What is the best time of year to fish the Deschutes River?
April, May and June are the best times to fish here. The Fall is a good time to fish the middle river again. Much of the Middle Deschutes runs through smaller rimrock canyons. Juniper and Sage are the predominate flora but Ponderosa Pines are also prevelant.
The most common access points with fishable water is near Tumalo Falls, Tethrow Crossing, Lower Bridge, and Crooked River Ranch. The most popular time to go fly fishing on the Middle Deschutes is in late April and early May.
Deschutes River. Open all year for trout and hatchery steelhead.
A genetic mix of wild and stocked rainbow trout average 6 to 10 inches, with an occasional fish in the 12- to 14-inch range. Native whitefish are abundant and average 6 to 14 inches in length. The steepest gradient in the entire 252 miles of the Deschutes River begins 6 miles downstream from Sunriver at Benham Falls.
Fish generally prefer early morning and evening sun to the bright midday rays. In midday, the surface temperature of the water is also hotter, forcing the fish to move deeper.
Generally speaking, the best time of day to catch fish is in the reduced daylight hours from dawn until 2 hours after sunrise and from 2 hours before sunset until dusk. During these windows, light is reduced, prey becomes more active, and water temperatures cool allowing fish to more freely hunt for food.
Deschutes Trout
Only two trout per day between 10" and 13" may be harvested. Only barbless hooks on lures and flies are allowed. The use of bait is prohibited.
Deschutes River Salmon Fishing
Also, ODFW allows bait fishing in a limited area below the falls, and bait is often the most effective way to catch salmon in the river. Check the regulations for details before fishing with bait, or you're likely to get a fat fine for using bait in the wrong areas.
Productive sites of Crook, Jefferson, and Deschutes Counties offer a variety of gem-quality minerals including famous thundereggs, petrified wood, limb cast, agate, jasper, and opal.
Typically, the hatchery steelhead fishery is open all year and the Chinook and Coho seasons start August 1st and close on October 31st and December 31st respectively.
What flies to use on the Upper Deschutes?
The Upper Deschutes Headwaters
Due to the small size of the stream, we use smaller flies than in larger sections of the river. Midges and small mayflies work very well here, both on the surface and below it. Blue-winged olives (Baetis) are a super common mayfly.
| Northwest Zone Regulations | |
|---|---|
| Species | Bag Limit |
| Trout | Lakes: 5 per day, 3 daily limits in possession. Streams: (including tidewaters and bays): 2 per day, 3 daily limits in possession. |
Brown Trout (Salmo trutta)
LOCATION: Deschutes River from Crane Prairie Dam downstream to Lake Billy Chinook, East Lake, Paulina Lake, and Crescent Lake, Cultus Lake, Lake Simtustus, Suttle Lake, Spring River, Fall River, Metolius River, Little Deschutes basin, Squaw and Tumalo Creeks.
The Deschutes Bull Trout SMU contains eight populations, three of which are considered extinct. Bull trout no longer exist in the upper Deschutes River basin, Crescent Lake, and Suttle Lake.
Fisheries include salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, shad and abundant smallmouth bass and walleye. Fall chinook seasons vary year to year, depending on the predicted run size. Spring chinook may also be fished some years. Summer steelhead are often caught off the mouth of the Deschutes, starting in July.
Some of the best freshwater fishing bait include worms, leeches, minnows, crayfish, crickets and grasshoppers. Select good saltwater baits including sea worms, eels, crabs, shrimp, strips of squid, and cut-up pieces of fish. You can purchase live bait, or better yet, find your own to save money.
Fish water movement. During storms, the tides are higher and rainwater builds up onshore. Fish near drains, inlets or spillways where the outflow will churn up bait and fish will be waiting to feed.
Before we dig into the details, however, we can make one blanket statement: fish just about everywhere are almost always active at sunrise and sunset. These periods of changing light levels trigger feeding behavior in all kinds of predatory fish.
Seven Hours on a Bigeye
In 1986, legendary angler Stewart Campbell and Capt. Bark Garnsey ventured to Africa's Ivory Coast to fish for blue marlin.
