Central Oregon Redbands

A few weeks ago I was invited on a trip to Sun River Oregon by my sister and I jumped on the opportunity. Sun River lies near the headwaters of the Deschutes River in central Oregon, placing it smack dab in the heart of Columbia Basin Redband country. As such, I was looking forward to getting back to a little stream fishing for native trout, especially since beyond fishing for steelhead I haven't had the opportunity since streams closed in Washington last fall.

Thursday May 28th 2009: I got off work at the fly shop at 6:00 PM and my sister and I were on the road by 7:00PM. We decided to drive as far as The Dalles the first night, as it would break the driving up a bit and put us within striking distance of the lower Deschutes River.

Friday May 29th 2009: We got off to a later start than what I would have liked, but by mid-morning we were in Maupin, Oregon where I got my fishing license and swung by The Deschutes Angler Fly Shop where I picked up a few flies and some very useful information on the current conditions. It sounded like if I was lucky I would get a couple of hours of dry fly action before the fish would go down and it would become a nymphing game. That worked for me, so from Maupin it was a straight shot to the Deschutes River to test out some new water and try my luck for some Columbia Basin Redbands.

The end of May on the Deschutes River is typically Salmonfly season, but based on what I had heard, the hatch had started early and was starting to taper down. As such I decided to rig up my 4wt with a double nymph rig to start things out. After a few minutes on the river though, it was evident that there were still plenty of Salmonflies around, and that the trout were still on to them. Splashy rises could be heard echoing up and down the river as the trout attacked the clumsy Salmonflies.

The banks were lined with Salmonflies...

After a couple minutes of not so successful nymphing I heard a rise not far downstream and stopped to see if I could locate the source. It didn't take long to figure out where it came from, as big Redband came up again and smashed a Salmonfly from under an over hanging bush downstream. I decided that I was going to go after this fish, so I changed to a Salmonfly variant of the BC Hopper. I tried to drift a cast underneath the tree from above, but the trout was holding in a back eddy making an upstream approach impossible, so I would have to get below him.

The Deschutes River

Once I got downstream I found a nice rock outcropping to stand on, which shortened my casting distance to about 20 to 25 feet. Even so this was not going to be an easy cast as the tree branches came down to within 6" of the surface of the river in places with only a couple of gaps to get my fly through. To make matters worse, the back eddy ended before it got to my position so I wouldn't be able to just drift my fly into position. I made my first cast tight to the water, but my fly was still riding a little bit high and hit a leaf as the loop of the line was unfolding. Miraculously the fly simply bounced off the leaf and landed smack dab in front of the trout, which was now tucked about four feet under the tree. The fly only had a couple of seconds to rest on the water before the trout exploded on it. Seeing this explosive take though I immediately set the hook and pulled the fly right out of the trout's mouth. I was pretty upset with myself at this point thinking that I had blown my chance at the Redband.

My next cast fell short of the big trout's position, but a second slightly smaller fish came up and rose to my fly. This time I was a little more patient and felt the fish for a second before the fly came shooting back at me. It took several fruitless casts before I got one underneath the tree in the big Redband's feeding lane. Apparently my first attempt at this fish hadn't spooked it as he came right back up the surface and smash my fly again. I gave a slight pause before setting the hook this time and felt my line go tight. I got a good head shake and then nothing...

This time it was definitely over, as the fish had felt my hook and wasn't going to come back again. However, within a couple minutes I saw another much smaller fish rise on the seem of the back eddy and put my fly in front of it. I saw the Redband on the side of the fish as it rose, but missed him. On my next cast I put my fly right back in the same spot and a fish rose to it and I finally got a solid hook up. I tried to move the fish out of the feeding lane quickly, but all the same it thrashing likely spooked the run. After a quick battle I brought the fish to my net and was shocked to see that it was not a trout but a Northern Pikeminnow, a native fish known as a voracious predator of juvenile salmon and steelhead.

The Salmonfly eating Pikeminnow

After a few more fruitless casts I moved downstream to try another stretch of the river. I found a few rising fish, but within a few minutes it was like somebody flipped a switch and the fish turned off to dries. It looked like the info that I had gotten from the fly shop was good, so I switched back to a nymphing set up and started working a seam along a drop off. I got a couple of strikes that I missed, before I got a solid hook up. I could tell what I had was decent sized, but it sure wasn't fighting very well. When I got the fish in I quickly became evident why...

A big post-spawn Redband

When I got the fish to the net, it was a big post-spawn Redband that was in rough shape. I was amazing that this fish was feeding, as it didn't look long for the world, but I made sure to quick release it so if it is planning some miraculous recovery its chances will be a little better.

Just after releasing the fish a drift boat with two sheriffs pulled in next to me and they asked see my fishing license. I handed them my license and with everything in order they handed it back to me, asked me how fishing was and headed downstream. Two things happened though after being checked, the first was that the drift boat spooked all of the fish that I was working. The second was that a thunderstorm that had been lurking in the distance finally closed in on my position, telling me it was time to go. After wrapping up on the Deschutes it was back on the road to Sun River. Once there we checked into our hotel room, settled in for the rest of they evening and made plans for the next day.

Saturday May 30th 2009: I decided that I really wanted to try to catch some more Klamath Basin Redband Trout as their native range was only a couple of hours from Sun River it looked pretty doable as a day trip. From the research that I had done it looked like the there were some streams draining the southern slopes of Crater Lake that held these fish and as my sister had never been to Crater Lake what better way would there be to get there then cutting through Crater Lake National Park.

