Planning a trip

[CurtisP87]

Im planning a trip to the deschutes for this sunday/monday to try to get into some steelhead. Ive never been to the deschutes before, and Im hoping to get a little advice about where to explore in my limited time. I dont have a boat so Ill be hiking into anywhere I want to go, I figure I can cover 5-6 miles (there and back) in a day, and I want to be where the fish are! Should I be focused around the mouth, or a little higher up, say around Maupin?

Any advice from people who know this water would be much appreciated!

 

[lizardman]

Good fishing on that river, mostly artificial flies and lures only (plastics sometimes are considered bait so read the regs carefully). Watch out for snakes, if it rattles give it a wide berth.

Dave

 

[joesnuffy]

I'm not sure where the fish are at in the river right now but there is a nice dirt road to hike up on the east side of the river starting at the mouth. You can hike as far as you want.

A lot of people will ride their mountain bikes up this to make it easier and faster.

 

[lizardman]

With the lack of rain most of your salmon and steelhead are hanging from the mouth to just upstream from the walking bridge in the Umatilla as we haven't had a good rain to raise the river level. The counts over Three Mile Dam are almost non existant so far (one Coho, one Steelhead for August).

Dave

 

[spoonjedi]

If there is room, do not pass up fishing at the bridge. Took all day, but I left with a 15 lb. B- run last Friday...Upriver is incredible at times, but rain is the missing link to trigger the fall fishing spike.

 

[CurtisP87]

Great, thanks for the input. I'll post up a report when I get back.

 

[steelhead_slayer]

There are fish everywhere in the river now. The east side of the mouth like suggested is a good option. Maupin also has a lot of access on the south side of town if you follow the road that parallels the rivers