We pulled into some shade on the right hand back just after rounding the turn below the first island. As we were getting rigged up we were swarmed with tan caddis - around size 14-16. Because of the time we decided to push on for Mecca rather than work this shore, after all the temperature's around 100, the sun is straight overhead, and there's not a cloud in the sky. As we floated along we saw fish rising all along the shore, mostly splashy little guys, but an occasional slurp from bigger fish. This made no sense, but perhaps the clouds of caddis over the water were just too tempting to those hungry trout. We worked the island at Mecca for almost an hour with Deschutes candy (Black stone and a dropper) but had no takes, and didn't see any more fish rising. We pushed downstream to make up time and stopped at the big deep back eddy where you cast from some high rocks up on the shore - don't recall the name of this hole. No takes again, but a few little splashy risers way out in the foam. As we were getting ready to move on a guy in an inflatable kayak comes drifting in to shore, smiling and asking how the fishing is, at which point I see his State Patrol cap an T-shirt. He checked our licenses, and told us he was looking for bait fisherman, who apparently have been coming to that part of the river. That probably explains the stealth approach he was making in the inflatable. That's the first time I have been checked for a license on the Deschutes.
As we moved downstream we started getting a pretty good head wind - occasionally a hot head wind, so I had to turn around and row quite a bit to make time. We passed up a number of the favorite spots but spent about an hour at the Basalt campground about a mile and a half above the take out. Once again nothing doing with the Stone and dropper rig and no surface action at all. Mark got one good take on a parachute Adams but no fish to hand.
The sun was now well below the canyon wall so we pushed down and made our last stop on the Reservation side of the river about 1/4 mile above the island at the Trout Creek campground. There were a lot of splashy rises and an occasional shoulder could be seen from a big boy. I switched to a soft hackle below a big caddis and let it swing around in the current and finally had a fish on. He took a few runs against the drag but came off before I could get him in. I threw a few more casts but nothing doing. Mark was throwing the Adams and not scoring either. Unfortunately it was already 8:30, and though we could still see well enough t0 fish, adn they were still rising, I didn't want to do my first landing and take out at Trout Creek in the dark, so we called it a day.
We go back to CRR at around 10:30 and enjoyed grilled steaks, zuchinni and Walla Walla onions. At around midnight we took the traditional cigar walk around the green space and then finished off our Cohiba's on the deck. It was a perfect night, cool and clear with an absolutely full moon, you could have read a book out there.
Although the fishing was slow we accomplished a lot, I would call this one an educational trip. We learned that going from Portland to the Ranch and then back to the river is too much driving. We could have left earlier and done all of our shopping ahead of time, but it's still a long day. In spite of that, it was still a blast to take the drifter down the river. I can honestly say we did not hit any rocks - the only mishap was getting too close to the trees and snapping my leader - it was either that or let the rod keep going over the side of the boat and into the river. The Highlander was a champ at pulling the boat, but I'm thinking new tires may be in order, the road out of Trout Creek was AWFUL.
As we were putting the cover back on drifter I saw this monster bug in a hole that was beneath the board that sits under the stern. I have no idea what it was, almost looked like a scorpion, and was about 2 inches long. I left it there Kevin, so if there's a giant bug sitting on your deck smoking a cigar when you get back you'll know where it came from.Special thanks to Kevin for letting us crash at the Ranch, and to Doug for the use of the boat - I have already been on Craig's list looking at used ones........................