Fishing can come alive in the dead of winter on a mild afternoon, but spring and fall usually present the best action. Generally, I try to avoid extremes of heat and cold and times when the water temperature falls rapidly. My best days tend to happen when the temperatures are mild and the weather conditions stable.
What time do fish eat the most?
The Sun, Moon, tides, and weather all influence fish activity. For example, fish tend to feed more at sunrise and sunset, and also during a full moon (when tides are higher than average).
While barbs will hold your fish better, and you'll lose less fish, there is a trade-off as it pertains to danger to the fish and you. Where with no barbs, the danger to you and the fish is far less, you may tradeoff losing a few more fish. Pro-tip: To meet in the middle, use barbed hooks, but crimp the barbs.
Statewide regulations:
Anglers fishing for salmon and all anglers fishing from boats with a salmon on board are limited to no more than 2 single point barbless hooks per line, and no more than one line per angler.
Hook wounds may appear minor to anglers, but damage to the gills, eyes, or internal organs can be fatal. If the fish is hooked deep in the throat or gut, research shows that it is best to cut the leader at the hook and leave the hook in the fish. Prolonged attempts to remove the hook often do more harm than good.
The use of live fish or other live bait is illegal in most circumstances in Oregon, please review the general statewide regulations for clarification. Artificial flies and lures include spinners, spoons, jigs and hard-plastic imitations of minnows, leeches other favorite fish foods.
Small channel cats will eat stink baits but big channel cats like fresh food. Blue catfish and flathead catfish of any size will largely ignore stink baits. If you want to catch big catfish, feed them what they are already eating every day. In some lakes or rivers, this can be shad, bluegills, carp, or clams.
Water from a well, tap or hose should be thoroughly aerated before use in a transport tank. This will help remove dissolved carbon dioxide and add dissolved oxygen. chlorinated supply, chlorine must be neutralized before adding live bait.
One of the best places to find both in Oregon is the Oregon coast. In fact, Agate Beach in Newport, Oregon, gets its name from this semi-precious gemstone. You can also find them in the town of Antelope, draining into the Western Cascades. And, not surprisingly, Central Oregon, near Prineville.
Central and Eastern Oregon is the most popular region in the world for thundereggs hunting. The best productive areas are located in the Ochoco National Forest, in the high desert of Central Oregon near Prineville and Madras, and in Succor Creek Creek Canyon of Eastern Oregon.
Diamonds have been reported from many localities along the Pacific Coast of the United States in Alaska, California, Oregon, and Washington, for which there is no known source (Fig. 1). The source of the diamonds is complicated by the diamonds being found along an intensely deformed Phanerozoic plate margin.
What month is best for steelhead fishing?
SUMMER RUN STEELHEAD
These fish generally begin entering rivers in early July with numbers peaking starting in early August through to early November.
Today, habitat loss in their southern range makes their northern range a very important focus. British Columbia's Skeena River watershed, the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island, and the west coast of Kamchatka are especially excellent places to go for steelhead.
Dry flies 12-16 are ideal for brown trout; wet flies 12-18 are also good choices. If you're looking for what do rainbow trout eat, your best bet is to try fly fishing flies that look like caddisflies or mayflies. You can also use surface bugs, leech patterns, and wets with bead heads.
The Deschutes River was designated an Oregon Scenic Waterway in 1970 and a Federal Wild and Scenic River in 1988. The river runs through a deep rimrock-lined canyon that ranges from 900 feet to 2,600 feet in depth.
For catching trout, many anglers turn to natural baits. Nightcrawlers and other types of earthworms are an excellent choice. Salmon eggs, mealworms and locally available baits can also be very successful and often are similar to food sources in the environment.
The best time of year to trout fish in lower elevation lakes is in the spring and fall when the water is cooler and the trout are more active. This also is when most lakes are stocked. In the warm summer months, anglers can look for trout in cooler, deeper waters, or in high mountain lakes that remain cool year-round.
