Good Morning from Sisters, Oregon. It is Memorial Day weekend and we have a beautiful weather pattern to get out and enjoy the outdoors. Will you be fishing this weekend?
I’ll be in the fly shop all weekend and Monday too, so I really hope to see you around town if you’re on the way to go fishing. I’d love to see you!
My guide season is about to start, which means I am ready to get busy, and I will work almost everyday between the shop and the lakes. It is fun to have the variety of work options to keep it fresh, whether that be choosing new lakes to visit each week, or being on the sales floor in the shop, or in the office getting orders placed. It is always interesting and fulfilling for me.

On the Metolius River the Green Drake hatch is the talk of the town. I know it’s a small town but the rumors are very juicy now! Each day the hatch seems to be getting better. We are seeing Drakes from below Bridge 99 up to the Canyon now. Usually the hatch will start after 4 this time of year, but as we move into June and the likelihood of hotter days start looking for them as early as 2, and as late as 5:30 PM.
Pale Morning Duns precede the Drakes and sometimes overlap with the hatch on the water at the same time. With either mayfly it is important to think about the complete life cycle of the insect, starting earlier in the day with Nymphs, then as the hatch begins we can usually count on the (dry fly or just under the surface) emergers, and once the Duns start really popping add Duns and Cripples to the mix.
Metolius trout love transitional profiles on your flies. So a cripple, or an emerging mayfly profile is the ultimate expression of transitional. The fish recognize these as food items that won’t get away from them, and not only are they an easier meal, but in the cold flows and tricky currents on our favorite river, these profiles show themselves often to the fish and fish get used to eating them.
Have you read Kelly Gallop’s book Cripples and Spinners? It details why these patterns are so important, and on a spring creek like the Metolius, maybe more so.
Here are a few other books to learn from to make you a better and more complete spring creek angler: Bug Water (Arlen Thomason), Slack Line Strategies (John Judy), Trout Hunter (Rene Harrop)
Other hatches we have found to be important lately are little olive stones (#16-18), yellow sallies (#14-16), Blue Wing Olives (#18-20) Tan Caddis (#16) Olive Caddis (#16) Grey Caddis (#14) and all of these hatches can be important to you throughout the day and spanning the different sections of the river from Upper, Middle and Lower reaches.
I know most of you won’t forget about the nymphs, but as a reminder the nymph fishing is excellent, especially with your Euro Nymph set ups. That tight line and high level connection to your fly is usually going to put more fish in the net over an indicator method, but there are many places on this big spring creek the indy-rig is essential too.
We’ve been having a lot of luck with a fly called a Tungsten 20 Incher. It is a good imitation for a Green Drake nymph. Perdigons (especially Olive, Brown and Purple), Light or Dark Walt’s Worm, Micro Mayfly and 2 Bit Hooker with Tungsten Beads, Zebra Midges with Tungsten, Soft Hackle PT with and w/o a bead, Frenchie (make sure to check out our new Frenchie that is dynamite for a PMD Nymph. It is tied just a bit more sparse and I love the thorax dubbing tone on these.

The Lower Deschutes from Warm Springs to Trout Creek is in full swing on the 2 big bugs! Salmonflies and Golden Stones abound.
You should be able to spend the majority of your fishing time with Chubbies, Norm Woods, Clark’s and other big flies for the next 7 to 10 days here.
Smaller Yellow Sally’s can be a difference maker when the fish get pounded with big flies for 3 weeks day after day. Also, a Clark’s Stone with the hackle trimmed flat on the bottom makes a low riding profile and can be good with egg laying Golden Stones on the water.
Pale Morning Duns and Pale Evening Duns, Rusty Spinners and a whole bunch of caddis hatches are important now and become even more important as soon as this stonefly hatch is done in a couple of weeks.
Honestly, my favorite Lower D hatches are the summer hatches of smaller mayflies and caddis. I love being down there with a Purple Haze, Fin Fetcher Caddis, Iris, X Caddis, Yellow Sparkle Dun and Rusty Spinners and enjoy that summertime small dry game a ton!

The Middle Deschutes is dwindling on the Salmonflies and Goldens, but I believe we have until mid next week to enjoy the last days of fishing big flies. If you miss it, a Purple Haze, Renegade, X Caddis, Corn Fed Caddis, PMD Sparkle Dun, PMD Half Down, Cut Wing Extended Body Pale Evening Dun and nymphs like a Perdigon (brown tones especially) and PT’s, Micro May’s, Soft Hackles and Caddis Pupa will be great.
Even on a busy holiday weekend there are canyon stretches that are away from the typical access points that you should find solitude on the river this weekend and into next week.

The Upper Deschutes headwaters area is open now, and I heard just a couple of reports from there, both positive. One friend was nymphing with perdigons and found a mix of whitefish, rainbows and brookies, and the other angler was streamer fishing and really exploring the cut banks and log jams and got a few nice brook trout on sculpins with a conehead.
The hatches are mostly small tan caddis and PMD’s so far, and a lot of midges. I would guess Green Drakes are 2 weeks away here? If you go, make sure to have #10 Sparkle Duns and Film Critic and Dry Ice Drakes in the box, even today.

