The Masking Hatch…. If you are fishing the Metolius this time of year, this is a term you need to know. I was first introduced the term in 1986 when I was working at the Fly Box in Bend and the iconic 3M Scientific Anglers Strategies for Selective Trout and Advanced Strategies for Selective Trout VHS tapes were delivered to the shop. https://scientificanglers.com/strategies-for-selective-trout-with-doug-swisher/
Doug Swisher was the man of the hour in those videos and I watched them over and over and over learning how to become a better spring creek angler. In one segment, he was fishing a Montana river while there were multiple hatches occurring and was explaining how the fish would be keyed on to just one of the hatches and in that video he named what he saw the “masking hatch”.
Sometimes the most obvious or prevalent insect is hiding (or masking) the hatch that the fish are actually eating. Not always, but pay attention to the possibility of that and change flies accordingly.
Last evening on the Metolius this was a lesson to be revisited and I’ll share the story now. Chester and I arrived just after work to the Wizard Falls area and walked downstream to the Dolly Hole where a whole bunch of hatches were occurring at the same time. Caddis, Stoneflies, Mayflies. The most obvious ones were PMD’s, the yellow sailboats were easy to identify. Seemingly tens of thousands Little Olive Stones were in the air so it was easy to assume some of the bugs would also be on the water too, and the sippy rises would indicate fish could be eating them. There were also some gorgeous cinnamon colored #16 caddis mixed in, and that caught my eye but I didn’t think the fish were eating those due to the rise forms being so gentle.
I started with a PMD and got a sip on the 1st cast of the night. Then nothing. And nothing. In fact the fish spooked from the refusal and never rose again. So I moved 50 feet upstream and found 2 more rising fish. I switched the fly to a Henryville that I clipped all the hackle from the bottom to achieve a lower float profile and put it over both fish with a number of good drifts and never had a look. As luck would have it, one of my customers came up river, and stopped to say hello and he said he had just caught a nice fish on a BWO Film Critic downriver. In the glare of the smokey evening, I never noticed the BWO’s but knew they are certainly part of the early evening hatch cycle this time of year so I took my queue and clipped off the Henryville and tied on the BWO. 2 or 3 casts later we were landing the 1st fish of the night. “Masked” or not, it is important on the Metolius (and many other waters) to change flies.
How many fly changes you ask? I have counted flies on my foam patch after a fishing session on the Met and going through over 10 fly changes is not uncommon. Sometimes 14, 15 or more. Ask how many hatches are occurring in the hours you’ll fish? What stage are the fish keyed in on? Is it: Emergers? Cripples? Duns? Spents? Midges? Stones? Mayflies? Caddis? Terrestrials? Think about those options when you open your box and if you’ve worked a fish with a good fly with several good drifts change flies.
If fish are refusing a fly, I’d add lighter tippet 1st and keep the fly to see if that is the difference maker.
Chester said last night as we were walking the mile back to the truck in the dark how dry fly fishing on that river is so addicting, filled with anticipation, disappointment, and occasional achievements. If it were simple it would not be nearly as fun. This is why we love this river.

The Metolius River Report is largely in my opening comments, but there is more to tell. Much more, as that captured a moment of evening fishing in a short segment of the river. Starting up near the Tract C Bridge and down to the Canyon you’re going to be running in to Goldenstone Adults and PMD’s, Caddis, Little Olive Stones, Mahogany Duns and a lot of good Euro Nymphing water too.
From the Canyon to below Bridge 99 is where the Green Drakes #10 and Flav’s #14 will be found. This is a very important afternoon hatch for the next few weeks and will be found at some point between 1 and 5 most days.
Mahogany Duns #16, PMD’s #16, BWO’s #18-20, Tan Caddis #16, Grey Caddis #14, Yellow Caddis #18, October Caddis #8 (pupa mostly), Cascade Stone #4-6, Rusty Spinners #16, Olive Spinners #20 are all hatches you will run in to in the middle and lower river stretches from Canyon Creek to Candle Creek.
Bull Trout Fishing is good. It is the time of the year to fish the biggest streamers if you want, but don’t forget the Euro Jig Streamers like a Sir Mix A Lot and Busta Seams are great flies Euro rigged or under the bobber.
Euro Nymphs, TJ Hookers, 20 inchers, Caddis Pupa, Brown or Olive Mayfly Nymphs and Stonefly Nymphs (black and golden) are great nymphs for the season.

