I am just waking up in Buenos Aires and it is 74 degrees, and I see it is 25 back home in Sisters. I have 3 more days here, but seeing that 25 is making me rethink the departure until June. I see there is some absolutely glorious weather coming up in Central Oregon this coming week, with perfect days to go out and explore the local waters. I know there has been a lot of good fishing happening in March, and with waters warming, hatches and activity are all just going to get better, so now is a great time to be on the water chasing dreams.
We are running our spring specials on walk & wade guide trips to the Crooked and Fall Rivers for $400 for a full day, including flies and equipment. This special price is good from now until 4/21/26.

The Metolius River is one of the best places to fish in March with many good stretches to apply your multiple skills and techniques, including streamers, indicators, euro nymphing and dry fly fishing. It is truly a wonderful time to be on the river and the 1st three techniques will certainly be the most consistent, and dry fly action is the ultimate gift for those of us in the right place at the right time.
From Allingham Bridge down to Bridge 99 and even a bit below you can count on seeing a lot of caddis and mayflies hatching most afternoons. Stoneflies and midges might get overlooked a bit, especially from a dry fly perspective but as nymphs they are quite important.
A recommended nymph selection for the upcoming week would include tan and olive fat ass caddis #14-16, orange caddis pupa in #8 through #12, zebra midges in black and also red #18-20, green drake nymphs #8-12 (the jig twenty incher and the rio flies GD jig are awesome), golden stone nymphs #8-10, orange girdle bug #10 (this is a super crossover fly as I think trout will eat it as a stonefly or an october caddis), sloan stone #14-16 to imitate the yellow sally nymphs and absolutely a good assortment of mayfly nymphs in brown #16, olive #18-20, black #18-20 including matching your perdigons to this size and color range. Eggs, Walts Worms, red copper john, red lightning bug and soft hackle PT’s are also very important flies now.
Look for dry fly opportunities mostly from noon to 3 this week, but with temps in the mid-70’s it won’t be a surprise to see some evening hatches of BWO’s and Cinygmula’s around dinner time, and tan caddis are a real possibility then too. If you are going to stay later and fish towards dark, consider swinging a soft hackle just under the surface. A great evening on the Metolius could include a walk down river swinging a soft hackle through the beautiful runs. It’s methodical and relaxing and should give up a fish or two. This is a great place to play with a little 3 weight Trout Spey too.
I don’t know exactly when ODFW will release the salmon smolt from the hatchery, but it is in the spring and it can make the Bull Trout go wild. Add a few bigger olive/white streamers to your bull trout box for the next 6 weeks to coincide with those releases.
I would also hit the river with some jig streamers with a tight line method or on the floating line with an indicator. Set up your indicator system with a Rio 10′ 3x or 4x INDICATOR leader, cut off 2 feet of the tippet and add 2 feet fluorocarbon tippet to the leader. Why this leader? It has a very short butt section and a thin mid-section to the tippet which offers a much better sink rate and way better drift of your jig streamer (or nymphs) than a “normal” leader. Little things that make a difference are things like this. Another thing you can do is go with 2 feet of 15# nylon to a tippet ring, and then a straight piece of 4x fluorocarbon tippet (7 to 10 feet as the fishing conditions dictate). The indicator is placed on the butt section and has 2 feet of adjustability, and the long straight tippet offers an amazing sink and drift rate. In the lakes we call this a chassis leader and I have used it a lot in rivers too.

The Crooked River seems to be the best fishing going in the region now. There have been good BWO hatches and my customer John reported to me excellent fishing with a small Purple Haze. I also like the Purple Comparadun, olive sparkle dun, film critic and BDE dun on the Crooked. The water is low and clear, so a 12′ 6x leader will be a good way to improve your drift, and an improved drift is a good way to catch more fish.
Swinging soft hackles (purple, olive and PT in #16-18) is an awesome way to approach the hatch and is also pretty good in non-hatch times too.
Firestarters Jigs, Scuds, Perdigons, 2 Bit Hookers, Micro May’s, Black Zebra Midges, Rainbow Warriors, and Amber Psycho Prince are great nymphs to try this week.
Spring Special Guide trips available for $400 for 1 to 3 people. Full Day. Includes Flies and Equipment. No Lunch.

The Fall River from the headwaters down to the tubes and to the base of the Falls is all good. There have been some good afternoon BWO hatches with fish feeding nicely on cripples, emergers and duns. Look out for March Browns now too, and don’t head to the Fall for the next few weeks without one in your box.
Midges can also come up at anytime and you could see fish rising softly to something you may not be able to see. It is time for some 7x tippet and a middle winker, century drive midge or griffiths gnat.
With the warm weather returning the ants and beetles are going to wake up as the forest warms. Some will find their way accidentally to the water and become fish food. One of our favorite beetles is the hippie stomper, and for whatever reason a purple one seems especially good for the Fall River, but add a red one and all black one too.
Nymphing with attractors like an Egg or mop fly is often very good, or you can be more realistic with olive scuds, black zebra midges, brown or olive 2 bit hookers and jig PT’s. You can also suggest good things for the fish to eat with perdigons, walt’s worms and slum lords. That slum lord or similar little micro streamers are just deadly on all of our rivers.
Spring Special Guide trips available for $400 for 1 to 3 people. Full Day. Includes Flies and Equipment. No Lunch.

