The Metolius was great this week for Sequoia and our friend Megan. They both had some really good nymph action earlier this week and Sequoia had the dream day with catches of a Brown, Rainbow, Bull and Whitefish all in the same day. I am jealous. That is a dream and such a good day to land a super slam on the river. Euro Nymphing is awfully productive on the river, and that’s exactly the approach that Sequoia and Megan took to have such a good day. If you are not applying some time to the Euro techniques on our rivers you need to be.
The Metolius being the Metolius: here is another story that reminds us of the up’s and downs on the river we love (to hate) (**not really, haha). To protect the innocent, names shall not be used, but a really key shop guy who is in his 20’s who a lot of you enjoy talking to got blanked this week. He was focused on the Bull’s but still. It is a hard river and one I expect to get skunked on from time to time too.
There was a really good BWO and Midge hatch going this week on the warm afternoons, and for the most part the fish were looking to eat them in the soft spots in the river.
October Caddis Pupa, Tan Caddis Pupa, Eggs, Perdigons (in Purple, Blue, Olive or Brown) are great, Golden Stonefly Nymphs, Zebra Midges, Red Lightning Bugs, 2 Bit Hookers and Blue Psycho Prince. You can fish these Euro Style, Indicator Style, or with a Drop Shot.
It is going to be a wet Christmas week with on and off heavy showers. Experience shows us that often a rain induced freshet can stir the Bull’s up and make them want to eat more aggressively. I’ve seen it happen on a slightly rising river time after time. Yesterday, our Chief of Security at FFP (Eric) caught a really nice Bull on a Sculpin in quite a shallow spot near the banks. So if the river doesn’t come up with the rains, keep that in mind too that not all the bulls reside in the deep spots.
There is no doubt about the fact the Metolius is such a cool river whether you are catching them or not. Right Mattias? PS- you’re in good company with me (jeff) as I get blanked on the Met 1 or 2 or 3 times a year it seems.