Winding Down

All good things must come to an end. Sadly our Fall Steelhead season is fast coming to a close. In the morning I’m going to launch on my last Deschutes Steelhead camp trip for the season. It’s gonna be cold. It’s finally feeling like Fall.

This season has been better than expected and that’s a good thing. Very few days where we didn’t find fish and quite a few where we hooked multiples. Hopefully, this is the start of a good trend.

Even though my season is winding down that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to catch fall steelhead. If you look a little further there are still good opportunities. The Klickitat should be great right now. If you want to go even further the Lewiston area should be great. The Snake, Clearwater, and Grand Ronde are just hitting their stride. If you head south the Rogue will be good too. And if you know where to look there are other hidden gems around that will continue to produce for the next few weeks.

We have switched primarily to sink tips and bigger darker flies. My go-to right now is a black rabbit strip tube fly with an orange cone. I have switched because of air and water temps but that doesn’t mean you can’t get them on a floating line and small flies or even skaters.

If you are ready for a change of pace there should be some chums showing up on the coast and that can be some fun fishing. Chums are hard fighters and worth the time.

If you want to get your trout fix before the passes become snow-covered and a pain to traverse, the Deschutes and Metolius are fishing very well. There has been some good dry fly action. Lots of BWOs and even some Caddis. Another technique that works right now is an egg pattern. There are a lot of Chinooks spawning so there are lots of eggs in the water. And of course, the Euro technique is still going strong.

The fall can be some of the best fishing of the year. There are lots of steelhead around and trout are trying to bulk up for the winter. Make some time and get out there.