A few weeks ago I told you I’d tell stories about “hooks in different parts of the body” stories, and here is one today that involves my own very tender 7^th grader middle finger. The other story involves a clients ear and a trip to the ER. I’ll tell the ear story next week. Here’s the Middle Finger for your (hopeful) enjoyment. 
Believe me, in the summer of 1981 Bend, Oregon was a small town! Shevlin Park was a way out of town and my friend Teds mom (Ann) drove us out there in the family’s International Travel All (a necessary vehicle for getting a big catholic family to mass each sunday). She dropped us off for an afternoon of fishing at the pond. Ted and I were really excited about the chance to catch some trout. We often dangled worms at Drake Park and out of all the days we tried there I honestly don’t think we ever caught a darn fish. With fly fishing on the mind, I had learned how to tie a Two Feather Mayfly in Paul Wolflick’s class at the Fly Box the previous winter, and knew it would be a killer for the Shevlin Pond with all the mayflies swarming over us. Excitement quickly ended as we never made a 1^st cast that day, because on the foot bridge where Ted and I chose to rig our gear I pulled a newly tied Two Feather out of my new Orvis 16 compartment dry fly box (do any of you remember the smell of the plastic when you opened these boxes that both Orvis and Cortland branded? It was unique, if not a bit enchanting) and I promptly impaled my right middle finger past the barb of the hook into my finger tip. I also promptly passed out cold for my dear buddy Ted to take care of me. Ted himself didn’t have any medical skills (haha) but Ted’s dad was a doctor at Bend Memorial Clinic and he eventually removed the hook from what would become my favorite finger in my life. The good Doctor Woods also stuck me with a tetanus shot for good measure. Probably overkill in hindsight, but hey, I am no doctor. 
These were the days long before a cell phone could have called “mom” back to help. We had to wait for our designated pick up time as there was no choice other than 2 seventh graders hitch hiking back to town, and at the time we were too innocent to think of that. I remember just laying in the shade of a very large ponderosa pine and very purposely not looking at my finger for about 2 hours until the Travel All rumbled back in to the Aspen Hall Parking Lot and discovered the bad news. It was my first time to pass out and a good lesson in barbless hooks which I didn’t fully adapt until high school. 
The Good Old Days never end, we just get to tell fun stories, and some of them are newer than others. Ted and I back in the 80’s.

Let’s take a Tour of the Local Fishing:

