After a couple of days fishing the John Day River with Steelhead Guide Ethan Nickel, we headed over to the Deschutes River for one of his last floats of the year. On the way we met up with fishing guide Kyle Duke who makes the float with Ethan and clients often. The fishing did not disappoint and we hooked up with at least 6 fish a piece over two and a half days fishing.
We drifted from Trout creek to Harpham Flat mostly fishing nymphs and swinging some traditional steelhead flies. The famous Deschutes “Redside” rainbow trout were going off as well taking nymphs at every hole!
Over the two nights Ethan and Kyle put on a camping clinic cooking surf and turf and BBQ chicken for dinner. We slept comfortably inside Ethan’s MSR Pavilion and took our time enjoying the scenery and fishing the most productive sections. If I wanted to do a trip fishing the Deschutes for steelhead I would hope to get in the boat with Ethan and Kyle.
Check out our new podcast feature: Ethan Nickel discusses late season steelhead fishing tactics on the Deschutes.
-NS
