The tug at the end of my line was subtle, but I knew it was a fish.
As I swung my wet fly through a large tail out of the Deschutes River, my line stopped dead – and then promptly changed direction. It began moving back toward the middle of the run, and my blood turned as cold as the November water I stood in. I didn’t move a muscle. I tried to remain calm and focused as the line slowly began to peel away from my spool. The urge to immediately set was overwhelming and nearly impossible to resist. The river went quiet as I realized how delicately I was connected to this big fish.
After four or five slow turns of the reel, my fly line went tight against the eyelets of my rod and I knew it was time.
I set the hook hard toward the bank in the opposite direction from where the fish was moving, and the water exploded. I had just hooked into my first steelhead and chaos ensued.
Big fish, must travel
If you live in Colorado and want to fish for steelhead, you are going to have to travel. After a quick two-hour flight from Denver, the lower Deschutes River is less then 120 miles from downtown Portland, Ore., and seasonally holds a strong population of these enormous, sea-run fish. In terms of time, convenience and quality, the Deschutes offers a very attractive steelhead opportunity.
Genetically speaking, steelhead are very similar to rainbow trout – except, of course, they are much bigger. A steelhead begins its life in a freshwater river environment. At 7 or 8 inches in length, a steelhead is almost indistinguishable from a rainbow trout. It is their migration from a freshwater river to a saltwater ocean environment that sets them apart. A steelhead will travel hundreds of miles downstream to the ocean, where it will find the food source that allows it to grow to lengths exceeding 30 inches.
“The average-sized steelhead in the lower Deschutes is between 5 and 9 pounds. There are some bigger fish that are bound for Idaho that can weigh in at over 20,” said Jakob Lund, a professional guide from Portland who was our host for the day. “During peak season, there are probably 15,000 to 20,000 steelhead moving up the lower Deschutes, and we’ve had one of our best seasons this year.”
In mid-June, the fattened steelhead come in from the ocean and return to the Deschutes River system where they started. They begin the long journey up river typically traveling 4 to 6 miles per day – sometimes more, sometimes less. Sometimes steelhead remain in the same run for days or even weeks.
Patience pays
As ex-Coloradoan and now Oregonian angler Kevin Wright, Lund and guide Harold Pennington stood on the bank of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, a large steelhead rolled in the center of some slower-moving water. As he broke the surface, the large buck revealed his girth and vibrant colors.
“Whoa,” Wright murmured under his breath.
“They are in here, for sure,” Pennington said. “Sometimes it is just hard to figure out what they are doing.”
Pennington is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and we were able to fish this portion of the river and 40 miles of bank access via a special permit issued to Pennington by the tribe.
During the next two hours I watched an estimated 25 steelhead roll and boil on the surface. However, Wright and I couldn’t get a single fish to strike or bump our flies. The steelhead were living up to their reputation – often plentiful and often elusive.
One thing that makes fishing for steelhead tough is many experts believe they do not eat when they are on their migration upriver. Lund, who spends 75 days a year fishing and guiding on the Deschutes, believes when a steelhead eats your fly, it is simply reacting instinctively to something foreign intruding into its territory. The electric purple and orange steelhead patterns we were casting did not match any type of hatch on the Deschutes.
We were using a traditional wet fly swing technique on the larger slicks and runs to maximize the amount of water we could cover. We switched to drifting oversized nymphs with strike indicators in some of the riffles and faster-moving currents. I was not expecting big numbers and knew from the start that fishing for steelhead was a game of quiet patience.
I was upriver concentrating on swinging my bug and covering my run when the sound of calamity crashed on the surface of the Deschutes. I looked up to see Wright straining backward with his 8-weight rod bent nearly in half. Sixty feet from him I could see the water roil with the activity of a large chrome-colored steelhead that was not happy. Every few seconds her giant tail would crash down and send up a shower of water – followed by an energetic and reel-screeching run. After a fairly short battle, Wright brought the fish under control.
At the end of the day, Wright and I had each landed a steelhead – far exceeding our expectations for the trip. If you are interested in catching vast quantities of fish, you might want to pass on taking up the pursuit of steelhead. It is not a numbers game. If you are interested in a challenge and the reward of a big fish with a big fight and a renowned story, book a ticket and a short flight west.
Will Rice is a freelance outdoors writer from Denver.
FACTS, FIGURES
Where: Deschutes River, Warm Springs, Ore.
Cost of flight from Denver to Portland: $200 to $400
Getting to Warm Springs from Portland by car: Two hours
Guide service: Jakob Lund of Salmonfly Syndicate and Countrysport International Fly Fishing Outfitters, 126 SW First Ave., Portland, OR 97201
Phone: 503-221-4545
E-mail: lund_jakob@yahoo.com
Web: www.csport.com
Cost of single day of steelhead fishing with host and guide: $500 for two anglers
Rods: 8 weight
Lines: Floating or intermediate sinking
Flies: Traditional steelhead patterns; purple and orange seem to be preferred colors
Season: June 15-Dec. 31
Peak season: Sept. 15-Nov. 15
Other travel planning resources: www.traveloregon.com 1-800-547-7842