The Middle Deschutes is going to see a significant bump in water levels now as the spotted frog water releases are now occurring on the upper river from Wickiup, and without the canals operating the water is going all the way through Bend to Lake Billy Chinook and it changes the game at least from a safety standpoint on the middle river from Tumalo to Steelhead Falls. We are going to see this for a while, and I just tell you this to keep you thinking about safe wading and access on this area of the river. Skwalas, March Browns and BWO’s are the main hatches. Look for tan caddis now too, especially in the evening on the warm days ahead.

The Lower Deschutes in the Maupin area is a golden moment now. Reports are some skwala stones, and blue wing olives and you must be ready for the march browns from now on for the next month. What a special hatch and one that offers a good afternoon to see a true frenzy of trout rises.
Mostly now I would fish black and golden stone nymphs, green rock worms, jig PT soft hackles, brown jig Napoleon, olive perdigon with an orange hot spot and hares ear soft hackles.
Remember the areas around Warm Springs, Mecca, Trout Creek and South Jct are closed until 4/22/26 so if you want to fish the Lower Deschutes you need to be below the Tribal Waters Boundary and for wade anglers that means down to the Maupin area where you can drive up to the Locked gate or down to Mack’s Canyon and see miles and miles and miles of access to good water. There are some good float trip options here too.

The McKenzie River is seeing good water conditions early season and maybe iffy by late July it might be a good idea to book a trip early for this special river. I just texted Troy to ask him if he is running it yet, so watch for updates on this and get him, or Steve, Michael or Eric to take you for a run on this epic spot.

LAKES

there are some good lake trip options now, some private and some public. I will tell you about the ones that are a sure bet, and ask about the ones that ought to be waking up with spring.

Haystack Reservoir is an easy drive from Bend or Sisters and offers good bank wading access, or float tube or boat access to this good reservoir. Haystack is stocked with brood rainbows and is a place where you might find a real trophy in your net. Usually an indicator with a balanced leech (black with an orange or chartreuse bead or olive with an orange bead) is about as good as it gets. Add some chironomids like ice cream cones and chromies too.
A lot of good fishing can be done here with different sinking lines so don’t forget to bring at least an intermediate camo, type 3 and maybe a midge tip or hover.
With warm days keep an eye on some callibaetis hatches starting and cross your fingers for that.

Lake Billy Chinook is a good place to be now, for fly fishing I would recommend the Deschutes and Crooked arms more som than the Metolius arm for the time being until things warm a bit more in the Metolius arm. Streamers and Leeches are the name of the game and this can be a Strike Indicator approach or stripping larger streamers on sinking lines.

Justesen Ranch Lakes are private, but worth the investment to be on these wonderful lakes now. The chironomid fishing on an indicator set up is $$$ now, but leeches and water boatman are truly important food sources for spring here. $150 per day, make reservations through me or tell Amanda you read my report and I inspired your day!

My good friend Adison Rook of Soggy Waders Guide Service in Eugene has started guiding on the Willamette Valley Reservoirs and reports it is off to a great start! Even the Spotted Bass trip he does has started (early) and he got 6 to the net yesterday. This is the toughest and hardest fighting bass off them all. Adison was fishing last season with my good friend and customer Greg and Adison broke a rib that day. Hardcore bass fishing. It is $550 for the day for 2 in the boat. Call him to book it (541)570-3621 or email adisonrook@yahoo.com for more info. I will be going myself when I return to oregon soon. Adison is also going to be guiding with me on the Cascade Lakes this season and I am excited for this, as I think he is one of the most versed stillwater dudes I know.

I am wondering about Chick, North and South Twin and Davis? Has anyone ventured out to those lakes and found any fishing opportunities yet?

Well, I need to go, I have tickets to the Buenos Aires Planetarium in an hour and 15 minutes and need to eat. I fly home on Tuesday and arrive to Redmond on Wednesday about 4:45 PM.
I look forward to a lot of things in Oregon but I am going to miss what I have here too.
This experience in Argentina I have had has been amongst the best days of my life. I will tell and share more stories later as I see you in the shop or in the boat or along the streams this season.

Next week is Spring Break in Oregon so I am 90% sure it will be cold and windy and wet that week as it often is. Get out this week and enjoy that sunshine and I will see you in the shop by the end of the week!

You all mean the world to me, thank you for the reports, the stories and the friendships, thank you for the words of encouragement you send me. I greatly appreciate this community.

Jeff