Hello and thank you for reading the FFP fishing reports. The last couple of weeks were a bit chaotic and that certainly changed the type of information being shared and when I shared it.
Now that things are back to normal life around Sisters it is time to write a normal fishing report.
The great news tonight from the fire bosses was that the Akawa Fire is 85% contained and shows minimal hot spots left. The strong afternoon winds that poured through our region on Saturday did not create any new hazards or even create any big smoke columns. We got lucky, and thank god for that rainy thunderstorm that rolled through at just the right evening.
Overall there has been a lot of good fishing in the area, with the Metolius, Crooked, Fall, McKenzie, Upper Deschutes, East, Paulina, upper Hosmer & Three Creek being the ones to count on. With the Lower Deschutes just regaining access I will discuss that too as we go along in the report.

The Metolius is a river I really love to see come more alive in August. There are so many hatches that increase in importance, or intensity this month and it is just getting started.
For mayflies, PMD #16 and BWO #20-22 are the main 2 to focus on. Soon we will see afternoon hatches of Ameletus mayflies. Usually this #14 robust olive mayfly hatches below the canyon and down towards the hatches and bridge 99. An Olive Haze or Flav or Larger Purple Comparadun are the flies I prefer to match it with. On the PMD and BWO film critics, captive duns, KD duns, sparkle duns, comparaduns and make sure to have rusty spinners in #16-18 and 20 for dusky times.
So far the massive hatch of tan micro caddis has not begun, but #18-20 tan caddis are coming soon and you need the flies to be ready for that. #16 tan caddis are abundant and will continue to be. Olive #16, Grey #14 will play nicely too.
For stoneflies there are a lot of golden stones #8-12, some yellow sally’s #16, olive stones #16-18, a few salmonflies #4-6 and some other weird stones around. A friend (colin) of mine said he did well on a Chubby the other day. That’s not a pattern I usually choose for the Met, but hey. I love a Clarks Stone and a Norm Woods Special for a thinner profile and natural look.
My friend Jesse ran into a tremendous midge hatch that had the fish up and feeding the other day.
I say this as it is a little rare for some of these hatches to occur day after day, while other hatches we count on all season long. But, there is nothing worse that being on the river and say a massive midge hatch comes off and you don’t have the fly to match it.
There’s a method to the madness of a fly collection, and thinking about entomology cycles on each river (or lake) you fish and having the “forget me nots” also tucked in the box for those weird moments will make you happy when you can conquer it.
A ton of good nymph action too. I know Sequoia has been doing well on a Yellow Jig Napoleon perdigon, and Golden Stone Nymphs with rubber legs. And we all love the 2 Bits, 20 Incher Jig, TJ Hooker, Caddis Pupa and Soft Hackle PT with a bead and w/o a bead to fish in different ways. A yellow soft hackle is a good fly too, without a bead on it it can be greased to float as an emerger or let if get damp and swing it under the surface….or fish it as a dropper in the tag position with a heavier nymph as the point.
Bull Trout fishing is quite good. That (damn kid) Mattias went out middle of the day a few days ago and told me he was going to catch one. I think he was showing off for his lady, but he sure did catch one. A nice one. Well shoot, they are all nice.

The Lower Deschutes trout action is good. The river opened back in Segment 1, but the boat ramp at Warm Springs remains closed for the time being as it where fire cres are getting water from the the river. Mecca and Trout Creek are open.
A lot of caddis, especially the tan ones we are always expecting in the summer. #16 Pupa, X caddis, Iris, Elk Hair, Corn Fed, Missing Link and Fin Fetcher for those of hard of sight in bad light. Raise your hands with me brothers and sisters.
I admit (now that I am aging) I used to think people were so dumb who said they couldn’t tie on a fly in the evening. I looked down my nose at them and thought bad things like they were inexperienced, had no muscle memory or other condescending things. I apologize. I am there. Fishing the evening hatch and needing to switch #16 dries on 5x or 6x is harder and harder. And that leads me to micro caddis. Little Black MF’ers are important down there. I need some readers or a flip focal.
Stonefly nymphs have been great here. Leeches and Sculpins and other small streamers.
Mayfly hatches are so so. Be ready to see PMD and PED’s. A Purple Haze is a wonderful fly to match both in the evening.

The Upper Deschutes from Wickiup down is good. I prefer to float it but there is some bank access too. PMD, Caddis, Hoppers, Ants, Beetles, Patriots for dry fly times, but the most fun can come on a good streamer bite with a Sparkle Minnow hitting the banks and logs and stripping it quickly to the boat.
We get 30 user days on this stretch and you can fish from the boat. It is a good day trip to do from now until the end of September but favors a more experienced angler who cast well and knows reach mends and feeding the line to the dead drift. Are you up for it?
The Headwaters area from Little Lava to Crane Prairie is a great place to fish now. It’s a lot of nymphs, small streamers and dry droppers along with good terrestrial options, and hatches of small stoneflies, caddis and PMD and likely some BWO.

The Crooked River continues to be a hit. The best days are nymphing with Zebra Midges, 2 Bits, Micro May’s Ray Charles, Scuds, Perdigons, Rainbow Warrior and Split Case PMD’s.
There have been pretty good hatches of PMD’s now so you want to have emergers and dries along too.
Caddis in Tan #16 and Black #18, Hoppers #8-10, Renegade, Purple Haze, Patriot are good attractors.