We got to Crater Lake around 10:30 AM and found it to be just as beautiful if not more so than I remember it the last time I was there. I had never gotten to see the lake with snow around it and it certainly added to the beauty. We spent about an hour hiking around the park admiring the beauty of the place before a rain squall moved in and we decided to get back on the road.

Crater Lake

The headwaters of a Klamath Basin Redband stream in Crater Lake National Park

One the way out of the Park we drove past the headwaters of a Redband stream that I had cut itself an amazing canyon through the volcanic soil. I would have liked to try some fishing down in that canyon, but from what I could see there were no safe ways to the bottom so we kept moving.

When we pulled into the first stream I had chosen to try out, the water was high and off color, but there was a great hatch of Brown Drakes coming off. Unfortunately, there was also a great hatch of Mosquitoes coming off as well. Mosquitoes usually don't bother me too much, so I rigged up and started fishing anyways. However, this spot was ridiculous and every time that I would stop to make a cast I got swarmed by hundreds of the little bloodsuckers. On a couple of occasions I killed a dozen of the little buggers with one swat on my arm. I will put up with a lot in the pursuit of native trout, but this crossed a line and for the first time in my life I was driven from a stream by mosquitoes.

The mosquito creek

With my defeat on the mosquito creek, I set my sights on a spring creek a little further down the valley. When I arrived at the spring creek the water was a bit high and off color due to runoff from some of its snow driven tributaries. With the low visibility I decided to start out with a flashy Woolly Bugger to try to get down to the fish. However, after cover a sizable stretch of the stream without so much as a bump I decided that it was time to switch things up.

The spring creek

While walking along the bank I finally spotted a rising fish in a back eddy. It was unclear what this fish was feeding on, but every time that the sun was blocked by a cloud it would invariably rise a few times before things got bright again. As there were a few caddis around I put on a small Caddis Emerger and made a few casts to it. Nothing. Next I tried a double nymph rig. Nothing. With the Brown Drake hatch on the creek earlier, I followed this up with a Mayfly Dun and Emerger. Still nothing. I even resorted to try some midges, but again the picky fish was not interested. Finally I went back to a nymph, trying a small Copper John and finally I had a grab, but didn't hook up. After that, I didn't see the fish rise again and with the frustration that it had caused and an encroaching thunderstorm it was time to call it a day.

Me getting frustrated with a super picky trout

Sunday May 31st 2009: With my defeat on Saturday, I decided that it was time to regroup and get some information at one of the Sun River fly shops. I had been thinking about heading to a stream in the Oregon high desert and this is exactly where the guy at the fly shop suggested that I should try. So I picked up a few courtesy flies and hit the road for the desert.

Upon arriving at the river I found a stretch of good looking water with some nice pools and pocket water and a very promising looking side channel. I decided that I would use my 2 WT here as I had been itching to get some fish on it for a while. I started out with a double nymph rig, using a size 16 Pheasant Tail trailed by a size 20 Black and White Copper John. As I was rigging up my rod, I started watching the side channel and to my delight I could clearly see several decent trout holding in a pocket.

The river

I decided that I would start at the bottom of the side channel and work my way through it before trying the main channel. At the bottom of the channel I found decent little pool and after a few casts I hooked up with a fish but lost it. I missed a few more fish on the lower part of the side channel before heading upstream to where I had spotted the fish while rigging up. I found that the fish were still there, but the water was much shallower than I had originally thought, making a good drift difficult with the nymph rig. I still managed to hook up with a 16" trout that thrashed around scattering the rest of the fish before tossing my tiny nymph. With the fish in the pocket spooked I moved up to the top of the side channel where there was a nice deep piece of pocket water and I finally got a solid hook up with a Redband. After a short fight I brought the little 9" trout to my net, took a couple photos and sent it on its way.

A Columbia Basin Redband Trout

On my next cast I briefly hooked up with a much larger fish, but it spit my hook so I headed back down to the end of the channel again. This time I had a bit more luck and got two Redbands on back to back casts, both of which jumped several times and put of a considerable fight on my little 2WT.

A darkly colored Redband

From here I decided to head out to the main channel, so I added little weight and started covering the water. After a couple of casts my indicator shot down and a 20+ inch Redband rocketed out of the water. I had a solid hook up on this fish and he jumped several more times and made a few blistering runs out to the main channel before I was able to work him into the slower water. I got the fish directly below me and was slowly easing him back upstream when the combo of a 2WT, size 20 fly and 6x finally caught up with me. The fish shook its head at the wrong time and with a little pop my tippet snapped and the fish was gone. While it was disappointing to lose the fish, I had gotten the best part of it and won't forget that battle anytime soon.

The stretch where the big Redband was hanging out.

By this time the daily thunderstorm was starting to approach, so I knew that I didn't have much more time to fish so I headed upstream to try a couple of pools above where I hooked the big one. I found the first pool to be vacant, but in the second one I hooked up with a nice 16" fish which I had on for a minute or so before it managed to get out in the current and throw my fly. This was the final straw and with thunder rumbling in the distance it was time to head out.

Monday June 1st 2009: There wasn't going to be any time for fishing today as my it was time to head home. However, we did have a few minutes to at least drive over to the Fall River to scout it out for a future trip. The Fall River has to be one of the nicest looking streams that I have visited, with the feel crystal clear spring creek meandering through the pine forest.

Something to look forward to on the next trip

After the quick peek at the Fall River, it was back to Sun River to gather up our things and make the long drive back home.