Metolius River Fish Report for 5-31-2025
The River is in Perfect Condition
Metolius River - Metolius Springs, OR (Jefferson County)

by The Fly Fishers Place
5-31-2025
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It would be a rare report that I didn’t start on our home river, the Metolius. So here we are again, with Lupine blooming, summer hatches in full swing and the river in perfect condition.
It is the heart of Green Drake season, with a good 3 to 3 1/2 weeks left of the big mayflies still to come. Drakes are equally spread out from Canyon Creek to Candle Creek (for our fishing access points perspective, but we realize some of you bushwhack further and good on ya!)
Drake nymphs have been very good from about 11 AM to 3 PM. The Tungsten 20 incher nymph is one we are stocked up on as it is a fabulous match for the Drunella Grandis Nymphs in the drift pre hatch.
Hatch times have been mostly around 4 PM, but could be as early as 2 and as late as 6 PM. Stick with it, and certainly prospect your emergers and duns even if you are not seeing a big hatch. Believe me, the fish want to eat these big mayflies every afternoon even if the hatch is not as strong as it was yesterday. See, you should have been here yesterday. HAHAHA.
PMD hatches are in full swing and will be great for the whole month of June. Fish the cycle of the hatch with nymphs, emergers, cripples, duns and rusty spinners, which come back to the river for the egg laying flight at dusk. The hatch itself will usually see 2 emergences per day now, usually one mid afternoon that happens an hour or so before the Drakes, and look for more to hatch after dinner for a brief time too.
There are still a few BWO’s hatching to be important on a daily basis, especially in the early evening now.
Summer Caddis activity is heating up and fish want to eat the emergers and adults during the hatch times that usually occur after dinner. Fishing Tan or Olive Caddis Pupa as a nymph throughout the day will be a smart choice on any day you choose to fish one. Fat Ass Caddis, and my new Improved FAC with the Pink Bead are the best 2 to tie on, but a Sparkle Pupa and Prairie Dog Pupa are damn fine flies too, and if you are a follower of Gary Lafontaine you know why these are effective with the appearance of a gas bubble that occurs naturally in the real pupa!
I would guess that in the next 7 to 10 days the upper river will begin seeing the 1st Golden Stones of the year, so you know the nymphs are crawling towards the banks already. You have the queue now, fish Golden Stone Nymphs from Riverside CG to Gorge CG because of their increasing activity pre-hatch.
Right now we are seeing a ton of little stoneflies, both Yellow Sallies and Little Olive Stones. We are seeing so many more of these smaller stones hatching that we recently expanded our fly selection to accommodate the importance of both.
We’ve already talked about drake nymphs, pmd nymphs, caddis pupa, and stonefly nymphs, so you are tuned in on the nymph game, but for those of you walking the river with your Euro Nymphs you are going to do really well. Perdigons in a variety of colors, especially Olive or Brown, but Yellow and Orange and even Pink will be good. Think about your bead size for gaining depth and drift when considering which nymph you choose in which water. Frenchies and Walts Worms and Duracells are 3 others to use. The Duracell is offered in Purple and also in Orange, and both are worth fishing on any day of the year on the Met.
You’d change your tactics a lot, but you could literally start at Sunrise (5:25 AM) to Sunset (8:43 PM) and have good potential at any given time right now. This is a special period on the river, I think only eclipsed in September for the quality of the fishing, so get it done and enjoy it.
More Reports
The Fly Fishers Place Reports
for Tuesday, May 27th
Hosmer Lake: Fishing is very good
Crane Prairie Reservoir: Crane Prairie is getting a bloom
Three Creek Lake: Three Creeks is still snowed in!
The Fly Fishers Place Reports
for Saturday, May 24th
Metolius River: The Green Drake hatch is the talk of the town!
Deschutes River- Lower: Go enjoy that summertime small dry game!
Deschutes River: Enjoy the last days of fishing big flies
Deschutes River- Upper: Positive Reports From the Upper Deschutes
Crooked River: The Crooked River is so good!
Fall River: The Fall River is fishing well
McKenzie River: The McKenzie is good
East Lake: Good reports of fish near the edges
Paulina Lake: Paulina Lake is off to a good start
Crane Prairie Reservoir: Crane Prairie is starting to bloom a bit
North Twin Lake: Light Hatches at North Twin
South Twin Lake: South Twin is a good bet for tubes and pontoon boats
Three Creek Lake: Three Creek Lake has no access yet

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