Fall River is fishing quite well, we’ve had a lot of really good guide trips there lately. Besides good hatches of PMD’s, Midges and small caddis Olive #16 and Black #18, ants, beetles, hippie stompers, missing links in yellow and hot orange and then eggs, 2 bits, perdigons, micro may’s and little streamers. Mid Day, and especially mid day at the hatchery and camp ground will be crowded. You can go early or late, or find other places with more solitude with a little effort.

The McKenzie is holding up better than I thought it would so we are still running good trips on the Mac. Michael’s clients even got a steelhead this past week!
Chubby’s, Leeches, Stonefly nymphs, Soft Hackles, Cadids Pupa, Sculpins, Perd’s, Walts Worm, Copper John are all good flies now.

Lake Reports-

Upper Hosmer was pretty good this past week for our guide Michael. He said the fish preferred a stripped fly on a slow sinking line over any indicator techniques. I have found that to be true from time to time, but never take one days fishing as what the next days trends will be. But it’s still important to mention because so many lake anglers these days rely on an indicator only, and mixing it up with sinking lines is a great thing to do.
Damsel dries are good, and the Blue Chubby with 3 feet of 5x tied off the bend is a great indicator for a nymph dropper, or when the hatch gets going you’ll see aggressive takes and that’s a good time to add an extended body damsel adult as the 2nd dry.
Callibaetis hatches are on up in the upper lake but may still be inconsistent until we go to a cooler weather pattern. I hope that is next week as it looks like in the forecast starting in about 6 days.
Black Caddis #16, Traveling Caddis #8, Ants and Beetles and every once in a while great days occur with a pink hopper.
Little Olive Leeches (Rowley’s Micro Balanced Leech), Watermelon Leech, Vampire Leech, Assassin, Ice Cream Cone, Birds Nest, CB Nymphs, Scuds and Damsels. A NZ Wool indicator is the top choice with the low water. A white wool indi is not scary to the fish, and while I love the drop back bung, in lower waters it’s hard to fish correctly. For lines to get down and move the nymphs and leeches a Ghost Tip (Cortland) Emerger Tip (SA) or Midge Tip (Rio) are super, along with a Hover or Camo Intermediate.

Paulina Lake is our deepest we fish, and with that deepness comes a cold water reserve not found in other lakes. But it takes a good wind to churn it up and mix it, and last night and tonight we are seeing some of the coldest nights of late…But gawddamnit the heat is coming tuesday, wednesday and thursday so we will watch out for warm temps along the edges where we fish so much.
Beetles, Ants, Aero Red Legs, Chubbies and Hoppers are king. Balanced Leeches, CB Cate, Red PT, Dark Assassin, Chironomids and Balanced Minnows are good under the indicator on the drop offs and over the weeds.

East Lake is in Deep Dangle territory! Watch water temps in the shallower zones and think about resting that for water 25 to 35 feet deep with a type 7 full sink and blood worms in the zone a foot off the bottom. Run a Blob 20″ above the blood worm. Why 20 inches? I like to spread the nymphs out at least that far because if my average trout is under 20 inches and the fish rolls, it minimizes the fish rolling in the dropper. 20 to 24 inches is a good spread to avoid snagging the fish on the 2nd fly during the fight.
The august brood of callibaetis is starting, but I think next week with the better Wx it is going to really get rolling after the heat dome breaks away.
Ants, Beetles and Hoppers will continue to be good all of August.

Three Creek Lake is a Sisters area gem, and now is a good time to get up and fish, especially in the morning and evening. Callibaetis, Damsels, Scuds, Chironomids, Sheep Creeks, Balanced Leeches, Dwial Bach plus Red Hippie Stomers, Beetles and Ants. A purple or blue chubby is a good fly to use as an indicator with the nymphs or leach off the bend of the hook anywhere from 2 to 8 feet works depending on what zone your in.

I have not heard much from Little Lava. Water temps must be poor. I know my freind Steve took temps at Lava last week and way too warm for C&R fishing.
I will wait another little bit for cooler days and some cold nights to return before hitting Crane Prairie or Little Lava. And I will watch water temps all week as I am guiding to be sure we are doing the right thing for the fish.
I hope you’ll join me in the responsibility we all share to take care of the fish we love so much, in the places we love even more!

I am excited to get my new boat tomorrow night. I bought Brian O’Keefes Hog Island 16′ Skiff on rodeo weekend my friends in Idaho Ron and Scott both helped deliver it to Sisters and Miles at Sculpin Marine is getting is dialed in with the trolling motor, batteries, chargers, wiring, seating and more. If you follow Oregon_Stillwater_Jeff on Instagram you can see the work in progress and get a chuckle out of Miles special “dude” touch on my boat.
I look forward to seeing you on the water. I know I haven’t been in the shop much lately and I miss it and miss seeing so many of you there. I’ll be there Monday and Saturday and getting some work done.
Be sure to check out some of our amazing close out fly rods on the sale rack.

Everything is good around Sisters at the moment and we look forward to what will hopefully be an uneventful August after the wild ride in July.
A HUGE thank you to Mattias and his mom, Chris and Anita, Phil and Sandy, Sean and Jesse for all the help during the fires keeping FFP and my stuff safe. Just in case. You are all so wonderful for your friendship and I can’t thank you enough for all that you did to keep peace of mind for me.

JP