Hello from the office of the world headquarters of FFP. I am tucked away in the chair Phil used all the years he was at the helm of this office, and I think of him every time I sit here.
Besides being a student of fly fishing, he was one of my most loyal friends. Philly, you are missed and I hope there are dry flies in heaven.

We have so many fun fishing reports and stories to tell this week, so thank you again for tuning in to my report. Whether you are following along to get ready for a future trip, or your reading it because of the connection it brings your soul to waters you love, I truly appreciate you being here with me each week and letting me know that you like what comes out of this each week.

I am going to start as usual on the Metolius River and this week we are going to work our way down from the headwaters, through the Upper River, into the Middle River and explore the top end of the Lower River too.
Hopefully this will also let you understand the distinct sections, and where the boundaries are so you can also understand the river a little more.
We always refer to the Upper River as the area from the headwaters to Gorge Campground.
The headwaters stretch from Riverside Campground to the confluence with Lake Creek is the smallest and most intimate water you will find on the river. It is a sweet spot for a light Euro Nymph rig using the ultralight leader set up I wrote about in last weeks report, and a single 2.8 mm to 3.3 mm perdigon. It is also the spot where you are most likely to hit some fish this coming week on Golden Stone dries (and nymphs). You will also encounter summer hatches of Caddis & PMD’s all over the river, including the upper river. Fish the complete cycle of the mayflies, and the pupa and adults of the caddis. You might encounter days of the caddis larva being important with a tan free living caddis (net builder caddis/Hydropshche) is a common caddis here and the larva do not build cases and can be “in the drift” at times. It is far from my 1st choice of flies to tie on now, but consider adding some to your fly box to compliment the tan pupa that I have been telling you about in report after report.
On the PMD’s fish the entire cycle through the day. Nymphs will be in the drift almost anytime, emerging duns will occur usually twice a day and those times will be around 11 to 3 and again after dinner. Spinners (females are rusty and males are yellowish orange) at dusk. During emergence a lot of the emerging duns become cripples. If you are carrying all of the above, you are not fully ready for the day of technical spring creek fishing. Add your Suppleflex or Finesse 12 foot leader and extra 6x tippet to the equation and you have gone from JV to Varsity my friend.
The Middle River starts at Gorge and goes to Bridge 99, so this includes the Canyon Pools, the Hatchery area and so much good water it is arguably my favorite on any given day. Some of the most famous pools and eddies on the Met are in this stretch.
Through this area, PMD’s are also the main hatch, but so far the Green Drakes are holding on with a daily hatch between 2 and 6. That won’t be a 4 hour emergence BTW, but during that window of time during the day this week make sure you have nymphs, emergers, cripples and duns. And if you are an early AM angler, put a spinner in the box. Did you know Green Drake Spinners are rarely encountered by anglers? But when you do run into the opportunity you want to be prepared! Right?
Blue Wing Olives often emerge in the shadows of the evening light on the middle river. A Film Critic, Sparkle Dun and a KD Dun #20 will be smart choices to out over a tough trout.
Summer Caddis hatches and small Stoneflies like Yellow Sally’s and Little Olive Stones will provide good dry fly opportunities in the evening mostly, but also in the afternoon during the heat of the day. Nymphs of the little stones are not overly important on a day to day basis, but going to the Metolius without Tan Caddis Pupa this time of year is not something you want to do. Also, you have to check out the NEW Missing Link Yellow Sally we got in this week. OH MY it is a Metolius fly for sure. The profile is all about staying low in the film and we know the trout love that on this river.
The Lower River starts at Bridge 99/Lower Bridge Campground and heads to Lake Billy Chinook from there. I only focus on the area from Bridge 99 to Candle Creek CG myself, but I know friends who ride Mtn. Bikes lower and find good fishing. It’s a much more wild river in so many ways if you do that.
All the same hatches as listed above for the middle river will occur here too.
Any day now the Lake Run Bull Trout ought to show up to the Middle River. They won’t spawn in the tributary creeks for a while yet but they will come out of the lake soon. This is the time for your 8 weight rod and big streamers.

The McKenzie River is one of our top guide trip winners now, and not surprising for the time of the year and recent stocking schedule mixed with a great population of wild fish too.
One of the most fun ways to approach the McKenzie is with a large Chubby and run a Perdigon off the bend of the hook. The fishing has also been great with a leeches & small streamers, and heavy perdigons and other tungsten bead patterns like Copper Johns and Soft Hackle PT’s and Rainbow Warriors.
A few Green Drake have been reported, and it is always good to have some #10-14 Elk Hair Caddis, X Caddis, Corn Fed, Parachutes Adams, Purple Haze and Light Cahill’s.

