Hello from a warm and sunny Sisters, Oregon where this weekend we actually have more real cowboys and cowgirls (and cow dogs) than any other time of the year. For me, I am going to stick to Wading Boots over Cowboy Boots, but I will sneak out of the shop for a moment in the morning to watch the Rodeo Parade. That is always fun to see roll through town.

The Metolius has honestly been a little weird this week. Nature is not easy to understand, nor predict. The gall darn green drakes just are not cooperating like we hope they would be for the end of the 1st week of June. Will the 2nd week be more intense? How about the 3rd week? Time will tell, but it seems like it will.
PMD’s have generally been pretty good, maybe not great in the afternoon but early evening emergences have been better and certainly common to see PMD’s twice a day in the summer.
BWO’s have been mixed in the evening, as well as Caddis and then Rusty Spinners at Dusk. My friend Chester got a nice Bull Trout on a Rusty Spinner Dry last night during the magic hour.
What has been good is nymphing. All over the river, from the upper watershed with perdigons and soft hackle PT’s to Golden Stones, and then adding Caddis Pupa, Green Drake Nymphs, Jigs and mayfly nymphs to specifically look like PMD’s and BWO’s.
Quite a few Bull Trout are in the river system now. I am wondering if lake runners are already headed up based on how many trout and whitefish are getting swarmed and chased to the net?

The Crooked River is fishing great, water levels are perfect and while the Mother’s Day Caddis hatch craziness has waned, Caddis and PMD’s will be very important for months to come. Rusty Spinners during the last light of the day will be important for your last dry fly fishing opportunity.
Scuds, Micro May’s, Split Back PMD, Caddis Pupa, Rainbow Warriors and Soft hackles are great nymphs under an indicator or euro style.
A super good fly for a Hopper Dropper rig is a Larimer’s Yellow Sally. It doubles as a small hopper and floats a nymph really well.

The Lower Deschutes is going to be off the chain for about another week with the Stoneflies. It was as expected this past week with the rains changing the flows and clarity for a few days but it is good now.
Salmonflies that float low have been working the best. If you have to, trim what you have. Taking a swiss army knife to the wings of a Chubby can even be better on some picky fish. Kind of the same story for the Golden Stones. Clarks Stones and Norm Woods are good there, and trimming the hackle tight is good to create that low profile drowning appearance the fish seem to prefer after a while.
PMD, Pale Evening Dun and a WHOLE LOTTA caddis (tan 16, charcoal 18, olive 14-16), rusty spinners and hey, don’t forget your Purple Haze’s.
Nymph action is good, especially with PMD and Caddis Nymphs.
Euro Streamers are also a good choice.

The Middle Deschutes is in good shape, still running a smidge higher and off color I saw today. I assume this is Tumalo Creek Runoff. Not enough off color or not enough extra flow to not go. Definitely go.
Pale Evening Duns and PMD and Caddis thought most sections and evening action is a time to expect the best fishing of the day. Mid day fishing will be more on the nymph side, but PMD hatches are happening in certain areas closer to Steelhead Falls where springs play a role in water quality.

The Upper Deschutes from Little Lava to Crane has been good. Look for the Green Drakes and not quite yet, but Golden Stones ought to pop up there maybe next week?? Caddis and PMD’s, Ants and Beetles and a good place for attractors like small chubbies, which make for a super dry/dropper rig.
Perdigons, Rainbow Warriors, PMD Splitcase and Puparazzi are nymphs I would run, and don’t hesitate to use the Euro Jig Streamers and Sculpins and really get those in the logs and cut banks. Mosquitos are brutal though.

The Fall River is fishing excellent with our FFP guide team on the water there nearly every day and catches are great.
Most of the fish have been on little streamers, but perdigons, eggs, zebra midges and tungsten 2 bit hookers are great too.
Some afternoon hatches of PMD’s, Olive Caddis (Henryville, Olive Elk Hair and Apple Caddis are good ones). Ants, Beetles & Rusty Spinners will round out a good dry fly selection.

The McKenzie was another one of out river that ran high after the rains but is dropping back fast now. It is again below 4000 cfs and the trend is still going down.
I do not have a current report due to the high flows during the week. I anticipate seeing Green Caddis, Yellow Epeorus Mayflies and some Green Drakes, some random big and medium sized Stoneflies.
Leeches and Jigs as a dropper or side drifted beside the beside the boat euro style.

In Lake news the 2 most important announcements are Three Creek Lake is still not open. USFS plans to open the snow gate on June 14th.
Great news from Paulina Lake is the docks were installed today. Hooray.

Paulina Lake is fishing well, especially with Dries. Beetles have been good. Yesterday the flying ant hatch was strong. Make sure you have both patterns in your box and add some callibaetis in emergers, duns and spinners and some larger midge adults for the dry fly selection.
Balanced Leeches, Chironomids, Black Double Down Birds Nest, Callibaetis Cate, Red PT and Damsel Nymphs are good. Sometimes you want to fish the indicators still, or with a hand twist retrieve, and don’t forget your sinking lines for more active retrieves. I’ve had great luck fishing the ledges with the Cortland 7 foot sink tip and leeches. Camo, Type 3 and Type 5 lines over the weed beds with leeches, damsels and callibaetis nymphs.

East lake is good, but I will say it will pay some dividends to walk the shorelines as a lot of nice fish are there. Beetles, Ants, Damsel Nymphs and Callibaeits Nymphs are the best bets.
I launched my big boat at the EL Resort last week for $5 and used their dock. It was great. Hot Springs is fine for Drift Boats and smaller, flatter bottom boats. None of the other ramps are open, nor will they have a dock again this year. I think EL CG and Cinder Hill will open June 21st I hear.
We ought to see our 1st callibaetis hatches of the year this week.

Crane Prairie is good in almost every area of the lake. The crazy weather we had wasn’t conducive for good fishing, but we are back to normal and now is the time for callibaetis hatches and damsels mixed in with the day to day chironomids and leeches we all love so much.

North and South Twin should be on your radar for small boats and tubes and good fishing. Leeches and Chironomids, damsels, callibaetis plus ants and beetles. No motors allowed on either lake. Row, row, row your boat.

Hosmer is good now, but with the warm days the kayak and paddle boarders are coming out in force. Yesterday we had a good afternoon with Callibaetis and big Traveling Sedges skittered on top. My friend Joel got some on flying ants and Harry at the boat ramp said he also saw them. Weirdly, we didn’t see any, but did catch some fish on a beetle. I think the next few days will be prime for flying ants. Also add some #14 black elk hair caddis because there are alderflies entering the mix.
We got most of our nymphed fish mostly on a red holographic jig. Callibaetis nymphs, Ice Cream Cones and Damsel Nymphs are good and will be all summer.

See you in the shop or on the water.

Jeff