The Metolius is fishing quite well on a variety of nymphs and dries throughout the day. In the Upper River from the Headwaters to about Gorge Camp Ground, nymphing a golden stone is important as the hatch will start in about 3 weeks or so. The nymphs get active before the hatch and start moving towards shore. There are a good number of small caddis hatching in the Upper stretch too, so pupa patterns in #14-16 will cover most of what will be in the drift prior to the hatch. For Adult Caddis, stock your box with #16-18 Tan and Olive patterns. CDC Caddis, X Caddis and Iris Caddis are some great ones.
There are also a good number of PMD’s getting more active so you’ll want nymphs (split case PMD #16), emergers (Brooks Sprout, Film Critic, Klinkhammer and Sparkle Dun #16) and duns (comparaduns and parachutes #16). Rusty Spinners will round you out for the final stage of the PMD hatch.
Keep your eyes open for Blue Wing Olives and approach that hatch the same way as I mention for the PMD’s with all stages potentially important. Summer Baetis (BWO’s) are usually a #20 for a match.
The Middle River from the Canyon down to the Lower Bridge add Green Drakes to the box for sure. We are seeing Drakes as big as a size 8, but a #10 is usually the sweet spot for matching the hatch. Middle River caddis and PMD’s are the same as what you’ll see upstream near Camp Sherman.
The Lower River, at least from Bridge 99 to Candle Creek CG is fishing the same as the Middle stretch, but with a high probability of a stronger Drake hatch at this time.
We’ve been seeing great success on euro nymphing techniques all over the river.