Reader Dave Harrison sent in this beautiful shot of a gorgeous Deschutes River redside trout.
To my eyes, it's easy to recognize a Deschutes River redsides rainbow trout.
Maybe it's because I've fished Oregon's Deschutes River since 1985 -- and it's my favorite river on the planet. Maybe it's because the fish are usually thick behind the head, have oversized dorsal fins and tails and those spots look so big and inky black against the olive backs and silvery-magenta sides.
An average Deschutes redsides can show you your backing -- if they get into the fast water they know so well. And a big redsides can steal your fly line.
It happened to me a few summers ago.
I found a really nice trout rising to emerging caddis next to a big rock on the Warm Springs to Trout Creek drift. The summer sun was torching the water, but this fish had a little shade -- and a perfect current tongue that fed emerging caddis right into his mouth.
That fish was just tipping and sipping -- it looked like it had been feeding this way for hours. I was surprised that so many caddis were emerging at 3 p.m. on an August afternoon, but this river has mysterious ways.
I tied on an Iris Caddis emerger -- the creation of master tier Craig Mathews, who owns the Blue Ribbon Fly Shop in West Yellowstone, Montana. The anglers at Blue Ribbon Flies are always studying bugs and fish -- and then coming up with outstanding flies. That little shop is full of trout wizards, and I'm always happy to see what new bugs come out of their red-hot vises.
The fish -- it was about 18 inches and thick -- ate the Iris on the first drift. That alone makes me believe that the trout had been locked into the caddis for a while before I arrived.
Head shakes rattled up my line, and the trout then wheeled into the faster current and roared downstream. Backing was zipping out, and the fish then stopped on the edge of a big rock garden. I coaxed the fish back upstream -- I couldn't wade very far downstream because of a deep slot.
I had the fly line back on the reel -- and was starting to think about a photo -- when the fish rolled on the surface and ripped down into the rock garden. That trout wrapped my line around a bunch of rocks in very fast water -- and then snapped my 5X tippet.
The current pinned my $90 fly line against the rocks, and I spent the next 20 minutes trying to coax the line out of the maze. I could feel my backing chafe against the basalt rocks. The backing eventually wore through and broke, and my fly line was gone.
I went back 6 weeks later -- the water was much lower -- and pulled what was left of my line out of the rocks.
I love that river and I love those fish -- even the fish that stole my fly line.
Anyway, reader Dave Harrison sent in a beautiful shot of a beefy Deschutes River redside in perfect shape. Harrison's shot is the latest entry in the Fish Shot photo contest, which ends on Labor Day. The winner gets a dozen of the best Deschutes River flies, second place gets six, and third place gets three great flies.
Looking at this photo makes me want to creep along a shaded Deschutes River bank on a hot afternoon. I think that's one of my plans for the next week.
I hope all of you are fishing -- and finding fish big enough to wreck your tackle.
