If you read the report from last week, and then read the updates that I had to make as lightning caused fires got worse & worse, you know Central Oregon endured a crazy time last week. Thankfully, the worst of it seems to be behind us, and now it truly seems that Fall weather has settled over us and things look way better. Rain on Wednesday saved our bacon. Rain coming again soon I think will effectively end the worst of the fire season and a nice Fall Season is to be enjoyed until the snow comes. We will take it.

The Metolius River was mostly spared from Fire related stuff, including better air quality most of the days over Sisters, Bend and Sunriver. That was nice for all the September anglers who were out enjoying the hatches that are so exciting this time of the season.
Green Drakes and Flav’s are spread throughout the river from Canyon Creek to Candle Creek. Look for them later in the afternoon from 1 to 5, but more likely near 3 PM to get going for the day. Hatches usually last about an hour, maybe more on a magical day.
PMD’s #16 and Mahogany Duns #16 are 2 other important mayflies to look for in the afternoon and may extend beyond the end of the Drake hatch into the early evening.
BWO’s make up the last really important Mayfly hatch to also fish now, and they will run #18-22 this time of year, and usually hatch more towards evening at the moment. That will change to more of an afternoon hatch later this Fall.
Caddis are very important this week and will be for a bit. Plan on having some Tan and Olive Iris Caddis #16 and also transitional caddis patterns like a Center Stage and Missing Link in your box too. Weiss’s H/T Caddis in both the Grey #14 and the Tan #16 are becoming my new favorite Adult Caddis. I love the look, the way it floats and how visible it is to the angler w/o being obnoxious to the fish’s perspective.
Also the October Caddis hatch is increasing intensity and make sure you have a Pupa to fish, and sometimes a #10 Orange Foam Elk Hair Caddis or even your Clark’s Stone is taken as the adult for this hatch and is a great searching pattern when not a lot else is happening.
You still really need a Henryville or Hemingway pattern in a #16 or #18(!) to match the Little Olive Stone’s.
Lot’s of sightings of Large Cascade Stones and some good reports of friends who have added a few fish to the daily total using a big Chubby.
The Goldenstone adult action is not over, but it’s slowing down. I have seen viable dry fly fishing until Halloween with them, so if your day includes being on the upper river from the Canyon Pools to the Riverside CG near the headwaters and it’s going to be warm and sunny, make sure to tuck a Clark’s Stone or Norm Woods Special in the collection.
Plenty of great Euro Nymphing and Indicator rig fishing to be had, with Stonefly Nymphs, Caddis Pupa, Mayfly Nymphs, Perdigons and Jigs.
Aaaannnnnd, Bull Trout. Best time of the year is now and for the next 7 or 8 weeks.

The Crooked River is hot fishing, with amazing days on Perdigons, Zebra Midges, Winkers, Frenchies, Scuds and damn good afternoon hatches of PMD’s #16 and #18 and more and more BWO’s #18-20 in the hatch cycle too.
I had asked the regional ODFW Fish Biologist Jerry George how the June Fish Sampling went after the agency electroshocked the river. Here is his (positive response):
Hi Jeff,

The following number are preliminary and subject to change once we have all of the data entered and quality checked.  

Preliminary Crooked River fish populations estimates from sampling June 25-28^th.  Redband Trout estimates (8 inches and up) were up approximately 25% from 2023 at just over 2,000/mile while Mountain Whitefish declined by 65% to around 1,300 fish/mile. This is consistent with the significant drop in whitefish abundance observed following the two-month period of 10 cfs minimum flow release in the fall of 2022 during which whitefish were most affected. For reference a table of past estimates is below. 

We also saw evidence of really strong age class of fish in the 9–11-inch range which cold be a good sign for the future if flow, temperature, winter icing, and total dissolved gas effects can be minimized. 

Jerry

You might also be interested in seeing this historic data from the Crooked on fish populations:

Year	Redband Trout	Whitefish
1989	800 (582-1,258)
1993	1,764 (1,264-2,642)
1994	4,891 (4,039-6,048)
1995	4,750 (4,032-5,684)
2001	4,013 (3,522-5,835)
2003	1,368 (803-1,934)
2006	525 (329-966)
2007	1,079 (614-2,404)	7,054 (5,129-10,340)
2008	923 (604-1,412)	3,434 (2,389-4,930)
2009	2,694 (1,897-4,137)	3,786 (2,446-5,841)
2010	2,017 (1,467-2,956)	4,394 (2,904-7,458)
2011	1,221 (879-1,814)	3,389 (2,615-4,572)
2012	5,244 (3,936-7,003)	6,578 (4,197-11,847)
2013	8,063 (6,281-10,747)	5,584 (4,175-7,867)
2014	6,321 (5,531-7,296)	7,777 (6,045-10,395)
2015	2,582 (2,240-3,047)	7,467 (6,233-9,311)
2016	346 (232-676)	4,084 (3,300-5,357)
2017	1,356 (1,011-2,058)	2,721 (2,227-3,497)
2018	3,492 (2,796-4,649)	3,549 (2,701-5,171)
2019	2,420 (1,859-3,469)	7,500 (5,819-10,547)
2022	2,083 (1,497-3,424)	6,950 (5,653-9,019)
2023	1,681 (1,271-2,480)	3,673 (3,020

