October is tough to call the reports on the lakes. Weather changes fast, as do conditions. I haven’t been to East in a couple of weeks due to a few things going on, but I’ve talked to some customers who’ve been and overall I’m hearing its kind of slow up there.
Kokanee are spawning so egg patterns under an indicator can work wonders.
I love streamers in the fall along the shore lines this time of year. A Brown Rufus is a great fly at East Lake in October.
I’ve had great beetle fishing in October in years past.

I was at Hosmer a few days ago and had very good fishing on small streamers and water boatman.

Crane has been good, especially with Balanced Leeches in the Deschutes Channel. Quinn over to Rock Creek is always a favorite area in the Fall for me. Look for Water Boatman taking flight in the fall. Stripping Hale Bopp Leeches and Rufus patterns on a Hover is a great way to pick up some big rainbows over there.

Lava is a great Fall lake. Streamers and leeches are great on type 3 and intermediate lines.

North Twin is a good lake now with the recent stocking of brooders. Troll or Strip Buggers on an Intermediate in 8 to 15 feet of water off the shoreline.

South Twin is also a fun lake for tubers, and is protected from the wind the bigger lakes get on changeable weather times.

If I had a week to fish everyday I’d do all of those and be a very happy boy.

PS- Clear Lake on the McKenzie Pass is awesome for Brookies right now. Buggers and Micky Finns are picking up a lot of nice fish.

East Lake was good this week, still with Callibaetis hatching and fish looking up. Beetles along the banks has also been a solid choice.
Wind drifting and stripping leeches with a mayfly nymph dropper is a very good bet. I prefer this on an intermediate line, but will go to the Hover or Type III if needed.
Chironomids under an indicator has slowed but can be productive at times.
Kokanee Spawn is on so fishing an egg under an indicator can get some good trout now.
***Keep in mind some of the Boat Launches at EL CG and at Cinder Hill are currently closed for USFS (safety) logging operations. Hot Springs and the ramp at the Resort remain open.***

Crane is getting better and better on Leeches, Damsel Nymphs, Water Boatman and Chironomids.
Deschutes Channel and Quinn Channel are both fishing well and Rock Creek point is a solid place to go too.
We love Balanced Leeches under an indicator.

Lava is improving with cooler weather and its a good time to fish streamers and buggers on sinking lines, or balanced leeches under an indicator.

Wickiup is a no go for the most part. It’s at 2% capacity. It’s just a river now.

East Lake was interesting this week. Sunday was good on Callibaetis, Tuesday was really hard in the morning because there was a Flying Ant or Termite #16’ish that was kind of a Honey Orange color mixed with #18-20 Flying Termites (Black) absolutely covering the water. Fish were going nuts. NUTS! Hard to match. We had a Harrops CDC Honey Ant and rose some fish but it wasn’t exactly what they wanted.
Callibaetis and Beetles saved the day later.
It’s been really good on Callibaetis. A Purple Haze during the hatch has been $.
For the time being I’d say Chironomid fishing is slow.
There are a lot of Bright Cherry Red Kokanee jumping at the surface. Fun to see. Haven’t seen any on the reds yet but when they do it attracts some nice Bow’s and Browns to the area.
Scuds, Water Boatman and Streamers are important flies at East for the Fall.

Hosmer is good. Callibaetis and Damsels are still good, and always have black ants and beetles for Hosmer this time of year.
We”ve had nice fishing on Balanced Leeches, Red Eye Damsels, Red Chironomids and Mohair Leeches.

Mixed action at Crane Prairie. Up and down reports coming in. Phil from the shop got a beauty yesterday on a leech at Quinn. Not many fish beyond that.
A young customer who I respect a ton for his amazing abilities caught a heap of fish fast stripping (and hanging) small mayfly nymphs last week.
Leeches, Chironomids, and Mayfly Nymphs will be key now, and Water Boatman and small Dragon Fly Nymphs are important for the next 7 weeks until the season ends.

