Howdy Partner, it is rodeo time in Sisters, which they call it the biggest little show in the world. I just watched the parade and saw all the old cars, marching bands, rodeo queens and fire trucks I need to see for the day. I always love the parade, it is a Sisters tradition and fun thing to watch all the families with the kids in awe of all the candy tossed from the floats, and the smiles and parade waves from all the young cowgirls. From fire trucks to flags, it is a great event for our little town.
But the real Yee Haw moment of the weekend is it seems the Green Drakes have really gained traction these past several days and finally drake fishing seems more consistent!

So….On the Metolius River we have good news to share on the Green Drake front! Hatches are spread out from Canyon Creek to Candle Creek and seem to favor late day emergence, so don’t give up at 4, wait until at least 5:30. You’ll want nymphs pre hatch, emergers and duns during the hatch and a spent wing for the end of the hatch crippled duns, or if you are lucky enough to run into a drake spinner fall. If you want to bet on the odds of the drake spinners, be on the water very early in the morning. And hey, if you don’t see drake spinners you can nymph, or streamer fish if the fish are not eating on the surface.
The other 2 mayflies that were providing some good sessions of dry fly fishing this past week are PMD’s and Blue Wing Olives. Having emergers and cripples of both will be a smart way to add flies to the box that will work on the Met.
I was driving the lake for a guide trip with one of my friends and good old metolius anglers Dr George, and we were having a discussion about emergers, and I added how important cripples are, but that without the right leader none of it made a difference.
On a small dry fly presentation in a tricky place like the Metolius you will get a better drift on a thin diameter, longer leader like a Trout Hunter Finesse or Rio Suppleflex. Compare these leader diameters from the butt section to the mid section to a traditional Powerflex type leader and you will see 2 things in a side by side comparison. The butt dimmest is way thinner, and the mid section is longer and thinner and the tippet section is longer too. From there, I also add more nylon tippet to it to achieve the greatest possibility of a drag free drift! A thick butted leader is already introducing drag to the drift. Thin to win. (I’m not talking about my waistline)
When fishing drakes a 12′ 5x is a good leader, and you can build off that base by adding 3 or 4 feet of 6x nylon tippet for the smaller hatches. If you get freaked out by that much leader than get the 12′ 6x and just add tippet again after a few fly changes and build up to getting used to casting a long leader. Timing, loop control from your arc and plane and it’s easy.
There are some big bull trout around which makes me wonder if some lake run fish are already coming up?
Grab the 8 wt and some articulated streamers and go.
And on the nymph side, the usual suspects with golden stones, perdigons, caddis pupa (tan #14-16) and green drake nymphs, soft hackle PT, cdc hares ear, micro mayfly and frenchie’s all come to my mind as I sit here dreaming about the river and what I’d tie on today if I wasn’t in the shop.

The Lower Deschutes is transitioned to summer mode with good evening caddis action, especially on warm to hot afternoons that stay warm to sunset. The magic hour. It is real and it is worth waiting for.
Purple Haze, X Caddis, Fin Fetcher Caddis, Light Cahill, Yellow Para Wulff, Sparkle Dun, Elk Hair Caddis, Rusty Spinners are some good dry flies to play with.
Throughout the day you can look for risers in the eddies and shadowy banks, but it is best to focus on your nymphing and even small streamers.
Soft hackles, caddis pupa, PT’s, split case PMD, perdigons, jig napoleon, sculpzilla, squirrel leech, slum lord and mini gulps. The streamers you can tight line with your euro rod set up, or under an indicator, or try a sink tip like the Scientific Anglers Trout Express and swing or strip them. Plus a lot of the FFP guides like to get out the Trout Spey’s this time of year and they frequently run a little sink tip on the end of their skagit heads.

The Middle Deschutes is fishing well from Bend down to Lake Billy Chinook. There are pockets of good caddis hatches, and pockets of better mayfly areas and places where you might enjoy both.
Look for tiny BWO’s in a #22, but more PMD #16 and PED’s in #14 or maybe a #12. Caddis are a mix of tan #16, olive #16-18 and dark brown #18 and look for some yellow sally stones, more in the afternoon and early evening.
A lot of time I spend on the middle river I use a renegade or purple haze. To get a little more match the hatch specific add some X caddis, sparkle duns and soft hackles.
Nymphing is always an option and is especially good with brown perdigons, PT soft hackles, caddis pupa, micro may’s and some small streamers like mini gulps, sculpzilla and squirrel leeches.

The Upper Deschutes from Little Lava to Crane Prairie is showing a lot of really positive signs of a healthy fishery this early season. Most of the trips have been more successful with euro nymphs and small jig streamers, although a purple or royal chubby with a dropper nymph is a good way to approach this water and a well drifted ant or beetle is always a nice way to fish a small mountain stream. Add some adams, renegades, clarks stones, corn fed caddis to your upper deschutes kit this week.
I have heard some good reports on the Upper D below Wickiup and down below Sunriver where access is by drift boat of some good fishing on streamers.

