Good Hatches Throughout the Metolius River

Metolius River - Metolius Springs, OR (Jefferson County)


by The Fly Fishers Place
7-8-2024
Website

I am happy to report that the Metolius River is seeing good caddis hatches, mostly good hatches of PMD’s, some BWO’s, more and more Golden Stone Adults, Midges, Yellow Sally’s and keep an eye out as we cross in to the “mid-July” time, as we often begin seeing isolated hatches of Salmonflies around Bridge 99 and Wizard Falls and ever see a few mixed with the Goldens up by the Camp Sherman area. 
As always, we recommend transitional flies: Does it look crippled? Or is it representing an emerging state? Is it an egg layer, laying spent on the water after incredible sex high above the ponderosa pines? 😉 Ask yourself, does the fly I am using need an Advil or a Marlboro, and if the answer is yes, you’re on the right track to fool picky spring creek trouts. 
Have you read Kelly Gallop’s book Cripples & Spinners? It’s a good one and he proves the effectiveness of these flies working better more often than traditional adult patterns. 
But heck, maybe you want to skip the dry fly action, or you’re fishing when the hatch or spinner fall isn’t going to happen and you want to concentrate on nymphs. Good news, nymph fishing, both Euro style and indicator work will get it done. Golden Stone Nymphs, Caddis Pupa, Zebra Midges, Frenchie, Rainbow Warrior, Jigs and Perdigons and 2 Bit Hookers have been excellent nymphs on our end. The good news is you can nymph and find fish anytime of the day, but the dry fly action comes in waves and may only last a short while on some days. 
Last week the reports from my Bull Trout Crew was that they were a little harder to find. Seems weird to me since it was apparent that a lot of fish filtered out of the lake and up the river and I am sure they didn’t go back down. Keep looking and fishing the big streamers and you’ll do well. The best Bull Trout fishing of the year is ahead of us and we’ve got the streamers to make it happen.