The Lower Deschutes is trending well, but we had a few tougher trips through there last week. The Deschutes is moody and we also had some weather fronts pass through and that, as we know can put the fish off the regular bite. On the warm and calm evenings the dry fly action is magical. It is mostly Tan Caddis, but #14 Pale Evening Duns and #16 Pale Morning Duns could be equally as important as the caddis, maybe more so.
Do you have a Fin Fetcher Caddis in your fly box? Too many people quit fishing too early in the evening because they can’t see their fly anymore. I like that Fin Fetcher because it shows up better with the hot pink parachute post. Purple Haze is another great evening Deschutes fly and in a #14 it will be consumed by a confused trout thinking he just nibbled on a PED. Surprise. Don’t forget the X Caddis and Corn Fed Caddis and Missing Link Caddis too as these are solid, modern dry flies for the best approach.
Pale Morning Duns on the Deschutes can sometimes be quite orange, and we sell 2 colors of Comparaduns, one with a traditional light yellow toned dubbing, and the other with a sulphur orange body which is a wringer for the summer PMD’s here and on the Middle Deschutes too. Add sulphur’s to the collection.
During the day I’d anticipate just a little dry fly action, mostly in the back eddies. So, during the day you’ll be fishing a lot of nymphs, and that may continue to dusk if the evening hatches are knocked down by wind. Caddis Pupa Tan #14-16 and Grey #18, PT’s #12-18, Micro May #16-18, Psycho Prince #14-16, Red Ass Soft Hackle and PT Soft Hackle #14-16 and Yellow Soft Hackles #16 which fish really well deep with split shot or as a dropper fly with a big beaded nymph as the point.

The Middle Deschutes is a great place to spend the morning and early afternoon or head out after work and fish until dusk.
You’ll find a diverse set of hatches that could vary by river mile and area you choose. Tan Caddis are quite ubiquitous through the areas from Bend to Billy Chinook. Pale Evening Duns and PMD’s will be too. BWO’s might be more isolated but just like what I said on the Metolius report, the evening shade hatch is a real deal, and you need to look for these tiny mayflies in the summer too. I think a lot of us forget about BWO’s in the summer and think of them as Fall/Winter/Spring hatches, but that is not the case and they can be the frustrating hatch you can’t decipher because you either don’t notice them, or you didn’t expect them.
Of course the nymph fishing, especially with a tight line mono-rig (euro) is going to be awesome.

The Upper Deschutes from Crane Prairie to Little Lava has gotten to be tiny bit better with regard to the mosquito swarms. Still, bring the bug spray! and possibly a head net.
Fishing is good, especially with nymphs and small streamers. Terrestrial dries (Ants and Beetles #12-16) and attractors (Chubbies and Hippie Stompers) along with some PMD’s, Olive and Tan Caddis #14-18, Yellow Sally’s #16, Clarks Stones #10 and Purple Haze #14-18

The Crooked River electro shocking survey has been completed and that should mean better flows and better fishing for the coming week.
They bump the flow a bit to make it easier for ODFW to get the big rafts down river the electroshocking gear.
Most people are headed out to the Crooked bankers hours and are finding good nymph fishing on perdigons, 2 bit hookers, micro mayflies, scuds and zebra midges.
In the morning look for rising trout to PMD’s and Caddis. I would even say you could put a small Royal Wulff or a Renegade on these fish and they will eat it.
Later in the afternoon, PMD’s will return and the evening hatch of caddis can be impressive.

The Fall River is fishing nicely and ODFW has stocked some nice fish in there lately. I really encourage the local people to go early at dawn and fish to 9 or 10, and also do the evening bite after work, staying until dark. Mid Day is busy, and of course mid day is a great time to be there, but not everyone needs to all go to the hatchery to fish. It’s a 10 mile lone river and there is way more to the Fall River than the fish hatchery access.
PMD’s and Yellow Sallys are 2 of the main hatches daily, and olive caddis and midges should be important almost every day too. On this little gem of a spring creek, ants have always been a staple, add some beetles and hippie stompers to the box and enjoy the rising fish when it happens.
Squirrel Jig Minnows, Soccer Moms and Olive Mini Gulps are great streamers. Tungsten Eggs, Tungsten Zebra Midges, 2 Bit Hookers, Tungsten Micro Mayflies and Olive Perdigons will be good choices to add to your 6x Fluorocarbon tippet.

Lakes Report

I spent a lot of my week at Little Lava Lake and it was fabulous. Each day was a little different, but all offered good catch rates and callibaetis fishing. Especially callibaetis nymphs.
I noticed all 3 days the morning bite was not easy, but by 11 AM until 3 or 4 PM the bite was incredible at times.
I also noticed another interesting thing when I had my last friends in the boat Thursday, and that is Dan doesn’t like to watch a strike indicator much, and he wanted to try his new Cortland 3 foot Ghost Tip I sold him. He was stripping a Poxy Back Callibaetis on the point and the Callibaetis Nymph we sell from Solitude Flies that has the marabou body and peacock wing case on the dropper tag.
Charlotte had my Callibaetis Cate on the point and a Poxyback on the tag.
This is where as an observer (if you are a guide and you are not an observer you are not doing it right) I was fascinated by what I saw…
The indicator set up had a lot more “bites”, but a lot more misses. The stripped fly set up had less bites, but the hits that came resulted in more conversion to fish to the net. All in all it was about equal to the net, with a slight advantage to the indicator. I think this is true of all lakes and is a trend that can change day by day, and remember there are no absolutes in fishing. What worked yesterday might not work tomorrow.
Some of my good customers John and Kayana had great success on balanced leeches 2 days in a row.
My throat pump samples on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday indicated the fish were feeding heavily on callibaetis nymphs.
We also had some excellent sessions on a Quigly Flag Ant and my Jiggy Twist Beetle all 3 afternoons and on Thursday we had Gonzo fishing on a Tilt Wing Dun and Sparkle Dun for an hour and a half near the lunch hour for us. Apparently it was also the lunch hour for the trout. That Tilt Wing Dun is a new one I am trying this year. I’ve had good success with it, it floats well, it’s visible to old eyes and it is durable to many fish in a row. It revives well with Dry Shake too. New flies are fun.

