What are you going to do starting tomorrow with the extra 2 minutes of daylight after today, the shortest day of the year?

In terms of fishing, probably not much. But the good news is during the mid-day time we are seeing an awful lot of good fishing right now on 4 of the 5 areas I’ll be reporting on today. And we are just 6 months away from the longest day of the year. And green drakes. Ooh la la.

I know a lot of our friends and customers are heading to Central Oregon for the Christmas and New Years holiday, and with skiing not yet open at Hoodoo, and a really low base of snow thus far at Mt Bachelor, I imagine fishing is going to be a popular event over the next 2 weeks while people are on vacation. I love that, expect that we need the snow so I do hope we get walloped soon with some big snow storms in the Cascades and start building up next summers water supply.

My good friend Phil was in the shop yesterday to buy more Tan Caddis Pupa.

He’s been hammering fish on the Metolius with them! #14-16 Tan Caddis Pupa. Add to your box a larger orange pupa to match October Caddis and you’ll have your caddis covered. No doubt small dark mayfly nymphs will do the trick too. #16-20 Two Bit Hookers, Micro Mayflies and small Perdigons.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again in this report, in December, January and February a nymph angler on the Metolius could catch fish every day on 2 flies if they fished them right. What are they again? A Golden Stone and an Egg.

Zebra Midges in Red and Black #18-22, Rainbow Warriors #14-18, Blue Prince, Blue Perdigon, Walts Worms, Frenchie, CDC Hares Ear are some of the other nymphs to show them.

If you haven’t tried it yet, the new Lance Egan Umpqua Micro diameter lines are amazing (3 brilliant colors, but I love the hot pink the best), and all you do is pull 25 to 30 feet off the spool, tie that to your fly line, add a 5x sighter (or color it on with the new Scientific Angler sighter pens) and tie on 6 to 7 feet of 5x or 6x Fluorocarbon tippet with a dropper tag (optional if you only want to fish one fly) and you will be fishing the most sensitive and modern nymph rig to date. This is the future of nymph fishing.

Hatches have been light, which is not uncommon in December. You might run into a BWO hatch mid afternoon usually around 1:30 to 2 or so. You might not. If you really want to look for a hatch and fish dries, be ready by 12:30 and stake out one of the good eddies from the hatchery to below 99 and wait. Don’t take your eyes off that water and watch for light dimples in the seams of the eddies and be ready with your 12′ 6x leader and a BWO Knock Down Dun or Film Critic or Sparkle Dun.

Bulls are still chasing streamers, and it’s important to show them different colors. Some days they like light ones like a Milkshake or Circus Peanut and other days they like the dark streamers like our custom coneheads we sell. The black one with the rubber legs is back in stock BTW.

Access is great with no snow anywhere you want to go. Remember that the river is closed from the headwaters to Allingham Bridge until May 22. The rest of the river is open all year.

• The Lower Deschutes was good again this week for the FFP crew who fished the Warm Springs to Trout Creek area with gusto. Eggs and Leeches and Stonefly nymphs have been the best through here.
  Keep in mind the Reservation side of the river is closed until April 22, and the BLM side is open until 12/31 on waters adjacent to the WS Reservation. Maupin area waters remain open all year for trout and certainly show us some good days in the winter.

There have been a smattering of BWO’s on the Lower D too, again in the back eddies like on the Met. keep that in mind if you want to fish a hatch and get a few more on dries before the season ends.

• The Middle Deschutes is not too good. Cold and High, running fast and just not a lot going on at the moment. I’d pass. Can you fish it. Yes. Will you catch fish? Some. For me, I’m waiting until march or April.
• The Crooked River is running perfectly this winter for fishing. we love seeing that!
  Zebra Midges, Scuds, Micro Mays and 2 Bits for tiny BWO nymphs, Skinny Nelson, Midge Winkers, Rainbow Warriors and small Perdigons.



BWO hatches are slowing down but keep an eye out for an afternoon hatch of these small mayflies on warmer days, and certainly carry some dry fly midge emergers and adults for later in the afternoon when the tiny black midge hatches occur, often just an hour before dark.

• The Fall River is one of my favorite spots to hit in the winter, often because many of you know I love dry fly fishing and this is usually the best spot to catch fish on a hatch in December, January and February. BWO’s (#18-22) and Midges (#20-24) steal the show, but don’t overlook the #14 Amber colored caddis, and #16-20 little black stones for dries either.

Of course not everyday on any river will offer up good dry fly fishing so of course we want to add some good nymphs and little streamers to the Fall River mix. Eggs, Zebra Midges, 2 Bits, Rainbow Warriors, Soccer Mom, Hot Pink Rufous, Jig Minnows and Leeches.

Access to the headwaters is easy, also to the Tubes since there is really no snow to contend with yet this winter. Hatchery area typically sees the most pressure so it’s not a bad idea to spread out and try other spots.

Remember the area below the fall to the Deschutes is closed in the winter.

I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season. The gifts we enjoy at the shop and on the water with you on guide trips are really special to our entire crew.

On behalf of of Jeff, Carson, Drew, Aaron, Sequoia, Gavin, Gavin Jr, Cindy, Mary Ann, Doug, Steve, Troy, Tonn, Ben, Mike, Eric, Shad, Tonn, Laura, Mattias, Chris and all the shop dogs, we appreciate that you support us and have put your trust in our shop.

Let’s talk again around the New Year. I’ll be in the shop over the holidays and look forward to catching up if you stop in.

JP