Saturday Hike

Deschutes

The other side of the Cascades is a different world.  We left behind the green Willamette valley in order to camp and fish along the Deschutes for the weekend.  The river has a certain rugged beauty to it.  For one thing, there is a lot more brown and a lot less green.  It is easy to find where the river is since it is surrounded by a strip of green.  The area has  different feel to it.  It feels more "Western."

The river was certainly pumping out a lot of caddis.  Every time I bumped into a bush a swarm of caddis would fly out.  These caddis apparently provide a good meal to the fish (and other insects, as I saw more spiders in 2 days than I have in the past year).  The fishing Friday was good for lots of smaller fish.  Saturday did not provide the steady action of the previous day, but had an exciting ending.  As the shadows grew long, the fish became active.  Rising consistently to the hatching caddis.  I managed a couple smaller fish (including my first pikeminnow) when my fly disappeared in a boil.  My reel sung as I began to see parts of my fly line I hadn't seen in a long time.  I managed to gain some ground when the fish made another long run.  I somehow manage to avoid any snags and he didn't head into the main current.  I managed to turn him around and started to regain some of my line.  I felt his head shake and then there was no resistance.  Later, I got some redemption landing a nice, fat fish.  There were still fish rising, but it was getting late and this seemed like a perfect way to end the day.