Deschutes steel late November?

Hi All,
I'm new to the board and as of this year new to the swing. I fished the Deschutes in late August as a intro to swinging flies and managed to stick a fish. Since then I've gotten my own setup and dialed in my casting. Weather and generall conditions permitting it looks like I'm gonna get another shot at fishing the D this year, but its going to be late November. Like day or two after thanksgiving late. In California steelhead season really never started until October/November so it blew my mind learning about Summer Steel on the D. I'll also be in a car thats fwd. If it snows I have chains, but on the dirt roads I may be in trouble.

Anyways, any advise for fishing the D at the end of November? Should I bother? Any regs I may not be familiar with that I should know ( generally I practice C&R and I only fish barbless regardless of regs)? Should I fish a scandi line again, or bring the skagit for intruders? What section of the river, should I focus on the upper stretches like the warm springs area?

Any offerings of opinions are greatly appreciated!

The access road from Maupin to Mack's Canyon is where I would go.
Many spots to fish/camp along that road and you can hike into the roadless area downstream of Mack's Canyon campground.
Your car will be fine.

Jump on Google Earth and have a look around.

DirectDrive said:

The access road from Maupin to Mack's Canyon is where I would go.
Many spots to fish/camp along that road and you can hike into the roadless area downstream of Mack's Canyon campground.
Your car will be fine.

Jump on Google Earth and have a look around.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. I floated the area from about 6 miles above Macs to the campground before the canyon. Unfortunately I know the water better from the west side of the river. But in the past few days as the trip has been coming into view I have pretty much been living on google maps.

Google EARTH not maps.
Get in you cyber helo and fly it low and slow.

warm springs area its a good place to find fish later in the Year

steelhead_slayer said:

warm springs area its a good place to find fish later in the Year

Click to expand...

Are we talking like the town of Warm springs or the trib warm springs? Or both?

Btw google earth is changing my life right now.

Rmacneil656 said:

Are we talking like the town of Warm springs or the trib warm springs? Or both?

Btw google earth is changing my life right now.

Click to expand...

LOL, yeah, google earth will do that. I don't know much about Deschutes later in the year, but given what I can see, somewhere above Sherars might be a decent bet.

Rmacneil656 said:

Are we talking like the town of Warm springs or the trib warm springs? Or both?

Btw google earth is changing my life right now.

Click to expand...

"Warm Springs" to Trout Creek is a popular and easy float.
In quotes because WS refers to the put in where Hwy 26 crosses the river.

BTW, did you see the nude sun bathers at Nookie Rock ?

Rmacneil656 said:

Are we talking like the town of Warm springs or the trib warm springs? Or both?

Btw google earth is changing my life right now.

Click to expand...

The town of warm springs. Mecca flat just off the highway is a good place to start.

DirectDrive said:

"Warm Springs" to Trout Creek is a popular and easy float.
In quotes because WS refers to the put in where Hwy 26 crosses the river.

BTW, did you see the nude sun bathers at Nookie Rock ?

Click to expand...

Lol I don't know where Nookie Rock is, but I'm sure I'll find it now!

steelhead_slayer said:

The town of warm springs. Mecca flat just off the highway is a good place to start.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll have to look into thay. I see a lot of guide boats on google parked along that stretch, but its hard to tell when the picture was taken, so I dont know if it was trout or SH season.

I like the idea of fishing that area cause it will cut a good amount of time off the drive, but at the same time I want to catch fish!

Anyonw with any fly & line reccomedations? Should I stick with the floating line and a purple hilton style fly? Or should I add a bit of weight with a bunny leech? I know its hard to tell this far out, but with winter and colder I have traditionally gone deeper through pools ( but on much narrower river).