A quick reminder that we postponed the 40 year anniversary party today. A new date has not been set.

But let’s start with a delightful story from yesterday than brought back some great memories of the early days in the fishing business. I finally had a day off form guiding yesterday and had some things to catch up on, foremost was to drop off a lake boat I bought 2 weeks ago from Brian O’Keefe, and had delivered from Idaho to Sisters to Miles at Sculpin Marine for rigging and wiring to make it in to the lake boat I want it to be for our smaller lakes.
Then I drive to Culver Marine to get it titles and registered and finally made it to the fly shop well after lunch.
When I walked in, Gavin was wearing a vintage Fly Box hat. A tan one with a long bill and a pull down flap to protect your ears and neck from sun exposure. He said Yvette from our local bank brought it down as she was cleaning some things out from her late husband and she just had a feeling she shouldn’t just throw it out.
I was over the moon to see that old logo, and when Gavin said the hat was for me, I put it on, looked like a total dork and wore it around the shop for a bit, then walked to First Interstate Bank and said thank you to Yvette for the gift.
This hat will certainly be put in my boat box and worn when the sun is strong to protect my skin from the UV exposure I got far too much of already.
When I went to the bank to say thank you to Yvette, I showed her this photo of the “crew” at the Fly Box:

The older man on the left is Clyde “the guide” Keller, and yes that is a Samsonite carry-on in his hands that his Hardy reels were stored. The man in the tan shirt is Hans Stucki, a Swiss guy who worked with us for several years and who became a close friend of mine. Craig Lacy owned the guide service called Whitewater & Wild Fish. He was a legendary rower and steelheader, and he let me guide on the Fall River and Hosmer Lake back then. And our boss, (the 3rd owner of the Fly Box, Alan Stewart who always treated me well, and was beyond kind to me. I believe this photo was taken in 1988 as we were all headed to the Lower Deschutes for a float trip. Jim Klug also worked with us, as did Merril Hummer and Bill Merrill. Jim would have been off to Dartmouth classes in the fall, Merril was likely on a guide trip and I don’t know why Bill wouldn’t be n the photo but he was a great friend and an important part of the team. This is where it started for me, and here we are 4 decades in, and I feel like I am working harder than ever. But eyes on the big picture remind me that all is well, and all will be even better in the next few years.

We are winding down on the Green Drake hatch on the Metolius River, but it is not over! You absolutely will be seeing Drakes this weekend and early in the week. I know Phil was down yesterday and got 4 on drakes to the net, and missed others. While we may only get another 5 to 7 days of Green Drakes this week, take solace in the fact that the September Drakes are just 2 months away and I believe that is often the better of the 2 Drake hatches on the Metolius. Maybe just from the standpoint it seems to be more reliable and consistent.
This week nymphs, emergers, duns, cripples and spinners all should be in your box.
PMD mayflies are the star of the show throughout the river, and Blue Wing Olives make an appearance, but that can be all over the without rhyme or reason from one day to the next. Here’s the deal, carry BWO’s, especially cripples and emergers and look for them most often in the evening in the summer. But on a rainy cool weekend like this it could be they are important to the fish, and you mid afternoon. Don’t overlook them. I remember last season being so sure the fish were rising to PMD’s, and I changed flies several times to yet another version of a PMD, getting nothing. Then a customer walked by on his way to leave and we made some small talk about how it was downriver and he said he caught a couple on BWO’s but had to leave because he was late for dinner. That was all the hint I needed, I tied on a BWO film critic and immediately caught a good fish. As you approach the river and your fly selection with mayflies this week you’ll want drakes #8-10, PMD #16 and BWO #20-22 and don’t forget to add Rusty Spinners for evening in #16’s.
Caddis hatches have been ok, our best caddis hatch evenings are coming up, but as they trickle out, some days and evenings are more prolific you’ll want to make sure you have the emergers and dries you need to match the hatch. What has been hot for caddis is a pupa fished deep as a nymph. This is becoming one of our top Metolius nymphs, along with Soft Hackle PT’s, Perdigons (purple is my #1 color, but brown and olive are obviously top match the hatch colors), golden stones and drake nymphs.
It is certainly time to get your golden stone fly box packed if you’ll be in the upper river. A Clarks Stone and Norm Woods are the 2 best we sell.
Today and tomorrow I love the weather for Bull Trout. Cloud cover and rain makes it likely to get a streamer eat all day long. You can choose from a big articulated streamer, Milk Shake, Head Banger, Sparkle Minnow or go to a small euro jig streamer like a Squirrel Leech in natural.

