Sunday, May 14, 2006

Stonefly Hatch

I am anxiously looking forward to a fly fishing trip I have coming up on Oregon's famous Deschutes river. Some friends and I are trying to time the stonefly hatch perfectly. It is a very famous hatch. Trout go nuts for these huge orange bugs. The stoneflys (orange and the size of your thumb) crawl out on reeds and alder branches along the river. The wind blows them in. The soneflys flap their wings furiously to get out. The trout hammer them. It is a very brief hatch. It is tough to time it right.

The Deschutes is my favorite place to go. I totally zone out and don't care about anything else while I'm there. It is a "blue ribbon" (i.e., kick butt) fishery. The trout in the Deschutes are called "Redsides". They are legendary for their size and fighting ability. They are wild trout that have been there forever. The Deschutes is a big western river. Strong current all year long. Makes the trout strong.

I used to wet a fly at least every other weekend. Since I had a baby a year ago, I don't get out as much anymore.

What does this have to do with EDA, SOA, or ESBs? Nothing - I'm spent. I have been travelling a lot lately. Man that sucks the life out of you. I used to travel almost every week for 5 years. Now I thankfully usually only do it once or twice a quarter.

Anyway, I'll take some pictures.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The current may make them strong, but throwin' 'em back makes the gene pool weaker, bra. The only reward the dumb ones should get is a whack in the head. ;)

fuzzy said...

Funny how the fish on the USA side of the river are smart (because their are anglers) and on the reservation side of the river they are dumb (because there aren't many).

You are allowed to take 2 fish per day (size limits). I don't because they are wild. There are very few rivers left that have native wild fish.

I do kill hatchery steelhead though - if I can catch 'em :)