up, with a big colored-up hatchery buck that grabbed my fly and took off, ripping line from my reel when he realized he was hooked. This fish put up one heck of a fight, taking two long runs on me before I could work him back upriver and land him. Jimmy had heard my cry of “FISH ON!” and came to take a picture for me. After releasing my hard fighting fish, Jimmy didn’t waste any time getting back into the water and soon hooked and landed a nice wild fish of his own.

We were both fishing spey rods on the swing with type 8 sink-tips and rabbit leech patterns, which over the years, has proven to be the most productive way to go this time of year.

There are still a lot of Salmon around, so if you like to nymph for steelhead, make sure you have a good supply of egg patterns in your box because everything in the river is eating them.

The Patient Angler                     patientangler.com

Peter Bowers

Just got back from a great trip to the Grand Ronde River. I go every year to this remote area of Oregon/Washington to test new equipment, relax after a busy season and to chase the great northwest steelhead that ascend this river every year. 

            The weather was really pretty good for us considering the time of year. Once November rolls around, all bets are off and you could see any kind of weather. You just have to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. The weather was great when we arrived with morning temperatures in the mid 30’s followed by clear sunny days with mid-day temperatures in the 60’s. As days passed, the weather started to change with clouds moving in and the average daily temperatures started to drop. By our last day, the morning temperature was a chilly 26 degrees with a light snow falling and daytime high that only made it into the low 40’s.

            The water was also in good shape when we showed up running about 800cfs, clear and with a temperature in the mid 40’s. As the days past and daily temperatures dropped, the water temperature also plummeted to a chilly 38 degrees, always making catching fish a little tougher on the swing.

            The fishing reports as well as the fish count numbers over the dam were not very good so far this season. Anglers were having some pretty good success in the middle of October in the lower river, but none of the reports were as good as recent years past in the same time frame. Because of the time of year and the dropping air and water temperatures, we swung sink tips and weighted flies through our favorite runs and did pretty well finding 2 – 6 fish a day. Better than most according to the creel checker we would talk to every day, but probably due to the fact that we fish hard most days covering a lot of water and our use of sink tips and weighted flies making sure we were close to the bottom and the fish.

            The numbers of hatchery fish are down and the number of wild fish is on the rise, so our catch rate of wild vs. hatchery was close to 50/50 this year, when normally it’s more like 75% hatchery and 25% wild. The great thing was the average size of the fish we did catch, was bigger than normal with a lot more fish in the 29 to 31 inch range.

            We tried a lot of different flies through our days of fishing including a number of new 2012 patterns we were testing, but the most productive flies were leech type patterns that were black and weighted. Moal Leeches, Articulated Rabbit Leeches, Craft Fur Stinger Flies and String leeches all tied in black produced the most fish. 

            The best thing about fishing the Grande Ronde River is not the numbers or size of the fish, but the river environment itself. It’s pretty awesome to be standing in such a beautiful river fishing for an amazing fish, in the bottom of a stunningly rugged canyon with deer grazing on one hillside and Big Horn Sheep on the rocky cliffs across the river and a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree on the bank watching you cast. It doesn’t get any better than that!…..Unless you have a fish on, then it would be a little better.

The Patient Angler                    patientangler.com

Peter Bowers

            We just got back from four days of fishing for steelhead in the Maupin area of the Lower Deschutes River. The river was in good shape running around 5,000cfs, clear and with a water temperature in the mid fifties. The weather was pretty good when we arrived on Friday morning, but in the afternoon the wind started to pick up and you could tell the predicted weather was moving in.  The wind died off on Saturday and we were blessed with mostly cloudy conditions for the weekend with the only real hard rain falling for an hour on Sunday evening and Monday morning.

            The fishing pressure was pretty heavy on Saturday & Sunday, but with so much accessible water, it’s just a matter of driving around to find some open water to fish.

            Thu didn’t waste any time and hooked a really nice wild fish in the second run we fished. She was in the bottom of the run just downstream of me when her line came tight with a hard hitting fish. It immediately tore line off her reel as it raced for the tailout and stopping just short of the whitewater at the end of the run. This big fish did not want to give up, always taking as much line back as Thu was gaining. After a number of uncontrollable give and takes, the fish started to tire and Thu was finally able to bring this beautiful wild fish to hand for a quick photo and release.

            On our second day, Thu hooked another fish that came unbuttoned shortly after the take, which was the only steelhead action we had that day.

            On our third day, although the local reports were not very good, I still had an uneasy feeling of some kind of skunk streak starting for me. It happens to everybody, but it’s still not easy to swallow that you have some sort of curse that keeps you from catching fish. My fears of a skunk following me around were soon compounded when Thu hooked and landed another Deschutes steelhead. This one was a spunky hatchery fish that we kept for the cooler.

