Making Memories: Fly and Field Outfitters
All smiles, and sun-safe to boot: Fly and Field Outfitters founder and owner Scott Cook in his element. Photo courtesy of Kyle Schenk.
First Deschutes Fish: A Maupin Magic Carpet Ride
Scott Cook vividly remembers his first Deschutes redside trout. “I grew up in a fishing family,” recalls Cook, the owner of Fly and Field Outfitters in Bend. “We fished everywhere, all the blue-ribbon trout streams in Montana, Idaho, northern California, Washington and Oregon. So I was maybe ten on my first trip to the Deschutes. And what I remember is how powerful the river was compared to most of the other places we fished, and how slippery it was to wade. My dad had wading boots, but my brother and I did not. So we went into Maupin, found some carpet sample squares, and cut and superglued them to our tennis shoes. Then I caught my first big Deschutes redside on a 3 weight Fenwick with an old Medalist reel, throwing a dry-fly.”
This proved to be a formative experience for Cook. In 1992, for a graduation gift from Bend High School, he received a day of guided fishing on the Deschutes. “It was an epic day, floating from Warm Springs to Trout Creek. The fishing was good, and the guide cooked this amazing lunch. The next day I was in the Deschutes River Outfitters’ fly shop, applying for a job.”
By the summer after that, Cook was guiding trips himself.
Fly and Field, The Next Generation
Fly and Field Outfitters, Sunriver location. Photo courtesy of Shannon Sands.
In 1999, Cook opened Fly and Field Outfitters at its current location, 35 SW Century Drive, Bend. It’s grown to employ 20, with a satellite shop in Sunriver. General Manager Kyle Schenk oversees the retail end of the operation. A half dozen shop-employed guides will take you just about anywhere you can imagine to fish in Central Oregon. Yet Cook, who describes himself these days as a “flip flops and sombrero” guide who’s focused on upper basin lake fishing, won’t deny the importance of the lower Deschutes to the health of his business. His guides routinely take clients there, and it’s still a favorite haunt of his to fish. “I would say any fly shop in the Pacific Northwest is going to depend on the Deschutes to some degree,” says Cook. “It’s not just famous, it’s world famous, one of the top blue-ribbon fisheries in the country.”
More importantly, he considers the Deschutes’ good health a legacy he wants for his son Henry, 12, listed with obvious affection as a junior guide on Fly and Field Outfitters’ website. “I do think about my time on the river, my memories as a kid, and wonder what he’s going to experience,” says Cook.
Cook has seen changes on the river over the past 30 years that are concerning to him. “Mostly it’s changes to the hatches, and hatch timing,” says Cook. He’s observed the compression of the late spring and early summer hatch. “Now everything seems to happen at once, which can be exciting, but the reality is by mid-August, it can be really hard to raise a fish, and that’s definitely different than what it used to be.”
Embedded in a Sweet Spot
Down the river: Fly and Field guide and clients ply the waters of the lower Deschutes. Photo courtesy of Kyle Schenk.
Cook is encouraged by the work the Deschutes River Alliance has been doing as of late. “It’s looking more these days like this [the problems facing the lower Deschutes] is a fixable thing,” says Cook. “The DRA seems to have the right approach, and the right mentality, to make it fixable.”
Like many guides, you’ll likely find Cook on the water on his days off. His favorite memory-making trips these days are with his son. Henry already has a couple Warm Springs to Maupin trips under his belt. “He’s just at that age where it all starts to make sense to him,” says Cook. “The sight and sound of a campfire, a calm, safe spot in the river where he can get on the oars. We recently poked at a rattlesnake, because I wanted him to know the sound of one rattling as he starts to fish on his own.”
In addition to safe travels, Cook hopes Henry’s memories of the river will one day be as happy as his Dad’s. “I want,” says Cook, “the river to be a sweet spot embedded in their lives.”
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