The D spiked in the past few days which sucks because I was going to hit it on Thursday. Looks like a lot of it is from the White and irrigation releases on the Crooked. Any first hand reports on the clarity upstream of Maupin? There were some reports from this past weekend but it has bumped over 2000CFS since then.

Normally I'd just go and not worry about it but I'm getting a little stink-eye from the Boss for this trip and I should be doing a lot of other things...

How far above Maupin...? The clarity above Lake Billy Chinook is great. I fished the D last night and caught some small trout.



I fished the Crooked river arm on Lake Billy Chinook Sunday evening. The river was chocolate milk. The fishing wasn't that bad though. I was out with my dad and he enjoys fishing worms.

Deschutes Angler just updated their report. Sounds like the clarity is ok since they just said it was gigantic and not blown.

I've had a couple epic days when the river was at 10,000 because once you find the fish they are stacked. Thinking it could be stabilized a little with the cooler weather and the releases evening out a bit. Can't wait. Need me some D.

Well the Crooked river flows look like they are begining to drop, but I don't think they will drop enought to make any change for tomorrow. I was suprised by the flows at moody on the gauge. Looks like Warm Springs river and shoot Creek are all running high. I have to think that the color will be poor with flows this high but you never know.
I was hoping that the flows would begin to drop. I have Monday and Tuesday off next week and was hoping for better levels by then.

The D is an enigmatic bastard. I'm guessing most here have been skunked on days when the conditions were dick-twitching perfect and knocked em dead on days when, upon arrival, you were sure you'd wasted a trip.

I know I have.

I'm going over despite the 7000 cfs. I've been waiting all winter to go over there. If fishin's no good, I'll just have to sit in camp and enjoy myself. That can't be too bad.

Quote:

If fishin's no good, I'll just have to sit in camp

a great way to spend some time.

Left Portland at 8:00 pm.
One drink at a pub in Hood River.
Fire and couple of beers riverside.
Sleep at midnight.
Up at 7 bacon and eggs.
Walking upriver at 9.
Fish And Catch for six hours.
Up and over Hood in rain, sun, sleet and snow.
Home at 7 to put the kids to bed.

Do not underestimate the power of the 24 hour roadie!

Had to work for them but it was damn good. Even got a few on dries during a short flurry of March Browns. Had more luck for resides along the steep banks. They were really tight so slide and stumble with care. Back eddy fishing produced more smolts and I even got two squawfish in one eddy. Fished a stone-dropper most of the day and got all the resides on the dropper...copper johns and flashy pheasant tails. Clarity was good despite 11000 cfs at Moody. Hills are green. Flowers in full bloom. Ticks are out but I only picked a dozen or so off my Lab. I don't think the baby ticks have hatched yet cause they were all big and easy to see. Almost stepped on a rattler too. It looked a little lethargic so it was borderline temps to have the dog running around.

The Force was strong. Dropped my nymph box and my buddy showed up at the van with it.

Nice report !!! I'm glad you decided to go !!

Wow thats pretty cool. i'm sure a relief

Hit the Big, Big D for the opener. It was the first time with our new son (7 months old) and luckily and a bit surprisingly, went off without a hitch. First time we had to leave the drift boat behind, so made the best of it by going in on the WS side below Dry Creek. Our son was a trooper and made it from 8am to 3pm without a single cry and even helped mom and dad catch some redsides. We caught some nice bows, moved on when we got into smolt, rested under the trees in the shade and had an all-around awesome day. No wind, started cloudy then got sunny quickly, and most surprising, no people! We had the entire WS side to ourselves except for one group of two guys that left around noon. Very few DBs on the water and not many people on the BLM side either. Maybe the high water chased people away? There were plenty of fish to be had, especially in tight to the banks. It was mostly a nymph game and fish don't seem to be on the spawn as of yet. Great to be back on the Big D even if it was a little bigger than normal.

LiveWater, your report is greatly appreciated! Not surprised that you had success. I was one who stayed away due to high water but also was glad to not miss the grandkids basketball, volleyball, baseball and football games this weekend. I am sure you will also skip fishing rather than miss your new sons activities in the future whatever they may be.

Planned to fish mecca on Monday but now am wimping out due to wind forcast for Madras of gusts to 40mph. Turned into a wuss in old age. Will be on the D soon though.

Livewater,

I may have started back to the parking lot before you got there. Don't remember seeing a group of three. If you started fishing from the bank right by the parking lot, I started back just as you got there. Didn't notice the backpack though.

I was fishing in front of the house with a couple guys that decided to join me. Glad you had a great day. With that weather, it was hard not to!

Nice fish and well done with the family outing. I am jealous!

That is awesome Livewater. My wife would get on my case being on the river with a kiddo on my back. It's a tough place for full grown and able adults. I was thinking I have a while to go before my kiddos can handle the banks of the D.

Can't wait to get back. For now I'll just scratch my poison oak , pick ticks out of my dog, and dream.

Patrick,

I was on the WS tribal side. I saw three guys fishing the house across from Dry Creek in the morning. We were in a silver Ford Escape and pulled into the parking lot at 8am with no one there. The fish in the above picture was just below and across from the guys fishing at the house. My wife caught a nice 14 inch fish just before that in the standard spot below the parking lot at Dry Creek. Mr. Chin, my wife is more hardcore sometimes about wetting a line than I am and since she missed most of the Fall last year with the newborn (she did fish our friend's Metolius ranch property for bulls and rainbows at 8.5 months pregnant and wet-waded to land some monster fish - see the last Freshwater Trust brochure for a picture), she was jonesing to get out. She did draw the line at cracking out the drift boat with the kiddo. Also no wading for us, hich made some drifts difficult to fish. It also made for a very hot day as I never could get in the water to cool off. I touched water a few times to land fish but that was it. We met two old guides from Madras last Memorial Day weekend on the Deschutes that said they brought their children into the drift boat in the 70's at 3 months of age and just put them up under the front of the boat in the shade. My wife gave me the stare immediately as she knew what I was thinking. The little man loves the backpack and I did have to pass up some nice looking water as getting down to the water was not worth the risk of a slip with him on my back. The trip was a complete success and even though I did not fish as hard or cover as much water, catching fish, watching my wife catch fish and spending time with our son out on the river and having it pretty much to ourselves was a memory not soon forgotten.