Central Oregon Headwaters Tour

July 30-August 5, 2011

Jeff and I did a change from our usual Florida trips and decided to go trout fishing this year. Originally the plan was to fish Montana but with the high water they had been having we decided to head to Central Oregon where I knew we could at least fish some spring creeks and tailwaters that would be in good condition. It sort of turned into the Headwaters Trip as we fished and saw the start of the Metolius and Fall rivers at their springs, the Crooked at the dam and the Deschutes in the high country.

Metolius River - July 30 & Aug 1

We arrived at the Camp Sherman campground mid-day and got set up pretty quickly right along the river. After a quick lunch we geared up and hit the river for a few hours in the late afternoon. Things started out slow but at the Allingham bridge I finally connected with the best trout I got on the river, a 16" rainbow that took at BHPT nymph. I got one other bow in that stretch before moving on. At the lower end of the campground I got into a BWO hatch and got several fish on a #18 Comparadun, not bad for the first few hours of the trip.

Camp on the Metolius	Typical Metolius rainbow
Jeff fishing the Metolius	Camp Sherman store & fly shop

On Monday we hit the Metolius all day long. Jeff connected first in the morning at a nice run as we worked our way down to the start of the gorge. We took fish on nymphs in several runs and I even got a brookie at the bridge run. A few fish were rising at the lower end of the bridge run so I switched to a dry and never went back the rest of the day. After lunch I hit my favorite run and managed about 8 trout in a dozen casts to the Comparadun. There were a few big Golden Stones around so I put on a #6 Yellow Stimulator and got another half dozen fish on it. The rest of the day was using the big Stim in good looking water and throwing the Comparadun where fish were rising. I think I ended up with about 25-30 fish for the day, by far my best day on a tough river. My last fish of the day was pretty amazing, I must have had it rise and refuse or missed it 3-4 times so I switched e #18 for a #20 then to a #18 hackled BWO which he finally took. The fish was a maniac, it jumped like a tarpon several times, wound me around a tree branch and I got it out then it wound me around another branch and finally broke the 6x tippet. These Metolius fish are tough fighters, all that from an 11" fish.

First fish on the Stimulator, I lost the net taking this photo	My net downstream about 400 yards

I almost lost my net on the river too. I took a photo of a trout with the big Stimulator and evidently dropped the net in the very slow water about 2" deep at the bank. When I went to pick it up it was gone, a good indication that the Metolius cranks even where it appears slow. I figured the net was gone and this net had been a gift years ago so I was kind of bummed. I decided to go looking figuring it had to follow the bank through a side channel and back into the main flow. I walked about 400 yards downriver and found the net stuck in an overhanging bush. I had to wade into some heavy water to get it but managed to retrieve the net.

The Metolius headwater spring	View downstream from spring, Mt. Jefferson in the background

Crooked River - Aug 2

After a run and breakfast we packed up camp and began the drive to Sisters, Redmond, Prineville and finally the Crooked River where we fished in the desert sun most of the day. I had built this up as a piece of cake compared to the Metolius and within a few casts a rainbow rose to my Elk Hair Caddis and I figured we were in for a fish filled day. An hour later I had one other small trout and two whitefish to show for the effort.

So, we moved and went up river a bit to the Lone Pine pullout. There we finally got into the fish and for a few hours had a blast. Jeff connected with a few fish then hit a great run where he got some bigger fish and a lot of fish. I was also connecting in some water close by, mostly on nymphs. I finally got tired of nymphing and switched to dries getting refusals on the Caddis but solid takes on a #18 Adams. I got a dozen fish on dries in the last hour. Jeff got the bigger fish of the day and a few nice whitefish of his own. We figured between us we landed at least 50 trout in the afternoon and missed and lost another few dozen. It did turn out to be the easy fishing I remembered from a decade ago.

The Crooked River	Fishing the Crooked

Typical Crooked River rainbow

We headed into Bend to find a room and shower for the evening. After settling in, taking a swim and cleaning up we went to the Deschutes Brewery for dinner.

Fall River - Aug 3

We left Bend after breakfast and headed south for La Pine and the Fall River. First stop, the hatchery water where I'd had success on previous trips. When we got down to the river we found a few fish rising to midges so I rigged my 7' 4-weight bamboo with a #22 black Racoon midge emerger. The fly worked great and I got about a half dozen fish to rise to it before they got really sporadic. All morning if I found rising fish they would take either the Racoon or a #24 Griffith's Gnat. I ended up with about 10 fish on the dries. In between rises I would throw a nymph rig to fish and got several on a BHPT and one nice fish on a #20 Brassie. Jeff got a few fish on nymphs too. This was definitely tougher than the Metolius was, requiring much smaller flies.

