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If the flow goes up, the chances are that the impact on the Deschutes is negative. If the flow is dropping, the Deschutes is clearing.

Deschutes River Fishing Report - February 3, 2010

The Deschutes cleared uip quickly and it has been fishing well lately. We are no longer fishing for steelhead in the Deschutes because they are getting ready to spawn and they should be left alone. The trout fishing has been great during the mid-day Blue Winged Olive hatches - when we get them. They are a bit inconsistant, but through the month of February they are getting better and better. Right now you could get 2 hours of great surface activity in the mid day, or 20 minutes, or none. The hatch is spotty! Nymph fishing with small buggy nymphs and small bright red or bright blue bead head flies is deadly. I personally prefer to get my flies down with split shot rather than a big stonefly - this lets me fish two smaller flies. I usually run one soft hackle and one bead head at two different strata by using a Czech leader.

We are getting ready for the Sportsmen's show next week at the Expo Center in Portland. The show runs Wednesday through Sunday - and we'll be on the casting pond with a 30 foot booth. John and I are giving presentations every day, so come on by and see us if you are headed to the show.

It is pretty cloudy and rainy over here today - this is great for the BWO hatch, but I sure do miss the Central Oregon sunshine! Stop by if you are in town! We'll be here.

Tight lines!

Amy & John Hazel and the entire crew at Deschutes Angler Fly Shop

Deschutes River Fishing Report - January 25, 2010

We had pretty close to five inches of heavy snow last night and it is now melting fast. Guess what this has done to the Deschutes? Yep, you guessed it - blown out. It got muddy this morning and will probably be high and off color until the snow is long gone. Since our ground out here is saturated already, we expect that most of the water will run off rather than be absorbed by the ground as our earlier big snow was.

If you are here fishing anyway, then big bright nymphs will be your best bet. If you have a stash of SJWs (san juan worms) now is the time to crack those out. If you have a heavy pocket in your vest full of split shot, use it liberally!

John and I just returned from a week in Honduras on a saltwater trip. It was big time fun! I will write about it in the blog this week once I catch up on my real work.

We'll keep you posted on the Deschutes conditions as the week goes on. Travis has been hooking steelhead on his guided trips and his personal trips on the Sandy this week. I don't know all the details, but I heard that the Sandy was fishing well. The rain we saw in Portland yesterday on our way home from the airport might jack the water levels a bit, but you can check that out on the water levels section of our web page.

Deschutes River Fishing Report - January 21, 2010

The Deschutes has dropped and water clarity is just about back to normal which bodes well for the weekend. The weather is warm for this time of year and the weather report is calling for overcast this Saturday and Sunday. If everything comes together, there should some great blue wing olive hatches like the one I experienced last weekend. The steelhead are for the most part preoccupied with getting into their natal stream to take care of business so fishing for them is pretty slow.

The Sandy has fished well over the last couple of days. Travis' client on Monday hooked three fish that lit it up. One of these fish Travis estimated to be about 15 lbs. and it put up quite a show as it threatened to leave the pool several times. Travis will be guiding on the Sandy for the next few months so if you want to experience the river from a guide's perspective give us a call.

Tight Lines, Deschutes Angler Staff Deschutes River Fishing Report - January 18, 2010

The Deschutes has finally blown out from the warm weather and heavy rain fall. The visibility is probably around 6 inches right now which does not bode well for fishing. It is too bad because the BWO hatch yesterday was out of control between 120pm and 20pm. Cripples were certainly the preferred fly but adults were also enticing the odd fish. We will keep you posted on the river conditions and plan on some great BWO fishing when the clarity improves.

The Sandy river has rising and dropping pretty regularly making it difficult to judge the conditions. Travis was out yesterday and caught one nice fish and his brother also has one on for a brief moment. Travis is out guiding the Sandy today and we are keeping our fingers crossed that the fishing was good.