The McKenzie River is getting a bump of water from some drainage of reservoirs and overall that is a good thing as floating is easier over some of the bars and rapids. Another fish stocking is coming next week and is the last of the year. Tonn and Steve were at the shop the other day fresh off the river and talking about a good Green Drake hatch over there! Nymphing has been the best and a combo of Perdigons and Posse Buggers, King Prince, Peacock Girdle Bugs and PT Soft Hackles, plus Jig Leeches and Sculpins. Our guides have been busy on the river and having some good days for sure.

The Fall River is fishing quite well and is one of our top guide picks. There are some afternoon hatches of PMD’s and Caddis and a few Yellow Sally’s and Little Olive Stones and you know at the Fall River we love Terrestrials, especially Ants, but a Hopper, Beetle, Hippie Stomper and bigger Rubber Legged dries like a Chubby or Madam X can work well here.
Stay late and fish Caddis emergers and Rusty Spinners or swing an Orange Soft Hackle in the sunset.
Go early and fish small streamers. What the heck, fish that streamer all day sport….it’ll work.
Eggs with a Tungsten Bead are great. Have you tried a Brown one? We have them and you should.
Zebra Midges, 2 Bits, Micro May’s, TJ Hooker, Soccer Mom, Tan Caddis Pupa, Rainbow Warrior and Split Case PMD.

The Crooked River is a blast. PMD Hatch is the primary dry fly action and it has been common to see them pop late morning and mid afternoon. The Sparkle Dun #16, Extended Body PMD #16-18, Quigley Half Dun and Film Critic #16 are great. With some BWO’s add a Furminsky’s BDE Dun #18 and a Knock Down Dun and Film Critic too and as September is here, don’t be without a Mahogany Dun on any of the rivers for the next month. Mahogany Duns are relatives of the PMD’s (crawler nymph family) and hatch in the fall on all the local rivers. A Purple Haze or Comparadun is great, another favorite is a fly called an Upright Rusty Spinner and the old Quill Gordon.
On the nymph side, the brown perdigons and micro may’s are killing it. Add a Fire Starter Jig and a Spanish Bullet to that mix and some Scuds, Zebra’s and Midge Winkers along with a BWO Micro Mayfly and you will be set over there.

The Lower Deschutes trout fishing is good, some days are way better than others but let me say this, you need to look for fish in more places than out in the 2 to 4 foot deep runs. Those redsides go to feed in some really shallow zones in the fall, so look for them closer to the banks and also the shallow riffles. They may come up to dries there too, but a small lightly weighted nymph in your arsenal is good. Years ago my friend Matt Klee showed me fish laying in under 10 inches of water in shallow, slower riffles that would eat Purple Haze and X Caddis really well. I was getting blanked fishing the deep run at the bottom of the island and he is pounding fish on dries in super shallow water. Same thing with my friend Dean-0 at Mecca Island once. He’s pounding them in a shallow riffle on little PT’s fished straight upstream in less than a foot of water and me….nothing because I didn’t adapt to the season. Fish are not always in the same places and it is our job as anglers to figure that out. Of course there are days, or times of the day fish just are off the dang bite too. But I digress a bit on the Deschutes report but that is part of it too. Plenty of great caddis hatch days ahead with #16 Tan, #18 Black and #12-14 Grey Caddis important throughout the day. Don’t forget to try a Dead Bug Caddis in the eddies as the clean up crew trout love them.
It’s close to October Caddis Pupa time. be ready for that.
Steelhead numbers are super. Drew from the shop got one nymphing on the Warm Springs to Trout Creek Drift on Labor Day. That’s the 1st I’ve heard of on the Upper Float so far, but will be the 1st of many.
My friend Jesse got 2 near Maupin yesterday including one on a Skater! he’s the Steelheadiest dude I know, and lives and breathes anadromous fish.