            At the end of our third day, we lucked out and found one of our favorite pieces of water open for the evening fish. We settled into the run with a light rain falling with Thu starting at the top and graciously giving me the A water in the bottom of the run to improve my chances of drowning the skunk in the swift currents of the Deschutes River. I pushed the impure thoughts from my mind and starting slowly working my fly through this prime holding water. I had worked my way through the run and was approaching the tailout when I started to get mixed messages in my mind. The Patient Angler in me was telling me I was getting to the most productive water in the run and to stay alert, and the little skunk which was now sitting on my shoulder was telling me I was about to run out of water and daylight to fish. Just as I was thinking that I was going to have to come up with a name for my skunk, since it looked like he was going to be with me for a while, my line came tight with a take of a steelhead. Unfortunately, it was over almost as fast as it started, as the fish took my fly and gave me a couple of head shakes, took a little line, thrashed in the tailout and threw the hook. I didn’t really mind that I lost the fish, I was just happy to get that skunk off my back.

            We fished Monday morning in the rain without a take and decided to call it a trip, packed up camp and head home.

The Patient Angler                   patientangler.com

Peter Bowers

            Floated the Warm springs to Trout Creek stretch of the Lowers Deschutes River last weekend, just for fun and to see if we could find an early steelhead in the upper river. The vast majority of steelhead are still in the Lower Deschutes from the Maupin area downstream, but the number of fish traveling over Shears Falls and into the upper river has increased in the past week or so.  Most of the Trout Creek to Maupin guide trips are starting to hit a few steelhead once below Whitehorse rapids and there have been a few reports of steelhead being caught in the Warm Springs/Trout Creek stretch by anglers nymphing for trout.

            The Lower Deschutes is running about 4000cfs in Madras, clear and with a temperature of around 56 degrees. The weather was great providing a warm day and sunny skies when we put on, but the weather started to change in the evening with dark clouds moving and the smell of rain in the air. We had a little bit of lightning, a spit of rain, and the wind kicked up, but not enough to keep us off the water.

            Without a lot of angling pressure on the upper stretch, we pretty much got to fish wherever we wanted. We were swinging flies for steelhead, but caught three nice Rainbows and one Bull Trout during the first half of our float. One of the Rainbows I caught was just a pig, and I thought for sure it was a steelhead when he hammered my fly. After a little give and take, I realized it was just a trout, but what a slab of a trout! When I landed him, I could barely get my hand around him.

            Lady luck and the steelhead gods were smiling down on me, because in the next run after only the first couple of swings, the short amount of line I had out, violently came tight with a thrashing steelhead spending more time out of the water than in it. It was a hatchery steelhead, and it didn’t take long for this raging fish to wear itself out and come to hand.

            We fished out the rest of the day without another pull, but had a great time and did manage to find one steelhead to come to our fly. I’m sure in the next few weeks, especially with the change in weather, the numbers will improve in the upper river.

The Patient Angler                      patientangler.com

Peter Bowers

Davis Lake

Thursday 9/15/11

Davis is fishing well.  The full moon has put a damper on Bass but Trout fishing has been outstanding.  Striping Damsels quickly on floating or intermediate lines seems to be the trick.  Time of day did not matter; little or no wind appeared to be the key.  Therefore, with little or no wind, steal and accurate casts are very important.  Fish the Odell arm, “get out there and catch some fish.”

Bob

            Thu and I headed back down to the North Umpqua for four days during the Labor Day weekend. As you know the weather was fantastic with sunny warm days for fishing and cool nights for sleeping. The water was in great shape running around 1,000cfs in the upper river with a temperature of 50 degrees and just a little touch of color to the water. The big surprise was how few people were on the river. I don’t know if it was because it was the last weekend before schools starts, or because the fishing has been pretty slow all season, but we were happy to have a lot less pressure on the water and choice of open campgrounds. The fishing pressure did pick up on Monday with everybody having the day off, but there was still a lot of open water to fish.

            The steelhead fishing was slow for us, or average for the time we have spent on the river this season. We fished all four days, although not hard days with some late a.m. starts and the occasional nap in the afternoon, and only hooked three steelhead. The funny thing was, that all three fish were hooked on day 3 and two of them in the same run. The best part was that the run that produced the two fish for us was a run we had never fished before. This was a piece of water that I have driven by for years that always catches my eye in small glimpses through the trees and always looks inviting, but with no apparent easy access. After some more challenging hiking along the river than we expected with some major boulder hopping and bush whacking, we finally arrived at one of the many picture perfect steelhead runs on the North Umpqua that looked even better up close than I could ever imagine from the limited peak-a-boo view from the road. It’s always a little more exciting to me to search mysterious new waters never knowing where the fish might be and having to probe every nook & cranny carefully covering water with the full expectation of hooking up with every swing.  Searching new water paid off for us, saved the weekend and the mysteries of the pool were exposed a bit as the run produced two fish for us. It doesn’t happen very often, but one of the fish we hooked in that run was a bright, hot fighting hatchery fish.

