Tim Welsh sends us this fantastic report from his fly fishing trip with his son, Jack. The Deschutes river is one of the more famous fly fishing rivers out West.

My son Jack and I decided to take a trip West to fish the Deschutes River in north, central Oregon.  The Deschutes is a major tributary of the Columbia River and flows directly north from its headwaters, some 252 miles to the Columbia River.  Our two days of guided fishing was all within twenty miles of the town of Maupin.  On the Deschutes River, fishing from any boat is not permitted.  Drift boats are the best way to reach the prime runs and productive holding areas.  The river is swift-flowing and drops off quickly into the fast water from the bank into the main channel. 

Our primary interest in fishing the Deschutes was to catch some of the large trout native to the river – a strain of Columbia River redband trout that are known as “Redsides” (Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdneri).  Our secondary objective (a possibility “if” the fishing gods were smiling) would be a catch one of the river’s Steelhead trout.  We knew this was a long shot, but our two-day Oregon Angling License covered the possibility.  Steelhead fishing is possible between August and December with the peak of the run in October.   Trout anglers also flock to this river each May for the annual salmon fly hatch which offers some very exciting top water fishing.  Other species that you could catch include Whitefish and Bull Trout. 

Having never fished this river we hired guides from Deschutes Anglers.  Both guides (Evan Untie and Ben Stephenson) were from the area – the Deschutes being their “home waters”.  We met each morning at 8AM sharp at the fly shop and were on the water and fishing by 8:45AM and pulled off the river at ~5:30PM.  The Deschutes Anglers fly shop is owned and operated by John & Amy Hazel and has been in the town of Maupin for years. I would highly recommend their services.

Call (541) 395-0995 / www.deschutesangler.com  

There were two different methods used on this trip; a dry dropper set-up and a Euro-nymphing set-up.  Our rods were 9’ – 6wt for the dry dropper rigs and 3 wt for the Euro-nymphing set-ups.  Bead head nymphs are a must.  Jack and I stocked-up on a handful of tungsten bead heads of various sizes and weights to provide the best presentation in the fast water.  You have to get your nymphs down quickly.  The dry dropper set ups had a size 14 dry on the top (Caddis like profile) with an 18” to 24” dropper off the bend of the hook with 5X tippet and a size 16-18 bead head nymph.  The Euro-nymphing set-ups all had about 6-7’ of fluorocarbon line below the sighter – using 5X tippet material with a 6-8” tag for the top bead head nymph and about 20”-24” of tippet down to the bottom nymph (usually with a slightly heavier bead head nymph).  The favorite knot for tying flies on to tippet on this trip was the 16/20.  I won’t try to explain how to tie this one.  Follow the link to watch a short video:  

Steelhead fishermen on this river are almost exclusively using spey rods to swing or skate flies for these large sea-run trout.  Typically, these are 7-8wt, 12’-14’.    But a discussion about spey rods is for another posting – or better yet, ask the Sensei!

In the two days we landed ~50 fish between the two of us.  Check out the photos of some of the best river’s high desert scenery and beautiful fish.  

The river gods must have been smiling because Jack hooked a 7+ lb Steelhead at our last stop on our last day.  After a hard fought, forty-minute fight (with a reel that self-destructed after the fish made its “second” run taking out over a hundred yards of backing!).  This was the perfect way to end our trip together. 

Tight Lines!