The Upper Deschutes River

The Deschutes River upstream of Farewell Bend Park was iced over in spots last week. The river can be good to fish in winter, but variable conditions can be tough to predict.

Why the low flow?
The region’s water managers hold back water behind Crane Prairie Dam and Wickiup Dam in the winter to ensure that irrigators will have enough water in the summer.
The flows below Wickiup Reservoir have dropped as low as 25 cubic feet per second this winter, which fish biologists say is a detriment to the redband and brown trout populations.
Low flows become less pronounced as anglers move downstream, although the effects are still noticeable.
For all the drama of the Deschutes River in the winter — the fluctuating flows, the bitter cold, and the occasional icing over (as happened just last week) — there are still those anglers who cannot get enough.

More about the Upper Deschutes River

$4M grant to benefit fish projects

$4M grant to benefit fish projects
4 Central Oregon groups will split funds to boost salmon, steelhead.

The Deschutes River Conservancy, the Deschutes Basin Land Trust, the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council and the Crooked River Watershed Council together received the grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board at the board’s meeting last week. The watershed board is a state agency that distributes grants for conservation projects with funds from the lottery and other sources.

Trout Bums: Bend Oregon Fly Fishing Film Tour

For the 4th year now, the Trout Bums are coming to Bend, Oregon.

They call themselves the Fish Bums, but their experiences are not always about the fishing.

Sometimes they’re about the curious situations in which they find themselves — such as drinking too much fermented “yak yogurt” and ending up passed out somewhere in the middle of frigid Mongolia.

That’s what happened to Thad Robison while he was filming “Fish Bum I: Mongolia.”

“It’s the nastiest, foulest thing you’ve ever put in your mouth,” Robison says of the potent cocktail. “It is bad. It creeps up on you. The locals knew more than they were telling us. It hit me like a freight train.”

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Deschutes River Conservancy names new directors to board

Deschutes River Conservancy names new directors to board

Bruce Bischof, Damien Nurre and Jim Mead have joined the Deschutes River Conservancy board of directors.

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