The Metolius River is fishing well and it depends on the time of day and the area of the river you choose what you’ll find so let me break down some ideas for you along with times and areas, so you know what to expect this week. 
I’ll move from top to bottom:
The headwaters stretch is a brilliant piece of water in mid-summer and now is no exception. I personally love to roll through here with my euro nymphing rod and a Purple Perdigon or an Olive or Natural Walts Worm with a Gun Metal Bead and a Fluorescent Orange Hot Spot. The Fat Ass Caddis and PT’s are also high on the list! During my time on this water, I’ll look for PMD hatches (try a Flag Dun and Sparkle Dun and Film Critic), and late afternoon and evening Caddis hatches (usually up here a #16 or 18 Tan or Olive pattern will be best. Try X Caddis, Missing Link’s, Iris, Corn Fed and Henryville Caddis) 
My favorite thing about the upper river is the constant trickle of Golden Stones in July, August and September. Now is the time to capitalize that and fish a Clarks Stone or Norm Woods Special, often near the banks, but this is small water fish will often sit in the mid-river pockets too. While you’re up there remember the Jig Streamers! 
Once you get down to the Camp Sherman Store area and from there to the Gorge Campground the hatches are about the same as the upper headwaters but look for more BWO’s and try some Parachute Adams #16 and Purple Haze #16-18 as searching dries. Some of the pools and runs are perfect for deeper nymphing and a Golden Stone pattern is a top choice with a Tan Caddis Pupa dropper. 
The Middle River from the Canyon to Bridge 99 is good early morning for Bull Trout. You can fish this in a lot of ways, but getting on the water early is the most important part of it right now. Nymph with a Euro Jig Streamer, or swing a big articulated one. Camp Sherman Dad at the shop got some nice fish this week with White and Olive/White streamers.  You can also jig a streamer along the banks and log jams (usually with something black!) and have good chances for success. 
During the mid-day the PMD hatches will pop for a bit each day, usually between noon and 3, but on the Met I never use a hatch time for a guarantee to coincide with my watch. It happens when it happens. In the late afternoon as the sun goes off the water the #20-22 BWO’s will begin to hatch. In the evening, we always hope to see the tan summer caddis in enough numbers to get the fish excited too. I suppose they are always excited about the pupa, and drifting a Tan Pupa deep is never a bad idea, but I always have a strong desire to see them feeding on emergers and adults at the surface! Finally Rusty Spinners will come to the water to lay eggs at dusk and that is our final opportunity to see rising fish. Until tomorrow….
From Lower Bridge CG to Candle Creek CG has the same hatches as the Middle River and is a coin toss as to which access point you want to start from. You may find better dry fly fishing through here now. 
Here are a few other things to pay attention to, because sometimes B-Roll ends up stealing the show. Yellow Sally’s and Little Olive Stones. Micro Caddis… I don’t think the main hatch is coming from another 2 weeks but when it happens in it gets a lot of attention! A lesser-known olive mayfly called an Ameletus. A #12-14 Olive Haze is a great fly here. Midges are too easy to miss and discount as the fly the fish are not eating, but that isn’t always the case so put a few Hi-Viz Griffiths Gnats in your dry fly box. Yellow Soft Hackles can be nymphed, swung as a wet fly or greased with floatant and fished as a dry fly. I’ve also done well with a Purple Soft Hackle here. When Euro Nymphing a deep slot, a Tan Fat Ass Caddis with a PMD Softmerger on the dropper tag is a great summer combo. Try it. Those Softmergers are in the PMD section towards the top and don’t get enough attention because everyone just thinks it’s a weird dry fly, but for a few years I used it with more success as a nymph a described above. 

The Lower Deschutes is fishing well for trout on the day stretch from Warm Springs to Trout Creek, or walking in from Mecca or Dry Creek. I was talking to a few of the Lower Deschutes guides on the FFP team yesterday and they all said caddis. Caddis Pupa. Caddis Emergers. Caddis Adults. Caddis Egg Layers. Troy said he’s getting fish to eat Caddis dries in the morning, but by mid-afternoon it changes to pupa’s fished deep. Michael also has been having good success on PMD Nymphs like a Split Case and Micro Mayfly #16’s. Berry’s PCP was born on the Lower D and is the brainchild of one of our good friends Bruce Berry. It needs to be on your leader down here. I also wat to say how cool it is that Sequoia has begun to use her drift boat as a guide on the Lower Deschutes day stretch adding another place she offers trips. 
My good friend Chester is a Deschutes fanatic and he walks in from Mecca several evenings a week. I know he’s been finding success on Caddis & Pale Evening Duns, and has recently experienced a nice session with a PED Spinner Fall in an eddy a few days ago. Our #14 Winna Spinner is the fly for that. I would also throw some #16 Upright Rusty Spinners, Purple Haze #14-18 and Fin Fetcher Caddis #16 in your fly box for visible flies to use just before dark. 
Look for fish in the eddies to be rising, even in the afternoon. Don’t forget to fish in the shallow riffles as we often get too focused to the deeper runs for nymphs, but the spots that are shin deep can hold a lot of trout on the Lower D this time of year. It’s where the food is in a lot of cases. I’ll never forget lessons from Matt Klee and Dean Smith on shallow water here. Trout feed in shallow places if that is where the food is. 

