TillamookChinook
05-31-2005, 12:50 PM
We headed for our favorite Central Oregon small-stream pack-in campsite for Memorial Day weekend, and I suggested we stop for a couple of hours at the Deschutes as we crossed at Warm Springs and a couple of hours at the Metolius on the return.
The salmonflies were abundant on Saturday on the Deschutes and the fish were probably already full in the middle of the afternoon, but I did catch a couple, including a fatty that went about 16", all on big salmonfly dries. Then we headed for our trailhead at about 4 p.m.
We were pleasantly surprised to find just one other car at the trailhead, especially on a holiday weekend. We hurriedly set up the rainfly after the 40-minute hike in because the thunder was rumbling closer by the minute. The thunder didn't bother the fish and I quickly caught three rainbow, up to 11" just as it got dark. One hit the salmonfly dry and two hit the bead-head pheasant tail dropper.
Sunday yielded maybe ten rainbow in the 9" - 12" range, in between bird watching and reading a murder mystery. The surprise treat was the 14" bull trout. The water was only moderately clear after the previous night's rain shower, but I could see it was a good sized fish that refused the salmon fly only about 10' from me. I cast it back through that drift and the "strike" at the salmonfly resulted in a heavy hookup, although it was actually foul hooked in the belly by the dropper. A 14" foul-hooked fish is a good tussle in a small stream, but I managed to unhook it, thank it and release it. I don't recall ever catching a bull trout in that small stream.
The Metolius has got to be the most beautiful trout stream on earth. The blue skies, Ponderosa pine forest, clear water and Green Drake hatch held great promise. I had returned to the bull trout hole that Brad had introduced us to on the No-Bull Prize trip in the snowstorm 18 months ago. The big bulls did not respond to my custom articulated egg-laying bunny streamer, at least not in any way that resulted in a strike. They may have been laughing. As noted previously, the fish I didn't catch were big. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the evening action began.
All in all, a great three-stream Memorial Day weekend trip.
TC
The salmonflies were abundant on Saturday on the Deschutes and the fish were probably already full in the middle of the afternoon, but I did catch a couple, including a fatty that went about 16", all on big salmonfly dries. Then we headed for our trailhead at about 4 p.m.
We were pleasantly surprised to find just one other car at the trailhead, especially on a holiday weekend. We hurriedly set up the rainfly after the 40-minute hike in because the thunder was rumbling closer by the minute. The thunder didn't bother the fish and I quickly caught three rainbow, up to 11" just as it got dark. One hit the salmonfly dry and two hit the bead-head pheasant tail dropper.
Sunday yielded maybe ten rainbow in the 9" - 12" range, in between bird watching and reading a murder mystery. The surprise treat was the 14" bull trout. The water was only moderately clear after the previous night's rain shower, but I could see it was a good sized fish that refused the salmon fly only about 10' from me. I cast it back through that drift and the "strike" at the salmonfly resulted in a heavy hookup, although it was actually foul hooked in the belly by the dropper. A 14" foul-hooked fish is a good tussle in a small stream, but I managed to unhook it, thank it and release it. I don't recall ever catching a bull trout in that small stream.
The Metolius has got to be the most beautiful trout stream on earth. The blue skies, Ponderosa pine forest, clear water and Green Drake hatch held great promise. I had returned to the bull trout hole that Brad had introduced us to on the No-Bull Prize trip in the snowstorm 18 months ago. The big bulls did not respond to my custom articulated egg-laying bunny streamer, at least not in any way that resulted in a strike. They may have been laughing. As noted previously, the fish I didn't catch were big. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the evening action began.
All in all, a great three-stream Memorial Day weekend trip.
TC