Opening Day
Capt. Cory Godell
April 21, 2015
Bend - Freshwater Fishing Report
DESCHUTES RIVER
It's that time of the year. Opening day for the Lower Deschutes is just around the corner. The long term forecast is saying that there are some clouds coming in with a slight chance of rain. If this weather doesn't change it should really help get the fishing going good. If we do get some rain, keep your eyes peeled for some BWO's, and there's a chance of some March Browns still kicking around. If the hatches do show up, it will more than likely be sometime around the middle of the day. Regardless, it will be great to get the drift boat out and start fishing the D again.
If the weather stays warm like it has been for the past forever, be ready for the salmon flies to show up even earlier than normal.
This Saturday, March 25 is the opener for the Lower D. From then on the entire lower 100 miles of the Deschutes will be open for trout through October and through the end of the year for steel.
OWYHEE RIVER
We are winding up a great season of Skwalla fishing on the Owyhee River. Even though the water levels were all but record lows(14 cfs), the fishing was still as good if not better than a lot of years. The Skwallas may be gone for another year, but because of the warmer than average weather we've been having, the Caddis are already showing up in good numbers. When a few cloudy days showed up last week, so did the May flies and they showed up in force.
As of Sunday, the Owyhee river has been on the rise. Usually when this happens the fishing slows for a few days until the fish get use to the extra water and find their new homes.
STEELHEAD
Winter steelheading on the Sandy River is all but done for another season. Steelhead fishing will kick back up again starting in December.
But it's not to early to start thinking about summer steelhead on the Deschutes. Early August is a good time to start targeting them. There are generally good numbers of steelhead in the lower 23 miles of the Deschutes. In August you tend to run into some of the hottest, strongest steelhead of the season. Come September, there are even more steelhead in the river than August, which never hurts the cause. Generally, in early to mid September the nights and water temps are starting to cool down which usually makes fishing more consistent. Come October, pretty much every steelhead that planned to enter has entered by then. Plus in October and November the water temps are generally all but perfect.
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