So far there have not been many Green Drakes on the Metolius River. Not none, but not many, and the ones that have been spotted have mostly been in the lower river below Bridge 99. I saw one “drake take” in the Canyon a few days ago, but did catch one fish on a green drake nymph, and another on a small green beetle and missed a good fish on a tan cdc caddis.
For the last several years green drake hatches have come on earlier, and by mid-May usually going quite well. So this week should be telling to see if that trend holds steady or if we wait and see if by Memorial Day it is going strong.
My freind and very well respected local angler Chester Allen was also on the river and commented that he saw trout “flashing” deep and suspected drake nymphs in the drift, so he tied one on and had immediate success.
This is a period of good PMD and Caddis hatches from now until about the 4th of July you can expect some great opportunities to fish dries, emergers and nymphs for these two huge food sources.
PMD’s run a size 16 and the nymphs are brown and depending on the time of day and the stage of the hatch, or how close a nymph is to becoming a dun you might fish a tungsten jig deep in the drift, or a brass bead PT mid column, a soft hackle near the film, an emerger or cripple on top of the film, a dun on a perfect dead drift with your 12′ 6x Suppleflex or Finesse Leader with an added 2 feet of 6x nylon tippet (this is your hint!) and if you stay to dark you get the last chance risers on a rusty spinner. PMD’s define summer for me. Drakes are exciting and are my favorite hatch, but PMD’s just keep it special, and in a way relaxed for many months on the Metolius.
And how about all the caddis? The Metolius is an absolute factory for caddis, in fact Gary Lafontaine in his groundbreaking book Caddisflies has several references to our favorite river and the caddis the live there. While caddis are so diverse, from now until August when the massive hatches of micro caddis begin you can count on #14 nd #16 in tan and olive. It is important to show the fish pupa patterns as nymphs, and during the day or evening whether you see rising trout or not, a pupa is a darn good nymph for the Metolius. An Iris caddis is an interesting fly, it is a dry fly, and it floats in the film but is surprisingly visible and an curious design as the “wing” of the fly is not an anatomical feature of an insect as most flies are tied, but is an aura of light with a gas bubble in the pupal skin at emergence. X Caddis is the next step, the pupal shuck is defined by the Z Lon tail but the rest of the fly looks like a hackle less elk hair caddis, and that no hackle fly sits down low in the film fooling a trout to believe it is not getting away any time soon. Adult caddis for the Metolius in my fly boxes are typically low floaters, or I make them low floaters with the scissors on my swiss army knife and trim the hackle flat on the bottom to get them to sit on the water in a way I believe the trout prefer. Corn Fed Caddis, Henryville, Hemingway, CDC Caddis, Fin Fetcher and even an Elk Hair with the haircut is a good bet.
By a long shot the nymphing action has been more productive lately on the Metolius. Being in the right place during a hatch is great, but who knows if your session will include a good hatch and willing risers? I think it is essential to carry a nymph rod and a dry fly rod now.
On the nymph side besides the caddis pupa and PMD’s and of course I mentioned green drake nymphs, add golden stones (!!!) Zebra Midges, eggs, rainbow warriors, red copper johns, soft hackle PT and non beaded yellow soft hackles. Try a fun evening of working a section swinging a #14 or #16 yellow soft hackle on a 12′ 5x leader. An old freind who used to live near the river would do that and it produces fish for sure. He’d take his old fiberglass Fenwick to the river for this for an added bit of fun, but a Euro Nymph 10′ 3 weight with a WF 3 line is an even better choice.