Hello from Sisters, Oregon! We had a few thunder showers push through last night and I love the left over cloud cover today. It feels “drakey” to me. With a cooling trend for the 1st part of the upcoming week, combined with some rain I think the Metolius hatches are going to soar. I think a lot of our waters will be happy with the changes turning to a fall like weather pattern for a bit. Summer surely isn’t over, not even close, but we will take a little rain and some cooler days on the horizon.

I had some wonderful people in the boat this week, but one story that has to be told is about Judy. I have guided Judy’s husband plenty of times. Usually he comes with a friend, or a grandson or his daughter from British Columbia. Judy was really really new at fly fishing. To her credit, she raised 2 excellent fly angler sons, but perhaps the demands of motherhood got in the way of her getting the opportunities to cast the fly and enjoy the experience herself until our trip a few days ago.
At first, I had her set up with 2 nymphs and an indicator. Not an easy rig to cast for even an intermediate caster. So we teamed up and I cast and she hooked. By lunch time we switched to beetles and I gave Judy a basics of casting mini lesson (Plane-Arc-Timing-Tempo) and she was truly casting tight loops to 35 feet with precision, timing the hook set right and bringing the fish to the net! I called her my most improved of the season. This was absolutely a highlight of my guide year to see someone take off with it so well. We all loved the experience and this is what it is all about for me as a guide.

I told you in last weeks report I would be getting out on the Metolius River myself more as September rolled in, and I can happily report that I did! I sure loved my time out there and caught some nice rainbows on dry flies to boot. I helped my friend Dan catch his 1st Euro Nymphing fish, and I can’t wait to go back. How about you? When is your next trip to the Met?
Green Drakes are showing up here and there but the intensity of the September Drakes has not yet revved up all the way. I think this coming week with the weather change is going to add fuel to the rev. This includes the Flav #14 and the bigger Drakes that are usually #10, but can range from #8 to #12 and the fish can be quite selective to the size on some days, and other days they can be agreeable to any size….if you’re lucky.
PMD’s #16, BWO’s #18-20, Little Olive Stones #16-18, Mahogany Duns #16, Rusty Spinners #16, Tan Caddis #16, Olive Caddis #18, Grey Caddis #14, October Caddis #8, Golden Stones #10, Pacific Stones #6, a few Yellow Sally’s #16 still around and they will round out the hatches you can expect to see this week.
Except for the 2 larger stoneflies, these smaller hatches will all be throughout the river. The Golden Stones are mostly upper river above the Gorge, and the Pacific’s Below Wizard Falls and more towards Bridge 99 for the most activity. This time of year we see some Golden Stones in the Canyon, and below Bridge 99 too. Pack your Clark’s Stones and Norm Woods for sure.
Fish the Cycle of any known hatch, which means YOU have the nymphs, emergers, cripples, adults and spent egg layers in your selection every time you go to the river. The Metolius is tricky, and you will be going through a lot of patterns on a normal day to fool some fish. It is the best cat & mouse game around and if that isn’t exciting to you, then the Met is probably not for you as a dry fly game. Maybe it fits better as a Streamer or Nymph spot for you? If so, the Euro Nymph techniques are highly effective, as is a Euro Jig Streamer.
Swinging for Bull Trout is a good bet now and will be especially good over the next month a half expect it to really get good as the Kokanee arrive from the lake for their annual spawning run. Thousands of 14″ kokanee spawning in the river always seems to get the BT’s on a frenzy. I mentioned in last weeks report to give the spawning Bull Trout a break, and that remains true this week too. If you are near a creek mouth, there is a good chance those Bull’s are getting ready to spawn. For another week or 2 go try another place further form the tributaries.

