Last weekend, when it was 90 degrees in Madras, my daughter and son-in-law asked me to take them for a one night outing from Trout Creek to Harpham Landing. At first, I was very excited. The reality of going to Harpham, in “the beast”, with three people, camping gear, and a loaded cooler, began to set in after we launched on Saturday morning at 8:00am. There was no wind and not a lot of time. I would have to choose a few spots to stop and make sure my son-in-law had a shot at some fishing. Safety was the key issue for the trip, hence, no passengers going through Whitehorse.
Our plan was to nymph the top half of the drift and with reports of stones in the Maupin area we were hopeful of Brad nailing his first Deschutes Redside on a stone dry fly. We found stones in the bushes all the way up to Kaskela. The tungsten retriever and trailing red copper john proved to be the winning combo in the few stops we made above Whitehorse. We had lunch at the bottom of Whitehorse and set off with Windy Flat as our campsite. Upon entering the canyon of Windy Flat we noticed movement high on the walls of the canyon, Big Horns!
Sleeping under the stars was a real treat. No bugs and no dew in the morning. The only interruption was the train at 3:00am. After breaking camp we continued down river. Nearing Dr. Dicks, stones were in the air and we started using dry stones. It was a few quick casts and Brad was into his first Deschutes Redside.
There was plenty of stone fly action between Dr. Dicks and the locked gate. It was hard to believe wet wading was possible due to the excellent warm weather. It was a real treat to get Brad down the “D” for his first trip and first Redside. I look forward to another trip. Only next time, more than a weekend!
