Hi Everyone We returned home Friday evening after spending the last week on the Deschutes at Maupin. We are just home for the week end and will return tomorrow morning and will spend most of next week at Maupin.
The steelhead run on the Deschutes is for real this year. There number of fish in the river is fantastic. This was the "break-in" trip for my new Redington Spey rod and it lived up to all of my hopes and expectations. After arriving late Sunday, I didn't do anything Monday morning except find a section of the river with lots of room and no people to spend some time coming to terms with the new rod. After 3 or 4 hours I felt confident enough to take my act public. A friend from Portland arrived unexpectedly Monday so I fished with him Monday PM and Tuesday AM. Unfortunately we fished some marginal water and the fish were shy. I missed one Tuesday evening and that was it. I finally took him up to a spot where I knew he could catch some trout just so he could catch some fish before he went home. The front that came through on Tuesday evening made all the difference in the world. With the cooler weather, the fish turned aggressive and the fishing was great. On Wednesday I missed two more fish as the learning cycle with the new rod continued. But, I did land one nice wild 10 pound hen. Very nice fish. Thursday AM I landed an 8 pounder and a 6 pounder. The 6 pounder was a little wild hen that went through 150 ft of fly line and was well on her way to the Columbia before I was able to restore order. Thursday evening I landed another 6 pound wild hen. Unfortunately, as I was landing her, I lost a fly box with most of my steelhead flies. Oh well, most of them were pretty ratty anyway. Time to tie some new ones. Friday AM, I fished below White River. The weather had changed for the better and the fish seemed much more tentative. A couple of lite plucks and that was it. Since the weekend horde was starting to arrive, we left for Portland without fishing Friday evening. All of my fish were caught above White River. The water is clear as gin and small (#6), dark flies seemed to do the job. I caught one on a Purple Peril, one on a Street Walker, one on a Purple Wooley Bugger (sink tip line) and one on an Undertaker. How's that for spreading it around? The White River is dumping some color into the river but nothing objectionable. Friday Morning I was 7 or 8 miles below White River and had nice green water with several feet of visibility. Fish are being taken through out the river. I expect that with the return of blue bird weather, they will become more tentative again. Tomorrow morning...I'm outa here. Jim Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED]