            The trout seemed a little more aggressive than normal as we hooked a couple of nice size trout each day on the swing. Not the prize steelhead we’re looking for, but enough to get your heart going for a second during the take when you first think it is!

            We had a great time, as we always do on the North Umpqua.  We enjoy the camping in such a scenic place on a beautiful river and catching fish is great, but truly just a bonus for us when we are on the Umpqua.

            Just wanted to let you know if your license plate number is 395ERC, I saw you fishing down there and sporting The Patient Angler sticker on your car. You just earned 3 points on the bumper sticker program.  

The Patient Angler                          patientangler.com

Peter Bowers

            I headed down to the mouth of the Deschutes River this past Sunday with the hopes of getting into a few steelhead. With the Columbia River running cooler and higher then normal the Deschutes hasn’t been receiving as many stray fish this year as it has in years past but within the past few weeks the fishing has picked up. It seems that the Deschutes finally cooled while the Columbia started to warm and fish were nosing into the Deschutes looking for a respite from the warm flows of the Columbia.

            We didn’t reach the mouth until 8 and quickly headed up river with the thought that we would hike up high and work our way down throughout the day. Given our late start most of the likely looking spots were already taken but when we came to Wagonblast there was one group in the lower end and another boat up high that was just pulling out. 

We quickly rigged up our rods with a type 3 sinktip and a small orange soft hackle for me and a nymph rig consisting of a Girdle Bug followed by a Orange Circus Caddis for Wyatt.  Wyatt has only steelhead fished once before so after I gave him a few pointers before I headed upstream to begin working through the run behind him.  I had made no more then 2 casts before Wyatt had hooked into a really nice hatchery fish that immediately took of running downstream. He worked the fish back upstream where I was hoping to tail it but the fish had other ideas and bolted back out on another even longer run before the hooked popped out.

Despite being extremely disappointed after loosing the fish Wyatt went back at it and it wasn’t more then 10 minutes later before he was into another fish. However after a quick boil this fish also came off having thrown the hook after thrashing on the surface. We continued to fish through the run and about a third of the way through I hooked into a nice native that gave me a good fight complete with several acrobatic leaps before I was able to tail her.  As soon as I had her by the tail and gave the line slack my barbless hook fell out and realizing she was free she bolted from my grasp.  We fished off and on for the next several hours without touching another fish before I hooked into a small fish that upon being hooked ran straight towards me so fast that I was forced to strip in line to keep tension on the fish.  Within a minute he was just a rod lengths away from me when I realized it was a hatchery fish which I desperately wanted for the BBQ, the fish however still had plenty of power and after a couple of good head shakes threw the hook while I watched dejected as my dinner swam away just out of reach.

Overall we managed to do pretty well despite fishing from 10 until 4 or so when the sun was shinning almost directly on the water and judging from the number of other people we saw with fish on there seemed to be a lot of fish around. Its worth mentioning that when we headed up they had highway 197 closed due to a fire and as of Monday the 29^th both 26, 97, and 197 were all being closed off and on due to fire danger.  It sounds like the fire is only 10% contained so it might be several days before the roads are open full time again.

Ira Miller                          patientangler.com

            Thu & I went back down to the North Umpqua last weekend to camp and fish for steelhead.  Everyone keeps asking me why I’m not down on the Deschutes where the catch rates have much higher with lots of fish moving into the river, and my answer is the camping. I love camping on the North Umpqua River; sure you have to work a lot harder to find a fish, but you couldn’t find a more beautiful place to fish and camp while you’re looking for one.

            Anyway, Thu & I arrived Friday morning and fished throughout the day without a pull. We covered a lot of water but couldn’t find a willing fish. Saturday morning after making breakfast we headed out for another day in paradise with hopes of finding a bright summer fish. I skated flies all morning with Thu following behind with a sink-tip. I had lots of action and my anticipation was peaked with trout smacking my skater every twenty casts or so, but couldn’t find a steelhead that would take. While skating through the second run of the day with Thu swinging behind me about her line length away, I heard Thu call my name as a bright steelhead exploded from the water with Thu’s Marabou Madam hanging from the fishes mouth. This wild fish made three runs ending with cartwheeling jumps before Thu could bring the steelhead to hand for a quick picture and release.

Although I did switch to fishing a tip during the middle of the day, I still couldn’t find any North Umpqua love. It was day three at the very end of the day in the last run that I found a fish with my name on it. I only had 10 minutes left before the time I had set to quit fishing, when my line came tight with a solid pull and head shake of a mighty North Umpqua steelhead. It took a little give and take, but I soon had a beautiful wild hen to hand. I’m always excited about catching fish, but this fish also kept me from having to listen to Thu rubbing it in about her fish all the way home.

