Hello from La Ventana Baja Mexico where Jeff’s Fishing Report is coming to you after a day on the Sea of Cortez catching Roosterfish, and many other cool fish caught by my group.
Today every person in our group landed multiple roosters (Pez Gallo) and the van ride back from the Marina this afternoon was entertaining to hear all the different fish, including Bonito, Pacific Pompano, Triggerfish, Green Jack, Jack Crevalle and a ton of the damn Needlefish that steal the fly so quickly that some times they ruin your shot at the more desired Rooster or Jack. These are 1st world problems when you complain about the fish that eat your fly. But hey…
Closer to home I have so many good fishing reports to share from the Deschutes and the Metolius and Paulina and Crane and the Crooked.
So let’s take it home and talk about Central Oregon waters.

Have y’all met Phil at the shop? He is the new guy behind the counter with a Carolina accent. I’ve spoken about Phil many times over the years as he has not only been a good friend of mine, but one hell of an angler and someone who has the Metolius River pretty dialed in. He has always shared his intel with me for my reports I share with you.
So good Ol’ Phil had one heck’uva Green Drake day a few days ago. Landing lots of nice redbands on the afternoon Green Drake hatch! He said it began at 3:40 PM and went to about 5:30 with a frenzy of takes on dries the entire time.
Before the Drakes you can expect a good PMD hatch.
Now, here is a Hatch Frustration Buster for you, courtesy of my main man Chester. He was watching fish eat dries the other day, and went through the usual suspects of mayfly emergers, cripples, duns and I think he said even spinners, and he could not get a fish to even look at his fly. And this is a dude who knows how to present the fly and get a slack line, drag free float.
He went into double secret detective mode and discovered Little Olive Stones were what the fish were gorging on, and tied on a Henryville and started catching fish right away.
So, while we often think of those little olive stoneflies as a late summer and fall hatch, they are more than that and it is important to keep a #16 and #18 Henryville or Olive CDC in your fly box now too.
As you know, the Upper River will have its long awaited opening on May 22nd. That includes the areas of the river upstream from the Allingham Bridge to the Headwaters. It ought to be fun and good fishing up there starting mid-week. I know some friends who are already planning to be there! I want to go, but after being in MX for a week, I should probably actually go to work for a bit on May 22, but hey, who knows. I keep telling myself that I will remember a trip or a fishing day on my death bed more than an extra day of work and that story continues to justify this awesome fishing bender I am enjoying right now.
To cap off the Metolius details for the week, we can’t forget about the very good and consistent nymph options you’ll encounter all day long. Tan Caddis Pupa (have you tried my new fly?), Perdigons, Walts, Micro Mayflies, Soft Hackle PT’s, 2 Bit Hookers, Zebra Midges, Golden Stone nymphs and Green Drake Nymphs.
This is going to be a good week to be on the Metolius and should remain consistent with these flies until the end of June. On warmer evenings stay late for Caddis and Rusty Spinners. If it is cool and windy (as I hear it is at home this weekend) you can likely be wrapped up by 5:30 and ready to go home and grill some steaks and enjoy a beverage. But a warm evening rise? Pack your cooler and stay until dark.

Our guide Steve Erickson texted me from the river today and said the fish were keyed on Salmonflies pretty well on the Warm Springs to Trout Creek drift. His clients had hooked several on big Chubbies.
Troy and Sequoia floated the river Thursday for fun, and Troy is helping Sequoia get totally confident to start guiding drift boat trips on the Lower Deschutes to add to her repertoire. It’s great to see the collaboration our FFP staff has to make each other better.
Anyway, the big bug hatch is on, and it will only get better and better over the next 2 weeks. From day to day don’t overlook the possibly of fish getting dialed on PMD’s, Pale Evening Duns and Green Drakes now. Caddis, especially Tan #14-16 will be important now and all summer.
A dry dropper set up is a good bet when we get cool days and the fish may become less active on eating the dry salmon flies, but they can’t help but take a look at the big dries, and BAM, there is a nymph drifting by them that they want to eat.
Or you can just go to a full Nymph rig, either with a Euro nymphing set up, or indicator set up. Tan Caddis Pupa, Brown Perdigons and Soft Hackle Pheasant Tails would be my top 3 now, but there are many other nymphs to cycle through and try that will catch fish.

We are happy to report how good the Crooked River is fishing now. The water is still above summer average, flowing at 370 cfs today and normal is 250’ish in the summer flow regime. Not a big deal, but there are not many places I would say it is safe to cross by wading to the other side at the moment.
The Mother’s Day Caddis is the juice now! Pupa and Adults have been great. Sequoia had some great days with clients on the Crooked and I know she said some of them fished dries exclusively all day.
Wooly Buggers on the swing is a good high water tactic (it’s not too high, don’t let me dissuade you from the fishing because it is great now).
Nymphs on the Crooked are always consistent and productive. Scuds, Zebra Midges, 2 Bit Hookers, Rainbow Warriors, Skinny Nelson, Perdigons and Red SJ Worms will cover most of the bases.

