The Upper Deschutes below Wickiup is a winner! It appears that so many of the fish that drained out of Wickiup have taken up residence on the Upper D. Some of the cool kids from the shop are hitting it and showing me phots of big browns. I need to go.
Streamers are their game. In years past, especially early on when I 1st got my Deschutes National Forest permit I was fishing Hoppers and Ants, PMD’s, Baetis, Mahogany Duns and Trico’s on the surface from Mid July until irrigation season ended and the water was too low too float. That may be mid August this year, but if you have a drift boat and can organize a shuttle with a friend, it would be worth the effort from Wickiup down to the Sunriver area.
The Headwaters stretch is all walk and wade, and has some nice trout hanging around, but is a cool spot to target whitefish this time of year in the pools and riffles on nymphs. I heard there were still some Green Drakes up there last week from a reliable source. Golden Stones, PMD, Caddis and Terrestrials are good dries.