By MARK MORICAL, The Bulletin
Updated 1:55 am, Saturday, September 28, 2013
BEND, Ore. (AP) — Fall means many things to Central Oregonians: the return of football, back to school, and an increasing chill in the air reminding us that winter is not far off.
But let's not close the door on summer just yet.
For many anglers, fall is all about summer steelhead — and the Lower Deschutes is one of the best rivers in the West to fish for the elusive, aggressive, oceangoing rainbow trout. Landing just one of the lunkers on their journey back to their spawning grounds can make a fisherman's fall.
Fishing for steelhead reportedly has been good on the Lower Deschutes from the mouth downstream to Sherars Falls. The river has cleared since intense rainstorms a couple of weeks ago muddied the water and made fishing difficult, according to Rod French, a fisheries biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife based in The Dalles.