When the sun starts to go down, those big trout you don't see during the day begin to come out to play. These big fish are almost exclusively nocturnal, coming out of the deep holes and hidden places where they hide during the day like vampires to prey on baitfish, ducklings, mice, and even other trout.
Oregon produces some of the largest browns on the West Coast. The biggest on record is the 28-pound, 5-ounce monster caught in Paulina Lake in 2002. It's listed as the Oregon state record, but there are tales of larger fish caught and released or lost in battle.
Madison River, Montana & Wyoming
The Madison is perhaps the most famous of them all, with prolific hatches and great fly fishing. Flowing out of its headwaters in Yellowstone National Park, the Madison pushes 6,000 trout per mile.
The Biggest Brown Trout in the World (According to the IGFA)
The biggest brown trout of all time was caught in New Zealand. It was a 42-pound beast caught in the Ohau Canal. The 71-year-old thought the fish was a water rat once it surfaced.
Can you keep trout on Deschutes River?
Anglers can take on native redband (rainbow) trout in renowned rivers like the Metolius and lower Deschutes, or target hatchery fish stocked in the area's scenic, cold-water lakes that offer fine fishing throughout the summer.
The Deschutes River is home to migrating salmon and steelhead virtually year-round.
US states with tiger trout stocking programs include Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Pennsylvania, Washington, Wyoming, Utah, Virginia, and Massachusetts.
Limit resident fish consumption to no more than one meal per week: no other fish should be eaten that week. Resident fish include bass, bluegill, carp, catfish, crappie, sucker, sturgeon, walleye and yellow perch. Salmon, steelhead, and shad are NOT included in this fish advisory.
Sturgeon has a refined flavor and consistency. That charm is why eating it raw is the best way to eat it. You can enjoy the charm of the fish meat by eating it as sashimi, sushi and marinading it. Even when boiled, you can enjoy the tender texture of sturgeon.
Fishing can come alive in the dead of winter on a mild afternoon, but spring and fall usually present the best action. Generally, I try to avoid extremes of heat and cold and times when the water temperature falls rapidly. My best days tend to happen when the temperatures are mild and the weather conditions stable.
The Lower Deschutes River is an amazing fly-fishing destination here in Central Oregon. It is known as one of very few Blue Ribbon fisheries for both native trout and wild steelhead. The river runs one hundred miles from the last dam to the mouth at the Columbia River and is designated as 'Wild and Scenic'.
The steelhead, with both native and hatchery runs, are rainbow trout that migrate as youngsters to the ocean like salmon and return jumbo-sized. The Deschutes also is home to plenty of native whitefish and a very small number of native bull trout, which is a char like brook and lake trout.
Specifically, dawn or dusk are generally the best time to go saltwater fishing if the weather and tidal movements are favorable. Remember to reference a saltwater tide chart to see which range of hours during the day will be the best fishing tide times.
Fish are More Active
The moon phase and the tides play a huge role but many fish species are active at night. Fish become more active when there's light and that means it'll be easier for them to find a bait.
What class rapids are on the Deschutes River?
As the White Water Guidebook explains, the Deschutes River runs hundreds of miles from the mountains near Bend, Oregon to the Columbia River. The river is runnable for its entire length offering rapids from Class I to VI, great fishing, and overnight trip options.
The river runs through a deep rimrock-lined canyon that ranges from 900 feet to 2,600 feet in depth. The elevation drops from 1,393 feet at Pelton Reregulation Dam to 160 feet at its confluence with the Columbia River.
You can catch a lot of fish in the middle of the day with the right approach. Fish are opportunistic predators and will readily eat at any time of day if the right prey presents itself. Furthermore, fish are more locked to cover during this time frame which makes them easier to locate and target.
Spooks, poppers, frogs, prop baits and anything that makes a disturbance on the surface can work well. However, buzzbaits take the top prize for night fishing. Since bass don't see as well in the dark, they rely on their other senses to hunt for prey. Rig up a loud, noisy buzzbait with a lot of clacking.