Our FFP guide team have been enjoying some good days on the Lower Deschutes from Warm Springs to Trout Creek. We had a very good camp season with multiple 3 day/2 night trips to Maupin this season, but for the time being our calendar is filling with a lot of day trips.
During the morning and afternoon it has been most productive with nymphs, and the main dry fly action is coming later in the evening at this time. Our guide Michael did get some dry fly fishing mid day in some eddies, and as summer progresses that typically gets better and better. Think about a lot of spent bugs for that, especially spent caddis.
Throughout the day we recommend tan caddis pupa, frenchie, 2 big hookers, brown perdigons, soft hackle PT, red copper john and PMD split case nymphs. Troy is seeing a lot of good summer (tan) caddis and said water temps are good in the upper 50’s.
In the evening pale evening duns, purple haze, corn fed caddis, iris caddis, x caddis, keller’s caddis and fin fetcher caddis. The fin fetcher is exceptional for being able to see it because if the hot pink parachute post. If you have not tried this caddis dry, add some to your box for every trout stream in the western united states. It combines a proven winner fly, the spent partridge caddis with a parachute post that is easy to see.
There has also been some good action on small streamers like squirrel leeches, mini gulp’s, slum lords and sculpzilla’s.

The Middle Deschutes is a good choice for a morning euro nymph session or evening dry fly assault. PMD and PED and tan caddis are the main hatches, but keep open to BWO’s around spring discharges, and lovingly cast attractors like a purple haze or renegade in the riffles.

The Upper Deschutes float from Wickiup down has been producing some nice catches of quality browns. This is trickier fishing than the appearance would give as it looks so flat and placid. The currents are moving at a good pace, and there is a lot of conflicting currents, so with a dry fly you need a good drag free float, and often very near logs that want to grab your fly, or suck it, plus your tippet underneath it. Damn those logs, but that’s where a lot of the fish are.
With streamers pound the banks and logs and strip, strip, strip.
We get 30 user days to guide up there and it’s open until 9/30, and it’s 100% fishing from the boat. A good option for the summer if you want to try it.
Caddis and PMD’s are the main hatches. It’s been a few years back but I remember a float we did there on the 4th of July and having a good mid morning PMD hatch and the fish were eating a Patriot very nicely. Do you know that fly? It’s a variant of a Royal Wulff but has a pearl tag and hot pink body instead of peacock and red. I’ve had success with it during PMD hatches in many places for whatever reason.

The Upper Deschutes Headwaters stretch is a wonderful walk and wade spot with a lot of good euro nymphing opportunities, small streamers, dry/droppers, terrestrials and some hatches of PMD and caddis. Mosquitos are not too bad this season (yet anyway) and it is worth the time to enjoy it. It is also great to fish with a Tenkara rod!

The Crooked River is fishing quite well. Water levels came up 110 cfs this week, which is a big surprise seeing it at nearly 300 cfs now. I recommend cleats and a wading staff to navigate the river and the slick rocks.
From what I hear from the guides and our friends (like Capt. Drew) there is very little dry fly action now, but the nymph fishing is solid. Perdigons, frenchie, eggs, zebra midge, split case PMD, scuds and Ray Charles.
If you want to throw dries, maybe as a dry dropper I have some thoughts: 1) this should be prime PMD hatch time, so are they going to hatch? is it late? will today be the day? carry PMD’s. 2) Purple Haze, renegades, Larimer’s Yellow Sally, X Caddis are all summer time dries I trust on the Crooked, and should work at some point at least for a few fish. If it’s a numbers game for you, the nymph is the better choice.

