What a difference a week made. Last friday we are freezing our tail end’s off and looking at our first set of consecutive days of winter below the freezing mark, plus some good amounts of snow around Sisters, Camp Sherman and even down to Maupin. Honestly, as much as I hate it, we need 2 or 3 more storms like that before winter is over for 2021.
A lot of our customers and day anglers come from the Valley and you know what a crap weather even you had there with your own snow and ice and power outages.
I am glad it’s looking up. Including the fishing. And the fish if you’re in the right place at the right time!

The Metolius will be a place to find trout looking up. BWO’s, Caddis, Midges and Little Black Stones are all dry fly patterns you’ll need through the rest of the month.
Nymphing action remains very good. Golden Stones, Micro Mayfly, Caddis Pupa, Eggs, Zebra Midges, Blue Prince, Red Lightning Bug, Perdigons and Jigs.
Streamer action for Bull Trout is fairly good. Certainly worth the effort. Bring a sink tip or let us build you a custom tip.

Crooked is fine, the water remains low and the deep freeze last week iced some of it up a bit. That is melting off and i’d say by Sunday and Monday the fishing should be good on Midges and tiny mayfly nymphs and scuds.
The reservoir is filling soooooo slowly. Worried about the next winter conditions after a summer of irrigation demands. Cross your fingers for a good wet spring and end to winter.

The Fall River is a really good bet. It’ll be crowded most days and especially on the weekends, but the hatchery has allowed fishing access and that helps spread it out a bit more.
Just like the Metolius, BWO, Midges and Little Black Stones will be the most important hatches.
There will be good nymphing action of course, and the key to that on the Fall is a light tippet and a small tungsten fly. We’ve been having good susses on Red Zebra Midges and Purple Perdigons using a 7x fluorocarbon tippet.

The Middle Deschutes is in full Little Black Stone Hatch mode. It is worth checking out mid afternoon.
Streamer fishing is another thing we like on the Middle in the winter. Be careful where you wade, the river is pushy at this level.

The Lower D I didn’t hear a darn thing about. Maybe check Amy’s report from the Deschutes Angler for that. We try to keep tabs on that and love to go fish it, but the weather and roads this past week kept anyone I know and rely on their info from getting there.
I’d guess the Maupin to Locked Gate is good though. This is the time of year a Black or Golden Stone Nymph can pay big dividends . Pay attention if there are a few caddis out. If so, a small tan or grey caddis pupa on the margins can be hot. Look for BWO’s. And of course go Euro the heck out of those wadeable runs.

Finally, I report very sad news about a shop dog a lot of you knew so well. My Golden Retriever Paloma passed away suddenly this week at the age of 14.
We loved her dearly and it is a hard loss. She was for many years of her life an amazing fishing dog. I say that in a way that can only be interpreted that she loved the water as much as I did. That said, she was terrible in the boat and liked to jump in the river from time to time, but I wouldn’t change any of this, as she was so happy in everything she did. I loved every moment we spent together.

This is a favorite photo taken when she was just a few months old. We were on the Metolius and she was helping me pick a good Green Drake to match the hatch.

This Paloma just a few days ago. Just a sugar faced giant teddy bear of a loving dog.

If you have a dog of your own, give it an extra pet or kiss on the head tonight and tell him/her that Jeff thinks they are also the best!