The Middle Deschutes is good from Bend to Lake Billy Chinook. PMD hatches are still going along pretty well, and Pale Evening Duns later in the day mixed with BWO’s so far as an evening hatch at this time. Tan Caddis continue to hatch well with our Summertime conditions still going strong.
Great Euro Nymph conditions throughout and as we march towards Fall, I love the streamer game for Browns as they get all Post Spawn crazed and want to attack other fish and eat the ones they can fit in their mouths.

You’ve got 23 days to enjoy the Upper Deschutes from Benham Falls to the headwaters at Little Lava Lake. Don’t miss it. Floats from Wickiup area to Sunriver area are good. Hoppers, PMD’s, BWO’s and likely Trico’s and Mahogany Duns. Streamers too.
Crane Prarie up to Little Lava lots of beautiful nymph water and some good BWO hatches and Terrestrials.
The Blue Hole is a good float tube spot to target Brookies and big Whitefish and sometimes a decent Cranebow. Try a Purple Chubby and drop an Egg or a Red Jig Copper John or Black/Red Rib Ice Cream Cone through there. Balanced leeches are good too.

LAKES REPORT

Had some really good reports from Tim and Rich and also from Phil coming from Hosmer Lake this week.
Scuds and Damsel nymphs were the hot flies.
We are getting into the end days of Callibaetis hatches there, but they were hatching pretty well this week so that is awesome to see. The Nymphs are always good.
Balanced Leeches, Chironomids and Red Holographic Jigs are also some favorites. Lower Lake, Channels and Upper Lake are producing good catches now.
Beetles and Ants have been getting some attention on the lower lake along the reed line too.

East Lake was seeing amazing Callibaetis hatches this week, but some of the days (maybe due to east winds) the fish just were not all that interested. I would put East Lake on the list this week as a strong choice as the winds should be favorable from the W and NW and I see no East Winds blowing in the Crater this week at all. I believe that Callibaetis hatch will go another 2 weeks or so. Sometimes it is better fishing when the hatch is not as intense. By the way, if you haven’t tried an Olive Haze for that hatch, add it to the box. Harrops Captive Dun, Almost Dun, Sparkle Dun, Grey Comparadun and the Extended Body CB.
Chironomids, Blood Worms, Leeches, Balanced Baitfish under the indicator are good bets.
Stripping Baitfish and leeches over the weedbeds with slow to fast sink lines is a great choice for fall fishing and working the shorelines with Scuds and Water Boatman is great from here to the end of the season.

Paulina Lake this week for me was a challenge. I heard the same from a few other friends. After Doug’s report we were all psyched to go, but again I think the hot dry days and the super High Pressure system that created the East Winds just put the fishing off at East and Paulina for a few days.
We got some fish on Red Tarantula, Jiggy Twist Beetles, Ants and Callibaetis (Olive Haze as a matter of fact) but nada on the hoppa! Fricken Fish. Also got a couple of fish to eat the Red Holographic Jig.
Recommend Balanced Leeches, Red and Tan 2 Bit Hookers, Chironomids, Blood Worms, Double Down’s, Scuds (one stomach pump sample showed a lot of tiny scuds)

Little Lava Lake is good. Blood Worms and Chironomids, Red Holo Jig, Callibaetis Cate (def my best nymphs this week there) and a good after lunch hatch of Callibaetis with good Ant and Beetle bite too.
Has anyone been to (Big)Lava Lake? I am imagining it to be good now, but would love to share your experiences if you have a recent report.

