October is going out like a lion, with cold and snowy conditions on most of the lakes.
The end of General Trout Season doesn’t change much for us but use this as a reminder that the Upper Metolius from Allingham Bridge to the Headwaters closes today at dusk.
Also the reservoirs Crane Prairie and Wickiup close today at dusk.
I think with the significant mountain snows coming today and tomorrow Three Creek Lake, Hosmer and Little Lava are done for the year.
I do think East Lake is going to be a good option when it warms up a bit in a few days. I read on the Deschutes County Road Dept. site and the USFS Deschutes National Forest site and both say that the snow gates are scheduled to be closed up to Newberry Crater on 11/19. Sooner if the weather get nastier, but the 7 day forecast doesn’t support that, in fact it improves to some warmer days again.
The places to fish the next 2 weeks will be the Metolius, the Crooked, the Fall River, the Lower Deschutes, North Twin Lake, Justesen Ranch (private) Lakes. A lot of good opportunities for trout and steelhead coming up.

The Metolius River continues to pump out good afternoon hatches of PMD’s, Cinygmula’s and Blue Wing Olives. There are also good numbers of the October Caddis and a #14 Grey Caddis and still a good enough number of #16 Tan Caddis. Hatches right now are mostly 1 to 4 on the mayflies, and extend that a bit later for the Caddis emergers. A good searching dry is an October Caddis so an Orange Rubber Leg Stimulator or Orange Foam Body Elk Hair Caddis can get hammered in an eddy or pool or favorite seam line.
For the afternoon hatches get emergers that sit in the film, and emergers that float on the surface, cripples and duns. Examples of that are Film Critic, Winger’s, Captive Dun, RS2, KD Dun, Half Dun, KD Dun, Sparkle Dun, Parachutes. If you have these in Yellow #16 and Olive #18-20 you will have covered your bases like a pro.
The nymphing is just outstanding, and eggs top the list for importance, but caddis pupa (Orange #8 and 10, Olive #14, Tan #14-16), plus mayfly nymphs, zebra midges and an array of perdigons and tungsten beaded nymphs like a Micro Mayfly, 2 Bit Hooker, Frenchie, BH Soft Hackle PT all in a #16-18.
These lower light winter days offer a light bending possibility of a Blue Prince or Blue Psycho Prince. Years ago someone wrote about the color blue in a winter light period and how blue was really visible on a winters day under the water. It is curious and I love to play with possibilities like that, because who knows for sure, but if it works and we get a few fish to the net on something like this, it makes all of happy.
Bull Trout are abundant and are in all areas of the river, but best from Canyon Creek to Candle Creek. My Bull Trout Boyz are getting after them with very large streamers, but you don’t always need to fish the biggest streamer, nor the heaviest streamer to get a Bull. A lot of the Euro Jig Streamers fish great on a 4x tippet and will get down easy with that. The other streamers that we are casting and swinging or stripping I recommend a 0X tippet or even 15# maxima. Sometimes a little sink tip of 3 or 4 feet of T8 is helpful or an Airflo Poly Leader that is a heavier sink rate.
And remember that the river closes above Allingham Bridge from 11/1/24 until 5/22/25 so don’t be fishing in closed waters. It is done to protect spawning grounds critical for our redband trout to have success. I appreciate that.

The Lower Deschutes is fishing as good now as it has all year.
We have plenty of open guide days now through Thanksgiving so if you want to book a float with Troy, Steve, Tonn, Michael or Mattias please call the shop and we can do that for you.
For those going down Warm Springs to Trout Creek on their own please respect the closure the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs puts in place for their waters beginning 11/1/24 until 4/22/25. All waters WEST of the MAIN CHANNEL are on the reservation land and are not fishable starting 11/1. Tribal Fishing Permits are only honored by the tribes during General Trout Season which is 4/22 to 10/31 each year.
Nymphing for Trout and Whitefish and Steelhead has been best. Peacock Girdle Bugs, Lightning Bugs, October Caddis Pupa, Tan Caddis Pupa, Zebra Midges, Small Purple Soft Hackles, Eggs, Stonefly Nymphs in both Golden and Black and Lighting Bugs. And if you go with Troy, a Red Copper John is likely to get tied on!
Swinging for steelhead is still going ok with a floating line and smaller flies, but it is hard to argue against a skagit/sink tip/leech combo on colder fall days.
By the way, PGE is done screwing with water levels and the flows are stable. The River looks great now.

