Deschutes-Mack's to Mouth-7/31-8/2

[salmonslug]

I finally managed to escape work for a few days and headed east with my girlfriend and dog to float the Deschutes for some camping, fishing, and general loungin' riverside. The weather couldn't have been better. Spent some time in the evening and morning swinging, which would of turned up a whole lotta nada except for the 14" whitefish on the first night (go figure). The second day I picked up a nice trout on a rubber-legged prince while nymphing. And on the third day I landed my nicest Deschutes redside yet.
http://www.thezerbes.com/gallery/d/5077-1/P1040516.JPG

Not long after this hook-up things turned a bit. This was also the nicest and the last trout my first fly rod ever saw (as far as I know). We were heading down looking for our next campsite when we encountered Washout... I have only floated this stretch once before during the same time of year, and I remember Washout being somewhat of a non-event-- not the case this time. Approached river left, but evidently not far enough left and got sucked to the meat of the hole. Long story short, I lost 3 fly rods going through Washout :passout:. So... on a long shot, thought I would post this in case some benevolent soul happened across one of these rods. Prime steelheading is just approaching and I've lost all my rods :confused:.

As for the fishing... I hooked a couple nice trout and one whitefish. Talking to other folks on the river, it seemed the fishing was slow for both gear and fly-fishers, however, a few steelies were caught by both.

[Two Fister]

Bummer! Sorry to hear about the lost rods. Did you flip your boat?

[12244]

Thanks for the report. Thats a great pic, a handful of redside.
Ifish has been known to find lost gear, there is hope.
I lost 3 brand new spendy kids rods/reels on shore, went back for them, already gone.
And beware anything rubberized/similated bait may get you in trouble, just a heads up, its a new reg on the D. Hope to see you out there.

[Slow and Low]

sorry to hear about your loss. I will kep my eyes peeled.

[CHOSENBOY]

Bummer, I will keep my eyes out. That is definately a rapid that has some gear laying on the bottom. Try running it river right next time, much easier in my opinion. Anyhow I will be up there quite a bit so I'll be on the lookout.

[Willy]

We were down stream and noticed alot of materials floating down. We managed to pluck some stuff out but nothing worth keeping especially the pale ale if that was yours. I assumed someone had flipped in washout.

[salmonslug]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

Yep, Two Fister, the raft did flip, but not initially. We dropped into the hole and I heaved on the oars to try to get us up and over the first wave, but between the camping gear and anchor I just didn't have the momentum. I'd estimate the wave at a height of about 6 ft that day. As the raft began to slide back into the hole, my girlfriend recalls my last words as "we're goin' in." At the bottom of the hole the rapid started piling into the stern and the front reared up and dumped the 3 of us out. At that point the raft righted itself and commenced to surf the wave for about an hour by itself before it was flipped and spit out. A rancher stopped to see if she could help about 45 minutes into the surf session and commented "your raft sure is going for one heck of a ride". Needless to say, we were quite relieved when the raft was kicked free.

CHOSENBOY, I noticed the line to the right and saw a jetboat shoot that slot while we were reloading the raft. The right was definitely less boney than the left, but also a bit tighter.

Willy, I'm sorry you didn't appreciate the pale ale-- craft beer from Ashland, in a can... I'll try to do better next time.:cheers:

Suppose I ought to mention my girlfriend's waders were also ripped from their mesh bag that was strapped to the raft-frame too, just in case...:hoboy:

[CHOSENBOY]

Oh man there was Caldera pale ale floating down the river. Wish I would have ran the jet boat up there might have been able to help out. The river right is the way I run it in my drift boat and jetboat, its not as tricky as one might think. My buddy got a raft stuck in there for a bit and somehow it popped out and stayed upright. Well sorry about the loss, again I'll keep my eyes out.

[Siwash]

Caldera in cans is easily one of the great developments of the 21st Century! :cheers:

Sad for your loss...