The Crooked River is so good. It amazes me how the water can rage all freaking winter and finally drop to normal levels in the last 2 weeks and boom, the fishing is right back to excellent.
Mother’s Day Caddis are still out, but it is slowing a bit. Still important and make sure you have #14-16 caddis to match. These Brachycentrus caddis can be black, light tan or greyish-olive in tone. usually I find the fish will eat the olive almost any time….But even Crooked River fish have a tendency to be fussy eaters from time to time.
Add some Purple Haze and Renegades to the box, and even a Black Ant.
Nymph action is phenomenal mostly with Rainbow Warriors, Perdigons, Zebra Midges, Scuds and 2 Bit Hookers.

The Fall River is also fishing well and this week there were a few days of excellent Green Drake hatches to add to the excitement.
PMD’s throughout the life cycle, with a lot of attention to cripples (KD Dun!!!) and emergers (Film Critic and Winger) and Sparkle Duns and Comparaduns.
Henryville and Olive Elk Hair Caddis will double as Caddis and small Stonefly patterns. I recommend trimming the hackle flat off the bottom of both of these patterns to get them in the film and you should get more attention from the fish this way. Except for the Drakes, fish the small dries on 7x if you have the confidence with this light tippet. You will absolutely catch more fish on the lightest tippets.
Also, Hippie Stompers and Beetles, Ants and small Purple Chubby’s are good here. If it has Rubber Legs, give it a twitch and skitter to animate the movement on the fly.
Small Streamers and Heavy little Nymphs are awesome on the Fall River, and don’t forget your Egg patterns. The fish can turn off the eggs if they’ve seen a bunch of pressure with them recently, but with frequent restocking from the hatchery there are usually dumb fish that will eat the egg on most days.

The McKenzie is good, and our guides have been having fun days on the river with a Dry Dropper set up and a Euro Nymph rig.
I have not heard them talking about Green Drakes yet, but that should be happening soon. Orange #12-14 Elk Hair Caddis, Olive Elk Hair Caddis #14, Black or Red Hippie Stomper, Big Chubbies, Light Cahill, H&L Variant (President Herbert Hoover once fished an H&L Variant on the McKenzie!) plus larger Perdigons, Caddis Pupa and Leeches have been great.

LAKES REPORT-

We have had a lot of calls about Hosmer Lake in the last 2 days. It is not quite ready to drive into yet. I saw a report from a Hiking Group on Facebook that drove up the Cascade Lakes Hwy two check trailheads. Here is that report:

I think that might be slightly optimistic but but this time next weekend I hope to be on Hosmer!

East Lake Resort has their ramp/dock open for launching. I will use it this week for sure. It is $10 for their launch fee.
Hot Springs Ramp still has snow on the ramp, although my friend Skip said someone busted their way down it yesterday. What surprises me is they made it back up. That will melt fast though and I bet by early in the week it will be totally open.
Good reports of fish near the edges and in shallow zones eating chironomids, scuds, leeches and try some damsel nymphs and callibaetis nymphs now. Bank wade opportunities are excellent, and boating is always a good bet.

Paulina Lake is off to a good start for the 2025 season with good looking fish being caught after the long winter.
Hanging With my Chromies #14-16, Olive Chrironomids or Zebra Midges #16-18, Black Double Down #16, Callibaetis Cate #12-14, Black Double Down #14-16, Red Ice Cream Cone #12-18, Balanced Leeches and Balanced Minnows ought to do the trick throughout the day. With the warmth I will be on the lookout for ants and beetles along the shore lines and rocky shoals.

Crane Prairie is starting to bloom a bit, which is fine, but the crystal clear water days won’t be seen again until mid-August. I heard the morning bite was really good yesterday and then it was slow the rest of the day.
I am hopeful to see a callibaetis hatch soon. Damsel Nymphs are a solid bet, but the standard Leech and Chironomid rigs under the strike indicator will likely serve you best this week.

North Twin and South Twin Lakes are such a good bet for tubes and pontoon boats and even some bank access on boat. Ants and Beetles are getting active from the warmth in the forest. Chironomids are very good now and callibaetis are just getting going on these lakes with some light hatches so far.

Three Creek Lake has no access yet, and it will be a few more weeks before we should expect it.

A few important things to talk about. One of our guides left a rod on an island between Warm Springs and Trout Creek yesterday. If you hear of a G Loomis IMX Pro 9′ 5 weight with a Lamson Lightspeed Reel being found, PLEASE let us know. Good Karma will come to you.

On September 12-13 we are offering a really cool CAMP TRIP combined with a Euro Nymphing Clinic for women only. The guides will be Sequoia Hoffstetter and Mattias Holverson, and Aaron will have our beautiful river camp all set up with great meals and comfortable camping. We’d love to have you join us for this 1st time offering of a special new trip.
Also, in January we have a all women’s trip to Argentina coming together with our friend Trini in Buenos Aires taking the lead with some really fun touring in the city, then flying to San Martin de Los Andes with you where our outfitter Southern Loops Flyfishing will have 5 wonderful days of fly fishing on some of Northern Patagonia’s finest rivers.
Trini and I are hosting a Zoom meeting to learn more about this trip in June. The Date for the Zoom is not set, but it will be the 2nd week of June in the morning. The dates for the trip are January 24 to 31, 2026. Price is $4950 per week for the fishing and some extra costs will be necessary for the flights and Buenos Aires transfers, hotel and tours.

We are going to run Back to Back Overnight Trips (1 night camping) on the Warm Springs to Trout Creek section July 21-22 and July 23-24.
Camp is set up for groups of 4 and is $1000 per person. Come with your own group of 4, or we can mix and match singles who all share a passion for caddis hatches!

Super happy to see how nice the season is shaping up for us.

See you on the water or in the shop.

Jefe,

5/24/25