Steelhead fishing on the Lower Deschutes River is going well! Fish are being caught from the Columbia River to Mecca and from the stories I am hearing (including one just 10 minutes ago here in the shop from 2 guys on the river at mecca today) the bite is strong. Ken who makes our FFP coffee mugs just had the best trip of his life! It’s a good year. It will be a good year to plan a day trip or overnight trip with our guide team on the day stretch in October and November for sure. Nymphing is good, but for now why not get them on the swing and a floating line. That is varsity level.
Trout fishing on the Warm Springs to Trout Creek run is also great. my guides are on the water early in the morning and off the water about 4 or 5. They are finding fish on dries in the eddies and some caddis hatches in the riffles, but primarily they are getting fish on various nymphs and small streamers.
Caddis Pupa continue to be very hot flies, 2 Bit Hookers, Psycho Prince, Berry’s PCP (basically a peacock bodied Walts Worm and how can that be a bad combination?), Jig Napoleon and Jig PT Soft Hackle are favorites. A brown or olive Mini Gulp streamer is a good imitation for a crayfish or a sculpin.
Hatches besides caddis so far have been mostly all larger Pale Evening Duns and include a Winner Spinner #14 in the fly box because most afternoons and evenings the fish will key on the spinner fall of the PED’s. Some PMD’s are mixed in, but not a lot of BWO’s so far. Will the cloudy and rainy weather make them pop? Tan #16 caddis and a lot of Black #18-20 caddis are very prevalent. We have a little grey sparkle pupa to match that, and we also sell a small purple soft hackle that is killer for the emerging pupa’s.

The Middle Deschutes is a great bet this week with PED #14, PMD #16, BWO #20 and Rusty Spinners #16. Purple Haze #12-18, Renegades #14-16 on the dry fly side, Euro Nymphs and Small Streamers to fish on your Nymphing Rod and Soft Hackles to swing.

The Crooked River is outstanding fishing and you can approach it a lot of ways. Try a swung Soft Hackle, fish the PMD hatch, Euro Nymph a Perdigon and Indicator fish with Micro Mayflies and Split Case Emergers. NZ Wool remains the #1 choice of indicator for this river with a small or micro OROS the next best indicator.
In the evening there is a good Tan Caddis Emergence and at the right time and place you will see midges on the water and they can be important fish food in the moment.
Perdigon colors include Olive, Orange, Brown, Pearl and Purple. Vary bead size and bead colors to match the water type and the light conditions.

The Fall River is fishing well, and you can go about anywhere to enjoy the fishing now. Headwaters to the Falls, including the Campground, the Hatchery and a few of the small pullouts along the road will all be good.
Our guides are on the river a lot and enjoying good days with all kinds of techniques. Streamers and Dry Fly Fishing have been a lot of the focus, but any given day on the Fall an Tungsten Egg, Zebra Midge and a Perdigon (Purple, Olive, Pearl, Brown are all solid bets).

The McKenzie River continues to be a strong bet. Our guide team is enjoying a lot of good days on the Mckenzie and have been catching fish on Caddis dries, Parachutes, Chubby’s, Perdigons, Leeches and Sculpins. October Caddis are just beginning on the McKenzie and we should see some Fall Green Drakes there very soon too.

LAKES REPORT

East Lake is impressive with the Callibaetis action. I had a couple of very fine mornings this past week with a Callibaetis nymph under an indicator. Lots of fish to the net with this in about 9 to 14 feet of water over weed beds. Having the live scope is interesting because I can see the fish in real time doing what we would expect during pre callibaetis emergence and that is chase ascending nymphs up from the bottom, but also take the descending nymphs as the nymphs take 2 or 3 attempts to swim to the surface for emergence. So the fish are looking for them to feed on the nymphs in 2 directions. How cool is that? The hatch is hard to match. 3 flies that have been better than most are the White Extended Body #16, a Harrop’s Captive Dun and a Grey Comparadun #16. The Nymph that is the best is a Callibaetis Cate, and a Red PT Jig is right up there and Crostons Callibaetis Jig is also money.
Spinners are usually prevalent in the AM.
Beetles, Ants and Grasshoppers are good along the banks.
Chironomid fishing is good from 12 to 18 feet with an indicator, and from 19 to 35 feet on a type 7 with a dangle approach. Red seems to be the best color, but I have been having some success with Lime and Chrome too. You can never go wrong with a Black Ice Cream Cone when fishing Chironomid Pupa.

