The Metolius, is fishing well

Metolius River - Metolius Springs, OR (Jefferson County)


by The Fly Fishers Place
2-5-2023
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The Metolius, is fishing well.
There are good afternoon Blue Wing Olive hatches (mostly 18’s, keep in mind some of the BWO’s that hatch in winter have really tall wings and can look like a #16, but close examination of the body will confirm a #18 is still the best match)
Fish will need to be given choices using cripples, emergers and duns, depending on the weather and the day. I always like Knock Down Duns, KD Duns, Film Critics, Smokejumpers, K Fly’s, Sparkle Duns, Purple Comparaduns and CDC Parachutes in my boxes.
October Caddis in size #8 and Silver Stripe Sedge #12-14 are prevalent now and will be well into spring. We always recommend Orange Pupa, but large Orange Adult Caddis are great searching flies that often get crushed later in the afternoon.
This is the time of year when other small to mid-size morsels can work their way into the feeding patterns of trout on the Metolius. Little Black Stones, usually fished as an adult, Midges (often as tiny as a #22 or smaller) fished as a larva, pupa or adult. My last trip to the Metolius (sadly way back in December before Christmas) I used a CDC Midge Emerger for 2 nice rainbows on top. You’ll see smatterings of Grey Caddis about a #14-16, maybe some larger random stoneflies and the fish ought to always be happy to eat the pupa of the caddis and nymphs of the stones in about a size #10.
Bull Trout fishing remains very good, with good results on nymphs and streamers for my friends who’ve been putting in the time for these predators lately.