2024!
First of all, don’t forget to get your 2024 fishing license. FFP is closed today but we can sell you a license at the shop and print it for you starting tomorrow (1/2/24). Or, you can use the ODFW on Apple or Android phones, or go to https://odfw.huntfishoregon.com and purchase one online. It is helpful if you have your old license with your ODFW Hunter/Angler ID # to use for looking you up as a customer on their site.
Oregon State Police Fish & Game Troopers are usually out checking quite a bit in the 1st few weeks after the new year, mostly to remind anglers to update their license, but they can write a citation if you are being really dumb, especially if you are steelhead fishing and don’t have an up to date license or tag. Don’t be that angler.
Another note, FFP will be closed Sundays in January and February and we will wait until warmer days in March to reopen on Sunday.
We have 3 spots left in the Bull Trout Streamer tying class, all the other classes are full and with a waiting list. We may need to add another Euro Nymphs tying class, and have already got enough people for a 2nd Spring Creek Dries tying class. Thanks to everyone who has signed up!

The Metolius saw an uptick in winter angling pressure over the last week and half, with good weather on the river and no skiing at Hoodoo, a lot of folks took to the river. Fishing overall was good, with best catches coming on nymphs, including the tan caddis pupa (#14-16) Oct Caddis (#8-10), Red 2 Bits (#16-18), Blue Prince (#12-16), Eggs, Stonefly nymphs (#8-12), Perdigons (#14-18), Walt’s (#14), Zebra Midges (#18-22) and Rainbow Warriors (#14-18).
Afternoon BWO hatches are mostly on the light side, but keep an eye open around 1 to 2:30 for rising fish and some of the days only dry fly opportunities. Fish emergers like the RS2, Film Critic, Sparkle Dun and K Fly, and cripples like the Knock Down Dun and Duns, including Comparaduns and Parachutes.
There has been good to very good bull trout activity this past week and I would guess we will see more of the same coming up for the foreseeable future. That has been happening on streamers mostly, but a lot of bulls have been fooled by a good nymph drift lately too.
After the Holiday I expect things to be more quiet out there starting this week.

The Warm Springs section of the Lower Deschutes is now closed until 4/22/24. This means no fishing on any water adjacent to the Reservation lands. These access points include The Guard Rail hole, Warm Springs Boat ramp, Mecca, Trout Creek, South Jct and Dry Creek.
Once you get to Maupin you’ll be north of any reservation lands and either side of the river is open for fishing.
My friend Bruce was in the Maupin area a couple of days ago and was catching a lot of Redsides on a Hares Ear Soft Hackle with a Gold Bead and Pink Floss Tail.
He was also stripping small Dolly Llama Streamers and got quite a few to chase and eat the streamer.
I like the learning process and evolution we all get as anglers. 10 years ago, with Bruce and I would have totally discounted even the idea of fishing a streamer for Lower Deschutes Rainbows. But now, here we are. My own eyes were opened to this when Todd Moen did a Trout Spey video featuring Jakob Lund swinging and stripping an Olive/White Dolly Llama on the Deschutes on a warm summery day, Jakob wet wading and casting a Winston Trout Spey like a champ! I remember watching that video in awe.
The Maupin area from the Locked Gate South of Town down to Mack’s Canyon has an awful lot to offer a year round Deschutes Junkie.

The Crooked River is fishing well this winter and we are still seeing light hatches of BWO’s in the afternoon. I had some customers in who came back to buy more of the CDC Parachutes after having a good day using them the day before.
As we move in to January, expect more midge hatches and less BWO’s, but be ready for either.
Nymphing is certainly going to be your best method for picking up more fish than a dry for the next 6 to 8 weeks, and little scuds, zebra midges, winkers, perdigons, micro may’s and rainbow warriors will do the trick.

The Fall River is definitely one of our favorite winter spots, and for good reason as the fish are usually as active here in the winter as they are any other time of the year. Right now it is a good time to focus on the Euro Streamers and micro-streamers and try to get the fish to chase the fly a bit. Nymphing is always a solid choice either with an indicator or Euro style. Lately Eggs, Micro May’s that are the size and color of a BWO nymph, Zebra Midges (especially red) and Perdigons are working especially well.
There have been days when the dry fly bite is pretty good for a while in the afternoon, and you can also expect to see some days when you won’t see many fish up to the hatch, or the hatch is too light to get them looking up. Winter fishing is like that. Of course access on the river due to lack of a snowy winter is quite good, but remember that the river is closed from the Falls down to the Deschutes.

In 2024 I have made the decision to guide a lot less and come back to working in the shop a lot more. I hope to see so many of you in the shop over the course of the coming season as I embark on this next part of my career in this business. I’m not giving up on guiding and look forward to my days on the lakes, but I feel a pull back to the shop that needs to be attended to and I’ll be there a bunch.

Happiest of 2024 to you all!

Jeff