I had a better week at Paulina Lake and was impressed with the Beetle action again. We also found fish on Hoppers (pink) and on Callibaetis Nymphs and Spinners. In the morning before the breeze we got 4 or 5 on a Gallop’s Spinner. I look forward to being back there soon and until the snow gate is locked in early November.

Little Lava Lake was on fire this week with Callibaetis action coming from all stages of the life cycle at different times of the day. The other standout was with my Jiggy Beetle for several customers!
Leeches and Chironomids under an indicator will round out what is important, and Ants will compliment the beetle as another choice when fish will feed at the top but there is not a hatch.

Hosmer Lake is good now and I had a customer tell me he saw a hatch of large grey mayflies and the fish were wild for the hatch. I wonder if he saw Grey Drakes? They hatch in huge numbers at Sparks Lake in August so it wouldn’t surprise me they would be around at Hosmer too.
Callibaetis Nymphs continue to be great at Hosmer, and so do Red Ice Cream Cones. Black Double Bead nymphs, Scuds, Zebra Midges and Balanced Leeches (watermelon is often my #1 on this lake, but Vampire is a good one too)
It is never a bad idea to run an any patterns on the reed line in the lower lake and in the channel. It works. Also a Black X Caddis draws them to the dry fly.
As we move in to the fall time, water boatman quickly become a big part of the menu, so now is a good time to add them to your box and watch for signs the fish could be focused on them. Boatman develop wings in the spring and fall, and soon they will take a flight. I will have look it up again, but I think its a mating flight..

I believe Crane Prairie is going to be completely ready to enjoy this week after the cooler weather arrives. There are always place in CP to find cool waters safe enough to catch and release trout without harming them, but those areas are sacred, far and few between and hard to find unless you know the lake really well. This is why I often suggest not going when the weather is hot in the summer because not everyone can do it safely and ethically.
Balanced Leeches, Chromies, Ice Cream Cones, Water Boatman, Callibaetis Nymphs, Red PT Jig, Red Hippie Stomper and Purple Chubby.

Three Creek Lake might benefit from the cold front for the next few days to get the water temps a little lower and the fish more active. We have seen good callibaetis hatches last week and fish were happy to feed on the dry fly. Our grey extended body cut wing CB with the body and thorax tinted black with a sharpie was hot this week.
Ice Cream Cones (Red and Black), Chromies, Vampire Leather Balanced Leeches, Bruised Balanced Leech with Hot Orange Bead, CB Cate, Jig Red PT all under the indicator. Strip a Flashback PT, Poxyback Callibaetis, Hot bead Damsel and Soft Hackle Hares Ear. Find fish at different depths using a hover, intermediate, type 3 and maybe even a type 5 full sink.

Travel and Guides

We are still trying to fill one to 3 spots for the Ladies only Lower Deschutes Camp Trip September 23-24-25
$1500 with a full camp set up, rods and flies included, great food by Aaron and a steelhead run on the way through there in what might be a peak week!

I am also down to just 2 spots left for our Argentina week January 24-31. $4950 is the best value in patagonia for a week of fishing. An amazing trip with great guys coming.

Also 2 spots open for Patagonia Baker Lodge with me February 21-28 $7500
This is the finest lodging experience I know of in the trout fishing world and I love the fishing on the Baker River.

Belize in April is about full if some of the commitments come through as we all hope for. But let me know if you have interest and let’s see how this pans out in the next 10 days or so. About $4500 for the week depending on the room and a 5 day or 6 day fishing schedule.

As I sign off I want to share how cool it is to be here. I helped out a couple of new teenager anglers the last 2 days whose eyes were wide open with excitement to be fly anglers! I remember those days vividly.
I helped out a recent Ukrainian immigrant this morning buy his first rod and since his budget was on the low side starting out I was able to help with a small discount on the rod and find a reel and line I no longer needed and gave it to him as a gift. I figured with what he has probably gone through to get here it is more important to give him a peaceful sport to enjoy than for me to have an extra $150 . It is good to be able to connect to people through a slimy trout we all want to catch.

See you in the shop or on the water my friend!

Jeff