The Deschutes is a wild and complex river creating many kinds of fish good habitat. This presents a variety of challenging situations for the fly fisher. With a lifetime of experience, John Smeraglio can help you with the daunting task of unraveling this beautiful river's secrets.

John will patiently work with you to help you improve your approach, technique and strategy to increase your fishing efficiency. He makes certain in getting you safely into excellent and highly productive water, giving you the best possible results.

Simply put, He specialize in fly fishing techniques and strategies for catching (and releasing) wild Redside Trout and spectacular Summer Steelhead. Your success is his goal. He guides; you fish. Yours will be the only line in the water. Regardless of your skill level, weather you want to pursue Trout or Steelhead, there is nothing quite as nice as experiencing a beautiful day on the Deschutes River.

The Deschutes has a unique rule that does not allow fishing from a floating device of any kind. Every fishing guide on this river uses a drift boat, or a large pontoon boat to float clients down the river, stopping at a good place to fish, allow their clients to get out of the boat, fish the spot, get back in the boat and float downstream to the next spot. That’s great, because there’s a ton of water to fish. If you want to experience a float trip, I can refer you to some reputable guides that do a great job.

My guided trips are non-floating. I use this method because a river access road follows the Deschutes for over 33 miles. There is literally thousands of yards of river to fish that rarely gets fishing pressure, opening many more opportunities for the angler. This also reduces the amount of “down time” by driving to various fishing spots. Thus you will fish more places in a shorter period of time. Another advantage is I can set up the trip to your liking. If you want a full day trip, great! Don’t have time for a full day, do a half day trip. So, whatever it is you would like to do, or whatever it is you want to learn, I can “customize” a great fly fishing trip just for you. 

To reserve your day on the river, Please call (541) 395-2565