Good morning to all of our angling friends out there. I know many of us are getting ready for our big holiday times, and that can distract us from going fishing, but for those of you who are headed out for piscatorial pursuits, this week looks awesome with temps in the low to high 40’s, and after today a pretty dry week is in our forecast. Water conditions are good on the Metolius, Fall, Crooked and have dropped back to normal on the Lower Deschutes too. All 4 places have been fishing really well the last couple of weeks and should be good for the week(s) ahead too.

Starting close to home on the Metolius, there have still been some PMD’s hatching. I simply don’t know of another river in the world that prolongs hatches like the Metolius does. That spring fed water does some strange but amazing things to life cycles of aquatic insects and keeps it interesting and us on our toes. PMD’s do not fit in the “official hatch chart” for a December hatch, but it’s still trickling most days. Blue Wing Olives are the primary mayfly in the winter months and there is no doubt about how important these little #18-22 mayfly is on all the Metolius. Fish the complete cycle with a Micro Mayfly or 2 Bit Hooker, emergers, cripples and duns and keep a spinner or 2 in the fly box because if you are lucky to be in the right place at the right time, and egg layers are gliding back to the water and floating spent in the film, the fish will more than likely really take notice on that! That said, if they are rising, I’d be on a Knock Down Down, a K Fly, Sparkle Dun or Comparadun, Film Critic and a Parachute and have a 12-15′ 6x leader on.
October Caddis #8-10 and some smaller Grey Caddis #14-16 have been prevalent, and caddis pupa nymphs are good now for sure.
Midges are also important in the winter months as diversity of hatches is less this time of year. A Zebra Midge in black or red is always a solid nymph on the Met any time of the year, but midges become even more of an important food source in winter as there is less of other things to eat. *Think about all the hatches that will occur next spring, summer and fall. Most of those nymphs and larva are in early stages of development and growth. But Midges are massively abundant making them really important despite their size.
About a month ago I was one of 4 panelists at the Deschutes River Alliance Trout Whisperer’s event and sat with Tye Krueger of Confluence, Rick Haefle (famous oregon entomologist and author) and Paul Snowbeck of Fin and Fire. Paul made a point that I loved and that was the orientation of the stream flow in certain areas where the river got more sun would create better conditions for midge larva, in turn that would attract more whitefish to the area and in turn bring in more bull trout to prey on the whitefish. I loved that description of the cycle of life and appreciated Paul’s description of all of that.
Also, never forget about how important Stoneflies are in the cycle of life on the Metolius. Golden Stones and Salmonflies are year long food sources to the trout and in the winter I’d venture to say if you used a Golden Stone nymph and an Egg dropper every day you went to the Met, you’d rarely get skunked.
Friends are catching Bull Trout on all kinds of streamers, and we just got our big Purple articulated streamers back in stock that so many of you know well. Also, we got a new fly going that we call The Milkshake and the Milkshake brings all the Bulls to the Yard, damn right it’s bigger than yours! Try it.

The Crooked River is fishing great, like the old days on the river in the winter! BWO hatches remain important although in January and February they can slow up a lot, or altogether stop if the water gets too chilly. Midges will go no matter what unless the river freezes over.
My friend Chester was out there and ran into the exact scenario with the BWO spinners that I described above in the Metolius report and while it was quick, the fish responded to the spinners when that happened.
Euro Nymphing techniques and NZ Wool Indicators will be your best methods, keeping an eye open for short dry fly bursts from about noon to dark and depending on the wind and air temps for dries.

The Fall River is a strong December bet, and is seeing fair to good hatches of midges #20-24 and BWO’s #18-22 and some little Amber caddis #14-16 and just the beginnings of a few small black Winter Stones. The Little Black Stones often become more important to the trout later in the winter and can be a darn hard fly to match the hatch with. There was a guy who used to live in the Sunriver area named Vern, and he was a heckuva good angler and caster and he showed me his little black thread body, CDC wing invention that he both dead drifted and skittered over the rising fish. For you fly tyers, do these on #18 mostly, but have a couple of #16 too. No fly company that I know of has even a half way decent fly to match these little black stones.
Small Streamers, Eggs and Jigs, Zebra Midges and 2 Bit’s are getting the job done out there.
Access to fishing is anywhere from the Headwaters to the Falls, and please remember that below the Falls to the Deschutes is now closed until 5/22/24

The Lower Deschutes is on a roll, even with a bump in water last weekend and early in the week the Warm Springs to Trout Creek area was really really good for our guys. It has been excellent nymph fishing, and eggs, jigs, perdigons, stonefly nymphs and small streamers (leeches, sculpins) are doing really well.
Mattias caught 3 steelhead on Wednesday and he and Drew hammered the trout and whitefish. Troy had a nice guide trip there on Friday and even had a beginner who got some nice fish. Troy and Tonn were doing the 3 day drift through Whitehorse when the soaking rain storm hit, and they woke up to a swollen river that next morning but still managed some good trout and one more steelhead.
We’ve got another 2+ weeks to enjoy the Warm Springs to Trout Creek section (East side only as the WS Reservation closed 10/31/23) so get out there until 12/31 and do some fishing before it is closed for 4 months.
Remember the Maupin areas are open year round so january and february days in the Locked Gate run is a good bet if we get a mild winter.

We are going to offer Fly Tying Classes this winter. Limited to 5 people per session. I haven’t set the dates yet but thinking Saturday afternoons in the shop about 2 to 4 in January and February.
I will teach 2 of the classes, and do one day with some spring creek dries, and another day with some favorite lake flies.
Gavin Ferguson is going to do a really unique class on classic streamers and it will be a 2 day class tying 2 types of streamers per class and then mounting them in a shadow box.
Mattias Holverson is going to teach a Euro Nymphs class and a Bull Trout Streamer class.
And Drew Tracy is going to teach a great session on tying soft hackles including using dubbing loops to apply fragile feathers, or to size feathers to the hook better than might otherwise be done. I know this will be a great class.
$15 per person per session. 3 people minimum/5 maximum per class.

If we don’t see you over the next few weeks, have a Merry Christmas and wonderful Holiday Cheer no matter how you celebrate.

Be well and see you soon!

Jeff