East Lake water temperatures have gone into the safe zone I’d guess permanently for the rest of the season. 64-65 ish has been pretty much the afternoon high.
When the wind is calm the callibaetis have been good at the West End of the lake and some by the Hot Springs. Not as many that i’ve seen on the East end…
Good wind drifting this week for us on Intermediate lines especially over the 16 to 22 foot depth on Wooly Buggers with a Flashback PT trailed.
Chironomids have been ok. I’ve struggled finding any consistency on patterns myself. For me its a different fly or combination of flies every day. If there has been one consistency or trend though its a red one on the bottom about a size 16 and an #18 olive one suspended on the dropper tag about 5 feet above the bottom.

Crane Prairie is way better. Water temps have cooled there to make me want to go back. Some friends have been there and the reports I hear makes me want to be there now!
Balanced Leeches, Chironomids and Red 2 Bit Hookers have all been good under an indicator, and leeches and damsel nymphs stripped on a hover or intermediate line.

Hosmer is picking up again too. It got awfully warm during the heat wave and we quit fishing it for a bit. Damsels and Callibaetis are good, with a fair number of black caddis out too. Parachute Ants are awesome.
Fishing under an indicator with Balanced Leeches and Balanced Damsel Nymphs and Red Chironomids has been good in the Upper Lake and the Channel.

I’ve heard some interesting and good reports from the SW end of Davis Lake. Callibaetis and Damsels and Leeches. Big Rainbows. Have also heard about some good Bass fishing near the Lava. Poppers and Big Leeches.

I’ve also heard good reports on Wickiup near the dam for Bass over the logs and for Big Trout and Whitefish in the Deschutes Arm.

This is a tough one.

With the heat some of the lakes should not be fished at the moment in my opinion. I’d stay off Hosmer, Wickiup and Lava for sure until we get a cool down.
Crane Prairie is iffy, go in the morning or at least know where the cold water channels are and fish deep. Chironomids and Balanced Leeches and some Damsel Nymphs will be your best bet. Watch water temps. 69 or over stop and wait until the next morning. Start early and keep taking the temperature.

I’m seeing some good Bass fishing reports on Davis. Big Largemouth. Probably worth the effort. Not my area of expertise, but Travis here at the shop knows a lot about it and can help you if you need more info.
I’ve heard of some big rainbows in the Odell Channel but hard to catch. Watch water temps. Should be fine all day if you find the channel, but when it goes 69 or over I’d give the trout a break for sure.

East Lake was pretty good this week. It is important to get off the shoreline and out in the deeper water in the afternoons because the water temps near shore are going to 69 and in places 70. But once you are out in 15 feet of depth the surface temps are 67’ish and I measured water temps today down to 25 feet and each additional 5 feet you lose at least 1 to 2 degrees and once you’re down at 25 feet its 56 degrees.
This week we’ve had good success wind drifting Callibaetis nymphs starting in about 35 feet and drifting in to 15 feet. Also, fishing chironomids deep in about 18′ is quite good at times.
No dry fly fishing to speak of at all for me this week.

Hosmer I’d only recommend early in the morning or late afternoon to evening. It’s warm and we need a cool down on the lake. Damsels, Callibaetis and Caenis mayflies and some small Black Caddis are good, but pay attention to water temps, if it hits over 68 leave the fish alone and don’t handle the fish out of the water at all.

Crane and Lava are sucky. Wait.

East Lake was pretty hot this week, but all over the board on flies. Some days it’s callibaetis dries, and it can change from spinners, emergers or duns. Some days it can be all 3 which is great.
Winddrifting an intermediate line with 10′ of straight 5x tied to an Olive Flashback PT on the point and running a dropper of a Poxyback Callibaetis on the leader about 4 to 5 feet above the point fly. Also, both of those flies are great in shallow water stripping over the weed beds during the hatch.
This has been my best week of Chironomid fishing so far in 2018. I have often seen an uptick on the Chironomid action near and during August in years past. So this is consistent with what I’ve seen going on.
Ants have been good, as well as Beetles along the bank.
In the morning, we’ve been getting fish up on Midge Dries/Emergers.