Deschutes River Fishing Report - January 5, 2010

Well, my fears of the Deschutes getting high and muddy did not materialize. I forgot to take into account the fact that we are in the middle of a five year drought and the ground had the ability to suck up most of the snow melt. The river rose on Saturday and was a bit off color, but it is in decent shape now. I am finally getting around to posting a few photos from my birthday excursion but these are quickly trumped by the photos of a gorgeous Sandy River steelhead that Travis hooked yesterday. So, the real news is that the Sandy is starting to fish well - the steelhead are rolling in. Travis guides the Sandy for us all winter, so give us a call if you want to put together a trip with him.

The Deschutes trout fishing will be spotty all month - the January BWO hatches come and go and some days are better than others. Nymph fishing in between the hatches is a good way to find trout. Try some bright red patterns - they work amazingly well in the winter and especially in high water conditions.

If you have a chance to stop by the shop you will see that we really beefed up the fly tying material section. We have materials that you won't find anywhere else - some very rare feathers, furs of all kinds, and great colors of some standard materials like peacock herls. We actually flew to Minnesota in November and spent an entire day hand picking stuff from a 8000 sq ft warehouse crammed to the gills with every sort of fur and feather you could imagine. Being able to see the stuff in real life and hand pick the best of the best was awesome.

That's the quick report from Maupin. The snow has mostly melted now and it is raining off and on out here today.

Tight lines!

Amy & John Hazel and the crew at Deschutes Angler Fly Shop

Deschutes River Fishing Report - January 1, 2010

First fishing report of the new decade! I took time off on my birthday a few days ago to go steelhead fishing with a very good friend who stopped by the shop. It snowed on the 28th, just a little bit, and it was mighty cold out on the river! Fortunately, I was wearing my new Simms boot foot waders with the built in Muck boots and my wimpy, always cold feet felt exactly as warm as they do right now (I am writing this while nestled under three layers of blankets) even after standing in the freezing water for three hours. I got the first birthday fish after only about 10 minutes of swinging a black and blue intruder on a type 6 sink tip. A second steelhead shook my hand in the tailout of the run - I felt him taking my fly (tic tic tic pull) felt a head shake after I gave him slack and lifted the rod toward the bank, and he was gone. We moved to the second run of the day and my pal, Grasshopper, hooked a steelhead at the top of the run, it thrashed around and got off. Hopper had another grab about 20 feet down, but found a knot in his leader and said that I should step into the run while he got the knot out...bad move on his part. Two casts later, I had a fish on. ONLY because it was my birthday did I not feel horrible about picking his pocket...but then again, Hopper is a great guy to fish with because he has as much fun watching friends hook fish as he does hooking them himself. We got some silly pics of the second fish.

With a fresh coating of snow on the road, it was possible for us to see if we were the first and only people to fish a spot that day. We moved up river but did not find any more steelhead willing to grab our flies. Black and blue was the hot fly of the day - all three of my fish ate the same fly.

Though we were not trout fishing, we saw a good BWO hatch around 2 PM. If we had been carrying a trout rod with us, we would have had a solid hour of great dry fly fishing, but our minds were focused on steelhead. I talked to a few guys who had been out nymphing that day and they hooked one or two steelhead with that method, though the steelhead broke the trout hooks.

Yesterday, on New Year's Eve, we got a big dump of snow (close to a foot) which will probably melt over the weekend. When this snow does melt, I fully expect the river to flood to 20,000 to 30,000 CFS. This will clear out the logs and dead trees along the banks, will push the silt out of the tailouts of some of our runs, and will generally be a good thing to clean the river. The river will be unsafe to float or fish when it gets this high, so I will keep you posted on its condition - you can also check the flow at Moody on our river flow link.

Happy New Year everyone! We are closed on New Year's Day but we are back to normal on Saturday. See you on the water. Tight lines,

John and Amy Hazel Deschutes Angler Fly Shop

Deschutes River Fishing Report -