[Two Fister]

salmonslug,
That's amazing that it held your raft that long. Maybe some of the rocks have shifted again to make it more formidable. That hole was like 15' deep when it first formed. Enduced enough pucker to attach me to the seat of my driftboat permanently. It's all small fluid rock under that wave so it will likely shift and change for a long time.

I like to run it on the left. You've got to stay right against the bank and push through those waves. I think the right is fine as well, but I don't like the hydraulic at the bottom of the right side that wants to push you into the shelf and trees. It's not a boat sinker, but it's definitely a rod breaker when the hydraulic snaps you into the overhanging trees.

Glad you got the boat back at least and everyone was OK!
TF

[Slow and Low]

I am with two fister on the left. It is so mellow that I don't wear a pdf. Right is more dangerous, center is...well you know what that is. There is a very pronounced V on river left that is safe on either side (of the V). I would stay left is what I am trying to say.

[BanannaMan]

It is so mellow that I don't wear a pdf.

Ouch, a slap in the face of the river gods. I'd probabally start wearing one now if I was you. :grin:

[Slow and Low]

:cheers:

[cooky]

My buddy got a raft stuck in there for a bit and somehow it popped out and stayed upright. Well sorry about the loss, again I'll keep my eyes out.

Whoa dude, thats extreme!

[salmonslug]

Thanks for the tips. Next time I'll probably try left again, but a bit more left than last time:smirk:. Both sides looked doable, but I obviously was too far right of left on this trip. My 6' high wave estimate might be conservative, kind of tough to gauge. Whatever the height, the raft was not visible from upstream when in the hole. The hole also seemed to occupy a much wider swathe of the river than I remember from a float trip a few years ago.

Two Fister, seeing that wave at 15' must have been awe-inspiring-- any chance you have a photo? Wish I could have taken some pictures, but the cameras were strapped to the raft. We googled Washout for photos when we got home, and honestly didn't come across anything that did it justice from what we experienced, but... we also might have been a bit jaded from our experience. Of course we scouted everything after that on our way out.

How do you guys line-up on Colorado? I've seen Colorado probably about a dozen times over the last 7 years (mostly hiking up on the east trail) and, again, I don't remember it as big as it was last Thursday (and of course, we may still have been a bit jaded from the experience at Washout). I'd estimate the big wave in Colorado at about an 8' height that day. We slipped by on the left, but saw a jet boat run it river-right.

My girlfriend checked the gauge when we got home, and said the river was running unseasonably high. I'm thinking that it was about a foot higher than when I'd run it before (probably about the same week, but 3 or 4 years earlier).

One of the sketchier rapids for me last time was at the bend between Gordon and what I believe people call the "Blackberry Hole". For a while there was an upside down submerged aluminum drifter just below this rapid. Last Thursday this rapid was non-existent (and I didn't see the boat either)-- not sure if that was due to the river level or the shifting of the riverbed. I also remember lining the raft up on Moody in the past, and tucking the oars in to avoid banging on the basalt shoot. This was not necessary last week. It's amazing the way rivers change from year to year and even with slightly different flow levels.

[Two Fister]

Salmonslug,
Washout formed during the February 1996 floods. If you look to the left when facing downriver at the rapid you'll see a steep canyon with two big culverts about 200 yards away from the river. I guess that whole canyon blew out and the culverts acted like giant firehoses of mud, rocks, and debris before washing out themselves. The river was running at 96,000 (or something like that) CFS at the mouth so it was just a wee bit high...

Apparently, Washout ate the first 4 sleds that tried to run up through it as it hadn't existed before that. The hole was so deep that the boats would enter and try to climb out the other side but they would stall when trying to climb the nearly vertical entry wall. An F18 might have enough power to go vertical, but a sled doesn't. They'd stand on end, the engine would slide under and the current would push them over. Must have rated high on the Pucker Scale.

The first time I ran it was in the fall of 1996. It had already started to shift a bit, but I remember staring down into that hole thinking that there was a good chance that you would tap the bottom of the river if you went down to the bottom of it. Scared the heck out of me to think about getting stuck down there.

