I have missed our connection since the last report at Halloween. We got back to Oregon late Monday night 11/11 after a great week and a half in Belize where we completely lucked out on weather. The week before we got there was very rainy and Hurricane Rafael formed in the Southern Caribbean just as we arrived which had some wet & windy threats to our week, but fortunately the track it took moved way offshore of our location and we had one of the sunniest and calmest weeks I’ve ever had in over 20 trips to Belize. This week there is a Tropical Storm (Sarah) parked over the region and it is again pouring rain. Sandwiched between the crappy weather the weather and fishing gods were on our side, and our group landed 13 permit, had 3 grand slams and a whole lot of bonefish. Some of you may remember Tim Quinton who guided for FFP years ago, well Tim was on the trip and landed 4 permit, and Tina (my wife) got 2 Permit to the boat. It should have been 3, but one came unbuttoned after the fish ran to the backing. She is now double digits for lifetime Permit landed. That puts her in some fairly elite company on those tough fish. I need to get my game on in April when we return because I am only 6 ahead and I have been chasing permit for 30 years versus her for 10 years.
I only got one Permit this trip, but on the same day added a bonefish and a very nice tarpon to achieve the coveted grand slam, so I was really pleased with that. I got a “slam” in Mexico and another in Cuba, but this was my 1st slam in Belize.
Coming home to the Oregon chill has been a shock to the system, but it has also been so great to catch up with my Trout and Steelhead crew and find out that the fishing in so many places has been quite good.
So while I have no irons in the fire for this report locally, I have some amazing friends and resources that contributed to this update.

On the Metolius River, 2 of my most trusted sources (Chester and Phil S) shared some super good intel on what they are seeing. For hatches there are 2 yellow mayflies to match, both dwindling quickly though. PMD’s #16 (3 tails) and Cinygmula #14-16 (2 tails). We should see hatches of both of these for the rest of November, and I’ve actually seen fishable PMD hatches in December at the Idiot Hole.
The Metolius River is such a mystery and I love that about this river! Blue Wing Olive hatches day in and day out for the next 3 to 4 months will be the most important mayfly we expect to see daily on the Met. Usually during deep fall and winter, BWO’s are a size 18 and have pretty tall wings, but stock some #20 and #22 and and a few #16’s in the box. Include a Knock Down Dun, Sparkle Dun, Captive Emerger, RS2, Comparadun and Parachutes for surface feeders, and Micro Mayflies and 2 Bit Hookers for really specific nymph matches.

Mayfly hatches have been most prevalent from about 11:30 to 1 or 2. The above clip is the PMD hatch from December and serves a reminder to expect the unexpected on Spring Creeks. Hatch durations are getting condensed in the colder weather. Also, on windy days the amount of needles from the trees can really screw up the dry fly action, especially in the eddies. So watch that wind. Nymphs don’t care about needles floating around the eddies messing up your dry fly drift.
There are quite a few caddis hatching, and while it may seem to be a trickle amount to us, I believe the fish see a lot of caddis pupa in the drift each day! It took me a long time to learn this, or accept it, but small caddis pupa are a big part of the diet of Metolius fish all year, and not just the big summer and fall hatch months. Tan , Olive and Grey Pupa #12-16 and Orange #8-12 will serve you well.
Stonefly Nymphs are golden. Literally. Use a golden stone all winter, every day. I’ve said it before and I’ll I’ll remind you here again, if you had 2 flies to nymph with on the Metolius from November 15th to March 15th and kept it as a #10 Golden Stone nymph and a #14 Orange Egg, you’d be happy.
I pressed Mattias on some Bull Trout intelligence for today’s report, and he said “bro, I am only fishing the Deschutes now”. My man is letting us down. So I don’t have any streamer fishing perspectives on Bull’s this week, but on the Nymph front, Phil caught some awesome Bull’s this week euro nymphing an egg and caddis pupa.
It looks like some really wet days ahead starting tomorrow and snow on Monday! Fishing the Metolius in the snow is a gift for the senses, so I hope some of you have a chance to get out and be in the quiet surrounding and the special light that only come in the winter on days like that.
Remember the river is open from Allingham Bridge to Lake Billy Chinook, and closed from the headwaters to Allingham for winter.

