The most anticipated fishing event of the early season is winding down as we segue into Memorial Day Weekend.  This year’s Deschutes River salmonfly hatch lived up to its oversized reputation, and the fishing was outstanding from the first day out.  After our first week of “pre-season” success with no one else around, the next week of the season found the inevitable “Pale Morning Dude hatch” in full force at the Trout Creek Put-in.

But the Deschutes is a big river, and while at times it can seem like there is an angler under every poison oak bush and alder tree, eventually the crowd thins out, and once again you find yourself alone with the canyon and its incredible trout.

Whether fishing the “hopper/dropper” in the heavy water, or crawling your big bugs into the darkest spider nests you can find, the fishing at this time of year is truly spectacular. Now as we look ahead to the summer delights of McKenzie Trout Fishing and what is shaping up to be a Great Return of Summer Steelhead (!), here is a sampler of images from the High Season in the High Desert.  Enjoy!

The 2016 Deschutes River Salmonfly Hatch is underway.  An early May three-day float with a crew of seasoned fly anglers found the big bugs out in generous numbers from put-in to take-out.  We had expected to be fishing primarily nymphs this early in the season, hoping for some dry action towards the end of the float. But finding a profusion of bugs out with no one else around, we had our pick of the fishing spots, and nice fat redsides were ready to blast the surface in nearly every likely lie.

While the weather was a bit volatile (one day featured downpours, lightning, and some 50 mph wind gusts that upended the kitchen box and flattened Father Blackwell’s carefully engineered shelter), the fishing was steady throughout.  It was great to be back camping with old friends in the canyon with a string of multi-day adventures laid out in the weeks to come.

It’s time to dust off those spiked wading boots.  The hatch is on!