Hosmer was a little off for us this week. Not bad, but not what it usually is.
What we are seeing is spotty callibaetis action mostly in the afternoon, good damsel action especially on nymphs, good black caddis in the evening, some traveling caddis  and Caenis mayflies at dark.
My Black Butte Callibaetis dry is a good searching fly as you move around the channel.

Crane was better this week, which was good to see. I had some friends and a co-worker up there and they were getting fish on Damsels, Balanced Leeches and Chironomids and caught some fat fish.

East Lake is good to very good. Expecting an East Wind the next 48 hours so that sucks. I moved my guide trips around to avoid it because I believe the East Wind is such a negative impact on the bite.
We’ve been seeing good callibaetis action all around the edges of the lake. Any side is good but I’m finding the best action from the Hot Springs down the east bank to the Cinder Hill corner. White Slide and East Lake CG areas have been strong too.
Good callibaetis nymph action under an indicator in 4 to 10 feet of water kind of any time of the day.
Seeing the most hatch activity around 11 AM to 1 PM. I haven’t been staying past 5, but I’ve heard in the evening about 7 or 8 it’s also good.
Chironomid action is on but not super strong. Be patient. July and August are great months for Chironomids. Look for them to be really good in 14 to 18′ of water.
We are getting plenty of Kokanee wind drifting on a type 3 with an Olive Flashback PT (no bead). They are chunky this year and fighting awesome.

Steve was at Lava Lake a couple of days ago and it was good. Callibaetis, Chironomids, Balanced Leeches, Hale Bopp Leech and Damsels are working up there.

Hosmer is good except for all the damn kayakers. Plenty of Callibaetis, some Big Traveling Sedges, Ants, Beetles, Damsels galore.
We are also catching fish static under an indicator with Balanced Leech, Balanced Damsel (HOT FLY!) and Red Chironomids.

I’m sorry I don’t have a current update for Crane. I haven’t been able to make it and haven’t had any friends going either.

East Lake was a touch slower for me last week. Not bad, just not on fire like it was a couple of weeks ago. Still a lot of Callibaetis and all stages from nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners have been productive.
Chironomid action has been ok. Some days good for an hour or so in the afternoon and other days barely any action with my best flies. Maybe its the moon cycle as we close in on Full?
One thing that has been consistent is the wind drift on a type 3 full sink with a Flashback PT. Lot’s of Kokanee on this rig.
Water temp hit 60 this week. That’s good.
Algae bloom last Friday & Saturday but much clearer on Monday.

Crane is having a significant Algae Bloom. Best fishing is in the Deschutes Channel with Chironomids and Balanced Leeches. Damsels are good too.

Hosmer is good. To avoid the kayak crowd, go early at 5 AM and stay to 10 or 11 and head back on the water at 3-7 PM and stay until dark. Callibaetis both times, but expect good damsel fishing in the late afternoon.
We’ve been getting fish on beetles and ants, balanced leeches and balanced & regular (shank) damsel nymphs and red chironomids.

East Lake

East Lake has been good for me this week and last week. One of the days I was up there was quite possibly the best callibaetis hatch day I’ve ever seen. We’ve also been getting fish on Red/Black and Olive/Red and Black/Gold Chironomids in about 16′ under an indicator. I haven’t seen any flying ants yet. Maybe not warm enough up at 6400 feet. But we’ve had some good beetle action along the banks. On breezy days fishing a Type 3 full sink with a Flashback PT, Black Bugger, and a tiny Red Thread Midge has been productive with a wind drift.

Hosmer Lake

Hosmer Lake has been good all thru the lakes and the channel. Good afternoon callibaetis hatches and good action with Balanced Damsels and Balanced Leeches under a bobber with a red chironomid or flashback PT as a dropper.

Crane Prairie Reservoir

Crane Prairie is good in the Deschutes Channel with Damsels and balanced leeches mostly, but a lot of days we are seeing good callibaetis hatches too. Of course the Chironomid under an indicator is a staple on Crane.