As readers of this blog know, the pursuit of bull trout on Lake Billy Chinook using fly fishing gear dramatically changed with the reintroduction of steelhead and spring chinook salmon in the Upper Deschutes Basin.  Prior to this, fly anglers would target bull trout chasing kokanee smolts in late winter and early spring as they moved out of the Metolius River.  (The Metolius arm of LBC opens March 1, be sure to get your tribal permit, which are not yet available for 2024 as I write this.)  Since reintroduction efforts began, however, salmon and steelhead have been planted in the Crooked, Metolius, and Middle Deschutes Rivers and their tributaries, making those arms of LBC attractive places to fish as well. 

This year 77,500 steelhead smolts will be planted in the Crooked River and its tributaries along with Wychus Creek where they will move down to the Middle Deschutes. The first release in the Crooked will be on February 28, the last on May 7. There will be two releases in Wychus Creek on April 9 and 15. 34,000 chinook smolts will be released as well. Most will be released on March 21 in the Metolius, and a smaller number in a tributary of the Crooked on March 25 and in Wychus Creek on March 26. Some smolts move pretty quickly down river while others linger, so this is an opportunity that will last well into May.

Obviously, the goal is to target bull trout chasing smolts, so do your best to release any smolts with care. Removing the barb on your hook will help a lot and should not decrease your catch rate of bull trout. They usually don’t let go.