GOING, GOING, GONE

Well the Sandy River went from to low to fish or float to 18,000+.

I was hoping for some rain to start our winter season on the Sandy but I think this is a little to much.

Well I guess I will tie more flies and wait for it to drop.

WHEN YOU THINK ALL HOPE IS LOST

 This is one of those fishing stories that ends with a happy ending. On our last camp trip on the John Day  I was Guiding for Marty Sheppard of Little Creek Outfitters we had some great fishing. On day 3 of a 5 day trip camp trip one of my clients was having a epic day, I think he hooked 7 or 8 fish. The last fish of the day is where the story begins. Bob was fishing through this big boulder run, I was standing high on the bank watching the fly, I just told Bob he was getting to good area with a big pile of rocks I could see from my high vantage point. The fly finally reach the rocks and wham fish on, the fish hit hard and ran directly toward the rocks on the far bank. Before we knew it the fish was wrapped up in the rocks.
I told Bob to move down stream to see if we could get it off the rocks, we tried all the tricks none of them worked. I figured the fish was gone by now and some how I needed to get to the other side and untangle this mess. So I walked up stream to the raft and rowed across to get the line back, before I untangled the line I thought I would take a picture to show Bob how we had no chance of landing this fish. After the photos I started to untangle the line from the rocks when I got to the leader I noticed the steelhead was still on the end. I have the raft in one hand and pile of line around me with a big steelhead on the other end. So I yell to Bob to strip line in the fish is still on and about ready to take off again.
Bob might say I was yelling at the top of my lungs Strip Bob, Strip faster, Strip, Strip, F ing Strip.
Bob finally reconnected to the fish and the fight was back on, I rowed across and help land the biggest fish I saw all season. I have been guided for over 20yrs and have seen this happen before but it never ends well, it fills good to have one of those crazy stories to end with photos of the fish.

DESCHUTES STEELHEAD REPORT OCTOBER

Well we are getting to the end of Oct and fishing has been good the last few days with alot of big fish.
Been out the last 12 days and been getting fish everyday on floating lines and dark natural flies.
Flies that have been working well are Steelhead Coachman #4, Doc Spratley #6, Lady Caroline #4
I think the fish by now have seen every purple fly available so try dark and drabby.
If the weather stays good the fishing should stay good till mid November.
So get out there and catch some!!

DESCHUTES STEELHEAD REPORT SEPTEMBER

Moving camp Hillbilly style

My new shinny boat

Its hard to believe that Sept is already over, we just finished are last camp trip for the year.
Sept had some tough steelhead weather with temps in the Mid 90's, a lot of trips felt more like Aug.
We still had a great time with all our customers and even found a few fish.
Now it day trips through the first of November.

DESCHUTES STEELHEAD REPORT

Its been a while since my last post , steelhead season on the Deschutes is in full swing and have been guiding the last 3 weeks solid.
Fishing has been good when the weather is not to hot, on the hotter days the mornings have been best.
My best flies so far have been #6 Night Dancer, #6 Muddler, #4 Red Neck Revenge, The darker more natural patterns seem to be better right now.
We have also caught a few in the mid-day with sink-tips and a small Black and Blue Tandem Tube.
With some cooler weather fishing should get even better.

JOHN DAY BASS

On Friday I decided to take my kids over to the John day for some fun and catch some bass. The river was still over 700cfs for Aug that is very high but still good to catch lots of bass.
The kids used Black Wolleybuggers all day and caught about 40 or 50 bass.
I was fishing poppers and Foam Bugs and catching a few.
If you have never fished the John Day its a great place for the family trip and even catch a few fish.

Native Fish Society Trip

August 1st -2nd this year Silvey's Flyfishing and John Hazel and Company did our Annual Donated trip on the Deschutes for steelhead  to raise money for the Native Fish Society.
Its a great event we have done for over 10yrs.
Thanks to everyone for coming to Help Native fish.
Paul got this Hatchery steelhead yesterday on the trip.

DESCHUTES REPORT

Well its been a while since I posted been busy guiding for Trout and Steelhead
The Trout fishing has been good with big Caddis hatches and Aquatic Moths
Steelhead are starting to show up in better numbers in the lower river but the water temps have been
a little warm to have great fishing yet.
So far we have hooked 5 steelhead trout fishing and 1 steelhead on the swing!
Out of the 5 on trout gear we only landed 1 but its tough to land them on 5x and size #16 caddis pupae.

With some cooler weather and water the steelhead fishing should get better

CADDIS TIME

Well its been a little while since I posted anything been busy guiding the last few weeks.
The river is getting to more of its normal level and the fish are keying on the caddis hatches.
Are best flies were a Tan Elk Hair Dry and either a Silvey's Tan Caddis Pupae #16 or a Silvey's Diving Caddis # 16 for droppers.
Some areas the fish are also keying on Dead or Spent caddis so make sure you have a few of your best low riding caddis to fish to the rises.
There are still some Mayfly hatches mainly PMD's
There will also be alot of Aquatic Moths in the Lower River in the next few weeks, a Cream Colored Elk Hair works great or you can swing a Aquatic Moth pupae in the evening and get some great takes.

GREAT PHOTO

When the Deschutes was to high to fish in Mid May I did a few Private lake trips

Here is a great shot from one of those trips

Photo by Mike Liskay

DESCHUTES REPORT

The trout fishing on the Deschutes has been great since the water went down, it went up a little last week but didn't slow the the dryfly action to bad.
There are still a few Golden Stones around and we are still catching fish on the Chubby in the afternoon.
We had great luck on Little Yellow Sally adult #14 with a Bead Head Mayfly Nymphs #16 droppers.
The Caddis are starting to show in Big Numbers so make sure to try some caddis patterns during the day.
On days with some cloud cover we also have had some huge Mayfly hatches (PMD or PED)
We have been fishing the Maupin Area or Below Sherars Falls

Trout Unlimited TV on the Sandy River

DESCHUTES REPORT

Big thunderstorm hit on Wed below Maupin

The Stonefly hatch is still going on around Maupin but after the next warm weather we have it will be over in the Maupin Area. No worries there are plenty of other hatches to keep fishing dries.
Today we had Stoneflies,Green Drakes,PMD,PED,Blue Winged Olives,Caddis all hatching through out the day.
The best action was fishing a #8 Chubby with a Bead Head PMD Nymph for a dropper.
The Water is in great shape, So get out there and catch some of those great Redsides.