The Fall River is good, although we had a couple of slower guide days there this week compared to the normal. It happens.
There have been good PMD hatches and some small stones like yellow sally’s, little olive stones and also some olive caddis plus ants and beetles.
Small streamers continue to be excellent with the squirrel leech and slum lords topping the list and Crostons Minnows and Mini Gulp great choices too.
Perdigons, Zebra Midges, Ray Charles, Olive Scuds, Frenchie, Eggs and Mops are good nymphs out there.
The Hatchery gets a lot more pressure than other areas of the river. There are a lot of places to spread out and not be on top of so many other people. Also go early at dawn, or after 4 PM and experience the river with less angling pressure.

The McKenzie River was good for our guides this week. I know Troy, Micheal, Eric and Gavin were all down there and had good success, and depending on the day, some with various dry flies like chubbies, and McKenzie Caddis and running nymphs as a trailer. The guides have been using Walt’s Worms, baby got bead, frenchie, copper john, perdigons, leeches and caddis pupa.
The rains have bumped the flows from 1800 to 2000’ish and that is a welcome thing for the bottom of our drift boats (hahaha)
I am encouraged by the river holding up to a decent flow so far and hope we can have continued good float trip conditions all summer until the rains come this fall.

Stillwater Reports

East Lake was good this week, for me I saw a variety of fun ways to approach the lake and that is why I always like East the best. The lake just sets up so well for wind drifting, loch style, anchoring, dry fly match the hatch, dry fly terrestrials, indicators, deep dangle, stripping nymphs and streamers on a wide variety of sinking lines. Really there is no other lake that offers so much because of the variety of water accessible. And it is the top lake for shoreline wade access, one of the few in our region that offers good shore fishing.
Callibaetis hatches for the most part were impressive this week. Beetles and ants were also very good.
I’m finding some areas to be full of chubs, and that sucks, but moving to a new area is working to find some quality trout on callibaeits nymphs and chironomids.
Water temps are just hitting 60-61F and the fish are in good shape. I am finding fish on the live scope in the deep dangle range out in 25 to 32 feet, and getting them on a duct tape blood worm. It’s not hot in that range yet, but if the winds are blowing to much for the indicator it allows a good nymph fishing option with some outstanding takes.

Paulina Lake was also good for me and FFP guide Steve this week. We both found beetles to be really effective, and he was using an ant. I tried with a pink hopper for a while to no avail, and when the other angler in the boat continued to catch on a jiggy beetle, well, it was time to tie on 2 of those.
I also found some quality indicator action on black double down nymphs (essentially a dark assassin) and with red 2 bit hookers and watermelon leeches.

Little Lava lake was also really good this week, but for my 3 days on the water far better when the dry fly fishing was happening than on nymphs under an indicator or bung. When the callibaetis were hatching it was lights out on dries. A sparkle dun and tilt wing were the best 2, but we also got some fish on an olive haze and I chose it because the wing it so visible in the wind chop and glare.
The fish we did catch on nymphs were on an olive chironomid with a red butt, a CB Cate and a red 2 bit hooker.
Beetles at time were magic, and on one of the hot days earlier in the week the fish were pounding adult damsels and we had some heart stopping takes on a blue chubby none to the net with a damsel yet.
I recommend a #12-14 blue chubby and run a dropper of 5x tippet 24″-30″ with an adult damsel or unweighted damsel nymph as a dropper. Jim Copes damsel nymph is the fly of choice for me here.