The Crooked River is our #1 fish catching spot. We are seeing really good afternoon Blue Wing Olive hatches from around noon to 3.
Make sure to have Skinny Nelsons, 2 Bit Hooker in Olive or Black #18-20, Micro May BWO, Film Critic, Knock Down Dun, Sparkle Dun, BDE Dun and Purple Haze.
Zebra Midges, Midge Winkers, Scuds, and soon to be a lot of yellowish whitefish eggs in the drift.
Also a good spot for the next couple of weeks to do a guided day.

The Fall River is fishing well and the population of fish in many of our favorite spots from the Headwaters to the Hatchery to the Tubes is excellent.
We are seeing a very good afternoon BWO hatch on the Fall, and a few PMD’s continue to straggle along and mix in with the smaller mayflies on many afternoons. I will go out on a limb and say this about the mayfly you can’t be without, and that is a KD Dun. Make sure you are using 6x, and if you are confident go to 7x for better results.
The small #14-16 amber colored caddis are hatching well enough to mention and I like a Silvey’s Edible Emerger, Corn Fed Caddis, CDC Caddis and the Hot Orange Missing Link to match them.
Streamer fishing is the best when the fish are not keyed on a hatch.
Nymph fishing with Eggs, Zebra Midges, 2 Bits, Rainbow Warriors and small Perdigons will do any angler well on the Fall River now.

LAKES REPORT

This is part of the report is getting smaller and will likely be the last stillwater report of the year.

Like I mentioned above, the heavy snow in the Cascades started last night and will keep falling until Friday 11/1. I think this is the end of the line for most the Century Drive lakes, especially Hosmer and Lava Lake. Crane closes this afternoon at dusk.

East Lake is my #1 choice for a little while longer. Wade the edges and fish olive and white streamers, a Diamond Lake Rufus, Balanced and Jig Minnows, Balanced Leech Bruised with Orange Bead, Sir Sticks A Lot and an Egg. Indicator fishing is a good bet, but also strip flies on a hover or intermediate clear line.
Purple or Red Chubby is a great dry fly and the fish will eat it now. You can run an Egg, Rainbow Warrior or small Scud as the dropper 2 to 4 feet of the bend of the Chubby. Personally I would not bring the boat in favor of bank access.

North Twin would be my next choice and you can do some bank access fishing here too, I would bring a pontoon or a drift boat on this rowing only lake (no motors)
Balanced Leeches are the best and often in the late season like this the Phil Rowley Micro Balanced Leech that is all red is a winner at North Twin. Try it. More traditional colors like olive and black are also recommended. I’d also fish Blobs and Scuds now.

I think every guest we’ve sent to Justesen has had a blast. 7 private access lakes for $140 to $150 per day. Rainbows averaging 18″ and hot when hooked.
Leeches, Scuds, Waterboatman, Damsel Nymphs, Tequila Blobs, Ice Cream Cone’s.

A few announcements to get out there for winter plans:
1) I have 2 open spots for Belize April 19-24, 2025 at the Blue Bonefish Lodge. Our 1st week filled up 100% for us so we added the 2nd week and it is filling up too. It’s a great month to be there for Permit fishing. It is around $4000 but there are variables so I will go over exact pricing with anyone who is interested.
2) I also have 2 open spots for our Baja trip to catch Rooster Fish May 14-19. It is in the $3500 to $4000 a week depending on if you’re traveling as a couple (shared bed) or traveling as a pair that doesn’t share a bed with your fishing buddy.

