Click photos to enlarge On the trout menu: dead bugs in the foam lines. Tilt and feed - picky picky! When you are fishing in the JUNGLE - your rod will be bent! The river rewards those who learn her waters well. Recommended Gear: • Slow Water Caddis • E-Z Caddis, Lawson's • E/C Caddis, Cutter's • X Caddis, Mathew's • CDC Caddis Emerger • Rocky Road Caddis

You will have to put some work in during this time. This means walking miles of river bank armed only with high quality polarized sunglasses. You can cheat a little and bring a rod of course, but it will slow your progress if you begin fishing over the first small group of trout you spot. The motherlode may be just a bend in the river further up or downstream and you may not find the motherlode if you spend too much time fishing over a single bank hugger.

Begin by learning the water, the bank structure, and the subtle nuances of the current seams and hydraulics of the many micro eddies. Watch the upwelling flows wrinkle and swirl at the surface then glide smoothly seconds later. Wait for this smooth glide before you present the cast. Otherwise, if the fly lands in the upwelling currents drag on the line appears instantly. When you find one productive bank, look for another with similar characteristics- i.e. water speed, depth, rock structure, sheltering canopies of alder or tall sedge grasses. Watch the trout feed, and then watch again. You will see how slowly the hefty rainbows lift through the water column, tilt upward, inspect the delicate morsel of dead (spent) caddis and mayfly spinners from previous evening hatches, sip gently, barely breaking the surface film with the exception of a large dorsal fin porpoising silently above the water line.

We call stalking the banks, "taking inventory". Hunting large bank feeders, stalking silently above the rivers' high banks, wearing sage or tan colored clothing to blend in with natures habitat are all part of 'taking inventory'. Forego the white t-shirt and brightly colored hats- you must become part of the landscape. Invest in the very best quality polarized sunglasses, copper or amber lenses only, as these will be your most important tool. When your inventory is complete for 300-500 yards, you will know exactly where the fish are, and there they will remain for the rest of the season. If this ritual becomes part of your routine river time, your understanding of the river and its fish will increase dramatically.

Now, let's talk habitat. Finding the most productive water will take some time, but you can speed up the process if you look for these simple characteristics. Water speed is critical. On average, the best speed is about a fast walking pace. Depth needs to be a minimum of one foot directly off the bank and within three feet of the bank the depth needs to drop sharply to 3-6 feet. Foam lines collect along current seams and become conveyor belts of protein. "No foam, No fish", is the rule- and a very good one. Big rock structure is vital. Rock size needs to be dining chair to lazy boy size. Deschutes trout will lie on the upstream side of these large rocks 99.99% of the time, utilizing the cushion of water formed by the current pushing against the rock face. Always look first for big structure and then for good current speed with heavy foam deposits on the surface.

Once you find the right type of water, look through the water tight to the bank in order to spot the large dark silhouettes of trout lurking within inches to two feet below the surface. These trout will react to the hydraulics, moving in and out of sight as the upwelling surges towards the surface. The greater the food supply, the closer to the surface the trout will hold. When the food source is less abundant trout will drop slightly in the water column to gain a wider range of vision. Either way, this is a win-win situation for the angler. In both sets of conditions trout will feed to a well presented fly, as long as it represents a dead or spent insect. Low lying alders overhanging the rivers edge make superb habitat, and will hold the largest trout in the river. Overhanging branches offer shade and thus cooler water during hot summer days. Additionally, overhanging branches provide shelter from the watchful eyes of the Ospreys and other birds of prey along the river. Trout underneath overhanging branches also provide the angler extremely challenging casting situations, often requiring sidearm curve casts or downstream slack line presentations.

You will need the right ammo (fly patterns) and a lot of them. You will be casting the fly into tight quarters, upstream of exposed rock surfaces, against tall green sedge grasses, or under the umbrella of low lying alder branches. In all of these situations you will lose plenty of flies, and willingly so, as the payoff will be the largest trout of the season- selectively feeding in slow rhythm and cautiously rejecting all but the very best of presentations. A snagged fly should be broken off and another tied on. You may be able to retrieve a snagged fly after you have fished the water, but it is never acceptable to stampede up through the trout water to recover a snagged fly. These situations will give you great incentive to become a better target caster.

Mid-summer on the Deschutes is an easy time to match the hatch: caddis, caddis, and more caddis. Dead caddis are a favorite morning snack for the trout on the Deschutes. Caddis adults are summer's most prolific aquatic insect. Clouds of adult caddis hover the desert sage, poison oak, and thistle each evening as the sun begins to set behind the canyon, and trout go berserk feeding on caddis pupa and adults until dark. Casting into the middle of what seems to be a feeding orgy and not really targeting a specific fish is the protocol in the last 10 minutes of twilight's remaining light. This is not the case the next morning as individual fish have taken up residence along the deep banks and are selectively feeding on the dead insects. This is the best four to six hours of fishing all day. You stalk the banks carefully and find your dark thick forms waiting just below the surface. You watch from a distance observing the feeding pattern and defining the exact spot that will be the best place to land the fly on the first cast. The next ten minutes are spent crawling down the bank carefully, well behind the trout, getting into position to make the first (and hopefully only) cast. You make the cast perfectly, and the crippled pattern lands spot on- right in the foam line. You have deftly and wisely avoided the glassy clear water on either side of the ribbon of foam. Your dead caddis imitation is lying lifelessly on its side, perhaps with one wing crumpled and splayed away from its slender body, drifting helplessly along in the currents of the river. Suddenly, your crippled fly pattern disappears, imperceptibly vanishing in a dimple of a rise, your rod raises to a tight line...oh baby, this is what it's all about!

There are dozens of great spent caddis and mayfly spinner patterns available. They come in all shapes and sizes. I prefer to begin with spent caddis patterns over mayfly spinners just because of their sheer abundance over mayflies. The best patterns include the Rocky Road Caddis in brown and olive sizes #16 and #18, Slow Water Caddis in brown and ginger sizes #16 and #18, and Silvey's Dead Caddis in tan size 18.

Mayfly spinner patterns also have an edge over conventional adult patterns. Every evening mayflies molt into their final reproductive phase, lay eggs throughout the evening and early morning, fall spent to the water, near lifeless, wings splayed out flat and are scavenged gently from the surface into the ring of the rise.

It's quite a morning's work: stalking, taking inventory, planning your strategy, and executing with thoughtful precision. The process also facilitates a great spectator sport. Fishing with a good buddy (one who can keep a secret on your best spots!), and trading off as spotter and angler is deadly. In my family we play a quick little streamside game of Rochambeau- the winner gets to be the trout spotter. That's where all the fun and understanding of the river's most complex mini-ecosystems plays out center stage in living color. Try it, learn the water, and keep your spots secret! You can nurse these little spots all the way through the month of September. As the days get colder in October, the big insect hatches will die down and the window of opportunity for dry fly fishing will start to dwindle.

So, get out on the river, strategize your time for the most success, and enjoy the best of summer dry fly fishing!

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