Learn from the best fly fishing guides in the Northwest how to stalk the banks of a trout stream with a fly rod in search of feeding trout. Floating through the majestic canyon of the Deschutes River and spending the night in a luxury riverside camp is the ultimate fly fishing experience available in Oregon. Anglers on this educational two-day float trip will undergo a full fly fishing immersion - fly fishing is all that you will eat, sleep, and breathe for two straight days. The instructors will help you build a strong fly fishing foundation through casting instruction, knot tying sessions, insect identification lessons, insight into reading the water to know where the trout are feeding, and strategies for choosing the right fly at the right moment. Your guides will teach you how to fight trout effectively and how to handle trout so that they are released back to the river strong and healthy.
Your days will be spent floating down river in a comfortable and safe drift boat. Your guide will row around nine miles of river per day, stopping at each good spot so that you can get out of the boat to wade and fish. Other than casting the rod to give you step by step instruction, the guide does not fish at all during the two days that he spends with you on the water. It is the guide’s job to teach you as much as possible about fly fishing and to maximize your opportunities for hooking trout. Since it is against the regulations to fish out of a boat on the Deschutes, all of our fishing will be done while wading in the water.
In camp, the guides and students will gather around the table after dinner to learn and to practice several of the most important fishing knots. Students will be expected to tie all of their own knots on the river on day two under the watchful eye of their guide. One of the chief goals of this class is to help each student become an independent angler - able to go to any body of water with fly rod in hand and fish all day without needing help tying flies on, untangling knots, finding fish, etc.
Perhaps the greatest thing about camping on the river is that you have the opportunity to fish the water in the evening until the sun goes down and first thing in the morning as the sun is coming up. The full spectrum of insect activity is right there before your eyes - from the early morning hours when trout are feasting on dead insects, to the mid-day mayfly hatch when the bugs are popping out on the surface of the water as trout splash through the water to chase them, to the crazy mayhem of the last twenty minutes of daylight when you are afraid to open your mouth for fear of inhaling dozens of fluttering caddis flies. Insects are key to your success as a fly angler. Your guide will share his knowledge of the insects of the river and will show you the many patterns of hand-tied flies that imitate the live insects.
Two-Day Trout Camp Topics:
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Basic Fly Fishing Knots
How to Choose a Fly Rod
How to Match Fly Rod to Reel
Understanding Fly Lines
Casting a Fly Rod
Types of Insects Important to Trout
Life Cycles of River Insects
Feeding Habits of Trout
Water Types Where Trout Live and Feed
Tactics for Presenting Flies to Feeding Trout
Fishing with Dry Flies
Fishing with Wet Flies/Nymphs
Hooking, Playing, Landing Trout
Safely Releasing Trout Unharmed
Camping
Our evenings will be spent on the bank of the Deschutes River in a safari-style luxury camp. Your fishing guides will spend evenings in camp with you barbecuing, socializing, and discussing the finer points of fly fishing. Should you wish to enjoy an adult beverage in the evening, feel free to bring what you wish - coolers of ice will be on hand. We are happy to accommodate dietary restrictions, but advance notice is necessary. You will sleep on comfortable cots either under the stars (no mosquitoes on the Deschutes!) or in tall tents which allow for both privacy and freedom of movement. Bring your own sleeping bag, pillow, toiletries and a towel. Don’t forget to bring some good camp shoes/sandels and comfortable camp clothes.A privacy tent will be set up for the toilet and we will have a station with hot water for washing/shaving.
Trout camp is offered on set dates in the spring and early summer. The trout camps for 2011 have come and gone, but we plan on doing two or three of these camps in 2012. If you would like to be put on a notification list for next year's trout camps, please give our fly shop a call at 541-395-0995.
Learn from the best fly fishing guides in the Northwest how to stalk the banks of a trout stream with a fly rod in search of feeding trout. Floating through the majestic canyon of the Deschutes River and spending the night in a luxury riverside camp is the ultimate fly fishing experience available in Oregon. Anglers on this educational two-day float trip will undergo a full fly fishing immersion - fly fishing is all that you will eat, sleep, and breathe for two straight days. The instructors will help you build a strong fly fishing foundation through casting instruction, knot tying sessions, insect identification lessons, insight into reading the water to know where the trout are feeding, and strategies for choosing the right fly at the right moment. Your guides will teach you how to fight trout effectively and how to handle trout so that they are released back to the river strong and healthy.
