Mary Ann and I hit the Deschutes River yesterday in search for some larger rainbows. She took out my 10′ 6″ 5 wt Micro Spey Bamboo Fly Rod. She got good interest from fish with olive and black Skulpzilla patterns swung through deeper runs. Here is a great fish she landed on the black pattern on the micro spey rod.
Black Skulpzilla
A nice rainbow putting a good bend in the micro spey rod.
A beautiful Deschutes River Rainbow on the micro spey rod.
Mary Ann and I just got back from 3 days of camping on the Deschutes River in search of steelhead. We met up with a great group of folks and camped at a Rebar Campground. We had a wonderful time but the steelhead action was very slow. Among 12 accomplished steelheaders, only 2 steelhead were landed over 3 days…none by Mary Ann nor I. I took along my 10′ 6″ 5 wt Hollow Built Bamboo Switch Rod for the trip, and split my time between swinging hairwing streamers on sinking leaders and nymphing with large stonefly nymph immtations. I manged to pick up a handful of nice rainbows, two whitefish, and one very large sucker nymphing but had no success swinging. Overall, not great fishing success but we had a great time camping out with group. Here are a few photos of our trip:
Our campsite at Rebar Campground.
Swinging through Steelhead Flats Run.
Nymphing below Halfway Bar Island.
A decent rainbow I caught right at camp that took a brown stonefly nymph.
Mary Ann and I got the chance to camp for a few days on the Deschutes River last week. She spent 3 days searching for steelhead…she hooked two steelhead…lost both of them! I spent my time with my 8′ 3″ 5 wt bamboo rod tempting trout. I didn’t get many but did manage to pick up a few nice rainbows on stonefly nymphs. Here are a few photos of our time on the Deschutes.
Our campsite at Grassy Camp.
Fighting a nice fish.
A nice rainbow that took a #6 orange and brown Jimmy Leggs Nymph Pattern.
Mary Ann and I took one of my Bamboo Switch Rods out recently on the Metolius River and the Deschutes River, swinging for larger trout or steelhead. We experimented with several different leader set-ups and flies on a Snowbee 4/5 Switch Line. This 10′ 6″ 5 wt rod worked extremely well with AirFlo Intermediate and Super Fast Sinking (4.9 inches/sec) Polyleaders with unweighted or moderately weighted streamers and intruder-style flies. Though we didn’t hook up on any larger fish, we still have a great time. Here are a couple of photos:
Casting on the Metolius River
Swinging for Deschutes River Steelhead