The Middle Deschutes is certainly a spot to keep on the list for fishing this week. Consider access from just above Bend, down to Lake Billy Chinook, including areas in the City of Bend, Tumalo area, Lower Bridge and Crooked River Ranch. Mayfly and Caddis hatches are going strong and you should expect a dry fly bite each evening from about 5 to dark. BWO’s #20-22, PMD #16, PED #14, Tan Caddis #16, Black Caddis #18 and Rusty Spinners #16 will match the hatch, Renegades, Purple Haze and small Stimulators will be fun dry flies to explore with and will catch fish too. Expect amazing Euro Nymphing now, especially with Brown Perdigons and CDC Soft Hackle PT’s. Caddis Pupa and Soft Hackles are sure bets at the right time of the pre hatch. 

The Upper Deschutes from Crane Prairie to Little Lava Lake is a nice get away from the more crowded Fall River conditions. It’s only another 20 minute drive and sure, it is not as easy to fish or to get around as our 2^nd favorite spring creek, but there are a lot fewer people competing for the space and the fish. Ants and Beetles, Hippie Stompers, Stimulators, Yellow Sally, #16 Tan Caddis, and PMD’s have been the main dries, and Micro Streamer Jigs and Jig Napoleon’s in Yellow, Browns and Olive are perfect and add the Berry’s PCP which is a little nugget of Peacock Herl that has a Pink Hot Spot for another nymphs to use here. Whitefish, Rainbows and Brook Trout are all enjoyable catches up here. 

The Crooked River is fishing great for the FFP guides, although most have said there have been fewer hatches lately. I wonder if that had to do with prolonged high water this winter and spring and the bugs washed out a bit? Could be, or it could also be that our schedule of 8 am to 4 pm is just not the right time to see dry fly action at it’s best. Troy sadi he has been getting a lot of his fish on Leeches and Scuds lately. A few great summer nymphs to use are Zebra Midges, Rainbow Warriors, Fire Starter Jig, Jig Napaleon, Purple Perdigon, PMD and BWO Micro Mayfly, 2 Bit Hooker and Skinny Nelson. Purple Haze, Royal Wulff, Sparkle Dun Yellow #16 and Olive #18, BDE #18, Upright Rusty Spinners, X Caddis, Corn Fed Caddis, small Grasshoppers and Renegades.

The Fall River is getting mixed reviews, I guess like a lot of places it is going to be different day to day and place to place. The early birds have been scoring well, often on leeches under an indicator. Afternoon hatches have been well received by the fish with good risers coming up to PMD’s, BWO’s (use film critics, winger emerger, captive duns, sparkle duns, CDC Pliva’s and Parachutes) Midges, Yellow Sally (remember the Yellow Missing Link to compliment the more exact match the hatch flies as this fly looks like/suggests a lot of bugs from Caddis, PMD Cripples and Yellow Sally’s), Ants, Beetles, Henryville Caddis, Dead Bug Caddis and Rusty Spinners at dusk. On any of these dry flies a 7x tippet will help. 6x is good, but 7x is better. 
Plenty of good nymph action with Zebra Midges, 2 Bit’s and Brown Micro Mayflies with a Tungsten Bead, Eggs, Leeches, Euro Jigs and a variety of Perdigons. 

Steve, Troy, Tonn and Michael all reported to me this week about the Mckenzie River and that is really helpful to get that intel fresh form the river to this report. The river is lower this summer by 250 cfs than this same week last year. They all said the majority of the fish were coming on Perdigons, Walts Worms, Frenchies and Jig Leeches either run as a Euro/Side Drift Rig or as a dropper under a dry fly. Michael liked to use the smallest dry fly he can get away with a perdigon dropper, so that is always a bit of a balancing act to not get your dry fly sucked under in fast currents with a tungsten bead trailed off it! Another approach is a Chubby or Hippie Stomper as they have plenty of Foam to support a bead in many cases. And, all of our Elk Hair Caddis we sell at FFP are tied with Foam Bodies to aid floatation FYI. 