The Fall River is for the most part fishing well, although I have seen some reports of slower catch rates lately from a few folks that I know. Right time and right place is the adage for a lot of things and fishing spring creeks is no exception.
PMD hatches are going to be the main afternoon hatch for a long time to come this spring and summer. So make sure you fish the entire cycle of nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners and add cripples to the mix to fool these rascals in ultra clear water. It is time to start to see some afternoon Green Drakes on the Fall too. Seems to me the Drakes on the Fall are a solid size 10, rarely seeing the “grandis” #8 like we do on the Metolius.
Olive #16 Caddis, Midges #20-22, BWO #18-20, Ants, Beetles and Attractors like a Purple Hippie Stomper will be great on top. Power Bottom flies (hahaha) will include Tungsten Eggs, Mini Gulp’s, Perdigons, Walts Worms, Rainbow Warriors, SJ Worms, Zebra Midges (tungsten beads are a big advantage) and 2 Bit Hookers.

The McKenzie River is fishing quite well, partially because they have recently done a new stocking of rainbows and those fish are on the bite.
We have been seeing some minor stonefly hatches, a bunch of caddis and some bigger yellow mayflies. Running a Euro Nymph set up as a side drift off the boat is darn good and add a heavy leech to the fly mix as it is one that also gets a lot of bites on the McKenzie.

The Middle Deschutes is great, the Stoneflies are out and I think we will see epic days and evenings coming up as soon as the weather get warm (or hot again) which is coming.
Until then, PMD’s and Pale Evening Duns as well as an Olive or Tan X Caddis and Corn Fed Caddis will cover a fair bit of the surface action you’d expect now.
I love Purple Haze and Renegades on the Middle D too. Add them in a #14 and 16 for the rest of the summer.
Euro Nymphing with a Brown Perdigon and a Jeff’s Improved B.A. Caddis Pupa will be very productive, and any nymphs that look like a PMD for the time being will be smart choices to tis on. PT’s, Brown Micro May or Tan 2 Bit Hookers are the best I can suggest.

LAKES REPORT-

The gate is open to East and Paulina. You can launch at Paulina Lake Resort for $10.
East still has no boat launch access as of yet. And It may be another couple of weeks.
Bank fishing at East should be good, I’d go leeches and scuds and callibaetis nymphs stripped on slow Hover lines, and use a chironomid and blood worm (which is chironomid larva) under the indicator.
I saw my friend Jon W was up at Paulina on the opener and caught a bunch of smaller browns and some rainbows that all looked like they wintered over well.
I always like the early season chironomid game at Paulina, but I have often had excellent success on black leeches stripped near the shore line on various density sinking lines from Hover to Type 5 (and all in between). I also recommend a Balanced Minnow under the indy!

Crane Prairie is fishing well and has good access at the resort end with brand new docks and plenty of parking. Quinn is open and has good access. I am not sure if Rock Creek is open yet.
Balanced Leeches and Red Ice Cream Cones seem to be the best flies of late, but Black Chironomids, Hanging with my Chromies and Damsel Nymphs are necessary for CP right now, and start thinking about Callibaetis soon, so the nymphs will already be in throat pump samples at times, and be getting the dark, mature wing pads by now.
Hang a Callibaetis Cate (my own adaptation of an old mayfly nymph called a Cates Turkey (modernized on a jig hook) and a Black Double Down Nymph under an indicator in about 7 or 8 feet of water, if they are not taking leeches or chironomids well in the moment.

No access to Hosmer yet, although the ice is off.
No access to Three Creek Lake yet. It will be at least another month to get through all that snow pack is my guess….
I have a friend checking on Lava for me, I’ll report back when I know for sure.
Other good Lake options for the week include Haystack, Chickahominy, South Twin, North Twin, Justesen Ranch (pay to play) and chasing Bull Trout at Lake Billy Chinook in any of the 3 arms.

Speaking of lakes, this is a good time to say that one of the best lake anglers on the planet is coming back for a visit in about 2 weeks and doing some awesome seminars for us. Phil Rowley from Canada is the man of the hour. If you don’t know his contribution to modern lake techniques I would be surprised.
I have 4 openings for Phil Rowley’s Chironomid Clinic on May 30th at the Sisters Library. It is $75 for the full day class and you will leave the class a better angler.
On May 31st he will be doing a Chironomid Fly Tying Demo and I can get another 12 people signed up for that.
Call the shop or stop in and sign up. Full Payment is due at the time of signing up please.
You can add an Olivers Lemons Lunch to one or both days if you choose, or BYOL.

Here is a little teaser from Baja today-

To say we will be back to fish with Santiago and his company Angling Baja is like the understatement of the week. We can’t wait to come back here.
Our travel partners are Southern Loops Flyfishing in Argentina, Magic Waters and Baker River Lodge in Chile, Urban Dorado Outfitters in Buenos Aires, The Blue Bonefish Lodge in Belize and now Angling Baja in La Ventana Mexico.

See you on the water near home, or far away from home.. It is all good!

Jeff