02-07-2017, 06:59 PM
It's been thirty some years since I've visited and fished the john day. I do recall finding some great smallmouth fishing. And some pretty decent trout fishing below a dam. Good enough that Dad took me there for quite a few trips. That trout stretch was completely applicable to the Deschutes' situation.
BOTH rivers were worthless as salmonoid streams (salmonoid is not synonymous with anadromous - salmonoid includes rainbow trout) due to summer temps. That is the way the deschutes naturally is, no matter how stable the metolious temps, or how high the water came from. It's a central Oregon river fed by streams that warm up every summer. Its better than john day or crooked due to size, but all those feeder rivers of the deschutes (aside from the metoilous) were way to warm before confluence to hold good trout populations. When's the last time you targeted the lower stretches of the crooked before the lake (except perhaps during spawn - if that's allowed any longer)? Or deschutes after Bend?
The crooked was my goto destination for a decade or so when it was better off than it is now. That stretch below pineview dam would be as worthless as the lower stretches as a year-round trout stream if it were not for the stable temps (and summer flows) of the damn. But that stretch is NOT natural.
The Deschutes of the last several decades is NOT natural. It's NOT how it flowed for thousands of years. Period. And that is the crux of why the changes have been made recently to increase the temps of the lower sections. I personally disagree that natives in that stretch are more important or worthwhile than a thriving rainbow fishery. But that is moot.
The video is well put together, but it's crap. Spin job at best. It's people complaining that their way of living or recreation is changing. I'd be pissed to. But I'd at least try to be honest about it.
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BOTH rivers were worthless as salmonoid streams (salmonoid is not synonymous with anadromous - salmonoid includes rainbow trout) due to summer temps. That is the way the deschutes naturally is, no matter how stable the metolious temps, or how high the water came from. It's a central Oregon river fed by streams that warm up every summer. Its better than john day or crooked due to size, but all those feeder rivers of the deschutes (aside from the metoilous) were way to warm before confluence to hold good trout populations. When's the last time you targeted the lower stretches of the crooked before the lake (except perhaps during spawn - if that's allowed any longer)? Or deschutes after Bend?
The crooked was my goto destination for a decade or so when it was better off than it is now. That stretch below pineview dam would be as worthless as the lower stretches as a year-round trout stream if it were not for the stable temps (and summer flows) of the damn. But that stretch is NOT natural.
The Deschutes of the last several decades is NOT natural. It's NOT how it flowed for thousands of years. Period. And that is the crux of why the changes have been made recently to increase the temps of the lower sections. I personally disagree that natives in that stretch are more important or worthwhile than a thriving rainbow fishery. But that is moot.
The video is well put together, but it's crap. Spin job at best. It's people complaining that their way of living or recreation is changing. I'd be pissed to. But I'd at least try to be honest about it.
[signature]