Orvis Casting Competition

Last weekend Damien entered the professional division at the 2nd Annual Orvis Casting Competition.  I know what you're thinking... competition is not why I fish.  Well imagine a blend of golf and casting.  Each "hole" requires a different set of casting skills... roll casting, distance, and of course accuracy.  Truly a fun challenge.  Give it a shot the next time you are in Bend.  The course (the only one of it's kind) is located in the Old Mill District near the Orvis store.

Deschutes River Steelhead Fishing

Last week we (the DCO crew) headed down the lower Lower Deschutes.  As a group, we had never floated the section from Mack's Canyon to Heritage Landing - the Colombia.  Our target was steelhead, and we wanted to check out the warm water reports we had been hearing.

We found fish.  8 to be exact.  6 fish came to our surface patterns.  Only 2 where landed.  Not bad since we only fished from first light to 11 am.  Water temps where a bit high, but not unfishable.

All and all, it was a great trip.  We look forward to the next adventure to that part of the river.

July newsletter

Our July Newsletter is available....

Early Steelhead season is upon us!

Fishing the Brickners

This past weekend I celebrated the 4th of July with Kurt and Sarah Brickner.  We had an awesome trip on the river.  We saw 2 other anglers in 3 days!  The fish where mildly responsive at the front end of the trip.  As the weather heated up the fishing got a lot better.  Kurt had an epic day on the 4th.  Thanks for a great trip.

Fly fishing report for the Lower Deschutes

This week will mark the end of the 2010 stone fly hatch on the Lower Deschutes River.  This year's hatch was very unique... it started early and ended late.  This has been the longest time we've thrown adult dry flies and caught fish... May 13th - June 20th!  Here are is a photo from our last trip...

Antone Ranch

The Deschutes River blew us off the river this week... bummer!  We where looking forward to having great fishing with the Elliot group... settled for a day on Buckhorn instead... fishing there was great!

The next trip we rescheduled to Antone Ranch!  Have you heard of this place?  45,000 acres.  5 lakes.  lots of giant fish.  Beautiful.  We camped at the edge of Rock Lake, the largest lake on the ranch... it happened to have tons of beautiful fish in it.  Check out this photo of the trophy's trophy from High Lake!  Damn!

Lower Deschutes Multi-day trip

We just returned from another fishing trip from Trout Creek to Maupin... Mother Nature is kicking our butts!  The river has come up over 2000 cfs!  And this morning Trout Creek was putting enough mud into the river to make fishing challenging... nearly unfishible.  We did manage to catch a few nice fish on Thursday and Friday.

Fishing with Owen and Tre

The fishing on the Lower Deschutes continues to be RED HOT.  The past few days have been spend fishing with Owen and his son Tre.  They had some great fishing and caught some awesome fish.  We even where lucky enough to see a herd of Big Horn Sheep.

Fishing with Tim Hartford

We just returned from a great fishing trip with Tim Hartford and his girl friend Dina.  The fishing was so so on the first day, very good on the 2nd day, and RED HOT on the 3rd day.  Thanks for joining us Tim and Dina.

Deschutes River Report

Ken was on the Lower Deschutes yesterday and reported awesome fishing.  He floated with a couple of regulars from Warmsprings to Trout Creek.  The stone fly hatch is still in effect and he reported catching fish on caddis, pmd's and even some green drakes.  Can't wait to launch later this morning for 3 days and 2 nights of camping and fishing.

Zen and the Art of Fly Fish

Be sure to visit the latest article about a recent trip with one of our owners/guides Damien Nurre.

http://blog.traveloregon.com/2010/05/20/zen-and-the-art-of-fly-fishing/

Our friends at VisitBend.com had a great trip on the river with us.  They couldn't wait to tell everyone how much fun they had.

http://www.visitbend.com/blog/2010/05/19/lower-deschutes-multi-day-fly-fishing-trips-is-a-must-for-any-fly-rodder/

Crooked River Fishing Report

The high water event on the Crooked River has subsided.  Fishing is improving, but will continue to get better as the water level drops.  Be sure to be stocked up with plenty of caddis patterns for the next few days/week.  The Mother's Day caddis hatch is in full effect.  This blanket hatch is a site to see.

Lower Deschutes Fishing report

Let the games begin. The river is in prime shape, after the recent high water event. The trout are hungry and fool hardy... Game on! This weekend we had a few successful trips from Warmsprings to Trout Creek. The redbands, where eager to eat nymphs: stone fly, pheasant tails, caddis pupas, and zebra midges. The stone flies, salmon and golden stones nymphs are starting to become very active, and should start their migration in the lowest section of the river in next few weeks. The first emergence of adults have been spotty below sherars falls. By the week of the week, there should be a few popping out as high up as locked gate. If you are fishing on the Lower Deschutes be sure to have beatis (Blue Winged Olive) patterns in nymphs, emergers, and dries. Zebra midge is our favorite. Fishing in the Maupin area is still open and is the best option for access.

