The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Fasten your seat belts! There's a great steelhead run on its way up the Deschutes River.

We first started seeing the signs clear back in July while we were still trout fishing in the upper river. On three separate occasions we had steelhead take our trout flies. On lighter trout tackle, only one of these fish was actually brought to the bank. That was a nice five or six pound native hen. The others gave us enough of a run and jump that we knew for certain they were not just overzealous trout.

Unfortunately, in true steelhead fashion, we saw them only on the way out.

Still, for us to see that many fish that early in the year and that far up the river is all but unheard of. It started a frenzy of fly tying and steelhead dreams. It had us chomping at the bit to head to the lower river and those parts of the Deschutes were the steelhead arrive first.

Unfortunately our timing wasn't all that good. Hot weather, low water and rising river temperatures stalled the run. Fishing reports from the lower river show that the steelheading in late July was excellent, but warmer weather in August took it's toll. Fishing became spotty -- quite slow during the hot weather periods, improved during the cool cloudy weather but generally remaining inconsistent throughout the month of August.

This slowdown in August has only served to further whet the steelhead appetite.

Statistics from the Fish Passage Center of the Northwest Power Planning Council (FPC.com) are now showing a run advancing up the Columbia of more than 423,000 fish. While only a portion of these fish are bound for the Deschutes, it's still an excellent indicator of what is to come. This year's Columbia River run is more than double the last season and three times the 10 year average.

Far from complete, this year's count has already been ranked as the largest run ever recorded by the Passage Center. Records began in 1938.

Fish and Wild Life biologist Steve Pribyl of The Dalles says this record run can be attributed to a number of factors. One is good water conditions that helped in the spawning and rearing of juvenile steelhead.

"In high flow years," Pribyl said, "we have more successful spawning of wild fish in the important east side tributaries to the Deschutes such as Bakeoven, Buck Hollow and Trout Creek.

"The other, more mysterious conditions," Prybil added," is favorable elements in the ocean. This year they have all come together to create an excellent run."

Department of Fish and Wildlife catch records show that the run is now solidly into the lower half of the river, with fish well distributed from Sherar's Falls to the mouth of the river. However not too many of these fish have started to go above the falls yet. The counting station there is recording about 20 fish a day up river.

According to Pribyl this is pretty much on track. Based on the records of past years the fish tend to run up to the falls filling in the lower river in the area around Mack's Canyon for a couple of weeks before they start to move above the falls.

"We can expect to see a dramatic increase in the number of fish over Sherar's sometime in the last week of August or the first week of September," Pribyl said.

Though it is difficult to track how fast fish move upriver, based on this current information we could expect to see fish arriving in the Warm Springs to Trout Creek area sometime around the first of October.

Though occasional strays are sometime caught earlier in the season, the bulk of the run is obviously still some distance down stream.

When it arrives, be ready -- the fishing is going to be very good.