This is a good time to hit the smaller creeks like Tumalo Creek and Whychus Creek. Tumalo is the much better of the 2 fisheries. Tumalo Creek  access through Shevlin Park is cool and my favorite places are up from Skyliners Road to the Falls. Simple flies like a Renegade, Elk Hair Caddis, Orange Missing Links, Parachute Adams and Purple Haze and Terrestrials like Ants and Beetles. Nymphing a Frenchie, PCP, Zebra Midge and Flashback PT or an Olive Perdigon with an Orange Hot Spot. A dry dropper rig is great with the nymph set just about 20” inches off the bend of the dry. You can also tightline here, but your tippet from the sighter is onlt going to be about 3 feet, and a single fly is the only way I’d fish it. Whychus Access up FS Road 16 towards Three Creek Lake is where you want to go. The water is bit murky from the sunny days on the glaciers but unless big thunderstorms come through, it is fine. Keep in mind the Upper North Santiam around Marion Forks too. You’ll find some really good Euro Nymphing options here. I only like to fish this water on week days, as the weekend campers up there are a bit of a trip. To say the least. 

Stillwaters and Lakes Report

For starters on this report for the lakes I want to tell you about one of the most unique pieces of fishing gear I have ever bought. It will tie into some info on the lake techniques I’ll report on in the below in the Stillwater Section. 
This season I upgraded my fish finder in my lake boat. Over the years I have had several fish finder units, and from what I could tell they didn’t do much other than give me water temperature and water depth. While these are 2 important details for sure, the things are called fish finders for a reason, and most of the time they didn’t really do that job.  Now, I am actually seeing fish on the fish finder, in real time and what I have learned is a phenomenal amount about fish and their habits. 
When I began the process of setting it up and using it this spring, I was a bit overwhelmed with the technology and thought it was the most complicated piece of gear I have ever used. I am not the “techiest” guy in the world, and I truly hate reading through tech manuals. I thought I was in over my head with this thing. But I got great help from NC Phil at the shop with the assembly, and some remarkable coaching from a guy in Texas on getting all the settings dialed in! 
I began to use it on a frequent basis, and it has become a favorite piece of gear, now each new day on the water I feel more dialed in. I can’t imagine lake fishing in deeper water with nymphs or streamers without this technology. 
The other day I had 2 new clients in the boat, and it was a hot day out there, even at 6400 feet. Water temps near the shore were no longer good for responsible dry fly fishing, so we went to the deeper water and found water temps at 30 feet to be right at 60 degrees and totally safe for the trout. 10 Degrees cooler than in the shallows! I had the guys set up with a Type 7 full sink line and we carefully measured the distance to the bottom and brought the flies  up one foot from there. Knowing where both of my anglers flies were in relation to the view of the transducer I could see fish nearby, and in just one case I’ll share I saw on the fish finder screen one trout begin swimming up to Justins fly and I said outloud  “take it, take it, take it” as I knew for sure Justin’s fly was just about to get eaten! It did and it was game on baby. We were stoked by this moment. 
There is no guarantee we catch more fish with any new technology, but this is something that for sure makes me a more confident angler and a better guide. Both of those things are very important to me.
Mistakes I have made with it include twice forgetting to take the protective cover off the transducer, making it impossible to use. You can’t take a photo with the cover over the lens. One of those times was with Phil Rowley in the boat. Another time having the transducer pointed backwards (under the boat) and realizing my image was screwed up but not knowing why. I finally realized why at the end of the day when I had it stowed during a dry fly session. It was simple solution that involved the pivoting handle of the tranducer pole, and boy did I feel dumb (sorry Bob and Val). Fly fishing is about learning, and don’t we all feel a little dumb or overwhelmed by it sometimes? We learn and move forward and improve each time. 

