2015 Lower Deschutes River Aquatic Insect Hatch Activity Survey Results Report by Rick Hafele Now Available

The annual DRA aquatic insect hatch observation report for 2015 is posted to our website. Please click here to access the report.This report, authored by Rick Hafele, is the result of the many hatch observations in 2015 by several professional guides on the lower Deschutes River. All observers received training at a Deschutes River Alliance workshop in Maupin in March of 2015. They then utilized a mobile device app to report their observations.We want to give special thanks to the guides who participated (and continue to participate in 2016) in this process. They are: Brian Silvey, John Smeraglio, Evan Unti, Harley Faria, Alex Gonsiewski, and Dan Anthon. We would also like to thank Dave Moskowitz and Rick Trout for the reports they furnished.The observations are summarized in this report. A continuing trend of earlier hatches, and of fewer and less dense hatches is noted once again in 2015. These trends were seen throughout the months of March to October. Declines from the previous two years were observed for all major groups of insects except midges, which remain unchanged.The report is 29 pages long and full of information any angler needs to better understand fly-fishing the lower Deschutes River, as well as the trends in aquatic insect populations that have historically occupied the Deschutes River.The DRA is especially grateful to Rick Hafele for his expertise in aquatic entomology and for the work he put into conceiving and organizing this ongoing monitoring effort, the collating and analysis of the observational data, and the writing of the report.We intend to continue this monitoring effort to provide surveillance of the long-term trends in lower Deschutes River aquatic insects. The training for the 2016 hatch observers took place in March. We are already receiving their reports for the 2016 report. We’ve also added two benthic (river bottom) kick-sample sites that we began sampling in the fall of 2016.   Since Portland General Electric completed their macroinvertebrate and periphyton sampling in April/May of 2015, no one other than the DRA is monitoring aquatic insect populations in the lower Deschutes River.---Deschutes River Alliance: Cooler, cleaner H2O for the lower Deschutes River. Click here to Donate.Click here to sign up for the Deschutes River Alliance email newsletter.---