Low water in Montana, Colorado, and Wyomning

There is an interesting article in the latest issue of the Angling Report. It looks like the Intermountain West is going to have a very rough fishing season. Expect there to be river closures in MT, CO, and WY by mid July. Luckily (but not without other problems) the Deschutes River Basin has a number of dams and reservoirs, that allow consistent flow even during lowest water years. We should feel the same effects they are further east.


Here is an excerpt:


MONTANA. Montana, like Idaho, watched the wet winter weather pass to the south. March and April brought some moisture and cool weather to the mountains but only enough to give a small boost to low summer streamflow predictions. In the western part of the state, summer streamflow predictions for destination rivers such as the Bitterroot, Blackfoot, Big Hole and Clark Fork are forecast to be as much as 60 percent below normal with the Bitterroot and Lower Clark Fork hit especially hard. Further east, ticularly in the northern Rockies - you may not find “nor-
mal” streamflows this summer. The outlook for the Jefferson, Madison, Gallatin and Yellowstone rivers is a bit better, but they still are predicted to run in the neighborhood of 20 percent below the 30-year average. The Bighorn River streamflow is projected to be around 75 percent of average. Again, if predictions hold, the best timing for fishing in Montana will be mid June through early August, maybe even a little earlier for rivers in the western part of the state.


WYOMING. Streamflow across this state is expected to be considerably below average from May to September. The upper Snake, Madison and Yellowstone river basins are predicted to be 70 percent of average, at best. Summer flows for the Shoshone and Clarks Fork river basins in the northern part of the state are projected at 65 percent of normal. Farther south, things look better: the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne rivers should run close to 100 percent. The upper and lower North Platte rivers are, however, predicted to run at only around 60 percent. Reservoir storage across the state is good, which will help.


COLORADO. Moving southward to Colorado, the streamflow outlook improves but only slightly. Across northern Colorado, the winter snowpack that feeds streams such as the Colorado, Yampa, White and North Platte is below normal. Those rivers, and the South Platte, are projected to have summer flows at 70 to 80 percent of normal. In contrast, streams further to the south in Colorado are predicted to see near-average to slightly above-average volumes. Reservoir storage across most of the state is near average, which should help alleviate late-summer shortages in some basins.

Buckhorn Lake - Middle Deschutes

This weekend the staff at Deep Canyon Outfitters decided to for go our annual opening day fishing trip on the Lower Deschutes, and fished Buckhorn Lake and the Middle Deschutes instead. The Lower Deschutes river is NOT fishing very well right now. It is being effected by the Crooked River, which is flow extremely high right now. Despite a relatively light snow pack, run off on the Crooked River is effecting the entire Lower Deschutes system. Look for the lower river to clear in the next week or so.

We found success this weekend at both locations. Buckhorn Lake was by far the best fishing. We didn't have much success catching bass, but the rainbows were easily fooled. The Middle Deschutes was a great adventure. 4 of our staff ventured down stream towards Lake Billy Chinook, while the other 4 ventured upstream from the lake. Everyone caught a few fish on both nymphs and dry flies. The big news is the salmon flies that where spotted. Both groups reported seeing the first few bugs of the 2010 season.

Buckhorn Lake - now open

Buckhorn Lake is now open for fishing in 2010. The bass fishing has remained awesome! And earlier this winter we added a few trout to the mix. Now you can catch a rainbow trout and a bass in the same lake, on the same day, with the same fly. Our guides are loving the lake and have dubbed it "Mini-Crane"... the trout are concentrating in the channels and the bass are in the shallow edges.

What makes a fly pattern new?

At Deep Canyon, we have a couple of guides on staff who are avid fly tiers... and like to think of our selves as innovative. But are we? Above is photo of Damien's SUV stone. Read the article and let us know if you think this fly is innovative.

An update from Coyhaique River Lodge

The 2010 season in Patagonia is quickly coming to an end. This season saw so many fish with so little time to experience every river, lake or creek. New fishing holes were discovered, new lakes explored and many of the smaller fish are growing to an unbelievable size. Alejandro reported record catches on several days. All who were fortunate to get a week with the Rumbo guides were not disappointed. Those of you who could not make it down this year........we saved you some. They'll be even bigger come 2011.

Upper Deschutes River restoration

Here's some interesting insight into the restoration issues facing the Upper Deschutes River.