3) Phil Rowley is COMING BACK to be with us again May 30-June 2^nd for an exclusive Chironomid Clinic. This will be a similar format to last year but will be more pin point specialized on chironomids.
A tying day, a seminar day and a day on the lakes. Prices will be published in December for the event but it is not too early to get on the list of being interested for signing up.

4) The Fulling Mill Howard Croston Drop Back Bung Strike Indicators took off for a lot of this summer once they finally arrived. I know they were better for me and my clients to see the softest nymph eats and we caught more fish because of them. They do require some precise bead weights to work correctly, and the flies Howard has for them are more UK type patterns so over the last year I have been tying some really cool lake flies that work for this indicator. And now I am ready to share them in a class that will be held on 3 Saturdays this January and February. It will cover Chironomids, Mayfly nymphs, Damsel nymphs, Leeches, Minnows and Scuds. Cost is $75 for all 3 classes and is limited to 5 students.

After this storm blows out tomorrow the weather looks good for November fishing so we hope to see you on the water or in the shop.

I am leaving to the Blue Bonefish Lodge in Belize tomorrow and back home on 11/12. The outstanding crew of Sequoia, Aaron, Mattias, Gavin and Drew will be covering the shop while I am gone fishing.
As many of you know, I am having a pretty big surgery on November 20th to repair (cut out) damage to my insides from too many diverticulitis flare ups. I think that’ll keep me out of the shop until early to mid December but your support means the world to me. I am going to be there before my surgery on 11/14-15-17 and I hope to see you as it would mean the world to me to say hello to so many friends before the
f-ing surgery day.

The final part of the blog today comes from an insightful email from an OSU graduate student regarding my recent writings in defense of Brown Trout. I want to clarify some things about my comments covering both Brown Trout and Brook Trout on local waters.
I love Browns, and stick by my assertion I think they are here to stay (at least I hope so) and I am quite sure they will continue to cohabitate with the natives just fine as they’ve done for over 100 years. If the natives go away, I firmly stand by that it was because of poor water laws and a lack of good water policies that wiped out Redband Trout and Bull Trout. It is highly unlikely the Browns did it after 100 plus years of living in the Upper and Middle Deschutes together.
The demise of too many species like native trout being lost is humans, and frankly our poor choices on how we use water in an ever increasingly dry climate and growing population.
Brook Trout were mentioned as another fish I enjoy catching, but this is where I should be more specific. Brook Trout overlapping native trout like Redbands and Bull Trout (Cutthroat in some nearby waters too) has been devastating for those native fish. In some places Brookies are out competing the natives to extinction. I do not want to see a resurgence of Brook Trout in the Metolius as a prime example. They used to be there and I am glad they are essentially absent from the Metolius basin.
My comment regarding the enjoyment of Brook Trout was about places like Hosmer and Three Creek Lake as fun places to fish for Brook Trout. I certainly do not want them in places where they would do harm to the Bull Trout populations. I agree with the email sent to me that it is sad how much damage Brook Trout have done to native species all over the West.
I would like to correct that in the Madison River (Montana) Rainbow Trout were not Native, nor were the Browns. I misspoke about the native status of Rainbows in that basin.
I don’t know if it’s ever possible to go back to what it was 125 years ago with only natives left in our watersheds? Since it is likely not possible to eliminate most of our past fish stocking mistakes, our future goals should be keeping fresh, cold and clean waters at the top of our list for what we work for, and what we donate towards and what we vote for when we pick candidates that care about the Clean Waters Act and who care about headwaters, groundwater and wetlands.
Ben the OSU graduate student and I might have a difference of opinion on non-native trout on a few rivers around the west, but more importantly both our hearts remain strongly committed to making cold clean water a priority for fish all over the West. When that benefits native species and local economy’s in unison, all the better.

I’ll be back at it in Mid-Novemer. I don’t think any big changes on flies or hatches will occur but if you have any questions about the most current fishing conditions call the shop (541)549-3474 and they can help you for sure.

Be well,
Jeff