The weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. You’ve heard about fly tying weather? This is it.
I mean, if you want to fish, sure, there are some very good open waters and hardly any crowds. If you dress well you will be great for a good session on the river. I ventured out this week and my wife thought I was crazy, but when I called her on the drive home I said I never got cold. It’s all about the gear and how you layer it.

The Metolius River has generally been good fishing on nymphs, and hit or miss on dries. The ever so distinguished orange bead head egg continues to be the best, but plenty of good fish are being caught on October caddis pupa and perdigons.
Overall, streamer action for bull trout has been slow with moments of glory. The Milk Shake, Purple/Black Articulated and White Circus Peanut are our top 3 choices for now. Don’t hesitate to fish the Milk Shake under a large Oros indicator and dead drift it. You can control the depth and speed of that better than on a swung fly and some days that’s what is needed to get a bull to turn on it and eat. Work a BT run with a nymph, a dead drifted streamer and a swung streamer.
If you do get lucky enough for a dry fly moment, expect the hatch to be a #18 or #20 Blue Wing Olive and possibly add some #20 to #24 midges to the dry fly box for the next few weeks. Emergers, Cripples and Adults will be needed so get tying or stop by FFP on the way to the river and get some Pliva’s, Film Critics, Knock Down Duns and Sparkle Duns for sure, and add a CDC Parachute to the box for a high riding dun pattern.

The Fall River is much snowier now than just a couple of days ago. It is a beautiful site and lovely to be there in this season. Plenty of fish around and when I fished there 2 days ago I was really really hoping to see BWO’s floating down the currents and noses poking up to eat them.
I am glad I brought my nymphing rod too….
Soccer Mom was by far my best fly of the day, but a eggstacy egg tied with a hot orange drop bead and a purple perdigon with a gun metal drop bead were productive for me.
There were a few fish rising to ???? on the “pond” at the hatchery. I put some midges and a KD Dun over them on 7x and never had a look. Another day perhaps.
You know I like to tell stories and I was reminded of one this week.
Back in the good old days of the Bend fly fishing scene there was a guy named Tom Brazier who was a retired (disabled) Sheriff’s Deputy from LA. He was a fabulous angler and fly tyer. Tom as it turns out was way ahead of his time based on how the kids these days are fishing streamers. At that time, Tom tied small black wooly buggers with lead dumb bell eyes and would quietly walk the banks of the Fall River and jig that lead eyed bugger along the undercut banks and in front of fish that might be laying in the main pools. Tom was a big fella so he knew stealth and a soft step was important over the top of those undercuts. Fish that were unseen would dart out quickly and grab the leech with a vengeance! He taught me this so many years ago, and this week when I was fishing the tungsten beaded soccer mom leech, it reminded me of how similar that presentation is to what Tom did about 40 years ago.
By the way, Tom tied a little emerger called the Peeping Tom. With a different thread color on the body this fly mimicked all kinds of mayfly and midge emergers and I need to tie some and show and tell in a future report. I have no doubt the fish on any of our rivers still want to eat that profile of emerger.

The Crooked River is still fishing well on nymphs throughout the afternoon and I don’t see any super cold air settling on top of us, so I expect to keep seeing open water and decent to good days of fishing.
Scuds, Zebra midges, Perdigons, 2 Bit hookers, Skinny Nelsons, Rainbow Warrior are great winter patterns here.
As you are ready to pack up for the day, look for midges to be hatching further down and out of the steepest canyon areas in the flat water areas. Mile post 12 is a good example of what I am talking about. Midge Winkers and Griffiths Gnats and Century Drive Midges are good on 6.5 or 7x tippet. It is a fun last stop if the fish are up.

I am not even going to talk about the Lower D because I haven’t had any reports from there this week and the roads down to madras and warm springs are really icy.

I wrote a new Newsletter that is in the hands of my friend Shannon who publishes them for us and hopefully you will see that this weekend. One of the things in it is about the Phil Rowley Clinic next May and I wanted to share that here too:
Phil Rowley Chironomid Clinics

Last summer we hosted one of the most well known and respected Stillwater anglers in the world here in Sisters for 3 days of clinics and classes and some fishing on the lakes. In late-May and early June we will again have Phil Rowley back in Sisters, this time dialing the classes in to be very specific on Chironomid fishing and fly tying. If you don’t know, Chironomids are the most important food item for trout to feed on in lakes. You don’t want to miss learning how to match them so you can catch more fish. 
The dates and schedule for 2025 include:
May 30^th we will meet at the Sisters Library Conference Room for an all day presentation on the essence of Chironomid fishing and life cycles and habits of the real insects. This class will be limited to 60 people and is $75 per person. 
On May 31^st Phil will take over the FFP tying table and will be presenting his best chironomids to match the life cycle of the real thing. This is limited to 15 people and is $75 per person. 

On June 1^st we will do an on the water day at no charge on one of the local lakes (East Lake is my 1^st choice if access is good) and this is a good opportunity to just get out on your own boat, enjoy fishing and come and meet Phil at lunch time while we mingle and enjoy lunch. 

If you’d like to sign up or get more information, please contact Jeff at greendrakehatch@gmail.com or stop in the shop and see Jeff for more details. 

Christmas Season finally started for us this week at FFP. It has been fun to see people and work with them to find their loved ones and friends and family members the perfect gift. I know a lot of our good friends and customers will be headed to Black Butte, Camp Sherman and Sisters for the holidays and it is always great to see you. I plan to be in the shop a lot over the holidays. We will be home celebrating quietly with Drake and Berkeley, Tina’s mom and a few friends. An easy Christmas that I hope also has time to sit at the tying table and crank out some pretty little trout flies I know I am getting low on.

Keep an eye open for that newsletter and check out the deal of the century on an Argentina trip this winter. $2500 per person (double occupancy required).

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,
Jeff

“a man who is a master of patience is master of everything else”
— George Savile