Up at the Fall River things are good, with some nice hatches and a lot of good streamer and nymph fishing to be had from sun up to sun down.
PMD, BWO, #16 olive caddis, yellow sally, midges, ants and beetles, hippie stompers and rubber legged PMX are good dries. I would still recommend a green drake #10 in the mix this month.
Beat the crowds and go early morning, or after dinner and stay to sunset. There can be a lot of nice fishing that will be more to your self if you avoid the 10 to 4 time slot most of the tourists and guides are hitting the river.
Streamer fishing is a blast here and we really recommend this an option any time of the day.

Crooked River is a very good place to be right now, and it has been most of the season. There have been mayfly hatches, mostly PMD’s now but so far midges and caddis are the top hatches, and with that probably the best bets for your nymphs will be zebra midges, cased caddis, caddis pupa, scuds and certainly split case PMD, micro may’s, perdigons, fire starter and soft hackles.
Water levels are below the summer average, running at 181 CFS today. Reservoir is above 50% capacity but we might be seeing some tough conditions later in the fall? For now, fishing is very good and some really good trout arte being caught on nymphs and dries.

Over on the McKenzie River the guides are having some good days with our customers and catching a mix of wild and hatchery trout, mostly on nymphs and little streamers and leeches.
I talked to the guide team today about water levels and how it’s holding up, and while it is low they are all content to run safely down our normal sections and feel like we don’t need to pivot further down river.
Some customers are going over and finding decent to good walk and wade fishing in the upper river along the trail, especially near Deer Creek. If you do this, make sure to bring a wading staff and studded boots and your 10′ or 10 1/2′ 3 or 4 weight with a good selection of euro jigs. This is also a good place to dry/dropper and find hatches of a myriad of stones, mayflies and caddis.

Stillwaters

I fished Hosmer Lake a few days this week, Wednesday was cold and windy and we just wrangled a few to the net. Tough. Thursday was much calmer and the morning was slower but Byron was able to entice some fish on a hover line and a damsel nymph, and then after lunch he whacked fish big time on a callibaetis cate nymph under an indicator. Friday was another slowish morning with some better bite in the afternoon but not nearly what I’d hoped for based on the day before.
After the trip I called my friend Adison, fellow stillwater addict and guide and we talked it through and decided that all too often on lakes, what happened yesterday doesn’t really make a guarantee on what happens tomorrow. The fickle nature of the Stillwater game and how important it is to have many arrows in your quiver. Those arrows could be flies, different types of indicators that are more sensitive, land softer or that support more weighted flies in waves. It could be a myriad of sinking lines or a lighter tippet.
In any case, Hosmer is a good bet now and I rate it as good! Throat pump samples showed damsels, scuds and a lot of daphnia this week. Callibaetis hatches were later in the day, about 2 PM. Yesterday morning there were Caenis (mayfly spinners) on the lower lake. I didn’t see any fish rising to them but I would recommend adding a Trico spinner or comparadun to your box for the next bit of summer.
Alderflies were hatching thursday and friday and I saw some splashy rises that indicated the fish are eating them. And Hosmer is a good Traveling Sedge lake, and make sure to have some goddard caddis to skitter when the hatch is on either in the afternoon or evening.

East Lake is one of our best places to fish currently, and hopefully this trend continues all month! Sometimes July can get a little off at East, but August often bounces back as one of my favorite times to be on the lake.
For now the callibaetis hatch is going well, and fish are eating all the stages. Chironomids under an indicator on stripped slowly on an emerger tip is a good method. Beetles and ants on the shorelines has been consistent and is a summer staple for me. I will be at East Lake 5 days this week, so if you’re there say howdy and let me know how you’re doing.

Paulina Lake is also fishing well, and like East Lake the beetle and ant game is a winner. Callibaetis are later to hatch on Paulina and one brood usually shows up well enough in July and August, so I would not expect too many dry fly callibaetis yet, but the nymphs are already killing it. Other nymphs to make sure you have on board will be scuds, hanging with my chromies and ice cream cones, assassins, double downs, watermelon leech, vampire leech, brown spectrum leech and red PT’s.
You can strip nymphs and leeches and chubs on sinking lines from type 3 to 5, or hovers and intermediates in the shallows and try to use a midge tip/ermerger tip line off some of the drop off’s where weed beds are prevalent, its a fun way to present some of the same bugs as under an indicator and is more active. A balanced leech retrieved on a emerger tip is a killer combo.
I had a really good conversation this afternoon at closing time in the shop with Gavin (Camp Sherman Dad) about a bright blob on a system like this with another nymph or leech on a tag. He believes the brightly colored blob attracts the fish to the area, maybe they look at it and then there’s a leech or chironomid or mayfly that is more natural to eat close by. Fish on! Our friend Phil Rowley thought the same thing was important when doing the deep dangle and that a blob drew the fish closer to the chironomid hanging down there on a type 7 full sink line 30 feet deep or so.