That last drop on Gordon gives me fits every time I run it. I know how and have done it a bunch but I still can't get it right. I've almost ended up flipped on the same rocks that probably flipped that boat. There's a narrow chute you can run in the center of the rapid, but there is an exposed wing of basalt that extends upstream from the rock that forms the western edge of the chute. If you don't know it's there it's really easy to tap it at the absolutely worst possible moment. The first time I ran it my bow must have drifted over it since I was loaded a bit tail heavy. If I has so much as tapped it I would have gone into that chute sideways. Would have been unfortunate.

That's Wagonblast below Gordon. No steelhead in that run. Just keep moving. These aren't the droids you're looking for. (Sorry I just bought my son the whole Star Wars set for his birthday).

The Blackberry Hole is about a mile upstream from the mouth on the east bank of the river. From what I've heard (haven't been down yet this year) it got torched, along with the rest of the lower portion of the river, by somebody playing with fireworks.

Hang in there and don't wait too long to get back in the saddle. Maybe take your girlfriend on a couple of simple floats (Lone Pine to Macks or Warm Springs to Trout Creek) to help her get her confidence back as well. If she wants to run the lower section again right away, marry her. :)

TF

[Mad Mikey]

salmonslug,
That's amazing that it held your raft that long. Maybe some of the rocks have shifted again to make it more formidable. That hole was like 15' deep when it first formed. Enduced enough pucker to attach me to the seat of my driftboat permanently. It's all small fluid rock under that wave so it will likely shift and change for a long time.

I like to run it on the left. You've got to stay right against the bank and push through those waves. I think the right is fine as well, but I don't like the hydraulic at the bottom of the right side that wants to push you into the shelf and trees. It's not a boat sinker, but it's definitely a rod breaker when the hydraulic snaps you into the overhanging trees.

Glad you got the boat back at least and everyone was OK!
TF


Count me in for the rare vote to run it right side. For many years I ran gear and/or clients in a 16ft aluminum and sometimes a 16ft Clacka. My outfitter always made fun of me because I didn't like the left side. He never took the big wave head on but usually clipped it a bit to the left.

My old boss, Mike Duley and clients taking the left line...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/MikeCowdrey/washoutpromo.jpg




With a heavy boat full of gear, I didn't need any more weight from a wave crashing in on me.

The right side is a bit tight, or so it may look. I come into it with my stern 45 degrees to the left bank. As the drop starts it wants to suck you into the first hole. I make ONE good back oar as the bow starts to go over the hole, lift my right oar UP, and ship it back a bit(I'll tell you why in a minute) PUSH on the left oar to straighten the boat out.

At that point I am just keeping the boat stable, no pushing or pulling.

The reason I lifted/shipped the right oar is that if you drop that oar you are close enough to a basalt ledge for the oar to hit it. My first time on the right side I dropped that oar, it hit the ledge and popped the handle into my temple, knocking me behind the rower's seat. I was lucky that time as it didn't knock me out. I think we brushed the bank a bit while I scrambled back into the rower's seat.

Since then I have run that well over a hundred times and still prefer the right side.

I finally drop the right oar a bit behind me as the ledge goes by and give a hard push slightly towards the left bank and am always out of reach of the brush on the right. That may sound complicated but it really isn't that tough. From what I've seen it's a 50/50 over which side the DB'ers take.

The hydraulic on the bottom right is no big deal, too small to cause concern in a 16ft. boat, just a bit of a thump, I'm usually pushing through it anyways.

Below is a link I've posted countless times on ifish, mainly to give a river level view of the rapid for newbies AND like Slow and Low/Two fister, I just like to BS and compare notes about whitewater! :dance:

Washout on the right.....

http://www.20yeartigers.com/mcowdrey/video1.AVI

Glad you made it out OK, bummer about the rods. When I go in a raft I always have every bit of my gear strapped down.

