Fly Fishing Deschutes An independent journal - Maupin, OR
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An angler's working bench by a window overlooking the Deschutes canyon, open field journal and fly box in warm afternoon light

Editorial

About Taylor Gill

Editor of Fly Fishing Deschutes. Twenty years on the river. No guide service, no shop, no affiliate links.

TG

Taylor Gill

Editor & Senior Writer - Fly Fishing Deschutes

Taylor Gill is the editor of Fly Fishing Deschutes. A lifelong angler based in the high desert of Central Oregon, Taylor has spent two decades wading the Deschutes from the headwaters at Little Lava Lake to the canyon below Sherars Falls.

The long version

Taylor Gill writes about the Deschutes River and Pacific Northwest fly water from a base in Central Oregon. Their dispatches focus on the specifics that matter on the water - which size 18 mayfly emerges at what time of day, why the swing through a particular tailout works in October but not June, and which sections of the river deserve a different approach than the guidebooks suggest.

Taylor has logged more than two thousand days on the Deschutes over the past twenty years, fishing it through every season, every flow regime, and most of the named hatches. They tie commercially in winter and write the rest of the year. Past contributions have appeared in regional fly fishing newsletters and small-press anthologies.

Fly Fishing Deschutes is independent and editorial. Taylor has no commercial relationship with any guide service, lodge, fly manufacturer, or tackle retailer. The site accepts no advertising, no affiliate revenue, and no sponsored content. Errors of fact get corrected publicly, with a dated note on the affected page.

Why this site exists

The original flyfishingdeschutes.com domain was the website of a Maupin-area fly shop that operated for many years and is no longer in business. The domain was acquired in 2025 by an editorial group that wanted a dedicated independent platform for Deschutes River content. The shop is gone and we are not it. We do not represent the previous owners, the previous guide staff, or any commercial successor.

What we share with the old site is geography. The Deschutes River was the focus of that original site and it is the focus of this one. We have rebuilt the site as an editorial journal rather than a shop catalog. Past URLs that have backlinks have been redirected to the closest relevant page on the new site so that links to the original domain do not break.

Editorial principles

Three principles guide how we publish here:

  1. Specificity over generality. A fishing report that says "the river is fishing" is worse than no report at all. We name reaches, water temperatures, hatch timing windows, and specific patterns. When we do not have current information on a section we say so rather than padding the report.
  2. Independence over access. Most published Deschutes content has a commercial relationship behind it - a shop, a guide service, an outfitter, a manufacturer. That is not inherently wrong but it changes what gets said. We have no such relationships and we say what we think.
  3. Permanence over churn. Articles published here are written to be useful for at least a season and often for several years. Hatch charts and reach guides are updated on a deliberate schedule, not republished as "new" content. Errors are corrected in place with a dated note.

Areas of focus

Taylor's twenty years on the river have concentrated on the following areas, which is where our editorial coverage is strongest:

We do not pretend equal expertise across all aspects of fly fishing. We do not, for example, write about saltwater fishing, large-streamer fishing for warmwater species, or tenkara - not because those things are uninteresting but because we have no business writing about them.

What we do not do

How to reach the editor

Use the contact page for questions, corrections, tips on conditions we have missed, or anything else editorial. Reader email - particularly from anglers who know the river - has made several articles on this site significantly better than they would otherwise have been. Corrections are welcome and acknowledged on the affected page.

Where to read next

Reference

Frequently Asked Questions

Who writes Fly Fishing Deschutes? +
Taylor Gill is the editor and primary writer. Taylor has fished the Deschutes River for twenty years, ties flies commercially in the off-season, and lives in Central Oregon within an hour of the canyon.
Are you a guide? +
No. Fly Fishing Deschutes is editorial only. Taylor does not run a guide service, does not take clients, and has no financial relationship with any guide operation on the river. We make a point of this because it is unusual on a Deschutes-focused site and it is the reason this site can publish honest reports.
Do you sell flies or gear? +
No. The site accepts no affiliate revenue and links to commercial fly retailers and tackle manufacturers are no-follow when they appear. We tie our own flies for our own use and write about them. We do not sell them.
Is this site monetized? +
Not currently. We accept no advertising, no sponsored content, no affiliate revenue, no paid placements. The site is funded out of pocket. We may at some point add a subscription option for in-depth reports but the core editorial content will remain free.
Why use a pseudonym? +
Taylor Gill writes under a single byline that is consistent across the site. We are not pseudonymous to hide an identity - we are using a consistent author voice because the editorial line is a single perspective from a single angler. If you have a serious question about an article and need to verify a claim, contact the editor through the contact page and we will respond in person.
How can I contact you? +
Use the contact page. We respond to all reader inquiries within a week. We accept tips, corrections, and questions. We do not accept paid placement requests, guest post pitches, sponsored content offers, or backlink trades. Those emails do not get a reply.
How do you handle factual corrections? +
Errors get corrected on the affected page with a dated note at the bottom of the article. We do not silently update content. If a published claim turns out to be wrong, the correction is visible to anyone who reads the page after the date of the correction.
What is your editorial standard? +
Three principles: every claim about the water is from first-hand experience or named outside source; we name our limits when we have them (a reach we have not fished recently, a hatch we have not personally seen); and we do not publish content driven by commercial relationships, because we have none.
Do you write about other rivers? +
Occasionally. The Deschutes is the focus of this site and it will stay that way. When a hatch, technique, or species naturally extends to adjacent waters - the John Day, the Crooked, the Klickitat across the Columbia - we cover it. We do not write about waters we have not personally fished.
What gear do you actually fish? +
A standard trout setup of a 9-foot, 5-weight single-hander with a weight-forward floating line covers most of the year on the Deschutes. For steelhead, a 13- or 14-foot two-handed rod in 6 or 7 weight. For winter midges, a 4-weight in 9-foot. The specifics matter less than the fundamentals: a balanced rig, fresh tippet, and a fly that suits the moment.