Lava Lake is still fishing well, and is also seeing good to very good callibaetis hatches and nymphing. I remember in the 80’s Lava Lake was the 1st place I ever fished a (callibaetis) nymph under a strike indicator. I was with Chester and we kicked our old round float tubes from the boat ramp almost to the NW corner of the lake. The Milkshakes at the South Twin Resort after that were so worth it, but to have the 1st experience of a bobber down in a lake was freaking awesome.
Balanced Leeches and Chironomids and Damsels will round out what you need most of the time. Well, as I say this, duh, Ants and Beetles here too.

Hosmer Lake is good in the upper lake and channel. Damsels are getting more active, so both the nymphs and adults will be useful. Callibaetis nymphs and adults most days will be great. Have any other of my Homser dedicated found the “hatch” to be less prevalent this season?
Traveling Sedges are out and a Goddard Caddis skittered on the surface is one of the great takes of your life.
Leeches and Chironomids will be important, and think about stripping soft hackles on a Hover Line and also leeches and damsels and callibaetis nymphs stripped on the slow sinkers instead of just the bobber approach .

East Lake is now in a Callibaetis hatch fest. This is what we live for and is why I will be guiding there this week!
Damsels are also getting their summer roll, and fish are looking for adults, but so far the nymphs are better. I discovered a #12-14 Blue Chubby to be a really hot fly when the fish are on the adults. An extended body blue damsel is also recommended.
Ants and Beetles are good choices along the bank lines too.
I’ve been fishing a lot of my callibaetis nymphs on a NZ Wool Indicator this week. Partly because of the wind and the drop back bung is too hard to see in the wind. Also, with the Wool, I don’t need to worry about bead size balance and even fished non beaded flies under the NZ Indy this week with outstanding results. I will do the same tomorrow at East!

Paulina Lake won’t see a lot of callibaetis hatches for a bit, but the dry fly fishing is good with midges in the early morning, and beetles, ants and hippie stompers in the afternoon.
Balanced leech, 2 bit hookers, rainbow warriors, chironomids, black double down, callibaetis cate and red PT are my go to nymphs for Paulina for the next few months.
*Callibaetis hatches at Paulina lag behind East Lake hatches by quite a bit. I even question if Pauline only has one brood, where East Lake definitely has 2 broods.

Three Creek Lake is fishing great and it should be really good after ODFW put in 4000 rainbows this week.
The callibaetis hatch is on and doing well, and the little black caddis in the evening are ramped up and I believe this weeks warmth is going to solidify that for the summer now!
A lot of fish caught over the last week on balanced leeches. Red PT, CB Cate, Ice Cream Cones, Damsels and Poxy Back CB.
Ants, Beetles, Red Hippie Stompers and small Chubby’s (it makes a good indicator too) will be good for you.

It is sinking in that 2026 is coming up (July 2nd at noon we will be half way through with 2025) and 2026 is The Fly Fisher’s Place 40th anniversary! I plan to make 2026 a celebration of fly fishing and what this community of anglers who support the blog and the shop and love the same waters we love.

A few travel notes.
We ended up with 2 open spot on the Argentina trip January 10-17, 2026. 6 of the 8 spots are full. It is $4950 for the week.
January 24 to 31, 2026 we are putting together our 2nd women’s only trip to San Martin de Los Andes with Southern Loops Flyfishing also for $4950.
If you would like to be on a ZOOM call with me, Esteban and Trini, our travel logistics expert in Buenos Aires let me know by email to greendrakehatch@gmail.com and we will be setting the date for that after tuesday. It should be the week of July 7th, and will most likely be the 7th or 8th when we do the Zoom. But this is done to answer your questions about a women’s only trip to Patagonia and how it will work for you to have the most enjoyment and the best fishing possible. We are combining it with some fun dinners and tours in Buenos Aires on the way down for an additional cost beyond the fishing week for those interested in the cultural aspect of this trip.
April 11-18 we will be back to the Blue Bonefish in Belize and have some spots available for that trip. It is a prime week of tides, moon phase and permit! Bonefish are always abundant and resident tarpon are found in the mangoves with a few migratory fish coming through by then on a good year.
Our hosted Baja trip is booked solid in June of 2026, but let me know if you want to go any other week and I will set you up with Santi at Angling Baja and you will love his operation, accommodations and the fishing.

I will be on the water Sunday, Monday and Wednesday and in the shop the rest of the time. I look forward to seeing you out there!
Thank you for all you do in this little community of fly anglers.

Jeff