Perhaps winter finally arrived today! It started snowing and is pretty cold today. The meteorologists are saying we could get 20 inches or more here in Sisters from today through Sunday, with cold temps from the Polar Vortex just hitting our region a bit (nothing like Montana and the Mid-West).
I personally think the fishing is pretty much off the table on Friday 2/12/21, then it may be OK Saturday with the high at 29, and certainly ok Sunday with the forecast high at 36 here in Sisters. All days are forecast to snow heavily.
Be prepared for snowy roads and stay home if you have any doubts. I think this is the storm that will cut off access to Bridge 99 from the Wizard Fall turn off finally. We had some snow in January that curtailed that access for a few days but it was short lived. Some winters that section of road is snowed in for months. As of tomorrow and beyond tomorrow night I would not recommend driving a vehicle past Wizard Falls to get to Bridge 99 with the snow that is forecast to fall. We will update access and changes as we can.
For the hard core anglers, I would guess Sunday 12/14 will see really good Baetis hatches, and likely some midges too. Especially on the spring fed rivers.
I also guess the Bull Trout fishing on Sunday will be very good after the moisture and darker days. That is often a great bite.
Crooked River may see some icing along the shorelines and across the slow pools with nighttime lows in the low teens for a couple of nights. I’d give the Crooked several days and let’s see how it pans out. The Prineville forecast looks ok other than 2 very cold nights and about 5 inches of snow Friday night.
Fall River may not get the snow Sisters and the Metolius will get. Looking at the forecast it looks like the storm in not as potent in Lapine and I’m just guessing that will include the area of the Fall River too. With the rain and snow mixed that is coming from that area, BWO and Midge hatches should be quite good.
All access points are open at this time including the hatchery now.
Maupin will be snowy and I’d guess hard access.
The Middle Deschutes was good this week on Streamers. I had a friend go down and he saw a lot of little black stones hatching but no fish rising or looking up to the hatch yet. For the next 2 or 3 weeks that hatch is definitely one to keep in mind from Bend down to Lake Billy Chinook in the afternoon. Float & Fool or Black Caddis is the match.
Driving the Mountain Passes over Santiam and Mt Hood will be no joke for the next 4 days. Take it easy out there and come prepared if you decide to venture out.