Greetings from Sisters, Oregon where the sun is shining and the living is good.
We have a ton of conditions to report on this week, and a few announcements about some sale items, summer fly fishing schools, and the last few spots for the lake fishing clinics in August.

The Metolius has been hot and cold this week. Isolated spots have shown more promise on some days, but the overall view of the middle and lower river is a bit inconsistent over the last 6 days. I felt the drake hatch had really gotten a foothold and was taking off, only to hear about and personally see very little green drake hatch over the past 6 days. Friends and customers and employees are catching some fish on drake emergers and dries, but the best fishing has come on drake nymphs. So don’t just go with the dry fly rod, and prepare your indicator outfit with a drake nymph and either a tan caddis pupa dropper or a brown micro mayfly or double down CDC pheasant tail.
PMD hatches have been generally good, with nymphs, emergers, cripples and duns during the afternoon hatch cycle, and rusty spinners becoming important later in the afternoon and going towards dusk.
Gavin from the shop shared with me he ran into a lot yellow sally stoneflies yesterday around the canyon, with fish poking up to those and some cinnamon caddis about a #16. There are some hatches of Blue Wing Olives around too.
Golden Stone Nymphs, Zebra midges, Perdigons and Jigs, Double Down’s, Rainbow Warriors and Caddis Pupa are hot nymphs you need to be using now.
When I was on the river tuesday and missed seeing a fishable green drake hatch (it was my birthday and I almost always fish green drakes on 5/14) I was reminded about something an old friend shared with me regarding the relationship of hatch timing to the relationship with the Lupine flowers in bloom. Paul always said that when the Lupine were flowering the green drakes would be hatching. Could it be true? I suspect there is a loose correlation there and to pay attention to it. So far there are no Lupine that I have seen flowering yet. I think the early drakes that hatched are a biological response to survival of the species, and that is common to see in the aquatic invertebrate world as “they” will send some early warriors out to do their thing, lay eggs and provide more assurance of species survival even in times of limited or low threat to that survival. This protects against floods, storms, fires and I am sure a host of other stuff that could kill off a good portion of the main hatch. Long live the Aquatic Invertebrates. That is a long story that makes me feel like all we have to do is wait for the Lupines to bloom and be thankful that 2 weeks ago the drake catching was better than it was last week. When your life revolves around a blend of science, art and guesswork along with forming educated guesses using history, water and weather conditions and how my cowlick settled down on thursday morning, I do my best. Maybe this upcoming week will see the Drakes hatching stronger? I hope so.
In other amazing news about the Metolius, the Upper river from the headwaters to the Allingham Bridge is opening up Wednesday May 22nd. Such a neat part of the river and we are happy to see it getting so close to the opener.

The Middle Deschutes is fishing really well, water levels are easy and there are a number of Salmonflies with quite a long time before that will peter out. Pale Evening Duns, PMD’s, BWO and a lot of tan Caddis flying around in different areas and will offer times of very good dry fly fishing.
I always like a Renegade and Purple Haze in here too, and a small Stimulator pays off more that you might imagine and makes a good dry dropper rig.
A lot of great nymph action now for sure, with euro jigs and perdigons making the grade, but soft hackle PT’s and CDC Hares Ear also working well. You can fish any of these on a tight line rig or under an indicator or as a dropper under a Chubby.

The Lower Deschutes is getting busy now for the salmon fly hatch and will be crowded for the next few weeks as that hatch gets better and better. Fishing is also getting better for us with the bigger dry flies and the fish are still keyed on the nymphs migrating to the shorelines.
Steve and Troy both said fish are taking Green Drakes, Pale Evening Duns, Pale Morning Duns and Caddis in all stages as the fish are seeing better hatches of those so far over Salmonflies and Goldenstones in the day stretch area where we are doing most of our fishing.

The McKenzie River is starting to get better now, the flows are still strong with snow melt but not so much that we are having any troubles floating or fishing it. In fact we had a few really productive trips this week on the Mckenzie. Our best success came on heavy beaded jigs, leeches and sculpins. Some fish are coming up on larger Parachute Adams, Orange or Olive Elk Hair Caddis and Chubby’s. Running a nymph off the back of that dry is a good bet. We are certainly excited for a good season on the McKenzie and nice that it started up for us this week.

The Fall River was also a little “off” this past week. Both spring creeks being moody….WTF? well, guess what, that happens.
I posted a response on a Facebook site about the Fall River this response to a slow day by one of the members:

Benoit, sometimes we are the windshield and sometimes we are the bug. 

It’s never a guarantee.

I can tell you the Metolius was really slow on Tuesday as well. No bugs hatched, no fish rose, and no fish were caught.

Waters and fish just go quiet sometimes. When that lasts for days on end it’s a bummer. I’m a believer that moon phases and weather patterns (more exactly the solunar table and barometric pressure and wind direction) play a huge factor in how the day is going to be.

I always try to keep it in perspective and remind myself that the fish don’t owe me anything. Some days they win just by not biting. Other days they win because they out play me. And when my cards are right, I win too. It’s a game. Not even the best players win every time.

