Even heavy snow and gale-force winds cannot keep hardy anglers away from wetting a line. Winter is certainly upon us in Central Oregon, but fishing season is year-round.

Here are a few options for late fall and winter fishing on the High Desert.

Fall River

Meandering serenely through meadows and pine trees southwest of Sunriver, the Fall River remains a reliable trout fishery throughout the winter months each year.

The Fall River Hatchery, about a 45-minute drive southwest from Bend, is a popular spot to fish, offering easy access to the river and many places to catch rainbow or brown trout in the 12- to 14-inch range. Because it is a spring-fed stream, the Fall River’s flows and temperatures do not fluctuate, and fishing remains consistent throughout the winter.

Restricted to fly angling with barbless hooks, the Fall River flows east for 8 miles from its headwaters before emptying into the Deschutes River near La Pine State Park.

Trout are visible in the calmer, clearer sections of the Fall River — including the stretch that runs past the hatchery — and often anglers will sight trout in the river and then cast to those fish. According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Fall River is home to rainbow trout as big as 4 to 6 pounds and brown trout up to 8 pounds.

Fall River anglers seem to land more fish in the wintertime when nymphing (fishing with small, sinking flies) because trout will be more lethargic in cold water and less inclined to swim to the surface to bite a dry fly. But anglers can land fish on dry flies on the Fall River in the winter, usually during a short time frame in the afternoon.

Midge patterns in sizes from No. 16 to No. 20 tend to work best during winter on the Fall River, according to Josh White, owner of The Hook Fly Shop in Sunriver. He also recommends light fishing line and fluorocarbon leader.

Fishing below Fall River Falls is currently closed until May 22, 2025.

Upper Deschutes

During the late fall and winter, the section of the Deschutes River just below Benham Falls can offer productive fly-fishing for anglers looking to land rainbow trout, brown trout and whitefish. And anglers can often have the water virtually to themselves.

The trout in that stretch of the Deschutes range from about 6 to 12 inches, according to the ODFW, but many fish in the 14- to 18-inch range also live there.

From now through April, when water managers store water in Wickiup Reservoir, the flows remain relatively low on the Deschutes upstream of Bend. This can make fishing easier because the lower flows concentrate the fish. Downstream of Bend, meanwhile, the river flows are higher because water is not being released into the area’s numerous irrigation canals during the winter months.

Fishing above Benham Falls is currently closed until May 22, 2025.

Metolius River

The Metolius is renowned as a challenging river, but the chance to land wild rainbows and bull trout brings anglers to its banks even in the depths of a bitter Central Oregon winter. Unlike in some other rivers, the numbers of fish in the Metolius remain consistent from summer to winter, and the river often has more insect activity in the winter than other streams due to its consistent water levels and temperature, according to the ODFW.

Located just northwest of Sisters, the Metolius, restricted to catch-and-release fly-fishing with barbless hooks, is closed upstream of Allingham Bridge until May 22, 2025.

But until then, that leaves about 20 miles of river available for fishing, some of the best of which is located on the stretch between Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery and Bridge 99.