Speaking of Camp Sherman Dad he had a great day on Little Lava this week and caught fish all day on callibaetis in different stages, but tons on a dry.
Beetles are the other main dry you want here.
A lot of great indicator fishing here on CB Cate, bruised leeches, ice cream cones, olive chironomid, spicy squirrel, hanging with my chromies, damsels and blood worms.
If you head over to the big Lava Lake expect more of the same for flies! It is also a good bet.

I heard a super good report for Elk Lake with good catches of quality Brookies. I want to try it!!!

The reports I had from Crane Prairie this week were not very positive. But, I do put it high on the list of places to enjoy this week. Last week was a cool windy start from when I got my reports.
With warmer WX now I hope to see some mayflies hatch, both callibaetis and caenis. Damsels are getting to be a high quality food source for sure and at CP you can never go wrong with leeches, chironomids, assassins and double downs.

Three Creek Lake is a good one now! Whether from shore, your drift boat or float tube the fishing is off to a great start and should get better over the next month.
Callibaetis hatches are good already so have all the stages to be ready for the moment when it happens.
Damsels, chironomids, ants, beetles, leeches, red hippie stompers are solid choices of ours.

Travel

I have 6 spots open for December 6-13 in Argentina. Last years December trip was the best fishing in patagonia I have ever seen in 31 trips there.
Who wants to join us with Esteban of Southern Loops Fly Fishing for these economical trips to northern patagonia?
In January the week of the 9th to the 16th is pretty open but the following week form the 16th to the 23rd is full.
After the 23rd with the Southern Loops trip we are offering an extension to the Los Helechos Lodge up on Lago Huechulafquen. This is a really exclusive experience and is perfect for the views, lake fishing and private creeks on the property and they have a wonderful equestrian center for trail rides in the andes and along the lake. Not to be missed for a little extra adventure!
And we are going to visit the gaucho festival in Junin de Los Andes at the end of the Southern Loops trip so we can combine all of this to one great stay in patagonia that is unforgettable in every way. I try very hard to make our fishing trips here a wonderful cultural experience too.

And if you want to add a day of Golden Dorado fishing in Buenos Aires I have a super good guide named Mariano who I have partnered with. He can do a half day right in the city with the downtown skyline as the back drop, or you can got 45 minutes north of the city to Tigre and get a more back country experience with him too. It’s affordable and mariano is great.

In February the 19th to the 27th has 6 spots left to the Patagonia Baker Lodge in Chile. This is the place I consider to be the finest lodge I have ever stayed.
The next week we move to the sister lodge and anchor of the Magic Waters operation in Coyhaique Chile from Feb 27 to March 6th. With over 60 places to fish with a normal adventure from the lodge, Magic Waters is one not to miss. We have 8 spots left here now.

May 1 to 7 is when we will return to the Blue Bonefish Lodge in Belize and we have a few sign ups already but can hold up to 16 here to fill the lodge with an all FFP group which is what I like to do here.

And I just returned from La Ventana MX with Angling Baja and my friend Santi who again provided us with a wonderful trips and lots of good fish last week. I am going to work on dates with him soon but will shoot for late May, likely 5/25-31.

Fly Fishing Travel with me is fun, and educational. I am an experienced trip leader and make sure you are well taken care of and enjoy the trip to the fullest in any of these locations. All of our trips are super for couples, and in Argentina or in Chile the pampering in the cities before going to Patagonia is legendary. Everyone will be happy. In Belize it’s laid back and fun. Great food, and one of the most incredible staffs who are so friendly to us each time we go. And in Baja this is our easiest trip to go to and from Central Oregon and this type of saltwater fishing is less demanding to a fly caster than the accuracy needed on the flats of Belize making it a good place for the 1st time saltwater trip. We just had a few guys experience exactly that and they want to go back, and they also want that to be a stepping stone to a Belize trip.
Let me help you go!
If you don’t do it this year, you’ll be another year older when you do. Now is the time.

I started this report about 8:45 am today, now it is 9:52. I got busy at the shop, and I forgot my charger for my MacBook at home, so even though I wanted to keep writing from the store, the computer was out of juice. Then I had to get the boat hooked up and gear ready for the week, and made dinner for my mom and I and watched the Knicks take the championship and here I am finishing the report. I will go study a little spanish on Duolingo, it’s my 426th day, you’d think I would talk like a native but I still suck. But I know way more than I did 425 days ago so I keep it up. It is a good exercise fo army brain and I have a lot of incentive to be a Spanish speaker.
So good night to all. I hope to see you on the lakes. I miss going to the Metolius, but later in the month I have some blocks of time to be there and enjoy my favorite river in Oregon.

Be well and go fish.

Jeff