Drakes and Flav’s in the afternoon from the Canyon to Below 99, also some good reports of Golden Stones all over the river from 99 to Tract C with the Clarks Stone taking some nice fish this week.
Today there were a lot of little olive stones on the water and fish were on them.
PMD, Mahogany Dun, BWO, lot’s of caddis will round it out for you to match what could be 8 to 12 different hatches throughout the day. A dry fly anglers dream….but some days very challenging to match. Yesterday the fish pounded drakes. Tuesday they preferred flav’s.
No better game to play than that in my opinion.

Have fun.

Flav’s (#14) and Fall Drakes (#10) are hatching along with Mahogany Duns (#16), PMD’s (#16) Baetis (#18-20).
Little Olive Stones are coming on with a vengeance this 4th day of September. Check out our new double wing stone and always have a few Hemingway’s or Henryville’s in a #18 on board. We find trimming the hackle flat on the bottom is usually what the fish like best.
Still quite a few stoneflies of the larger species out as well.
Caddis hatches are no slouch either. We love September hatches on the Metolius. Most of the fish we are getting are on these 3 patterns: Siddac #16, Iris Caddis #16-18 and the Missing Link #16-18.

Nymphing is fine but really with all these hatches in September I usually leave the nymph box behind.

Bull Trout fishing continues to be good (better than average) and you know the drill with the big white streamers on a 7 or 8 weight. I say what rod to fish because too many people show up to buy the flies and go “whoa, I can’t throw that with my 5 weight!” . No you can’t. You need a meat stick, so bring the power rod. Besides, some of these BT’s go 10 pounds or more.

Tina and I spent the afternoon on our favorite river and we ran into some good hatches near the hatchery.
The really good news was Flav’s were coming off and the fish were “drake taking” them from about 1:30 to 2:15-30’ish. Had the best success on the Flav Film Critic.

There were also a lot of PMD’s, Mahogany Duns, BWO’s and small Creamy Caddis #18-20.

In the evening look for #16 caddis (olive or tan) and Rusty Spinners #16-18 at dusk.

It won’t be long and we will see Fall Drakes!

Nymphing is still fantastic! Tons of action on Frenchies, Red Copper John, McGee’s Girdle, Zebra Midge, Caddis Pupa, Micro Mayfly and 2 Bit Hooker.

Bull Trout Fishing is really good. Big White Streamers are the bomb-diggity.

Bull Trout fishing is really good right now. We have been catching them (mostly in the mornings) on white streamers.

Trout fishing has also been quite good with Clarks Stones and PMD’s in the upper river, PMD’s, Yellow Sally’s, Caddis (galore), BWO’s and Rusty Spinners in the Middle and Lower river to the Candle Creek area.

No smoke, no fires…Metolius is a good bet right now.

Oh my gosh, from Golden Stones to PMD’s and Baetis and Caddis and Bull Trout it is happening out here.
We had an epic day on the upper river with Clarks Stones the other day.
Evening BWO and Caddis action is good with a pretty consistent Rusty Spinner Fall at Dusk!
Afternoon PMD’s and a larger Olive Caudatella Mayfly will bring the fish up for sure.
More Bull’s in the river now than normal and we think it’s because the lake is warm and has algae the fish took an early vacation. They wanna play on Big White Streamers so bring your 8 weight.

Plenty of hatches and lot’s of good nymphing now, and of course the freezing cold spring water is a welcome relief on hot summer days…for us and the trout! There is nothing better than the Metolius in the Summer.
Here’s a rundown of the hatches:
PMD #16 Keep an eye out from 11 AM to as late as 8 PM but expect the peak about noon to 3.
Rusty Spinners #16 could be out in the eddies and slow runs very early in the morning but your peak will be the last 20 to 30 minutes before dark.
Blue Wing Olives #18 are out again and we see them in the early evening as soon as the shadows hit the water and the humidity comes up.
Caddis. There are a bunch of caddis hatching but seems like Olive #16, Tan #16, Yellow #18 and Black #20. Caddis are going to be mostly evening but I wouldn’t hesitate to use a Siddac or Parachute caddis mid day.
Yellow Sally #16-18 are gorgeous little yellow stones that love the mid day heat. Fish them close to the banks anywhere on the river but especially in the upper river.
Golden Stones #8-12 are coming off so so in the upper river but the fish want to eat them and we continue to fish a Clarks Stone with good success. The stones are also coming off below Bridge 99 and we’ve had some reports of good fishing on the big bugs down there.

Nymph fishing is good with McGee’s Girdles as the point, and PMD nymphs, Micro May’s, Frenchies, Sparkle Pupa’s, Zebra’s and Lightning Bugs.
It’s been the most consistent fishing and is working on all stretches of the river.

Happy 4th of July. We are giving the trout no independence from our flies. Although one of our favorite flies is a Frenchie, but for this day we’ve names it the Freedom Fly.

This week we’ve seen better nymphing action than dry fly fishing. Maybe the heat? PMD hatches were a bit off, and evening caddis hatches were light. The one shining light was plenty more golden stones in the upper river bringing the fish up to the surface.

This is the time of year we get good afternoon PMD hatches usually sometime in the noon to 4 range, some BWO’s usually from about 6 PM to 8 PM and great Caddis hatches in the evening followed by Rusty Spinners at dusk. Let’s hope it all gets back on schedule this coming week.

By the way, a few nice Bull Trout are being caught on big streamers. Best results will come in the early morning hours.

Green Drakes are still on, most days coming about 3 PM now, but could be as late as 5.
PMD’s are picking up steam and there are more evening caddis hatches with this warm weather and more golden stone adults showing up now too. We’ve seen golden stones all over the river but where they become most important this time of year is up in the Lake Creek area and up thru the Tract C area.

The Green Drake hatch is impressive this year. I fished Sunday and had a really nice afternoon and Ben and Adam have been practically living out there for the Drakes!

We are also seeing a good number of PMD’s and smaller Caddis.
It’s been cold for several days so our evening spinner falls are not as intense but with warmer weather coming back this weekend I anticipate better rusty spinner action and better Iris caddis action too as the evening shadows hit the water.

Upper river fishing is also good with mostly just PMD’s so far, and a few caddis here and there. I’d focus on a heavy Rubber Legged Possie Bugger and run a Zebra Midge dropper or a PMD Split Case Emerger.