Fall River rainbow	Fishing the Fall on the hatchery water

The Bonefish Flats pool on the Fall River

At 1:00 we headed up to the Fall River campground and set up for the night. After lunch we fished the headwaters area for a few hours finding some nice fish but not having any luck getting them to take. We then hiked over a mile downriver and hit some decent looking water but with no luck at all so we headed back to make dinner before hitting the headwaters at dusk. That time out I finally saw a trout rise in a nearly impossible spot between a few fallen logs. There were Caddis about so I threw a #16 Elk Hair Caddis and the fish rose and took it. I immediately lifted him up and over the log and managed to land the 12" rainbow on 6x tippet in a hard spot. We found a group of fish rising late to small midges that were also a very hard cast but we tried until our legs got numb from wading wet late in the day in 55 degree water. Overall a good day but a tough afternoon but this is a very tough and technical river.

Fall River camp	Start of headwaters section

Upper Deschutes - Aug 4

After a run on the Fall River trail and breakfast we headed up e Cascade Loop road to fish the upper Deschutes River, about the only stretch of the Deschutes I hadn't fished at some point. We started on the water between Wikikup and Crane Prairie reservoirs which is a 3 mile stretch of water but the lower portion was way fast so we fished the upper mile plus of water. We got skunked in the several hours of fishing, I had 3 rises which I missed and Jeff had one fish on the dropper that he missed.

Deschutes River between the lakes	On the road to the Upper Deschutes

We then headed to the way upper Deschutes near the headwaters and fished a mile plus of water from the bridge downstream through a tangle of fallen trees & bog. Here we found dozens of small rainbows and brookies up to 8-9" willing to rise to a #18 Adams or Elk Hair Caddis. Perfect water for my little bamboo rod. We must have caught 75-100 fish in the two and a half hours we worked this section of water. Very fun after a long and semi frustrating afternoon yesterday.

Upper Deschutes River	Deschutes brook trout

In the evening we ended up returning to the Fall River camp since the campgrounds on the upper Deschutes had been closed. We hit the evening midge hatch on the flats which we assumed happened like clockwork each night. It came off as expected right at the edge of weed clumps. I managed to get 3 fish to rise and missed each of them on the #24 Racoon. Jeff managed to rise and actually hook and land one of them and it was a decent fish. We were pretty excited to have both gotten fish out of the headwaters on dries, this is one hard stretch of water. Our legs were pretty much numb even with waders after an hour or so and we walked back to camp. We had a bear or something in the river and roaming the campground in the early evening after dark, I could hear it off and on.

Jeff decided to take a swim...	... it didn't last long
Small pools in the headwaters	Fish on in tough water

Fall River & Metolius River - Aug 5

In the morning we decided to hit the hatchery water on the Fall again and then do the drive back to the Metolius for the afternoon and to get us an hour closer on the drive back tomorrow.

On the Fall the midge hatch started like clockwork a bit after 8:00 a.m. I started in a run by the lawn and Jeff was up about four runs. I got fish to rise but had a heck of a time hooking them on the small flies. After about 30 minutes of activity I was 1/8 on fish landed for those that ate the #24 Griffith's Gnat. I joined Jeff who had landed as many fish as I had lost. He wanted to go look at another run so I kept fishing his run and started hooking and landing fish. We fished until we lost all our small Gnats. I got one nice fish right on a fallen log and the next one I was trying for in the same spot I finally hooked a branch and that was it, time to leave. A great morning, we landed over two dozen trout on #24 dries in about two hours on the water while everyone else was getting skunked.

Fall River rainbow

We arrived at the Metolius just around lunch so we had a bite then geared up for a few hours of fishing before cleaning up and heading back to Sisters for dinner. The tree hole where I'd done so well this trip was swarming with people but I hit it anyway. I got one fish to rise to a big yellow Stimulator but missed it and saw another fish take a natural but that was about it. Trying to fish the far bank I managed to loose my last yellow stimulator which was a drag. I worked more water downstream and saw fish taking naturals but they did not want the orange one I tied on. I ran into Jeff and bummed a yellow fly off him and we headed to the bridge. There I was tossing the Stim plus a PT dropper and managed two fish, one was one of the nicest and hardest fighting fish of the trip. Further down at another good run we had found Jeff got two fish. That was a good way to end the fishing for the day and for the trip. We cleaned up as best we could and drove to the Three Creek Brewery for dinner and beer to put a cap on the trip.