The Lower Deschutes is fishing great, and probably the perfect time just due to the heat being down and the awesome hatches! If you're wanting to target steelhead you're gonna have to go closer to the mouth such as Mack’s Canyon and down. But on the day stretch, pheasant tails, two bits, copper johns, micro mays will all be working well.  Perdigons are always great down there and for those I recommend using: purple duracells, hazels jig magic, tungsten frenchies, and blowtorches, just to name a few. Also, with tourism slowing down and kids starting to head back to school there's way less people out there so a perfect time to schedule a float trip or for the best fishing, a camp trip!