In a week dominated by food, family and football, add another “f” to the week and go fishing. Heck, add another “f” this week for fun. Fun.
Fishing is good on a lot of the local waters and should remain so until we really get a different weather pattern.
If I am not fishing, I am often reading about fishing, and that habit for me started when I was about 8 years old with my first subscriptions to Field & Stream, the discovery of my grandfathers fishing books and the frequent visits to the Multnomah County Library with my Mom near the house I grew up in in Portland, and then the old Deschutes County Library in Bend when we moved over to Central Oregon in the summer of 1980. I’d always go straight to the fishing section and I think my sisters went with our mom to check out Nancy Drew books or something like that. Whatever.
I have devoured books about entomology for as long as I can remember, and before I even had my 1st fly rod I checked out The Caddis and the Angler by Larry Solomon and Eric Leiser and remember taking it home and making notes and doing my own caddisfly drawings copied from this book on 3×5 cards.
Later, books of note that built on my education of aquatic insects included Dave Whitlock’s Guide to Aquatic Trout Foods, Gary LoFontaine’s Caddisflies, Fred Arbona Jr’s Mayflies the Angler and the Trout and many others after that. Reading and learning about aquatic entomology was a passion for me from a young age, and I knew it would make me a wiser angler and better fly tyer. If you are looking to brush up your own skills on bug ID, I recommend putting Bug Water and the Hatch Guide for Western Streams on your winter reading list, and refer to them often throughout the fishing season too. I love going back to my books and relearning, being reminded of, or discovering something completely new and growing as an angler, amateur science geek and person who respects the balance of nature through reading about it.
These past 2 weeks there have been no fishing for me, I am currently in Bend as a full time caregiver to my mom after her knee replacement surgery. We’ve had some health challenges, but overall she is doing well and it will be nice to spend Thanksgiving with her and my older sister and brother in-law before I head down to Argentina on 11/30.

The Metolius River hatches have been impressive this week with a good mix of Cinygmula #16 and BWO #20 in the afternoon cycle from Allingham Bridge to Wizard Falls, and also down to Bridge 99 and below. These afternoon hatches can be great opportunities to catch a fish or 2 or 3 on a dry fly while the duration of the hatch is getting fish to look up. I also recommend fishing dries for October Caddis (Clarks Stone, Stimulator and that new rubber legged one I was talking about 2 weeks ago), Tan #16 and Grey #14 caddis, Corn Fed and Missing Link Caddis as “Searching” dries. Let them drift (drag free of course) in a pool or eddy even when the fish are not really rising. You can think of all the times you’ve been to this river and seen a sudden and surprising rise, so this is the reason for flies we call “searching” patterns and a caddis can’t be beat for this.
On your mayflies use this as a reminder to fish the whole hatch cycle from nymph to emerger, a cripple and a dun and spinner and do not forget the spinners will fall mid-day to evening now and can cause a nice feeding pattern.
We are seeing wonderful nymph fishing opportunities on a Euro/Tight Line rig, or under a Strike Indicator. The patterns are the same so take your pick on how you present them. Those patterns include some of my favorites with Orange Girdle Bugs, Golden Stones, October Caddis Pupa, Tan and Olive Pupa, Zebra Midges, Eggs, Mayfly nymphs and Perdigons that trend in the Brown and Olive tones in #12-20, Walts Worms, Soft Hackle PT, and flashier nymphs like a Purple Perdigon, Red Lighting Bug, Blue Psycho Prince or Rainbow Warrior and don’t hesitate to add some Ice Cream Cones to your winter nymph box, Bull Trout like them and more than a few rainbow trout have had a white bead removed from their lip and released. Trend small for the rainbows and don’t be scared of a big Red Ice Cream Cone for Bull’s. Everyday is different but build a box with confidence flies and these are some of the best on the river.
Bull Trout fishing is better now with streamers so that is how I would try to wrangle one today. Our Black/Blue/Purple and all Black (maybe we should call it the Rugby Player? hmmmmm!!!) are triple articulated and have a big profile despite being tied with marabou so they are now unruly to cast. The Milk Shake and Grape Shake, Circus Peanut, Sparkle Minnows and some really really cool new Kelly Gallop streamers are the other good Bull streamers we can send you out there with. And you can add some Euro Style Streamers like a Slum Lord and Mini Gulp and Jig Minnow, and don’t be surprised at the range of fish species that will eat these. Bulls, Brows, Rainbows and even Whitefish. How fun is that? I’d love to hear from anyone that gets all of these species to the net in a single day this week. It’s been done, I know SC Phil has done it, I think Chief of Security Eric has too. How about you?
Remember the upper river from the Head Waters to Allingham Bridge is closed in the winter until May 22, 2026 to protect spawning rainbow redds.

The Fall River will be a super good choice for Thanksgiving week fishing, with a little cooler weather coming in late sunday and monday, overall the weather looks great for fishing this lovely mountain spring creek for the week. Expect good to very good dry fly activity on #18-20 Blue Wing Olives, #22 Black Midges and some Amber or Tannish Caddis in #14-16.
There is so much good water form the Headwaters to the top of the Falls, but remember that below the Falls is closed to the confluence of the Deschutes now until 5/22/26. This I am not really sure why? On the Metolius the protection of redds for native redband’s is important, but what is being protected in the lower Fall River?
There are always so many great small streamer and nymph options here. A Perdigon (my favorite is purple, but certainly Brown and Olive are as good!) Pink Mop, Eggs, Zebra Midge, Micro Mayfly for BWO’s, Rainbow Warrior, Perdigons, Slum Lord, Jig Minnow and Olive Zonker will be top choices this week.
Cold mornings might delay your arrival to about 10 AM and fish until 3’ish.
For one more week we are offering the November Guide Trip Special for $375 for 2 people on the Fall and Crooked Rivers.