The Patient Angler         patientangler.com

Peter Bowers

            Thu & I spent a couple of days down on the North Umpqua River camping and fishing for steelhead. The weather was great with warm daytime temps and sunny skies. The river was in pretty good shape running about 1500cfs and clear, with a temperature in the low 50’s. The river has been high all spring, but has been slowly dropping for the last month or so making it a little more fishable.

            The reports for the North Umpqua so far this season have not been very good, with the high water and the slow return of fish making their way up river. Ira hooked and landed one a couple of weeks ago and we’ve had two or three other reports from customers that were lucky enough to get one on the line after a couple of days on the water. But overall the reports have been of lot of time on the water with very few fish to show for it.

            We love fishing and camping on the beautiful North Umpqua, even when there’s not a lot of fish around, so we thought we would head down and give it a try anyhow because you never know when you might find one. It’s sometimes more fun to fish when there’s not a lot of fish around because it normally means that there are less anglers around and it also makes it more challenging to find one, which in turn makes it more rewarding when you do catch one.

Anyway, we set up camp and started to get dressed to fish when we realized that we had forgotten Thu’s waders. Lucky for us the fine folks at Steamboat Inn had a pair that would fit her that we could rent while we were there. After our short delay, we finally geared up and hit our first run. We swung flies the rest of the afternoon and I switched to skaters after the sun was off the water.  No love on our first night, but it was sure nice to be swinging the North Umpqua again.

The next morning and as we climbed down the bank to our first run of the day, we saw a nice steelhead roll twice in the heart of the run as we approached the water to fish. I was set up with a skater, so I fished through first hoping that I might interest that active fish we saw, but couldn’t get him to come to my skater. Thu also fished through behind me without any action, so reluctantly we packed it up and headed off to our next spot.  

I hate leaving water when I know there’s one there, but more times than I care to count, I’ve wasted precious fishing time pounding water that I know holds fish, but never getting one to come.  As a general rule now, I just fish through water covering the best that I can and hope to find an aggressive one, and then I move on to the next run.

 Later, in the middle of the day with the sun high in the sky, I was waiting for Thu to fish through a one-person spot so I walked down the next long narrow tailout and started to lengthen line and swing through the gut of it. The tailout was a narrow shoot that ran down the other side of the river with a gravel bar in the center of the river that keeps you from swinging all the way through, so in order to swing farther down in the heart of the channel, it became a game of shooting, mending and feeding line each time to reach the small holding area. I was really just messing around and trying to see how far I could set up and control the swing through this spot that I normally would pass up, while I waited for Thu.  At around 125ft of line with nice cast and multiple funky mends to set up the swing, my fly entered the channel on a perfect slow swing on a tight line. Just as my line started to catch the faster current over the gravel bar that normally pulls my fly form the sweet spot, a really nice bright wild buck hammered my fly and immediately catapulted into a series of cartwheels, jumps and general thrashing about that left me felling totally out of control. Relief soon came as this buck settled down and moved up into the slower pool where I could put some pressure on him.  After a couple attempts to land this hot fish, he finally came to hand and after a couple of pictures, then released back into the cool clear waters of the North Umpqua.

We fish through the rest of the day and fished through a lot of good water on our last day, but couldn’t find another fish.  I did feel pretty lucky to have hooked-up with that one really nice steelhead, especially with all the slow reports, but that’s what keeps us coming back. You never really know when it’s going to happen, and it will never happen if you don’t go!

So, what are you doing reading this, Get Out And Fish! 

The Patient Angler                 patientangler.com

Peter Bowers

            Thu & I fished the Upper Deschutes above Crane Prairie the other day. We drove up in the afternoon and had a great time chasing small Rainbows and Brook trout upstream from the Cow Meadow camp.

            It’s a beautiful area if you haven’t been there before, with a much smaller version of the Lower Deschutes that meanders through wooded areas and open pastures filled with wild flowers. The river repeatedly turns, splits and braids around small islands as it snakes it’s way downhill creating an endless array of inside corners, undercut banks and pocket water to fish.

            There wasn’t a big hatch going on, but we still caught a few fish on dries using X-Caddis, Parachute Caddis and Parachute Adams in size #14 and #16. We had a little more success nymphing good-looking water with Soft Hackle Pheasant Tails, Caddis Pupa, Amber Anato-Mays, and Red Copper Johns in size # 14 & #16. You will sometimes find with some of the smaller fish found in these waters that the choice of fly is not as important as covering the potential water well. 

            We had a nice afternoon walking and fishing along the upper river and if you haven’t fished this area before, you should give it a try. Just make sure that if you go, Bring Your Bug Spray! The Mosquitoes are really bad this year. If you’re looking for a good Insect Repellent, Ultrathon from 3M is the best stuff out there. I use it all the time and it works.

The Patient Angler       patientangler.com

Peter Bowers