My good friend Ron came over from Boise to fish the Crooked River earlier this week and had really good fishing. He was catching them on Midges and Dry Caddis and said the fish were rising even in the morning. Zebra Midges, Ray Charles, Pink Scuds and even a Royal Wulff did the trick.
Capt. Drew from the shop was out there yesterday and had a great day on Eggs and Perdigons and CDC Pheasant Tails #18. My friend Dick has been getting on the Crooked on a regular basis and is fishing a good afternoon hatch of dark BWO duns. He said they are almost black and the fish are keen to eat the emergers and duns around noon. It should be a great week to be on the Crooked and this is whitefish spawning time, so as you choose the eggs think more yellowish than bright orange. While I know either will work, the whitey eggs are yellowish to chartreuse color and if the fish get selective that could make a difference. Mile post 12 up to MP19 below the Bowman Dam is all good.

The Fall River is fishing really well, but we expect to see 7 to 10 inches of snow there Sunday night and through Monday, so be prepared for that driving and around the banks.
BWO’s #18-20, Midges #20-24 and Amber colored Caddis #14-16 remain on the dry fly list. Eggs, Rainbow Warriors, Perdigons, Zebra Midges and Micro Streamers. On the dries, cripples and emergers are usually the best bet and use a 6x or 7x tippet for your best results.

The Lower Deschutes has been as good now as any time of the year, at least on the Warm Springs to Trout Creek section. Remember that the Warm Springs Reservation side is closed and all fishing is legally done from the Main Channel east to the BLM side. Be careful on some of the islands as they can be hard to determine which side of the channel the main flow is. Some are really obvious.
Trout are on Midge Nymphs, Eggs, Stonefly Nymphs, Oct. Caddis Pupa and Perdigons.
Steelhead fishing is very good but has become a deeper water game for the swung fly. Think skagit lines, sink tips and a myriad of flies including intruders, leeches and traditional steelhead patterns like Green Butt Skunks and Freight Trains.
We had a really fun “steelhead swing theory” conversation in the shop yesterday with Eric N, Alex G, me and Mattias and talking about swinging the fly broadside and how to do that more consistently by NOT MENDING and letting a belly form in the line as it swings. You show more of the fly to the fish, takes will be harder and if you (like so many of us) had the habit of mending as soon as the fly hit the water and began to swing, you’ll be less likely to drag the fly away from a fish but NOT MENDING. That is going to take some getting used to on my part, but we learn as we go and it is advice that makes a lot of sense.
I know a lot of us steelhead with a nymph, and obviously an indicator rig needs to be mended to achieve the drag free drift you need with that set up. And a lot of us catch a lot of fish with the nymph and indicator rig. No harm in that.

I wanted to share the water level reading from East Lake this year:

This year’s level was taken on Oct 25 and was 6,370.0, the lowest since I’ve been keeping track.

Levels for the last few years include
6,371.3 feet – Nov. 13, 2021
6,370.6 feet – Oct. 27, 2022
6,370.65 feet – Sept. 27, 2023

Bob

The drought and hot summer weather has been relentless on getting that to pop up. It is a cycle, but sadly the infrastructure wasn’t designed for this. Fortunately, East Lake continues to fish well June-October and remains one of my absolute favorites. There is not a better lake in the region for Callibaetis and that alone makes it so special.

I will be out of commission starting Tuesday for a while. I am having a sigmoidectomy resection surgery at St Charles in Bend to remove the length of my sigmoid colon equal to a decent trout from the Crooked River. About a foot. I have suffered some severe diverticulitis for about a decade and the damage has become bad enough to warrant this surgery. Hopefully it goes well and that my diverticulitis flare ups will never happen again. I may be in the hospital for 2 to 4 days following surgery so I won’t have an updated report until I am feeling better. Did you know we have 4 feet of colon? So if they remove a foot of mine I will be 25% less of an asshole. So you have that to look forward to. I’ll keep the 75% primed up for the folks who take out docks before the season is over so don’t worry.
I have a fair bit of anxiety about this, but there is no other choice that leaves me in a safe place for the way I live, fish and travel.
So my friends, on Wednesday, please keep me and the surgeon in your thoughts and prayers and universe vibrations. I’m sure it’ll be fine, but having you all on my side will make it better.

Jeff