The Fall River was good fishing this week, albeit a smokey mess on a lot of the days. That seems to be way way better and I think this week is going to be quite nice around Central Oregon as the fires will again get a cool off tomorrow and rain on them on Tuesday and maybe Wednesday. Nymphing Eggs has picked up again, and seems to be one of the best flies the last 7 to 10 days. Nothing is spawning yet, so not sure why the egg is so good? PS- have you tried out our Brown “Egg”? Hatchery Fish Special!
Small Jig Streamers and Leeches continue to be great. Soccer Mom and Mini Gulp are 2 favorites.
Rainbow Warriors, Perdigons, Jigs, Zebra Midges, 2 Bits and Micro May’s are fabulous nymphs to use.
On the Dry Fly side, PMD’s #16 and BWO’s #18-20 and Mahogany Duns #16 are all good mayfly hatches. Remember to have the duns, but also an emerger and a cripple to work your magic when the fish get choosey. Caddis hatches can be something we miss at the Fall because we see more mayflies, but a Missing Link, Edible Emerger, Henryville, Iris and X Caddis in Tan and Olive #16 will be good for the next 6 weeks out there.
Finally, don’t go w/o terrestrials! Hippie Stompers, Beetles, Ants and Chubby’s are all patterns that add fish to the net on the Fall. The Chubby also makes a great indicator and run your Perdigon and Zebra as a dropper off the bend.

The McKenzie River was closed down for access from our side of the pass this week and we are thankful that Hwy 126 is now open again.
Expect very good fishing in this amazing river over the next phase of the season. Right now, or at least last week before the road closed up on us the guides were seeing great hatches of Green Drakes on the float trips and fish were munching them hard. Nymphing and drifting leeches and small streamers is always a FFP guide’s choice on the Mac.

The Lower Deschutes is good trout fishing from Warm Springs to Maupin. A lot of nymph fishing last week, with some good caddis hatches and what seems like the end of the summer PMD’s sticking around most days. Dry Fly action is a shallow riffle game now, or it’s in the eddies. Don’t leave home without a Purple Haze #16. As Fall weather hits, add Mahogany Duns and BWO’s to the box.
Stonefly nymphs, TJ Hookers, Mini Gulp, 2 Bit’s, Caddis Pupa from #14-16 Tan or Olive, #18-20 Grey, #8-10 Orange. Don’t be afraid to add some dirty deeds flies to the end of your line with Steelhead showing up. Big Lighting Bugs, Red Worms, Eggs, Peacock Girdle Bugs are winners for sure.
As for Steelhead, swinging traditional flies like a Green Butt Skunk, Freight Train, Peacock & Purple and Euphoria (the gold one is legit!) is on. If you want to swing for steel on a floating line and a small fly, do it now. Once we get the cold Fall weather it moves to the sink tip and leech world, which is cool but nothing beats a dry line steelhead.
Now is also a great time to talk about Catch & Release practices for Wild Steelhead. Net them or have a friend or another angler help you Tail them in deeper water. Do not drag them on shallow rocks or up on the bank ever ever ever. Wet hands to hold. Is a photo taken without harm or delay to the fish? Okay then, but keep most of the fish in the river so if it squirms and is dropped it is not hurt in the process.
With the run just coming back to some decent numbers last year, and better numbers this year it is our job to protect them. The Wild one’s are oh so precious and valuable and no one would intentionally hurt one, but it is too easy to get sucked in to the exciting moment and forget what is best for the fish and not what is best for our ego.

The Middle Deschutes is good fishing from Tumalo to Lake Billy Chinook,. and this area is still seeing Pale Evening Duns, PMD’s, Tan Caddis and add Mahogany Duns and BWO’s to the mix.
The best fishing is with your Euro Nymph rig with Perdigons and Jigs and 2 Bit Hookers.
Don’t forget some Jig Streamers and Sculpins.

The Upper Deschutes from Little Lava to Crane Prairie is probably one you want to skip for a few more days. I am not entirely able to tell if it is even open from the USFS Deschutes National Forest Website. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1203653.pdf
If you can decipher this, you’re amazing.
I think by this time next week it will all be open and safe to go back.

