The Big Fly = Big Fish trip on the lower “D”

salmon fly on the Deschutes

Deschutes River Redside

We started our day early and arrived at Trout Creek recreation area around 9:30 A.M, of course we got lost first. There actually happens to be a sign about 10 miles from the turn off that say’s “trout creek the other way” how awesome, just wondering why they didn’t put the sign a little closer.

We tied big salmon fly imitations on our lines and got our spinning rods together and headed down the trail. First spot we stopped I caught a couple 10 inch little red bands on the salmon fly, it looked like the day was going great. After that the fishing was absolutely slow for 4 hours. In fact after catching two northern pike minnow I almost threw the towel in and quit. Good thing we didn’t quit.

As Shai was taking a nap on the trail I was watching the river closely and saw a very large red side slapping the surface in some heavy rapids next to the bank. And I also noticed that the golden stones were out and flying around and falling in the river. So what better thing to do but tie on a golden stone dry and cast it up to that big bastard. First cast and nailed it, I have been waiting a long time for that. A nice big red side tearing down the river with my fly in it's mouth. I yelled up to the road and Shai came running down to help land it. A nice 18 inch beautiful red side came to hand and was returned after a few snaps of the camera. We caught plenty more trout on golden stone dries but no more pictures we were both too busy catching to take any pictures.

Fish On!

The moral if this story is the salmon fly hatch is not what it is added up to be. The fish really like the golden stone flies better, and frankly I think they might even be scared of the big salmon fly or maybe they are sour, hell I don’t know. Just one thing certain, on June 4^th 2011 the red band trout of the Deschutes river wanted to eat Golden Stonefly adults.