Last weekend during the rodeo you may recall I wrote how beautiful the weather was. Which is uncommon for Rodeo weekend. My point….The weather that usually hits us on the Rodeo came a week late. It is cold, windy and snowing in the mountains today through Monday. Steve is guiding Paulina today and went up to find new snow on the ground. Oh boy, June in Oregon is a ride for sure.
All that said, there is a ton of good fishing going on, and perhaps the Drake Hatch finally decided to get going like we want to see it the last few days! So, let’s go fish throughout Central Oregon and take a look at all the in’s and out’s and hatches and conditions that will let you decide how to approach the fishing you want to do this week.

The Metolius has FINALLY seen a few days of better green drake hatches. Stay until at least 5 PM to be sure you don’t miss it. The hatch is from Candle Creek CG upstream to Canyon Creek CG and possibly seeing a few around the Gorge CG now too. Usually we don’t see Green Drakes in the upper river, but did have a customer say she caught fish on Drake dries near Camp Sherman.
PMD hatches have been very good for the most part, usually seeing 2 cycles per day with the afternoon hatch usually after noon and lasting to about 3:30 or 4 and the evening hatch around 7 or 8. Often the evening hatch is lighter, but might get more attention from the trout.
BWO’s are mixed in that evening hatch cycle.
You will see spinners at dusk, but if it is cold and windy or a front is passing that last light, dusky moment can not be as good as a warm summer evening.
And don’t forget your caddis, mostly #16 tan and #18 olive. Low floaters that are in emergence phase especially are my favorites. These include Iris, X Caddis, Missing Link, Center Stage and CDC Bubble Caddis.
We are getting close to the 1st golden stone adults in the upper river. Start packing Clarks Stones and Norm Woods, and be aggressive with the nymphs as these baby’s are crawling all over the bottom to be ready to hatch.
I am convinced the lake run Bull Trout are already coming up. We’ve seen some monsters in the river this week!

The Lower Deschutes Salmonfly and Goldenstone hatches appear to be about over for the year. Still able to get a fish on the Clark’s and Chubby, but it is waning fast. What is not waning are PMD’s. Pale Evening Duns, Tan Caddis #16 and Black Caddis #18-20 and Rusty Spinners and even a few Midges will get ’em on the surface.
Nymphing the cycle of all of the above hatches and adding some Euro Jiog Streamers has been awesome for the FFP guide team. A few standout nymphs for us this week has been the Split Case PMD, Silvey’s Primetime Pupa and 3 Dollar Dip.

The Middle Deschutes is great from Bend down to Lake Billy Chinook. The evening dry fly action might not be too hot for a few nights as we endure this cold front, but with the clouds and some rain coming through there is a good chance we’d see some better afternoon action? Either way, warm days are coming and Euro Nymphing is excellent!

The Upper Deschutes from the Headwaters to Crane Prairie is good to very good. Start looking for Golden Stones up there when the warm days come back mid week. Green Drakes have mostly come and gone, but PMD and Caddis will be strong hatches for a long while. Beetles and Ants have been great, and a Swisher PMX is a good one.
Euro Nymph stand out patterns this week were Spanish Bullets and Purple Perdigons and Olive Jig Napoleon. Black or Olive Euro Streamers have been killer.

The Fall River saw another great week for our guide team. Streamers have been our best flies week after week. Zebra Jigs, Yellow Jig Napoleon and a Pink Beaded Hares Ear have been great nymphs for us.
An Olive Henryville Caddis or Olive Elk Hair Caddis #18, PMD’s in emergers, cripples and duns, Rusty Spinners, Ants, Hippie Stomper and carry a Green Drake Dun and Emerger through the end of the month.
I tell people at the shop and I’ll tell you here, the way to approach the Fall is get there at Dawn and quit at 10 or 11, or go after 5 and fish to dusk. Mid day is busy and the shoulder times give you some elbow room.