The Crooked River has been a masterpiece of Central Oregon fall fishing this month with a warmish November and lots of whitefish spawning this fishing is good.
Blue Wing Olives have not petered out quite yet, they will return in March in good numbers but kind of trickle in the winter months, some days not showing up well at all. Midges take up that slack for hatches and are by far the most important food item for the Crooked Fish of all stripes and scales.
Zebra Midges and Winkers in Black, Purple, Olive and Red #18-24 are good choices. Try them on a NZ Wool indicator for the best luck. Add some dry fly midge options in Black and Grey #20-22 and have 6x tippet for sure and if you are confident with it have 7x too. Now and over the next weeks ahead the water is low and clear and the fish can be choosey about drift, and if you read my reports I take drift very seriously and drag free is enhanced by lighter tippets. Here, in this case use a nylon tippet material in 6x and 7x to eliminate micro drag fluorocarbon can create with its density it will sink a bit and add dreaded micro drag.
Did you know a small Parachute Adams is a great winter fly on the Crooked when the fish want to look up? Add a BDE, Purple Comparadun and a Knock Down Dun this week and you should be set on the dries, and don’t forget your nymph box should also have scuds in there.
For one more week we are offering the November Guide Trip Special for $375 for 2 people on the Fall and Crooked Rivers.

The Lower Deschutes has been good this past week, with some pockets of steelhead offering great fishing for them, but remember steelhead are a “run” and they come through and go through and may not always be in the waters you are targeting. I hope they are! Nonetheless trout action has been a lot of fun and eggs and leeches have been our top flies. My friend Phil had a smackdown this week with what he calls the Beaver Leech (Black & Orange) and Mattias, Aaron and Michael had a fun day together enjoying a busman’s holiday earlier in the week.
Girdle Bugs and Stonefly nymphs both Golden and Black, Caddis Pupa, PT’s, Prince (try a purple one), PCP Nymph and Blue Perdigons are top flies for the week.
For those of you targeting nothing but steelhead, swing a sink tip with A-Leeches, Intruders and Ho-Bo’s, and some traditional flies like a Green Butt Skunk, Andersons Euphoria and anything Purple. These smaller patterns can be fished on a floating line as well.
Don’t forget the November Guide Special is on for another week and is a full day guide trip for 2 people for $450. Thanks for all the support with the fall specials!

Lakes Report

Well this is getting short and easy (sad sniff and welling up with tears of the season gone by). It is down to a few. South and North Twin, Ochocco reservoir and Private access at Justesen Ranch.
My friend Rob was at North Twin this week and had some nice catches on a Jiggy Beetle.
All of the lakes now will have action on Balanced Leeches (Bruised with Fl Orange Bead, Black/Red w/ gunmetal bead and Vampire) and Ice Cream Cones in Red with silver rib and Black with Red Rib in #16-20. Maybe add some scuds, damsel nymphs, callibaetis nymphs but remember they will be in early instar and quite small, so #18 or even a #20 is best. I would also try a blob and a Booby, including that black snake booby fished S-L-O-W on a sinking line. If you have a parabolic sink, all the better.
Ochocco is boat access, and you can find shore access at both Twin’s but I think a boat or tube is best there too.

Travel-
Chile. Chile. Anyone? Last week of February. Best lodge I go to. I need 2 more people. 2 fishing buddies or a couple who are fishing buddies.

One room left at the Blue Bonefish in Belize for April 11-17. It needs to be someone who is a single, or traveling as a couple as it is a smaller room with a queen bed. Essentially the week is full but we can accommodate a single or couple, and the couple doesn’t need to both be fishing.

Did you know I can help you get booked in for trips to Baja, Belize, Argentina and Chile any week of the season? Yes, I host great trips and go with great people to those places, but sometimes dates don’t align and you are ready to go! If you have a date and desire, let me know how I can help. There are no extra fee’s for this, the price you pay is the same either way and I am your liaison for travel as I know you, and I know the lodges/guides and make it smooth travel from start to finish, except for what might happen with the airlines I have nothing to do with….those bastards. yesterday, Tom and Carol left Oregon to head to Argentina early before we meet to fish in Patagonia soon and American canceled their flight from Redmond with no heads up)
As I write this I just got an email from Delta that my flight back to South America after Christmas has been totally changed and rerouted both going down on December 27 and coming home on March 15th. So I need to review that and see what works best. All I really care about is having an aisle seat and not having more than 5 hours in any airport between flights. The rest of it is a blur.

If you are not out fishing I hope you are tying some flies, or learning about bugs or casting to engage in learning skills to broaden your enjoyment on a future trip.
I’ll make 2 more suggestions that you should enjoy watching. Ralph and Lisa Cutter did a DVD called Bugs of the Underworld. It is modern and it is incredible. I know a lot of you no longer have a DVD player, but this can also be found to download on Vimeo and I believe on YouTube too. Every chapter is a lesson on a new aquatic insect and has footage that will blow you away.
An older video that is still valuable is an old 3M Scientific Anglers video called Anatomy of a Trout Stream by Oregon’s own Rick Hafele. Rick spends a lot of time explaining aquatic life that trout eat and it’s done here on Oregon waters. Bugs of the Underworld is filmed in No Cal, so that’s almost as cool as Oregon.
Enjoy these and let me know what you learned. I love hearken from you.

Have a great holiday week, root for your team, eat great food, enjoy your company and your family and get out to the local waters.

Jeff