Oregon and California Redband Round-up: Part 2 Redbands

With the Eagle Lake Rainbow Trout in the bag, our plans opened up enough to chase after some Redbands, so on the the way back north we would try our luck for Pit River Redbands, Goose Lake Redbands, Warner Valley Redbands, Chewaucan Redbands and if time allowed Columbia Basin Redbands.

Sunday: June 6th 2021: Once again we were up before the sun and by 6:00 AM we were back on the road. After a smooth few hours on the road, we arrived at our first stream of the day. Where the road crossed the creek, it was tiny and as such I decided to forego the wading gear and just rock hop. We decided to work our way downstream and initially didn’t find any fish, but not too far downstream another tributary entered with a nice pool right below it which looked like good holding water. It only took a couple casts to show that this was indeed a decent spot and it quickly produced my first Pit River Redband. 

A beautiful Pit River Redband Trout

The Pit River Redband stream

This turned out to be one of those ultra productive little streams and every pocket and pool held at least a fish or two.  This fish weren’t particularly selective either and the dry dropper setup produced very good results including one trout just shy of 12” that was tucked against an undercut bank.

A sizeable Redband for such a small stream

After a couple of hours we had gotten at least a dozen trout and were satisfied enough to head on to our next spot to go after some Goose Lake Redbands. For this next spot I had decided to revisit a creek that I had fished way back in 2007, yikes 14 years ago already! It is always interesting to revisit streams after such a long gap, sometimes it seems as though time has stood still, but more often than not time and especially people are not as kind to these streams as one would hope. This was one of those rare cases where the stream actually looked better than I had last found it. Back in 2007, there was a restoration project as well as cattle exclusions that had just started and it was clear that the efforts were bearing fruits as the stream now flowed though a lush meadow. 

Goose Lake Redband waters

In the first pool that I looked in there was a decent 7-8" Redband, but this fish was wise to the ways of anglers and despite getting a couple of takes, I could never quite hook up. I did get a couple smaller fish out of the pool and upstream where the restoration work had formed some nice pools I caught a beautiful Redband.

A Goose Lake Redband Trout

While we did find a few fish here and there, this stream proved much more challenging than I had hoped as it was brushy and the fish were extremely spooky making it hard to get a good presentation. After a couple hours in which we both got a few decent Redbands, we again decided to hit the road for the stream I was most excited to check out.  This next spot was a rimrock canyon stream, where we hoped to find some Warner Valley Redband Trout. When I had been researching the trip, I definitely found evidence that there were Redbands in the creek, but I what I didn't find was anything about anyone actually fishing the creek, a fact I found intriguing. 

The stretch of the creek we started on was a big flat, full of shallow riffles and a few deeper pockets. However, it only took a few casts into the first of these pockets to produce a beautiful little Redband and it didn’t take long to figure out that pretty much every deep well oxygenated spot held a least one fish. Add to that the fact that these were some scrappy fish, which weren't afraid to take line or show some acrobatics and this stream quickly became one of my favorites on the trip.

The Warner Valley stream

As we moved further upstream, the gradient started to pickup and with that the fishing got even better. In one deep pocket I rose and hooked into a particularly nice Redband that took my and my 2wt on a ride downstream to the next pool. Luckily the hook held and after a fun battle I slid a beautiful 13” Redband into the net. 

A beautiful Warner Valley Redband Trout

While I figured I had already gotten the biggest trout out of the spot, I also thought that as I had gotten the fish out of the hole quickly it was worth another cast or two. As it would turn out, this wasn’t the only big trout in the spot and this time I had a nice trout grab my dropper. Again, I had another big Redband on the line and again luckily the hook held and I landed a nice ~14” battle scarred fish. We covered another 1/4 mile of the creek again getting fish out of pretty much every likely spot before deciding it was time the head for our final stream.