Let’s jump into the lakes here…

East Lake is seeing strong Callibaetis and Damsel hatches, and you can expect dry fly action with different stages of callibaetis throughout the day. Damsels are more of a late morning and early afternoon occurrence. Remember the Blue Chubby and Extended Body Damsel combo when you begin seeing fish eat aggressively, or even see some leaping in the air to eat a hovering adult damsel. Ants, Beeltes and Hoppers will mostly round out the dry fly selection, although I’ve encountered plenty of summer mornings before any wind happens with midges. 
Chironomid fishing under an indicator in 15 to 18’ is good, sometimes really good. Also, try that Type 7 dangle technique in deeper areas and even if you don’t have live scope, trust doing it for 30 minutes and see what happens. 
Stripping or static techniques for Callibaetis nymphs is very good. A Hover or Midge Tip is the line of choice for the strip, and both of those lines are great for bank anglers tricking fish eating emerging damsels each afternoon along the shoreline. 

Paulina Lake was really good this week for my friends Tay and Jim. They did best on the drop off zones with Beetles. Ants and Hoppers are often quite good too, sometimes better. I’ve been having really good luck with a Brown Balanced Leech or Watermelon Balanced Leech under an indicator on the ledges. Fishing deeper areas off the drop off or near weed beds and the clear marl spots inside the weed beds is a good bet with the leeches, and also Red PT, Callibaetis Cate, Black Double Down, Hanging with my Chromies and Ice Cream Cones. 

Hosmer (Upper) Lake and upper channel is fishing super good. NC Phil was up this week and hammered them on a Hover Line and the Red PT and Black Double Down nymphs.. Troy also reports good stuff from Hosmer and enjoyed some dry fly action with Callibaetis and Ants and Damsels. 
Damsels, Soft Hackles and Small Leeches on a Hover or Clear Camo are often dynamite here and a good alternative to the indicator rut. 
Look out for Travelling Sedge (Big ass caddis) and fish a Goddard Caddis Skittered across the top. And if you stay to dark, the Caenis hatch ought to entertain you or frustrate you. Both are fun in my opinion. Frustrations in fly fishing teach us that we are not always in charge, and we play games that are not always won. I like that. Be aware of water temps on the lower lake, they alternate from safe to too much so take a reading and decide where it’s ok or not to fish.

Little Lava Lake is very good, with a lot of fish coming before and during the callibaetis hatch. Shallow Weed Beds are the name of the game for these mayflies and Little Lava has that habitat in spades. I also fish a lot of Flag Ants and Jiggy Beetles here, and not nessecarily right on the shore like so many other lakes. One fun thing to play with here is get out to the 12 to 15 foot zone and use your midge tip with a Red Ice Cream Cone on the point and a Poxyback Callibaetis on the dropper, cast it 40 or 50 feet, let it sink 20 to 30 seconds and slow hand twist it back to the boat. 

Three Creek Lake has been better this week according to our guide Gavin. He said Red Hippie Stompers, Red Jigged PT’s  and Callibaetis hatches have been the best. We are always fans of Balanced Leeches, Ants, Beetles, Flashback PT’s, Callibaetis Nymphs including the “Cate” at our little Local Lake! And for the evening anglers add Black X Caddis and Midge Emergers, especially the Raccoon. 

I have an unexpected opening for the December 6 -13, 2025 Argentina Trip which is the trip with the 2 night/3 night excursion down the Rio Carelefu at the only time of the year it is accessible for this trip! The other 3 days are from the town of San Martin de los Andes where I have been this week visiting and enjoying a week off. I think you know I love it here a lot. 
Cost is $4950 
Also we added a January 24-31, 2026 for a mixed trip, meaning couples, individuals, family, friends for our 5^th Patagonia Hosted Trip of the year. I have 7 spots to fill now. It is also $4950. You will love it here. 

Tomorrow morning I will begin travel back to Sisters, leaving Bariloche at noon and arriving in Redmond 26 hours later to sleep and get ready for a busy week at the shop and on the water. 

Fish well, 

Jeff
from the banks of the Lago Hahuel Huapi 7/25/25