Fly Fishing on the Oregon Trail
This September I made a trip out to Oregon to fly fish for wild Rainbows in the Metolius River. The Metolius is a small river in central Oregon near Sisters. It is only 23 miles long and it flows into lake Billy Chinook. Prior to the lake being built it flowed directly into the Deschutes River. The Metolius is a beautiful river with high banks in many areas that are covered in mountain laurel and moss, and it has a lot of fast water flowing through chutes of rock. The water is cold and clear, dark in many areas and deep turquoise blue in some areas where sandy bottoms shine through as it winds through the Deschutes National Park and next to parts of the Oregon Trail and has incredible stands of ponderosa pines. It is one of the largest spring-fed rivers in the United States and it is a fabulous fishery for fly fishing.
We were primarily fishing for wild rainbows; they stopped stocking this river many years ago to allow the native population to flourish. Large Bull trout can also be found in the river sometimes as they come up from the lake to spawn. I took a couple of six weight rods, my Sage with a 200-grain sink tip and a custom fiberglass rod I borrowed from my good fried Gary Lewis, who organized the trip for me, with a floating line. Gary and I walked about 4 miles down the river from the parking area in the National Park then split up and started working our way back upriver. We went out later in the afternoon around 3 pm. I tried several places with nymphs and streamers and one spot where I had seen a fish rise with a dry. I did not have success early and the fishing was challenging because of the high banks with laurel behind me, it made it difficult for the back cast without being caught up in the bushes. It required a lot of roll casting. The banks were steep in many areas, and it made it difficult to get down to the river. I continued to work back up the river and when it was getting near dusk I noticed a spot where there were a lot of fish rising. There was a decent hatch of small flies, I am not sure what they were. In this area there was a small sand bar on the side of the river and the water was shallow over a large rock shelf that extended about three feet into the river and where the shelf ended it was deep blue water. The fish were rising just beyond the edge of the shelf. I tried a few casts with a #22 dry fly, Parachute Adams. I had a few looks, did not manage a hook set. I decided to pull out my old Orvis Batten Kill reel out of my bag with a float tip and 4x tippet. I put it on my sage six weight and tied on a little larger elk hair caddis. I eased up near the shelf next to a small bush and made a cast and let it drift. I saw a Rainbow rise from the deep next to the shelf in the clear water, it went straight to my fly and sucked it down, I lifted my rod and secured a good hook set then had a nice fight as it took my line out down steam. I managed to get it up over the shelf and netted it; it was a beautifully colored wild Rainbow trout that was a little over a pound. By this time there were a lot more fish rising and just as I released the fish back into the river I saw Gary coming up the trail. He told me he had landed one fish down river, and he came down to observe me. It was not long before I had landed my second, slightly larger fish; it was getting darker, the hatch was still strong, and the fish were very active. I told Gary to come down to where I was and make some casts after I had landed the second fish and he hooked up quickly. We fished that spot until dark and we each landed four nice fish a piece, all on dry flies which is a big accomplishment on that river. I was quite pleased.
We went back to Bend and spent the night as the next morning we headed North to the Columbia River where the Salmon were coming into the mouth of the river from the Ocean. Big, bright Silvers. The detail of that trip will be the subject of another bog.