The Upper Deschutes from Tenino to Bull Bend (Pringle Falls area) was decent on Wednesday with Mike and Skip in the boat, we got some fish up on Hoppers and had a good after lunch session on PMD’s.
There were also trico’s hatching in the morning, BWO’s and Mahogany Duns.
I went into the day with a ton of anticipation and excitement that hatches would be stellar with rain and clouds, and in fairness they were quite good. But the fishing was so-so. We got around 17 or 18 fish to the net, all small browns and rainbows with the biggest around 13 or 14″. The next day with George I had an equal amount of excitement as the weather was looking great for the hatch again. Hatch was less than the day before and for whatever reason the fish were absolutely turned off. We got skunked. Doesn’t happen often and I was bummed for George.

LAKES REPORT

Hosmer Lake access is now open. Fish are spread out in both sides of the lake and a lot of them in the channels. Look for fish to be pretty keyed on damsel nymphs, chironomids, leeches, scuds and water boatman now. The hatches are very slow, but you should be able to get fish on the edges on ants, beetles, and chubbies. Approach the fishing with an indicator mindset and a stripping mindset. Some days it is not all of one thing, and the fish want it moving more, or moving less. With the sinking line approach the best 3 at Hosmer are a Camo Intermediate, a Hover and an Emerger Tip which is a 5 foot clear slow sink tip. Think about you want your flies to move. Steady on the bottom. Steady mid-depth. Or ascending to the surface. Imagine a Waterboatman for example swimming from the reeds to the surface. That Emerger Tip is the best line to mimic that.

I checked with the Deschutes National Forest this morning (they had a person in charge of getting info out to the outfitters on fire related closures which I thought was awesome on their part) and she said access to Little Lava Lake and Lava Lake are now open too.
However, Helicopter are still dipping water at Little Lava, and my advice for the safety of yourself and the safety of those brave pilots is to give it a rest and let them do their job without having to worry if Jeff’s drift boat is in the way, or Ed’s pontoon boat or Kris’s Float Tube….(names may or may not have been changed to protect the innocent- HAHA)

Crane Prairie is very high on the list to fish now. Zebra Midges, Black Leeches, Blonde Leech, Olive Leech, Damsel Nymphs, Water Boatman, Chironomids, Worms, Double Down CDC and just like the advice on Hosmer you should think about the indicator vs. the Intermediate, Hover and Emerger Tip lines.
All the Channels and access points are worthwhile with the Deschutes and Quinn seemingly the best, but Rock Creek and Cultus are fine places to fish for sure.

With Cooler Fall Weather I would put South and North Twin Lakes on the list for fishing. I don’t have any current reports but they should be improving fast.

East Lake is seeing a slow down on callibaetis. I don’t think it is over, but I don’t think with the weather change it is long for the world until next summer.
Beetles and Ants are still going well. Stripping a leech or minnow or running a balanced leech under an indicator is a good way to find fish for the rest of the season.
It was about 2015 or 16 I think when our friends Dean & Ilene still lived and worked back in DC and they were out for a visit and I still had my Red Alumaweld boat (Hewes came home in 2017). I’d been to the Phil Rowley Clinic in Sunriver a couple of years before and poo-poo’d the balanced leech idea (I’m dumb and stubborn sometimes). My friend from Sunriver, Phil Fischer whispered an anglers secret to me that brown balanced leeches under the indicator near the EL CG Boat Ramp was doing really well. So…. I tried it with them and while we suffered some on a cold and windy day we had some nice fishing on the brown blanched leeches. This time of year is a great time to hang a leech on any of the lakes and is a top choice on East through the Fall. Right now I would rate East as a 6 out of 10.

Paulina Lake is fairly good. This week when I had Patrick & Julie in the boat we had pretty good catches on a Chubby around the shorelines.
Stomach Pump samples found callibaetis nymphs and small scuds too.
Fish the drop off’s near the ledges with balanced leeches, 2 bit hookers, scuds, ice cream cones (black w/ red rib) and strip some Pine Squirrel Leeches on Intermediate lines in 3 to 6 feet of water over the weed beds and marl spots.
Never give up on beetles and ants until it snows. Some of the best days of the season are coming at Paulina as we move into Fall. The big brown season is near….

Three Creek Lake really slowed down this week. Callibaetis hatches seem to be over, caddis seem to be over. Midges and Beetles and Ants will continue to be good for the rest of the open season.
Zebra Midges, Blood Worms, limited but not over bigger #14-16 Chironomids, Damsel nymphs, Scuds, Leeches and Callibaetis Nymphs are all good choices. Don’t hesitate to fish a hot orange bead damsel nymph while wading the shoreline.
Evening fishing is now pretty slow. I would guess on occasion we will still get some warm, calm afternoons and evenings and you might want to stay to dark on days like that….but summer is over.

Diamond Lake is fishing great if you want to make the extra trek. Balanced leeches and damsels and chironomids are all working great on the South end of the lake from the Pizza Restaurant to the Silent Creek area. I need to get together with my friend Capt. Phil and make the extra drive to some good fishing. Always a fun trip for us in the Fall.

Fishing is the best, get out and do it.

See you in the shop or on the water!

Jeff