[Slow and Low]

Salmonslug,
You got away with one running river left in Colorado. Left of the whole would be a death sentence in a hard boat as there is a shollow rock ledge there. I run it center right. I split the two big rocks up top and line up right side of the V. As you aproach the V narrows staight into the hole. I pull away until I am aimed just right edge of the whole. At the last moment I push the boat into the right edge of the whole and continue puching until I cover the second HUGE roller. You hit the edge of the hole at an anglesince this wave is at an angle.
The stanging wave in colorado is about 6' at high water, right now it's about 4'. I used to run this rapid dead center in the summer when it is smaler. 3 years ago I shot the hole at 6100 cfs in a clackacraft and just about flipped the boat as well as taking water to the top of the dry boxs. I have not ran river center in colorad since and would not recomend it to anyone in a hard boat.
Hope my explanaton of runng colorado makes sense.

Here is a shot of a left side approach to washout.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/deschutes_2005_080.jpg

Here is a shot of my buddy lining up for colorado dead center.On this run his passenger was knocked back into his lap.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/deschutes_2005_090.jpg

[Willy]

Two Fister,
It was not the 1996 floods that formed washout but a thunderstorm in 1995 if my memory serves me right.
Willy

[CHOSENBOY]

Washout did not take the first four jetboats that ran it. It did take quite a few the first year, but my father and I ran it a week after it formed and were one of the firsts to do it. I'll dig up a photo of us running it for our first time, can't even see the boat. Washout also did form in July of 1995 after severe thunderstorms. While in Ak that year, BLM left us a message of a new hazard on the river. Well we couldn't wait to get home and check it out. For me the worst part about Washout is that it ruined one of my best trout spots on the river for me.

[Two Fister]

I stand corrected! I didn't run that section in the Fall of 1995 so I guess I assumed the floods formed it. My bad.

I do know of 4 sleds that it ate in the first couple months after it formed. I was told by their owners that it was immediately after it happened. You know what they say about assumptions....

[Wingdam]

I can confirm that washout did indeed form in July of 2005. A group of rafting friends was on the lower river above this spot the day before it formed. They came down unaware expecting the riffle that it was and got into big trouble. As stated earlier, it was formed from an isolated thunderstorm event that parked itself over the normally dry mud springs creek and dumped several inches of rain down in a few hours. That August my wife and I ran it for the first time. The difficulty and pucker factor that first year was intense. We chose the right route after scouting both sides and have continued using that route over the years. By 1996 washout had tamed considerably due to movement of submerged boulders possibly caused by the February 96 flood. In 1995 there where several reversals across the whole rapid. Today only the center contains keeper waves.

[Whiskey Dick]

I first ran Washout sept 85 in a 9' bucks bag pontoon boat. I picked my way down the left side and it was ok. Later in the year i ran it on the right in a raft and have run it right side ever since. I use a 15' Maravia self bailer carrying gear or people(i have seats in the front) and as i aproach washout on the right i have the front of the raft pointing towards the bank and i am tight right. (I set up this way becouse the afternoon wind blowing upstream can and will blow you towards the right bank) As i come over the drop i can pull back and swing the front of the raft to point straight down and i drop and roll through. It has worked for me up to now:wink:.
Glad to here you are all ok.Sorry about the loss of gear.

[O Tshawytcha]

Good luck with the lost gear Ted!

TTT

GRIFF

[Slow and Low]

I first ran Washout sept 85 in a 9' bucks bag pontoon boat. I picked my way down the left side and it was ok. Later in the year i ran it on the right in a raft and have run it right side ever since. I use a 15' Maravia self bailer carrying gear or people(i have seats in the front) and as i aproach washout on the right i have the front of the raft pointing towards the bank and i am tight right. (I set up this way becouse the afternoon wind blowing upstream can and will blow you towards the right bank) As i come over the drop i can pull back and swing the front of the raft to point straight down and i drop and roll through. It has worked for me up to now:wink:.
Glad to here you are all ok.Sorry about the loss of gear.


I have to disagree with you on your wind theory. The wind is blowing the opposite of what you said 99.999% of the time. Very rarely is the wind pushing a boat river right. Left side washout is so easy I am shocked each time I see someone run it the other way. My .02

[Bobberman]

I'm headed ther in 10 min, I might try left side.

