Lower Deschutes

[Navigator]

Fished the lower Deschutes from the campground to about 2.5 miles up (above Rattlesnake rapids). A lot of fisherfolk today. I did not see or partake in catching a fish though heard a scattering of reports of fish caught. Wind was bearable, though horrendous in the Gorge.

Question? I hooked a decent trout and unfortunately did not give it the respect it deserved and lost it while trying to bring it in a bit too green. The old LDR. Anyway, it looked like it might of been a cutthroat. Is that possible? It was very silvery - about 12". Definitely a trout, not a whitefish. I was above Rattlesnake rapids at the time.

[MikeT]

I fished the lower D on Thursday evening and Friday morning. Too windy to cast on Th but I managed to catch two on Friday. Saw 6-8 other fish landed. They're definately in there and the fishing's pretty good when the wind eases up.

Also found two rattlesnakes along the river.

Mike

[ 07-29-2001: Message edited by: MikeT ]

[Vinny]

A close friend from The Dalles says the local radio is reporting the Deschutes to be really HOT! My question: With twice as many steelhead crossing Bonneville Dam as The Dalles Dam, could the radio DJ's be plugging the Deschutes and fishing the Hood?
Any reports on Hood River?

[ampersat]

i too would like to know of any reports on the hood river. i posted a week and a half ago on it and it just drifted down the list with no replies. is someone keeping their 'honey hole' a secret?

[True]

If the fish are in the Hood I haven't heard of anything about it.. and believe me, I would have heard! The river is the lowest I've seen it in a long time and I'm worried about the exposed spawning areas that have
no doubt dried up. I'm looking to fish the lower Deschutes Tuesday morning. Everyone I've talked to have said that the Deschutes is the place to be right now in the Gorge. Might as well give it a try.

Good Fishing!

True

[fisheromen]

In reply to the original question, we were on the John Day 2 weeks ago and I caught what were easily the biggest smolt I have ever seen while fishing for smallmouth. These things were 10+ inches and CHUNKY.

As for the Deschuttes, maybe this post is far enough burried no one will see it but two weeks ago the place was a zoo. It seemed that everyone we talked to had caught fish. There were many reports, boat and bank, of 3+ fish for the day per person. My buddy and I hadn't fished it for steelhead for 15 years and fished water we had never fished before but managed 6/6 hatchery fish for one evening and one morning/afternoon. The wind was down and the boats at the mouth were particularly productive. We talked to one older couple at 1:30 pm that had netted 17, only 3 of which were hatchery.

Now that I have spilt the beans I expect others to be more reveletory of how things really are in their reports! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Going up tonight and will report in a couple of days.

[NEUTRON]

Ok, here is a thought for you...how about those cold water tribs on the washington side prior to The Dalles... Check out the Klickatat on these cooler days without the glacial run off. Should be killer.

[Good to the Last Cast]

I know I'm not a purist because I start our flyfishing but then I change to hardware to do the catching....too bad a good day exposing your daughter to fishing was ruined unfortunately she'll be exposed to alot of people like this thruout her life.....