Brrrr Oregon! It is about 11 PM here in Sisters, and my thermometer reads 8 degrees.
It has been cold most of the week, but we didn’t get much snow here. Portland bares the brunt of that, and even several coastal communities do too. A strange week when that happens.
The weather people say tomorrow (Saturday 2/25/23) is going to warm up to about 50, making me think it is going to be a pretty neat day to be on the Metolius or the Fall.
Spring Creeks are going to be good for water temps. The Crooked is Frozen Over (not that it was any good now anyway), the Middle Deschutes, besides being too high of flows is way too cold and I don’t know for sure, but would guess the Lower Deschutes water temp dropped this week enough to make for some slow fishing for a bit.
On the Metolius, you might see some BWO’s #18 and Midges #22-24 hatching mid day, October Caddis #8-10 and Silver Stripe Sedges #14 hatching later in the afternoon.
It would not surprise me if you saw rising trout to one of these hatches.
Nymph fishing is going to be your #1 approach. Blue Perdigon, Walts Worm, Zebra Midge, Eggs, Golden Stones and Orange Caddis Pupa.
Swinging streamers for bull’s ought to be on your radar too. Before the cold snap they were on the bite well and hitting dark colored streamers best.
Remember the River is Closed from the Headwaters down to Allingham Bridge until 5/22/23
The Fall River is another good winter spot, but do expect a little more snow there to navigate on the roads and river banks.
BWO’s #18-20, Little Black Stones #18-20, Midges #22-24, Micro May’s, 2 Bit Hookers, Eggs, Leeches and Micro Streamers, Perdigons and Zebra Midges.
The Headwaters has a number of fish, the campground area does too and the Hatchery is always a good bet.
Remember there is a new closure on the River from the Falls to the Deschutes in the winter again. I don’t know why it goes back and forth like this, but it is confusing and we want to keep you from getting in trouble or getting a ticket.
The fact that tomorrow is going to be glorious compared to what we’ve been seeing is certainly going to be great, and people are going to get on the water! I love it.
Coming up, the week has fishable weather again. It is going to be wet from time to time, windy on some days, but most importantly every day on the 7 day forecast is above freezing during the day.
With March knocking on our door, we are going to stay on top of the fishing for you again and get back to more regular reporting. Sorry for the lapse, I had a bit of a writer block and between the crappy weather and not much to report, it was difficult to be motivated to write this.
I am so excited for Spring! Lake Billy Chinook and Lake Simtustus will be good very soon. In fact I know both have already been good, but these frigid day set us back a bit.
Maybe the Crooked will pop a little later in the month of March? Usually Spring Break offers some wonderful BWO days.
Maybe by early April South Twin will open up? The last few years it seems like April was good at S. Twin.
The Middle Deschutes ought to see Skwalas by mid to late March and March Brown hatches in early April would be my best guess.
The Lower Deschutes near Locked Gate is going to pick way up in March. March Brown hatches might be towards the end of the month, but early season nymph action will suffice well until that happens.
The Metolius will see even better hatches and that will include those pretty yellow mayflies called Cinygmula’s by about Spring Break.
We are again offering our spring special for early season guide trips. $100 off Fall River Walk and Wades and $100 off Nena to Wapinitia Floats (Troy will do these floats after he’s done at hoodoo ski area in mid-march), and Lower McKenzie floats too as long as run-off holds off and the river stays in good shape. So many of our customers took advantage of these early season trips the last few years. Thank you, and we hope to see you out this season too.
Don’t forget the Albany Fly Tying Expo on March 10-11, 2023. It is such a cool event. I am teaching Lake Flies on Friday and still have a few spots open in my class. I’d love to see you there and tie together.
We have a couple of sales going. Most importantly all Spey rods in stock are 30% off until 3/15 and we have 50% off our Redington Strike Euro Rods making a $350 rod $175 for a really nice rod. 10′ 3 wt, 10 1/2′ 3 wt and 11′ 4 wt. We have some other Euro Rods on the sale rack too. Come check it out.
Warm up, and see you soon.
Jeff