A big scarred up Redband

The Creek

After catching our fill of Warner Valley Redbands, we hit the road again for our final stop of the day. The drive was smooth and before long we were driving up the valley of the stream we were going to camp on for the evening and hopefully be able to find a few Chewaucan Redbands. Again, like the Goose Lake Redbands, I had fished this spot 14 years ago, however unlike that stream, this one had not faired as well. All along the trip we had been seeing the effects of the 2020 wildfires that had impacted much of the west, and one of the fires had directly impacted this stream as well. Luckily the stretch of stream where we were camping was just outside the burn zone, so hopefully the trout wouldn't be too impacted.

The final stream of the day

After quickly setting up camp, we got on the water and started prospecting for trout. While we had been setting up camp, a great hatch got into full swing, with a combination of Gray Drakes, BWOs, PMDs and caddis bringing the river to life. Dyllon went with a mayfly imitation and headed upstream, while I stuck with my trusty PMX and dropper and I went downstream. Before I was even fishing, Dyllon was into a fish and it didn’t take me long to find some either. The first few fish that I caught were in the 6-8" range, but I had seen a couple good rises along a grassy bank on the far side of the stream and after a couple good drifts I rose and hooked into a big Redband. This fish put a solid bend in my little 2wt but before too long I was able to land the fish, a beautiful 16" Chewaucan Basin Redband.

Me with the big Redband

Another shot of the big Chewaucan Redband

After releasing my big fish, I put a few more casts in the same spot and briefly hooked into another large fish but it popped lose. After that fishing in this stretch slowed down, Dyllon and I decided to work our way downstream. It seems the fires had not had too much of an impact on the trout population, as pretty much every cast into a likely spot was rewarded with a Redband. We caught a few dozen fish in the 6-10" range, but nothing else that came close to the big one, before the fading light forced us back to camp.

Monday: June 7th 2021: For our final day, we had spent a fair bit of time debating what to do. The options that came to mind were either trying for some more Chewaucan Redbands, heading to the Deschutes or the Metolius River being our front runners. Dyllon really wanted to check out the Metolius River as the Green Drake hatch was supposed going on, so we decided that we would give that a shot. I had been to the Metolius years ago and while the river is certainly beautiful, I did not leave with very good impressions, as it was overcrowded, many of the other anglers were flat out rude and the fishing really wasn't that great. Hopefully this time would change my opinion.

The Metolius River

The first spot that we stopped at had ten cars already parked at it and the second was just about as busy (not a good start), so we opted for head to the end of the road where there was only one vehicle parked and start hiking. After heading downstream a ways, we decided it was time to cut down to the river. The first few holes we came to showed no signs of life, but before long a few Green Drakes, PMDs and Caddis started coming off. However, we still saw no risers responding to them. When we did finally find a good pool, we also found the other angler for the trailhead already camped out. After a quick and very cordial talk, we continued downstream and finally spotted some rising fish. Unfortunately, these fish were all on the other side of the river, and the Metolius is a swift and slick river so crossing was not an option. We tried for a while but even our longest casts were falling short so again we pressed on. After covering another mile downstream past a series of rapids, we finally came to some decent holding water at the head of a pool. After a few casts, a fish rose to my Green Drake and I landed a beautiful Columbia Basin Redband. Next Dyllon was up and a couple casts later he also got a decent Redband. 

Dyllon with a decent Redband

My Metolius Redband

We each hooked and lost one more fish in the pool, but we had already spent more time than we had planned on and with a long drive back home ahead of us it was time to hit the trail again. All and all, had much more positive impression of the river this time, but still am not sold on it given its level of fame. After getting back to the car, we were back on the road, but had a much slower go than expected,  with several slow downs due roadwork and one terrible car crash going back over the pass. However, this was an extreme productive trip, where I was able to add 3 new varieties of Rainbow/ Redband Trout and caught four other varieties that I had caught in the past. Next week I am off to Idaho and Montana after Westslope Cutthroat and hopefully will have the same success as this trip.