Hello from Sisters, Oregon on what shapes up to be a fine day all across the state.
We have some interesting fishing stories to tell, insights towards the week ahead and some loose predictions for the final week of October and take that as a hint that with the season winding down that this coming week is the week not to miss on a few spots, especially the lakes as it kind of looks like this is going to be the last hoorah.

As usual we will begin the week on the famed Metolius River and poke around the eddies, runs and main currents of our favorite Pacific NW spring creek.
There has been a lot happening out here from dry fly fishing, to nymphing, to streamers both big and small for bulls and bows and anything else that wants to believe they are getting a hearty meal. Surprise.
This week the fall transition of 2 yellow mayflies has occurred. The cinygmula’s are back on the water and mixed/masked along with the pale morning duns that we have seen every day since mid-April. How does this matter to us as anglers? Only a little bit when it comes to fishing the emerger, and probably not at all when it comes to fishing the nymph, dun or spinner. Cinygmula’s often “hatch” (emerge from nymph to dun) on the bottom of the river and the dun swims to the surface making a yellow soft hackle or yellow dry-merger a great choice to match that stage. Cinygmula mayflies are in the clinger nymph family like march brown and pale evening duns and that is a characteristic of mayflies that are in this family. PMD’s on the other hand are like many other mayflies in the crawler or swimmer families and the nymphs ascend to the surface of the river and emerge through the film to the adult stage, creating a feeding opportunity that includes time and vulnerability to the process and the trout know all of this. Film Critics, Klinkhammers, Captive Duns, Sparkle Duns are all flies to mimic that vulnerability. Add the fact that many of these mayflies become cripples and tuck a few KD Duns and Half Down Duns (Bob Quigley was a master fly designer, he thought like a trout!) (PS, my favorite fly designers are Quigley, Rene Harropp, Craig Matthews, Bob Brooks, Mike Lawson and Al Caucci and Bob Nastasii. This winter when you are snowed in, research the fly patterns they have contributed to “us”. You’ll be blown away)
This past week there were still some Green Drakes hatching. Between now and next saturday I would highly recommend you still have a #10 and #14 emerger and dun in your kit for the river. They are waning, but as they say, “it ain’t over yet”.
Mahogany Duns are important all through the month of October. The Upright Rusty Spinner is my #1 fly to match that, and I also like a Quill Gordon and a Grey Comparadun.
Blue Wing Olives are a staple from here on out and a mix of sizes, especially #18 and #20 will be good. Fish the hatch cycle with nymphs, emergers, cripples, duns and spinners.
Speaking of spinners, I had dinner and watched some baseball with my good freind and fishing wizard Chester Allen the other night. I had just come from Hosmer and he had just come from the Met, and he fished a wonderful spinner fall of cinymulas on the upper river and the fish were dimpling the surface to eat what they knew were never going to get away from them. Spinners are a key component to the success of fishing the mayfly life cycle, and having a #10, 14, 18, 20 olive spinner, #16-18 rusty spinner, #14-16 yellow or cream spinner, and #16 grey spinner will cover you well on Oregon rivers and spring creeks.
Clarks Stones are still working really well. We just restocked 12 dozen #12 Clarks which is perfect for the end of the season Golden Stones and is a double duty hitter with fish that have October Caddis on their minds.
Still a whole bunch of smaller caddis hatches in the mix, mostly #16 tan and #14 grey caddis. The pupa fished deep or at the surface during emergence is the best. My new improved Fat Ass Caddis and the Original Fat Ass Caddis along with an Edible Emerger, Iris Caddis and Prairie Dog Pupa are good now and will be all winter.
Nymph fishing Euro style has been most productive, but certainly the indicator has game too. Eggs continue to be a #1 protein source for trout and whitefish as kokanee have been spawning prolifically.
Brown, Olive, Yellow and Purple perdigons and light or dark Walt’s Worms along with PT’s, Red Copper John, Rainbow Warrior, Caddis Pupa including October Caddis and Golden Stone Nymphs. Don’t forget the Golden Stones have a 3 year life cycle and they are not always big #8 and #10 flies. Fish the kid sizes too. We sell a fly called the Sloan’s Stone that is a juvenile delinquent to the trout. Add it to your box for the fall and winter season.
Bull Trout fishing is part of the fall season like playoff baseball and good college football. It is a great time to be on the river with an 8 weight and a big streamer. We custom tie a triple articulated pattern we have in all black and another in black/purple/blue that is my favorite. Dolly Llama and white Circus Peanut (or Black) and Articulated Sparkle Yummy are good too.

The Lower Deschutes River has been good to us this fall for day trips and camp trips, and also fun trips the staff and my friends are making to chase trout and steelhead.
It is getting to be that time of year to start transitioning from smaller swung steelhead flies in floating lines to going for a second pass through the run with a skagit and T8 and an A-Leech!
Nymphing has been very good with Caddis Pupa, Eggs, Stonefly Nymphs (Peacock, Golden and Black), Red Copper John, Perdigons, Walt’s and I would add a few of the new Red Chamois SJ Worms in the mix for under the indicator in a spot that just as likely holds a trout as it does a steelhead. It’s yummy.