Crane Prairie is fishing really well now. Leeches and Chironomids are tops, but look for Waterboatman, Scuds, Damsel and Dragonfly Nymphs and Red 2 Bit Hookers to be on the menu. Any Channel as the entire lake is at a nice temp and the feeding is similar all over the reservoir.

Three Creek Lake is still seeing excellent afternoon Callibaetis hatches. The fish are responding to them very nicely too.
Some black caddis later into the evening and some midges. Fish a X Caddis, Red Century Drive Midge and Griffiths Gnat and check out our Hi Viz Griffiths Gnats because it is a midge your old eyes can actually see!
I’d also try Balanced Leeches, Damsel Nymphs (add a Hot Head Bead both Fl. Orange and Chartreuse versions to the box), Sheep Creek Special, Chironomids and Water Boatman.

As many of you know, one of my longest fishing friend is a guy named Chester Allen. We met in the mid 80’s and cut our teeth figuring shit out on the lakes and rivers here. We both read a lot of boring fishing and entomology books, studied a lot of videos, articles and picked peoples brains we knew had the knowledge we wanted, and we went fishing a lot to improve our skills. We shared that info with each other, and his career as a writer and mine as a fly shop owner and guide we shared and continue to share with others all the time.
That is a prelude to what I think is a funny story from our history of fishing here. Every Thursday we had the day off of work together, and every Thursday for many seasons we would start our fishing day in float tubes in the Deschutes Channel on Crane Prairie. There were 3 older guys in small aluminum boats who would be there too, my casting mentor Clyde Keller, a guy named Warner who was the truest gentleman of the group and a legendary angler in our eyes named Dick Schwenk. Dick always had a Screw Driver (Vodka and Orange Juice) in hand, even at 7 am on the boat, and would use his baritone voice to holler encouragement to Chester or I and it was always “you better land that fish”. Which we tried to do each and every time but not always easy with those incredible Cranebows back in the 80’s when we had 5x tippet on. “You Better Land That Fish” has become a motto and an inside joke for us.
Last night on the Metolius, I’d reeled up after my last fish was landed on a Rusty Spinner and was ready to walk out when just before it was too dark, Chester caught the last fish of the night and exuberantly yelled I got him! I was out of sight behind the willows but deepened my voice and hollered “you better land that fish” to him. He knew exactly what that was from. It was a voice from the past, and a voice of the here and now.
This summer has been full of ups and downs and emotions for different reasons in life. Having an old friend to connect great memories is one of the things that helps during the darker moments. I am a solitary man by nature. I have been all my life. Reclusive at times, introverted always. A few good friends have been important to me. Encouragement from my wife Tina to reach out to fish more with people like Chester has been good for me this summer. There is familiarity to it, memories of course. We also talked about how much we’ve learned together over nearly 40 years of fishing, and I said how much better we are at it now than when we were in our teens and 20’s. Never stop learning.
This summer, from not guiding so many days a week, it has allowed me to be my own angler again. I feel really connected to the river, and feel my skills have come back as a dry fly angler. I love it as much or more than ever and I share my passions with you who read and appreciate the work that goes to these blogs each week.
I am excited for the end of the season when I have 3 or 4 waters to report on (haha) and when I head to Belize in November.
I am headed for a pretty big surgery after that trip and don’t know what my fishing or skiing season holds for the winter. Crossing my fingers that all goes well and that the 11.8 inches of my sigmoid colon they will remove is the end of my suffering with diverticulitis and that a healthier life is ahead.
In the mean time, we have started an irreverent fishing club called the Dick Schwenk Chapter of The Dry Fly or Die Twighlight Fly Angers Society Foundation Club (the more redundancy the better) and our motto is “you better land that fish”. It pays homage to the Friday Night Fish sessions we did with Matt back in the day every week at the Fall River. Make memories fishing means go fishing now.

You better land that fish!

Jeef