Great Birthday Weekend on the Deschutes!

[Breck]

Camped at Trout Creek for 4 nights beginning last Thursday (April 29th). We floated from Warm Springs down Fri, Sat, & Sun. The fishing was best Friday with everyone in the boat catching fish.

Getting started:



My wife, Val, battling a nice redside:



Val's redside brought to hand:



I landed one next. The photo does no justice as the net kind of obscures the nice size size of this trout:



In this shot, I release the nice trout:



A nice shot of Val fishing near our Clackacraft:




Mitch with one of his many redsides of the trip:



My good buddy, Thom, had the hot hand this trip, however. He landed the most and the biggest. He was Czech nymphing most the time. Here's one of his lunker redsides:



I saved the best for last. Thom (with my help on the net) managed to land this 23.5" redside!!! He brought it in on a 4-weight!:



Another shot of this brute before its release:



We were going to fish yesterday, (My birthday, Monday, May 3rd), but that oftentimes god-awful Deschutes wind nearly blew us away. All in all a great trip with good times, good friends, good whiskey, good cigars, great fishing, and really good food. Here's a shot of my Dutch oven shepherd's pie in the making:

[Sgt.Slaughter]

awesome fish, story, and pics!!!

FISH ON!!!!!!

[salembassin]

Thats a great way to spend a birthday weekend, that last redside is awesome!

[Two Fister]

Looks like a fun weekend. Can't wait to get out on the river.

I'm guessing that the big fish is a downstream steelhead kelt. Notice how the belly by the egg vent looks kind of skinny and the area around the vent itself is swollen. Those are kind of trademark indications of a downstream steelhead. I've caught a few as early as mid March and as late as early June and all were on small nymphs. Great to catch and an even better indication of an nice fish that could come back next year if she doesn't get caught in a tribal gillnet on her way downstream to the ocean.

Congrats!
TF

[Mad Mikey]

Classic Deschutes river trip.

Dandy report!

Thanks.

[Heffe]

Nice report.
Great pictures also.
Thanks for sharing and glad you had a good time with great friends.

Is it catch and release up there now?
Not sure of the trout regs.

Thanks
Jeff

[Breck]

Originally Posted by Heffe

Nice report.
Great pictures also.
Thanks for sharing and glad you had a good time with great friends.

Is it catch and release up there now?
Not sure of the trout regs.

Thanks
Jeff

Not sure about the regs myself, Jeff. We always release wild trout, so it's never an issue. If it hasn't changed in recent years, I think you're allowed to retain 2 trout between 10"-13". Any trout over 20" is considered a steelhead.

[Breck]

Originally Posted by Two Fister

Looks like a fun weekend. Can't wait to get out on the river.

I'm guessing that the big fish is a downstream steelhead kelt. Notice how the belly by the egg vent looks kind of skinny and the area around the vent itself is swollen. Those are kind of trademark indications of a downstream steelhead. I've caught a few as early as mid March and as late as early June and all were on small nymphs. Great to catch and an even better indication of an nice fish that could come back next year if she doesn't get caught in a tribal gillnet on her way downstream to the ocean.

Congrats!
TF

We just figured it for a big trout. Either way, it's a heck of a fish. I don't know who was having more fun, Thom, or the rest of us watching this battle unfold. My hands were shaking on the net. Good times.

[tumalt]

That looks like an awesome trip! I'm jealous. I miss floating that river.

That trout is a beast! Hard to say if its a kelt or not when they're that big. Maybe some bio can tell, but I'd like to think that's a resident fish that has grown huge on bugs.

[Two Fister]

Originally Posted by Breck

We just figured it for a big trout. Either way, it's a heck of a fish. I don't know who was having more fun, Thom, or the rest of us watching this battle unfold. My hands were shaking on the net. Good times.

No doubt Breck! I'm not trying to take anything away from it in the slightest! The downstream fish that I've caught have been great fighters and it's tons of fun. From what I've seen on the D over nearly 30 years of fishing it (crap I'm getting old) resident Redsides over 20" have huge thick bodies that are shaped a lot more like a Coho with trout coloration.

In any case, that was a perfect way to spend a birthday!!

Cheers on the bday!
TF

[Art Vandeley]

Very nice post! Thanks for sharing. That 6th picture belongs in a Clacka catalog.

Mitch

[Dom C]

Looks like fun! Any salmonflys? Little early for the big bugs I'm assuming

[Breck]

Originally Posted by Dom C

Looks like fun! Any salmonflys? Little early for the big bugs I'm assuming

No salmonflies in the air or in the grass on the banks. There were A LOT of salmon & stone nymphs rolling on the bottom though. Wont be long.

[chromeseeker]

Great pics! Looks like a good time.

I'm pretty sure the big fish is a steelie. Although it's not a scientific method, I look to see if the majority of the spots are above the lateral line. If they are, like on this fish, I've always assumed steelie. If you look at the other fish you caught, many of their spots drop below the lateral line so they are redsides.

Any comments on this? Either way, way to go!

CS

[rosstucker32]

I think its a steelhead too, great to see her looking pretty darn healthy!

She's got the remnants of the "double stripe" (look at the red on the belly) I've never seen this on a resident redside. But then again, I really don't catch many fish so I could be totally wrong.

Great fish no matter what it is!

[AlseaAssassin]

Awesome post right there!!!

[goose]

What a great memory you just created.. thanks for sharing..

[North-west steel]

Those last two fish pictured are both steelhead.... a lot fun to catch on trout gear. And quite an accomplishment on trout flies nice work!!! Looks like a fun trip to me....a little jealous.

[AndyK]

It looks like you had a great trip, one you will remember for many years!

Originally Posted by chromeseeker

I'm pretty sure the big fish is a steelie. Although it's not a scientific method, I look to see if the majority of the spots are above the lateral line. If they are, like on this fish, I've always assumed steelie. If you look at the other fish you caught, many of their spots drop below the lateral line so they are redsides.

Any comments on this? Either way, way to go!

I believe the only way to tell for sure whether it was a steelhead or a resident trout is to examine a scale with a microscope. I agree with most of the posts that identify the trout as a steelhead; however I am sure it was a fish to remember either way!

[Penobscot]

One of the better all around posts I've seen on ifish.
Nice job.

[Kevin2023]

Thanks for sharing the photos.

[runningfox]

Originally Posted by Two Fister

No doubt Breck! I'm not trying to take anything away from it in the slightest! The downstream fish that I've caught have been great fighters and it's tons of fun. From what I've seen on the D over nearly 30 years of fishing it (crap I'm getting old) resident Redsides over 20" have huge thick bodies that are shaped a lot more like a Coho with trout coloration.

In any case, that was a perfect way to spend a birthday!!

Cheers on the bday!
TF

Redsides over 20" = Football girths, you can't get your hands around them

[Surfnsully]

Thanks for the inspiration to hit the D