[Slow and Low]

I'm going tomorrow night.

[CHOSENBOY]

Here hopefully is a picture of the first time Washout was ran in our boat about a week after it was formed.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/KM_C35004061014000_1.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/60615/size/big/cat//ppuser/2767)

[salmonslug]

Alot of good info in this thread, thanks all. I'm impressed by the depth of knowledge on here, and the willingness to help. Looking forward to using these tips on the next trip... unfortunately it'll have to wait til I remedy the fly rod deficit.

As an aside, the fly rods I lost were not strapped in as I was using at least two of them frequently while I worked my way downstream. I probably shouldn't mention this on the fly board, but I did have a spinning rod and a baitcaster along as well; these rods were strapped to the frame because I never used them. The rods that weren't strapped in are gone, the ones that were strapped in were broken to pieces. So... the fly rods may live to fish again. However, I suppose strapping the fly rods in and having them smashed to pieces might have been preferable because of the unconditional warranty on two of them and the fact that I might still have my reels. Since they're gone I have nothing to turn in on the warranty.

I have two books on the Deschutes that briefly describe the formation of Washout: one says it was created in 1995 the other 1996. It's been interesting to hear the back-and-forth from people with first hand knowledge of its creation. CHOSENBOY, that is one crazy picture.

Two Fister, the canyon was torched up to about Colorado (a little further up on the west side I believe). As usual the wind was blasting on our way out. We couldn't believe people were actually camping in that area with all the ash and dirt blowing in the air. Passing through was bad enough, as we had both lost our sunglasses in Washout. As for your thoughts on marriage... definitely a consideration (uh-oh, she's probably reading this).

Mad Mikey, I really could visualize the way you run the right side of Washout, your description was very clear. Thanks for the picture and video link too.

Slow and Low, thanks for elaborating on Colorado. I believe I ran it river-right the first time, but went left last time as I was bit gun-shy from our experience at Washout. I went left as it looked like a better portage, but as I approached the rapid I was confident I could push through left without getting sucked in and went for it. Gotta wonder... is your post number w/ your picture of Washout just a coincidence (SnL was at post 666 when I first read his response)???

Fortunately, despite the incident at Washout, I think I can fairly say we all had a good time on the river (well,.. maybe I shouldn't speak for the dog-- he's a cattledog and not a real fan of swimming). I'm really looking forward to my next trip, which will hopefully be a little less exciting.

Good luck to those of you heading to the river this weekend.

[wapiteaser]

Does anyone remember the name of the guy that was in a sled up the Deschutes the day that the big thunder storm hit? He was above the rapids fishing and discovered it when he came back down. The wall of water took out the railroad tracks and everything if I remember correctly. Lots of damage from that little storm through out the area.

[pnwfishhunter]

Are there any companies out of Maupin that will shuttle Mack's to Mouth? What's the best way to do this without bringing a second car?

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[salmonslug]

If you search the web you should turn up a few shuttle companies. I think it cost us $90-95. You can shop around, but in the past they've all been within a couple dollars of eachother. Not sure I can post the name of the service we used-- PM me if you'd like the name.

[Slow and Low]

I use deshutes river shuttles/ ed and kerry konner. they have a website. prices are on their sight.


Are there any companies out of Maupin that will shuttle Mack's to Mouth? What's the best way to do this without bringing a second car?

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[Whiskey Dick]

I have to disagree with you on your wind theory. The wind is blowing the opposite of what you said 99.999% of the time. Very rarely is the wind pushing a boat river right. Left side washout is so easy I am shocked each time I see someone run it the other way. My .02

well we will have to disagree as two days ago the wind was pushing me to the east bank as i was coming down to washout but maybe i do not know my left from my right:rolleyes:. Left or right it is all about making it in one piece, I find the right side works fine.
pnwfishhunter, Henrys Deli in Maupin also does shuttles, easy to do buisness with.

[Slow and Low]

I ran it yesterday no wind. Night before was absolutely nuts below Macks.