i just recently moved to olympia from aberdeen and was wondering what the fishing is like on the descutes.i see the deschutes river has the first of july as the opener for salmon. just want to know if it's worth my time to check it out

I'm just the opposite of you. I grew up on the deschutes and now live in Aberdeen! As to the salmon fishing on the deschutes.......don't bother. For all practical purposes, any semi-fresh salmon you would catch would be in capitol lake at the mouth of the deschutes. It gets fall chinook and silvers. All fish go to a collecting pond at tumwater falls park. Silvers and the odd, surplus chinook are allowed to continue up the deschutes but by then most are dark and offer poor sport and eating.

The july 1st opener is misleading because they don't even consider letting fish upriver until late sept-oct. You will get some early kings in july in capitol lake but not up in the river.

It's kinda too bad. Years ago (early 80's) the capitol lake fishery was a happening deal and some of the fish were very nice. There were more silvers then too. on any given day there would be 20-30 boats trolling around and up to a couple hundred bank fishermen around the lake. And almost everyone caught fish if they put in the time. Now, in the fall I rarely see much activity when I drive by and it's been YEARS since I fished it. Just another faded fishery like so many others around the state.

That's where I learned to fish. Still fish it at least 10 or so times a year. For salmon, don't bother. They stack up in the salt right by the KFC downtown for almost a month before they open the gates for fish to enter the lake. By that time, they've already deteriorated to spawning form. However, if it's cuthroat you're after, the Deschutes is my favorite river in Western Washington. Some days you can catch and release 50 of those suckers. Most range from 8-12 inches with an occasional lunker (16-24 inches) in the mix. They also get a few stray steelhead here and there in December. However, last year only 6 made it over the ladder near the hatchery. Not worth the pursuit.
Cuthroat

Yo Philpac
Did you use to play baseball, just wondering if you are someone i know or not.

sorry posted twice

yeah, that would be me...who's this??

yeah, that would be me...who's this??

Dominic, didnt know you were registred on the board. Been doing any summerun fishing yet?

what's up dom, didn't know it was you. but then again it took me an hour to recognize you when i ran in to you up on the queets. haven't been on the rivers for a while now, been bass fishing. my brother went looking for springers and summerrun yesterday with flave and his dad. let you know how they did when i find out. are you back in aberdeen?? if so we'll hook up and take a trip in the boat..send your family my greetings

Thats cool you will have to let me know how they did. Ill be back in aberdeen late thursday, im taking a trip out of westport for some kings on saturday then after that im down for some summerrun. Ill be home til the 23rd of June, then back to phoenix. Hopefully we can hookup for some fishing, later.

phil

check your email

'neck out