Never Trust Averages

On average, I’ve caught one Steelhead per year over the last six years. Oh, never mind the fact that I was zero for the first five years and caught six this year. You got that right, I was skunked for five straight years and finally hit the jackpot this year.

Last month, Todd Grigsby from Hyperion along with Todd Williver, Don Hundt and Bret Hodgert and I went Steelheading on the Lower Deschutes. We started just below Maupin at Macks Canyon and floated to the mouth of the Deschutes at the Columbia River. If you’ve never seen this part of the Northwest, it’s breathtaking.

Grigsby picked me up at the Portland airport and we headed over to Maupin to meet Williver. Don and Bret had floated down river that Thursday to find our preferred camp. Which camp you ask? One will never tell J. We arrived around 11pm and began loading our gear into Todd’s drift boat to ensure we would be the first boat down the river on Friday morning.

This weekend was a non jet boat weekend on the Deschutes but there were nearly 200 boaters passes for the weekend. 5am came early and we heard the trucks rush down the dirt road, we packed up our cots, threw our gear in the boat and started the journey to camp. Weather was perfect. Mid-70’s and overcast skies. Water temperature was warm but the river was pretty cloudy. Williver tried his hand at the river the night before with no luck.

We all agreed that we would push through and head down to camp. After a three-hour float, we arrived into camp before noon and it was all we could do to setup camp and get into the river as fast as possible. Don caught one fish the night before just outside camp.

Within 2 hours, Williver and I each had a 6lb Steelhead in the cooler. Amazing. Five years and zero fish – I was done. If I didn’t catch another fish, I would have been happy as a clam. Both fish were hatchery fish which means you can keep them. How do you determine if a fish is wild or hatchery? Very simple, hatchery fish from Oregon have their adipose fin shaved off when they are little. As you can see, these fish have no rear fin on their topside.

Fishing calmed down that Friday afternoon as the sun rose high in the late summer sky. Board games and card games were in order. Around 5:30, most were eyeballing a nap, and I was anxious to test the waters again. Williver brought along a 9’ one-man pontoon boat which was a perfect watercraft for reaching the schoal mid-river. It was quite a float rowing up into the fast water to land on the schoal at 10 knots per hour. Williver said to get to the top of the island and fish the seam back down to the rocks. Easier said than done. The water was ripping and was chest high. One lost footing and you were swimmin’. I pressed my way up river, got a good position and casted the nymphs into the seam. Within 5 minutes, I had the 2^nd Steeley on the line and was inching my way back to the island to land him. It was a nice hatchery fish about 26”. That’s the limit for keepers but I kept on fishing for the experience. Over the next 20 minutes, I hooked and landed three more Steelhead. Five fish in one day? I couldn’t believe it. I was feeling guilty so I rowed the pontoon back, but the fish had pushed through. Bret tried his hand at the seam but to no avail. Saturday morning, I hooked two and landed one wild fish.

By noon on Saturday, the fishing was completely done. After that time, no one person from our group touched or landed a Steelhead. The switch was flipped. The temperature of the river dropped and the skies parted making for a bluebird day .

This trip was a fishing experience of a lifetime. I’m very grateful to be able to pursue these awesome fish with such great friends.