Me and the wife are taking a trip to potentially move out there in a few years when I graduate college. We are going in march and the has been nice enough to let me get 2 full days fishing in. We will b driving around the state so i know I have a lot of options. Plus we are also spending a few days driving around Washington so i figured I would fish a day there also. Does anybody have suggestions on where to go what kind of setup and what flies to use? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
steelhead my friend! big honker intruder flies are $$$ 7’s and 8’s are fine…look at Bend, cool town
Yea we are staying in bend for 2 nights
You should check out www.danblanton.com for some info. Those guys have the West coast wired, and seem to have a great board. Post your question there, and you will get some good information.
I don’t have much experience with steelhead but there are several good choices for trout. The Redband rainbows there are the prettiest rainbows I have seen, they are almost purple. Oregon doesn’t have the fishing access laws of Montana where you can go anywhere below the high water mark so some rivers have to be floated or you are trespassing. The Deschutes is the best known and has plenty of public access. Even if you float you cannot fish from the boat so you have to stop and wade. The Crooked river is close to bend. Two spring creeks are not far, the Fall river (quite small) and the Metolius (beautiful water). I have rented a boat and fished Crane Prairie Lake but got skunked, I wouldn’t waste your time there in my experience. These are all DIY places. If you are down near Crater Lake and can afford a quide for one day, try the Williamson river. It is a great spring fed river and big rainbows come up from Klamath Lake when the lake is warm. But almost all the land is private so not much public access. Then there are all the rivers west of the Cascades but I have never tried any of those except the Umpqua (didn’t do that well).
18.5 Baycraft Flats Edition
Johnson 150 Oceanrunner
Wood Driftboat