East Lake is good

East Lake - La Pine, OR (Deschutes County)


by The Fly Fishers Place
7-19-2025
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East Lake is good but watch afternoon water temps along the shoreline. Also, revive your fish carefully by holding and supporting them in the water and let them swim away on their own power. Don’t just toss them back over the side of the boat, but take a little time to get them reivived. This is true for all waters, any time of the year, but is extra important in the summer when water temps border unsafe zones, which for trout is about 67 F or more. Seeking deeper water and fishing nymphs from 15 to 30 feet is safe here. 
A Type 7 Full Sink is how you can dangle nymphs in up to 40 feet of depth, although usually the thermocline doesn’t run that deep. A couple of days ago with Sean and Skip in the boat, and a strong east wind keeping the hatch at bay and making for terrible indicator conditions, the deep dangle type 7 was our savior, bringing the best fish of the day to the net. 
Damsels are important in nymph and adult stages and try the double dry rig with the blue chubby and the extended body damsel trailing off the chubby. Fish the nymphs off the shoreline, ideally by wading. You can do this with a Hover or Midge Tip, and often with a floating line too. This can be as exciting as Bonefishing, and it is very visual along the shore from the resort to the end of Cinder Hill CG. 
Callibaetis hatches are doing pretty well and as we move closer to August the 2nd Brood will be going and I usually feel that is the best callibaetis hatches of the year at East.
Look for midges in the morning too, and try Griffiths Gnats and McKittricks Moment Midges. This is also the same time a lot of Callibaetis spinners are on the water, so the fish may be choosing one over another on given morning. 
Hippie Stompers, Beetles, Ants (RP and Sparkle Flag) and Grasshoppers are essential.




More Reports

The Fly Fishers Place Reports
for Saturday, July 19th

Metolius River: Great time of year on the Metolius!
Deschutes River- Lower: Strong evening caddis hatches
Deschutes River: The Middle Deschutes will be a fun morning
Deschutes River- Upper: Ants and Beetles are a great idea!
Fall River: The Fall River is fishing well
Crooked River: The Crooked River is a top choice
McKenzie River: Summer days on this river are special
Hosmer Lake: Lots of cool things happening!
Little Lava Lake: Little Lava Lake is a top choice

East Lake water temps along the shoreline
East Lake

7-14-2025
Hi trout lovers, I hope to share this with enough people that we can all agree to be kind to...... Read More