Hello from Neskowin, Oregon where we are beating the heat a bit. We came this way with intentions for fishing out of a dory in Pacific City today, but the ocean conditions are proving too rough for a comfortable trip out on the big pond, so there will be no fishing today. We will make the best of it though and it’s always good to be here.

Everyone in the Pacific NW knows this is probably our hottest week of the year starting yesterday and lasting through the work week. By next weekend it looks like we go way way down in temps to the 70’s and 80’s but there is certainly some fishing to be had this week, especially on our local spring creeks and tailwater rivers. You’ll see our recommendations for lakes will be mixed depending on the elevation and depending on how early you are will to get there and stay.

I want to remind everyone our Metolius River Clean Up in coming up on August 27th. We plan to meet at the Camp Sherman Store (9 am), where we will assign people different segments of the river to go look for garbage. Sequoia and Carson at the shop put a lot of planning in this and teamed up with SOLV to get us garbage bags to collect trash in, and I know a lot of folks have committed to come help clean up our favorite river. After the clean up we will do a Hot Dog BBQ at the Fly Fisher’s Place in Sisters for anyone who comes. We are so appreciative of the support we are seeing already for this important event.

I want to say a few tips on keeping cool while fishing, and being cool while fishing in hot weather.
Be cool to the fish. If the water gets above 68 degrees stop fishing for trout if you are planning to release the fish you catch. Rainbow trout especially are susceptible to dying after release if the water temps get above 68.
A lot of our rivers and spring creeks won’t get even close to that water temp this week so there is nothing to worry about, but most of the lakes will.
It’s important you stay cool though and we start wearing shorts and neoprene gravel guard socks with our wading boots and let the cool waters flow around our bare legs. We sell these useful socks at FFP and offer both Simms and Korkers versions in all the sizes and if you mention this report from now until Friday I’ll give you 20% off those socks this week.

The Metolius is naturally one of the coldest rivers in the state, so it remains cold and fishing is good. The little yellow micro caddis are now a very important hatch in the mid river sections and a #18-20 yellow IRIS or small Tan CDC or Elk Hair Caddis are good choices. Also #16 Missing Links, Iris, Corn Fed and Henryville Caddis in both Tan and Olive will match the other caddis hatches you’ll see over the next 7 or 8 weeks. The Micro Caddis abundance is now and it lasts for about 10-14 days usually. Don’t miss it! It’s a later afternoon and evening hatch.
PMD’s #16, Rusty Spinners #16-18, BWO’s #18-20, Ameletus #14 (Jeff’s Flav and a Purple Comparadun are good matches), Mahogany Duns #16 will be mayfly hatches you might run into in any area of the river.
Golden Stones are hatching in the upper river mostly from the Gorge to the Headwaters. A #10-12 Clark’s Stone is a favorite match for us, but the Norm Woods Special is another great match too. Generally we don’d the Metolius fish to like the foam chubby type golden stones so much….
Nymphing is really good, especially with your Euro rod!
Bull Trout fishing is good, with a lot of the recent catches coming on smaller Euro type streamers, but most certainly a Circus Peanut or Dolly Llama is always a great choice. If you want to fish for Bulls, I would get there at Dawn and fish until the sun starts hitting the river for the best results.

There is a new fire near the McKenzie Bridge area that causes some concern for the week ahead on the McKenzie. We fish below that area, and the fire will lose fuel fast if it moves west into the burn from 2020, but we are keeping an eye on it.
Fishing continues to be excellent on the McKenzie with nymphs and streamers and with a Chubby/Dropper rig. Let’s hope that fire is controlled quickly and does not affect our access or our river.

The Crooked River is seeing good PMD hatches and with the hotter weather this week those little critters are going to be coming off better in the evening is my guess rather than when the mid afternoon shade first hits the river.
We’ve been having excellent results on Yellow PMD Nymphs and Brown Perdigons before and during the hatch, and then a PMD Film Critic emerger, Comparadun or Sparkle Dun or Parachute for the dry and a Rusty Spinner in the evening.
Scuds, Zebra Midges, 2 Bits and Rainbow Warriors are all good on a Euro rig or under the NZ Wool Indicator.

The Fall River is a cold water refuge for sure. Brrrrrr that water is freezing on bare legs. The trout love it. PMD hatches #16 and Caddis (olive #16-18, Tan #16) hatches have been pretty good over there and look for some BWO’s, Midges, Rusty Spinners, Ants, Beetles and Grasshoppers to get fish up to the top.
There has been some really good catch days for us on Euro Streamers, heavy egg flies, MOPS and Perdigons. Rainbow Warrior, 2 Bit’s, Zebra Midges and Micro Mayflies will round out your fly selection there.

The Lower Deschutes is seeing some good and interesting fishing opportunities, but look outside the box for that because fishing 8 am to 4 pm you might miss what I am going to share here.
Last week from about 4 PM to Dusk there were many days of phenomenal Pale Evening Dun Spinners falls, followed by the emerging duns, followed by adults on the water, followed by caddis to dark.
There is also a quality midge hatch going that will bring fish in to the eddies to slurp slurp slurp on Winklers, Palominos and Griffiths Gnats.
Keep an eye on PMD’s too.
Morning and Mid Day you’ll be fishing a lot of Jigs and Perdigons and some Euro Streamers. Look, an indicator rig is fine and you’ll get some fish on that, but the Euro rig allows you to be connected to the drift so much better. It’s the way to go.

The Middle Deschutes is going to one to watch water temps this week. Mornings are likely all good, but afternoons are going to hit that temp some not good for the fish. I might suggest resting the Middle until next week.

I’d suggest resting East Lake, Crane, Hosmer and most of the lakes this week. I think all would be OK from dawn to noon, but impose your own Hoot Owl restriction there to protect our important resource.
If we get wind, Paulina ought to be ok, and Three Creeks with the elevation should be too.
This is a good week to fish deep, think long indicator rigs or type 3 and type 5 sinking lines on a lot of our lakes, but certainly Three Creeks will see Callibaetis, Black Dancer Caddis and Beetles bringing fish to the surface to feed too.

See you soon!

Jeff