Hosmer Lake is good in the upper lake and channel on callibaetis in all stages and most days offer a fair to good hatch. Don’t pass up chironomids, damsels, scuds, leeches and traveling sedge and black caddis and keep an eye out for alderflies too. When it warms up again if you are on the water at dusk or dawn add some trico patterns. The hatch is a caenis mayfly but the pattern that matches it is a trico. Usually spinners or a comparadun are your best bets.
Troy likes to fish a Chubby with a balanced damsel, I like the Blue Chubby with an adult damsel or Cope’s damsel as a dropper.
Ants along the reeds are a solid choice and another option is a platinum soccer mom on a hover line stripped. The lake is low and weedy so pick your spots carefully with that method.
The Lower Lake is too warm to safely catch and release fish unless you go early AM. Otherwise just don’t fish that water as it is reaching 72 in the afternoon and evening and that is lethal. Upper lake and channel holding in lower 60’s and thank you to FFP guide Troy for pointing that out and drawing attention to this.

I have not heard anything from Crane Prairie this week, but I will say I like the cool weekend we are having to keep the water temps in check!
Chironomids, Ray Charles, 2 Bit Hooker in Red or Black, Red Worms Damsels and always Leeches are good at CP. Look for cold waters in the channels and check water temp in areas outside of the main channels. It is getting to that time of year I often rest Crane until later in August. If you know where to go it can be good most of the time, but you have to be right in the channels and then you are still fighting fish up to the boat in warm water which is iffy to me.

Three Creek Lake has been very productive most days and like my report on East Lake it is on a wide variety of things. Last weekend we had a huge run on GREEN beetles. The world of fly fishing is small because so many people came to buy green beetles.
Black Beetles, Ants, Red Hippie Stompers and even Sunken Ants are good for you up there.
Callibaetis hatches have been good and should be excellent this week. Nymphs, emergers, cripples, duns and spinners are all on the menu.
Balanced leeches are another good fly, run it under an indicator with a Red Holographic Jig dropper, or fish that combo on an Emerger Tip.
Trolling a Sheep Creek Special and a Red Ice Cream Cone dropper on a camo line is a time honored tradition at this lake. It often produces well and its fun and relaxing to kick in your tube and wait for the line to tighten.

Travel-

I am looking for 5 more people to join us for a 3 day camp trip in Argentina in December. After the 2 nights of camping we still have 3 more days on the local rivers to San Martin de Los Andes to enjoy a 6 day fishing trip. You’ll be home with lots of time before christmas, so don’t worry. We are going to float the Rio Caleufu for the camp, and then the Alumine, Collon Curra and Chimehuen for the day trips. Streamers and Chubby’s are the main flies, bring a 6 and a 7 weight and a sink tip.
$5500 for the week.
Last December was the finest fishing in Patagonia I have ever seen. We had warm days, lots of sunshine and some great dry fly action.
We have openings for the 1st january trip too, and in Chile the end of the February and early March but people are signing up and getting excited to go.
BTW, at Tetherow Club in Bend monday night I am doing a presentation on Argentina at 6 PM.
Let me know if you want to come and listen and learn more about this.

I’m sorry to miss the anniversary party today. There were many reasons it didn’t work out, foremost how busy I am right now and the work it takes to get a party together like that is too much for me now. It is also hard for me to toot my own horn, if that makes sense. I guess I assumed more support would have come from the industry folks but that didn’t happen at all. You come to realize a lot of the reps who want your dollars and big orders do a great job to act like a great buddy in that moment, but they don’t acknowledge milestones like 40 years very well at all.
So that is disappointing. How many companies have received orders from a fly shop for 4 decades? I can answer that. Hardly any! But nobody cares.
Eric and Tim from Echo were all set to be there and kudos to them for that support. It meant a lot to me. Other companies, crickets. Total bullshit.
Also, competing against the Big Ponderoo concert this weekend in Sisters was the final straw. Rooms were booked out, and very expensive so our out of town guests were not able to find anything. That was the final nail.
This has been on my mind a lot over the last couple of months. I probably shouldn’t say anything here, but this writing is a form of expression and sometimes therapy for me. I get the feelings out, and sometimes solutions occur from it. So thanks for listening to me.
Now, I say fuck it, I am going fishing. For real.

Take care,

Jeff