I love Austral Spring, it gives hope that Winter is fading and the best days of the season are just ahead.
Today was a wintery day in Central Oregon with snow falling on and off in Sisters but not accumulating much at all.
It’s not the best fishing weather but it’s not weather that I know will keep some of you off the rivers this weekend either. And with the Crooked River flows coming way down again that might be one of the best destinations for the next few days!

So let’s start on the Crooked River because I am excited about the prospects for March and beyond there.
Water is mid 400’s (cfs) and that is quite fishable. I had a solid report from a customer he was doing well on leeches under an indicator on a dead drift. Cool right? Maybe twitch it once in a while, but the dead drift was his success key.
Scud ought to be in the drift a lot after disruptions from high water.
Cased Caddis will be all over the rocks as that Mother’s Day Caddis is just over 2 months away.
Midges and BWO’s in nymphs for sure, and certainly look for rising trout on dries and emergers to both of these important spring hatches!
Skinny Nelson and 2 Bit Hookers to match Baetis nymphs. Perdigons and Frenchies on the Euro Rod.
We started our spring special guide trips for $395 for up to 3 people today for Crooked River and Fall River trips. We’d love to help you out on a trip this month (until 4/21/24) at a great price if you want to try it out.

The Metolius is a good bet this weekend. We didn’t see too much new snow in the Sisters and Camp Sherman area compared to South of Bend.
Good nymph action has been consistent these past several days on perdigons, micro mayfly, 2 bits, stoneflies, eggs and caddis pupa. I would tell you I think at this time an indicator rig is catching a few more than our typical and beloved euro set up. Hmmmm. The new Oros micro indicators are cool for the little nymphs and the small and mediums come into play for stoneflies and dropper set up and if you add soft weight to the rig.
Baetis hatches are the main hatch bringing trout to the top to feed. Look for that to happen about 1 or 1:30 and last for 10 to 45 minutes. Cripples and Emergers are usually best on a 12 to 15′ 6x leader.
Caddis hatches continue to impress. BIG October Caddis are always fun to see these clumsy flyers over the water. Smaller cousins to the October Caddis are the Silver Stripe Sedge and Snow Sedge and throw in some smaller Grey and Tan Caddis to the mix and on some days you might really see quite a few caddis around in the coming days and weeks.
Bull Trout have been coming to streamers for sure, so if that is your preferred way to target these predators, do it. More bulls have been netted with a small nymph in their mouth lately, so keep that in mind if you are fishing for the big ones.

Fall River is snowy! Way more snow down in the South of Deschutes County and at that elevation over the last few days. I might skip that with road conditions for the next few days, and try mid week or next weekend. If you do go, expect small streamers to be great, zebra midges, eggs, 2 bits and perdigons to be highly effective nymphs and you ought to see rising fish on BWO’s and Midges in the afternoon. Last weekend the dry fly activity on the Fall River was very good quality with a lot of feeding fish mid afternoon.
Also running our spring special guide trip rate for $395 for 1 to 3 people until 4/21/24. Should be a great Spring Break trip for a lot of customers.

The Skawla Hatch has been sighted and confirmed on the Middle Deschutes. Water is normal, typical for the time of year and rushing cold water.
Good nymph fishing should be had on stonefly nymphs and run a caddis pupa or 2 bit hooker dropper with that. I’d also fish Soft hackle PT, Prince and Copper Johns through here.
Streamers are a good choice too, and fish great in March flows because once the irrigation diversion happens in April the snag on the rock quotient gets a lot higher with streamers!

I don’t have a new Lower Deschutes report this week. Aaron is down there now so by Monday I’ll have new intel to share.

Justesen Ranch is just open, and the fishing is fabulous. 7 lakes. All good float tube and pontoon lakes, 2 good for drift boats or prams too. Big rainbows. So far leeches are the thing, but if it warms up by mid week I think the chironomid fishing is going to get hot, including emerging dries.
$150 per person per day. https://flyfishersplace.com/our-waters/private-lakes/ Call us if you want to book it this month.

Our sign ups for the August Phil Rowley clinics August 4 and 6 and the fish a long on 8/7 are filling up nicely. If you want to be in these classes please call us soon at the shop so you don’t miss out on the limited spaces each day has.

Who’s coming to Albany next week for the Tyer’s Expo?
I’ll be there and will be teaching Friday and Saturday along with about 150+ other amazing people there sharing their expertise and skills. $10 entry is so worth it.

Lot’s of good stuff in the Fly Fishing world around the FFP sphere right now. Can’t complain other than I am ready for some actual spring weather and a little more sunshine.

Be well, and until next time…. Go fish.

Jeff