The Crooked River is outstanding and seems absolutely back with these good water conditions. So happy to be able to write this after the dang river practically dried up 2 years ago when the reservoir went critically low.
The massive Mother’s Day caddis hatches are over, but many caddis remain important from now and most fo the summer. PMD hatches have been good, and like the Metolius look for 2 waves of hatch in the late morning to early afternoon and in the evening. And where there are PMD hatches there are Rusty Spinner falls as the duns transition to the final egg layer stage. Tuck some in your box for all the rivers if you fish evenings.
The nymph action is the real star of the show. Scuds, Perdigons, Amber Psycho Prince, PMD Micro Mayfly, Caddis Pupa and CDC PT Double Down.

The McKenzie has been way improved for our guide trips last week and we look forward to even better fishing coming up as we hit late June and July.
Jig Leeches and Perdigons and Pink Beaded Walt’s are great. Euro-Side Drift style, swing on a sink tip or Dry/Dropper them under a Chubby.

LAKE Report

The best news of the week was USFS was early in their projected opening day for Three Creek Lake and got the gate open on Wednesday. So it is open. A few friends have been up and fishing is good.
There is a serious amount of snow around the lake.
Balanced Leeches, Chironomids and Callibaetis Nymphs under the indicator, Leeches and Damsel Nymphs stripped are good on a Hover or Clear Camo near the drop off’s off the shoreline.
Ants have been good already. Fish are cruising the edges and there is nothing else really hatching yet, so the ants are about the only thing to rise to. So far….. (callibaetis ought to be out really soon. I am constantly amazed at how the high country lakes transition so quickly to summer conditions)

Crane Prairie has been good, with Callibaetis hatches and Damsel emergences Leeches, Chironomids and Black Double Down/Red Rib Birds Nest are great. Cultus has been the best, but Resort Side Deschutes Channel and Quinn have been producing equally.

Hosmer is good, a whole lotta’ small brookies, some good rainbows and not nearly as many cutthroat this season. I have been seeing good callibaetis hatches, decent alder fly hatches, decent traveling sedge hatches (mid afternoon), damsels, ants, beetles, scuds and leeches have all been important. Fish are in both sides (upper and lower lakes) and the channel. I will look forward to seeing a new ODFW stocking and hope to see more cut’s soon.

Lava Lake got 8000 rainbows not too long ago, and before that a friend was there and happily told me he caught the hardest fighting rainbow he’d ever hooked in Oregon on a leech.
Callibaetis are hatching on the west shore shoals. Chironomids and Balance Leeches under the indicator. Damsel Nymphs along the reeds. It is nice to see Lava making a comeback.

South Twin and North Twin Lakes continue to be good fishing, and with how they line up with the wind and the size of the bodies of water they are good bets when the storms roll over us.
Leeches, Damsels, Chironomids and Callibaetis.
Keep Little Lava Lake in mind for the same reasons with the weather. Same flies and I have only heard one report from there but it was positive.

East Lake shoreline fishing continue to impress. Boat fishing has been ok, but walking the shore has been best. Beetles, Ants, small leeches and callibaetis nymphs are great.
Out in the boat, drop a Chironomid and Balanced Leech and Red PT or Jiggy Callibaetis Cate under the bobber.

Paulina Lake is seeing a bit of an Algae bloom and if it is still it is thick in some areas of the lake, particularly the North side. It get’s thick enough to make areas unfishable. But, you can move away from that by finding areas that are not affected by the bloom.
Leeches and Chironomids and Beetles are the best bets.

Justesen Ranch Lakes are still fishing great and with the cool weather we just extended that season for a bit! Private lake access that is a good value for the quality of the fishing there. $140 to $150 per person depending on which lake on the ranch Amanda posts you on.

I want to remind you our fly fishing instructor Doug has multiple options for casting lessons and summer fly fishing schools at Black Butte Ranch. I also can invite you to our Free Casting Lessons at Black Butte Ranch beginning next saturday 6/22 at 10 AM at the Recreation Center. I will be teaching most saturdays this summer with Doug backing me up on days I might have a guide trip or will be traveling. These last about 60 to 90 minutes and cover the basics. This is the 1st time we’ve opened these BBR clinics to anyone.

See you on the water or in the shop.

Jeff
PS- US Open Go Rory. MLB Go Padres. NBA Go Mavericks. Lot’s of sports to root on this weekend.