Tag Archives: whychus creek

Getting Out Fishing Today With Our Bamboo Rods!

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I was able to get out fly fishing today with my good friend, Joe, on Whychus Creek, the small creek in the canyon below my house.  Whychus creek is one of my favorite spots here in Central Oregon…beautiful water and no other anglers around.  I took out my 6′  8″  3 wt. Fast Action Series Bamboo Rod and Joe took out his 7′  0″  4 wt bamboo rod he built with me in my workshop.  After a bug sampling that showed a lot of stonefly nymphs, I started with a #10 black rubber legged black stonefly nymph.  Joe started with a #16 Tan X-Caddis pattern.  We both were successful and caught several nice rainbows.  After an hour, I wanted some dry fly action so I changed over to a #12 Yellow Stimulator pattern…Joe stayed with his X-Caddis.  For the next 2 hours, we both raised a lot of feisty native rainbows, and by the end of the day, we each caught about 15 fish.  What a fun day with our bamboo rods on one of our small creeks here.

A Big, Black Stonefly Nymph

6′ 8 3 wt rod

Joe with a great Bow And Arrow cast.

One of the beautiful native rainbows we caught.

Fly Fishing on Whychus Creek Today.

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I took a break from rod building today and ventured out on Whychus Creek below our house here in Sisters, Oregon.  It’s about 400 feet down a steep canyon to get to the water, but rather than climb down the hillside from my house, I drove over to a nice trailhead on the other side of the creek just across from our house.  It’s about a mile hike from the trailhead down a nice trail to the creek.  This area get’s almost no people fishing these waters so I was pretty excited to see how I would do.  The creek is a nice water level this time of the summer, and the water temperature was still nice and cool.  Because it’s small water and quite overgrown with trees, I selected my 7′  0″  4 wt Signature Series bamboo fly rod for the day.  Some of the smaller fish were willing to take dry flies but it wasn’t until I changed over to nymphs that I got into half a dozen  nicer fish in the 11″ to 12″ range.  I had the creek to myself and loved my time searching the creek for “fishy water”.  And…I also donated quite a few flies in the tree branches along the stream edge.  Here are a few photos of my morning adventure:

Here I am at the edge of Whychus Creek with my 7′ 0″ 4 wt bamboo fly rod.

Some nice pocket water where I picked up several good fish on nymphs.

Several little rainbows showed interest in my dry flies.

A beautiful 12″ rainbow that took a #16 Pheasant Tail Nymph.

Yep, there is my house about 400 ft. up from the creek at the top of the canyon.

Fishing Whychus Creek

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We had a break in the weather yesterday and Mary Ann and I got the chance to fish Whychus Creek, a small local creek where some great restoration efforts have been going to help bring back the salmon and steelhead runs from years ago.  The water was a little high and off-colored from recent rains, but still very fishable.  A quick bug sampling showed a mix of small mayfly nymphs, a few caddis, and stoneflies.  Mary Ann and I both took our 7′  0″  4 wt bamboo rods, perfect for this little stream.  While we didn’t catch a lot of fish, we picked up a few on nymphs, including a nice 11″ native rainbow that took a #16 red serendipity.  Here are a few photos from our afternoon.

A view of Whychus Creek from the bluff above.

A view of Whychus Creek from the bluff above.

Off-Color water but still very fishable.

Off-Color water but still very fishable.

Some of the bugs we sampled from the creek

Some of the bugs we sampled from the creek

A nice 11" native rainbow I picked up

A nice 11″ native rainbow I picked up