Anyway, on the Fall River keep consistent, I know our guide Gavin Jr was out there a couple of days ago and worked hard to get the customers some fish using tried and true flies like Eggs, Mops, Euro jigs, Perdigons and Micro Streamers. Watch for hatches to cycle back up. This time of year Olive Caddis like X Caddis, Elk Hair and Henryville have been good, PMD’s from Nymph to emerger, cripple and dun and think about Rusty Spinners if you’ll stay later in the evening. Green Drakes are usually a little smaller #10 on the Fall River compared to the 8’s & 10’s on the Met, but it can offer amazing afternoon dry fly fishing in May and June. Midges, Ants, Beetles and Hippie Stompers are all good dry fly options and are great to search the water when hatches are not happening.

The Upper Deschutes will also open on Wednesday 5/22. We love the stretch form the Road 40 Bridge up to Little Lava, especially fishing streamers for large Brook Trout early season.
Wickiup down to Benham has a lot of interesting places to fish by boat or walking and that opens 5/22 too.

The Crooked is flowing 441 cfs, so it is sustained at the under 500 level I like to see. This is still higher than average summer flow and I recommend wading cautiously and not taking risks like trying to wade to the other side.
There are a lot of caddis (Mother’s Day Caddis) getting a strong foothold now for a hatch that usually lasts about 2 weeks in what might be described somedays as a blizzard hatch.
#14 and 16 pupa, soft hackles, X Caddis, Elk Hair Caddis and Corn Fed Caddis will all be good. We’ve got a little egg layer looking caddis called the Center Stage I am anxious to hear how the Crooked fish like it. I used it on the Lower Deschutes last fall when our Montana Fly Co rep gave me some samples and it is pretty boss! I think the tan one for the MD Caddis on the Crooked is going to be a fish catching machine.

Exciting for a lot of us that the road up to East Lake and Paulina Lake opened up Wednesday 5/15.
I launched my big boat at Paulina on 5/15 and my friend Mike and I landed about 40 rainbows, mostly on balanced leeches but also on a Cates Turkey and Black Double Down Birds Nest as droppers. We only fished under the indicator. Water temps are cold but the fish are active for sure.
Currently only the ramp at the resort is open with a dock, and there is a $10 fee to launch and park there.
The Paulina Lake CG main ramp is snowed in, as is the Little Crater CG ramp and parking area.
East lake is a lot more snow covered than around Paulina. Snow remains deep in all the camp grounds and even road side. When I went to do a recon mission on Wednesday afternoon both the ramp at EL CG and Hot Springs were covered in snow. Someone told me they saw a truck with a boat muscle though that snow to launch at East lake CG which makes me say WOW from what I saw there, but those tire tracks will help it melt off quicker so thank you, and I am glad you didn’t get stuck.
I’ve had a bunch of good friends walk the shoreline at East over the last few days and do really well stripping leeches, callibaetis nymphs and damsels, and hanging a leech and chironomid under an indicator. All of the above is good and some very nice fish have been caught already. Launching a tube or pontoon is no problem at EL and Hot Springs.

Crane Prairie docks are now installed at the CP site near the resort and at Rock Springs.
Fishing at Crane is generally good on Balanced Leeches and Chironomids and Black Double Down Birds Nest, but think about Damsels, Blobs and Callibaetis Nymphs too.

North and South Twin Lakes remain good fishing, and with the weather patterns over the next several days offer some protection from the winds that really stir up bigger bodies of water.
Leeches, Chironomids and Blobs would be my 1st choices.

Lava Lake access opened this week, and I haven’t heard any reports. Docks are in there too. My guess is fishing the west side on the sand flats with Leeches and Chironomids and callibaetis nymphs ought to be pretty productive. Make sure to scout out and fish that area from the boat ramp down the bank line past the resort/store. Seems like a lot of the rainbows line up in there for a false spawn and are found in greater numbers through there while that spring urge is going through them.

Homser, Three Creeks and Little Lava are all still snowed in, gates locked and no access yet.

Haystack has dropped about 40% of its water in the last 2 weeks so they are dumping it out fast. I think the best days are behind us here, but that it remains a viable fishery until our weather turns hot.

August 4th we have 4 spots left to take Phil Rowley’s Lake Fly Fly Tying clinic. If you love flies and want to watch one of the world’s best tie great ones, sign up for this.
We have 8 spots left for the August 6th lake clinic Phil will be doing for us. Call (541)549-3474 or stop on by the shop and get on the schedule. I am quite sure there will be no one event you’ll ever take that will offer you a better chance to learn how to be the best lake fly angler you can be.

We have some really good waders and boots on sale in the store. Brands we can’t mention exactly, but cleaning up some odds and ends and making people a great deal as we define our top sellers and build inventory around those. Prices range 30, 40 and up to 50% off for mens and women’s waders and mens boots.
We also have a 3 weight trout spey from a top brand that will be killer on the Deschutes or Metolius for anyone who wants to dive in on that for one of the best rods at a super price. Regular price $625, sale price was $399 and now $312.
We are now offering one of our major sunglass brands at 30% off as we are bringing in a new brand in June. Come check out high end glasses at the best price we will be offering.

Have a great week and we hope to see you on the water or in the shop.

JP