The Metolius River is good most afternoons with a mixing of mayfly hatches including #20-22 Blue Wing Olives, #16-18 Cinygmula’s and #16 PMD’s. All of these hatches will get the fish fired up between noon and 3 most days. For whatever reason, somedays the hatch is on fire and there are few fish looking up, and others days the hatch is a trickle and the the fish want to eat every single one of them. I love the game. For all 3 mayflies you want nymphs, emergers, cripples, duns and spinners. I can’t tell you how many times I ended a hatch session on the Met and looked at my foam fly patch after changing flies to either keep fooling, or finally fool a fish. A dozen fly changes is not unheard of, and if I recall, my record was 19 fly changes one afternoon. Things that I consider when changing the fly: Am I matching the right hatch? It’s not uncommon to not realize there is another fly present when we get focused on the “should be’s”. Is the emerger profile laying flat on the surface (floating nymph) or half down and half up (film critic and winger), has the emergence gone poorly? (kd dun with one wing, or knock down dun with 2 wings. That makes a difference some times, but usually for me it is about durability and how well it floats where I am casting the crippled patterns). Emerging further along? (sparkle dun). Duns are easy to match, but sometimes how they float for the water type where they land is important. (comparadun and parachutes are my first choices). Spinners. I think there is not a more important phase of the hatch to match size than on the egg layers. For the Metolius and frankly a lot of Western streams, rust #14-20, light olive #16-22, yellow #14-16, pale cream #16-20 would match 95% of the mayfly spinner falls you’ll encounter not counting bigger mayflies like March Browns and Drakes found locally.

There have been a whole bunch of October Caddis hatching all over the river, from Allingham to Candle Creek. We’ve been seeing better than average takes on adults so don’t forge to grab a #12 Clarks or #8-10 Stimulator. The reason the Clark’s is a smaller size is it’s and extended wing, so the hook size is smaller but the body and wing extend pas the hook bend giving an appearance of a larger bug. My new Fat A$$ October Caddis pupa with the light ping tungsten beads are beginning to really fire up. Try some.

Grey #12-14 and Tan #16 Caddis are out and about and make a good searching dry fly, and a top nymph choice for the pupa’s.

Eggs, Perdigon’s, PCP, Rainbow Warrior, Blue Psycho Prince, Zebra Midges in both Black and Red, Red Ice Cream Cone, Golden Stones from size 6 to 12 and small streamers like a Mini Gulp and Slum Lord. Check out our new colors of Slum Lords next time you’re headed to the shop, and a lot of other new articulated streamers we brought in the mix for your Bull Trout enjoyment.
Bull Trout fishing is over all good, and that includes huge articulated streamers, eggs & euro jig streamers. It’s a good time to be on the river.