The Middle Deschutes is running high now at the end of irrigation season and the Upper Deschutes is closed for the year. Skip both.

The Fall River afternoon BWO hatch is really good, and add some Black Midges and Amber Caddis to the fly box to be ready for the good dry fly days ahead.
Remember that the lighter the tippet the better you’ll do. Light tippet, paired with a longer leader = a better drag free drift on your dry fly. Learn to reach mend and parachute cast and how to transition from an upstream presentation to a downstream drift with a high rod tip, a “refloat” and feeding the line to extend the drift. This is cool stuff and makes you a master dry fly angler. You want to be that, right?
Nymphing a Purple Perdigon, Yellow, Brown or Olive Jig Napoleon, Rainbow Warrior, Tungsten Egg and either a Red or Black Zebra Midge will be good. And do not overlook the little streamers like a Soccer Mom, Mini Gulp, Squirrel Leech and Balanced Leeches.

The Crooked River is fishing super well and water levels seem to have stabilized at about 100 cfs for the end of the irrigation season transition. Hopefully we will have a good winter of good water levels on the Crooked!
For now, BWO’s are dominating the hatch, and mixed with a few straggle PMD’s. Some black Midges usually later afternoons will create one more dry fly opportunity, and with a Zebra Midge or Black Winker Midge you can fish those all day long and catch fish.
Skinny Nelson, Dark Olive or Black 2 Bit Hooker, BWO Micro May, Jig Napoleon, Scuds, Rainbow Warrior and Soft Hackles are perfect choices for nymphing now.
On the dry fly side, a BDE Dun, Extended Body Cut Wing PMD #18 serves double duty on the 2 mayflies, Sparkle Dun, Purple Haze or Comparadun and Film Critic. Lower water conditions can also necessitate the need for a lighter tippet. 6x nylon is recommended for dries, and 6x fluoro for nymphs.
In low water sometimes it is better to approach the stream with a NZ Wool indicator to suspend the nymph over the weeds and direct it through the weed channels. Euro/tightline techniques are great in the open runs but you need to fish all the water in front of you for the session.

Lakes Report-

I had some brilliant days (and cold mornings) at Hosmer Lake this week. Fishing a white streamer on a Midge Tip or Ghost Tip was the shizz. Some nymphs action on CB Cate under the indicator, but it needed to be moved slowly or no bite on the static nymph at all. I was worried about ice on the lake Wednesday as I drove by Devils Lake it was mostly frozen and I remembered a day in 2017 with my friends Micheal and Pete when we got to Hosmer and couldn’t get up the channel until noon because it was frozen. At the time I was using a Clackacraft, and Fear No Rock may have been the slogan, but the boat was no Ice Breaker I can assure you.
Get some white streamers and go.

East Lake was good for me and Skip yesterday, again with the White Streamer in the morning and the Jiggy Twist Beetle in the afternoon. Fish are near the shoreline making access for wade anglers or tubes just as good as a boat.

Paulina Lake is a top priority for me to finish the season on, with big browns around and good fishing to be had on balanced minnows, leeches and either a rainbow warrior or black double down fished behind a Chubby as the indicator. Certainly cruise the edges with beetles! Stripping larger streamers is not a bad idea, but the fish that are podded up are usually too spooky for that presentation, so just fish the drop offs and shelf waters with your bigger flies and strip aggressively.

I heard Little Lava was slow yesterday. I would think this week is going to be good up there with an Indicator and a Red Ice Cream Cone and CB Cate dropper. M-A-Y-B-E get lucky and see the last few callibaetis hatching for the year???!!! Beetles, oh yeah. Until it freezes up, I like a bettle on our lakes. One thing about Little Lava is the fish tend to rise for beetles over the weed beds and on most other lakes more on the shorelines.

I have not heard about Lava Lake, but it ought to be good now too.

Crane Prairie is in a good trend with good fishing at the Cultus Channel on leeches and chironomids and black double down nymphs. Under the indicator is likely your best bet, but a 5′ ghost tip, hover and intermediate line are all good for dynamic presentations. You can fish balanced leeches under an indicator with a hand twist retrieve too.

3 Creek Lake is coming to an end of season quickly. Get there this week on Tuesday thru Friday and wade the shore lines, especially where the creeks come in to the lake. Fish a Soccer Mom, Olive Damsel Bugger with an Orange or Chartreuse bead and a Micky Finn. This is a great time to find brookies that’ll hit a streamer.

The European Model Forecast for the Pacific NW starting next weekend looks like this is going to be the swan song for out lake season this week. Don’t miss it. And if that forecast is wrong, we will all enjoy the bonus of a few extra days the last week of October!

Travel-

Who can take the last 2 spots to Argentina in late January and the last 2 spots in Chile in later February?
$4950 in Jan, and $7500 in Feb. Trip of a lifetime. Will you still have $10,000 or more in your bank account when you die? If yes, then invest in your self and take a good trip like this. 😉
26 trips to Patagonia so far, I have this dialed in and we are going to have fun.

Now I am off to PDX to celebrate my mom’s birthday. I look forward to being on the water and in the shop next week and seeing you there.

Jeff