Jeff's Fishing Updates August 17th, 2024 — The Fly Fishers Place (2024)

Other than the predicted afternoon thunderstorm today, we are sitting pretty here in Central Oregon with the weather. We had a cold day on the lakes Thursday where we had to bundle up a bit, but the good news is the persistent heat wave has faded away and now we just have gorgeous fishing weather and nice days with cool nights in the forecast. I am very excited and optimistic about the fishing coming up this week. Will the Full Moon affect the bite? That is hard to know, but last summer during the August full moon I was in the middle of an East Lake binge and the fishing was great. The “sturgeon moon” is 2 nights away on 8/19/24 and we can all hope this “fish moon” will influence all the fish to be happy and hungry.

Paulina Lake is also a good one, and I am always amazed at how different it is compared to East Lake. The dry fly fishing is not entirely made up of terrestrials now, but leaning hard that way with a little bit of mayfly action mixed in, and some dry fly midges getting fish looking up on calm mornings.
Chironomids and Balanced Leeches, Red 2 Bits, Black/Red Double Down and Callibaetis Cate are great nymphs to hang under the indicator in deep water 8 feet to 18′, or along the ledges from 7 to 10′ or so. The Balanced Leeches I like best are Brown with a Hot orange Bead and a very small Black leech with some red flash in the tail and a gold bead. I also like the Watermelon Leech over the weed beds, but the other 2 I like to fish the rocky structure with those colors.
Over the sand/marl flats now is a good time to use the Blonde Leech with an Intermediate Line stopped or on an indicator with a slow retrieve.
Just like at East Lake, fast sinking lines for a Dangle in 20 to 30 feet (or more) is good, and Type 3 and 5 lines to strip flies in deeper water is a smart way to approach the lake too. I use these to add to what we are doing throughout the day if the bite isn’t magnificent on any one thing. Grabbing a rod with a Type 5 out the rack and stripping a leech near the deep drop off’s is a smart way to add a fish to the net and if done over the course of a day in the right places it can add several fish to the end of day total you might not have seen otherwise. Moral of the story, experiment and have a plan to mix it up and that goes for all of your fly fishing days, not just at Paulina.

Hosmer Lake this week again was dressed to impress. Wednesday Skip and Mile were in the boat and I would say it was the best day I have ever seen at Hosmer. We fished all Upper Lake, but the lower lake is now in the safe zone for water temps and is worth fishing again.
Callibaetis Cate and Red Holographic Jigs were best under the indicator, and Harrop’s Callibaetis Nymph stripped on a Hover was outstanding. This is a final brood of mayflies and they are getting smaller, which is why I chose harrow’s nymph as a better choice to match the naturals.
Scuds and Waterboatman are showing up in the throat pump samples.
The week before was damsel city, and this week there were not many around. IDK, seems early to be done done, but maybe….
Ants and Beetles are good dries if the Callibaetis are not on. These callibaetis are very dark bodied and the Extended Body Cut Wing or Black Butte Callibaetis are 2 I’d choose for the dun. Harrop’s Captive and a Sparkle Pupa are 2 I’d have to round out the mayfly’s.

Crane Prairie is fishing really well and I can’t wait to get back there. I know our friend Keith went 2 days ago and did well on a Chromie he learned to tie at Phil Rowley’s tying clinic 2 weeks ago at FFP.
Besides Chromies, try Red Ice Cream Cones and Black Ice Cream Cones, Blood Worms, Water Boatman, Damsels, Leeches, Red 2 Bit Hookers and Black/Red Double Down. On an intermediate line, try a washing line with a Booby on the point and a Damsel Nymph on the Tag. If you are up to 3 flies (spread them 3 or 4 feet apart) a Leech, or Callibaetis nymph is good to mix in, and a Scud or Prince Nymph is a good choice too. The Booby will keep the other flies from getting in the weeds too often. Pick up the pace on the strip regardless.
The Deschutes Channel is a good starting point, but fish are being caught at Rock Creek, Quinn from the license plates to the last buoy at the ramp and Cultus.

I had good to very good reports from both Lava and Little Lava recently. Callibaetis hatches, Chironomid Pupa and Balanced Leeches. Last year at this exact week I guided my good friend Skip there and we also caught fish on Hoppers on the North End and had good Bobber Down action on the West Reed Line with Orange Beaded Bruised Balanced Leeches. It is great to hear it is repeating seasonally and that water temps have dropped to get the fish active and safe.
Our old friend Coach Tim was at Little Lava and Purple Haze for 14 to 18″ Rainbows was the ticket this week.

The latest on Three Creek Lake for you! It really picked up again with an excellent Callibaetis hatch sometime from 3 to 6. Look for Spinners to be in the mix then too. That Creamy-White Extended Body has been awesome.
From noon on, get in early with a nymph on an intermediate or hover line, as the first bugs pop, switch to the 3 or 5 foot sink tips and then to a floating line as the rises increase.
Good fishing with Balanced Leeches (Bruised with a Hot Orange Bead has been a standout) and fish them on a Hover and strip the leech, or on a floating line with an indicator and hang on the drop off zone off the shore form the Store. Look for the boulders and where it drops off from there.
Beetles, Ants and Hippie Stompers are great. Sheep Creek Special, Flashback PT, Damsel Bugger with either the Chartreuse Bead or the Orange Bead, and Brown Flash-a-Buggers ought to fill your boxes for a trip there this week.

RIVERS REPORT

The Metolius River was great for some, and tough (bewildering might be a better term) for others. Gavin//Camp Sherman Dad was out this week and had very good afternoon PMD hatches and used the “one wing wonder” also known ad the KD Dun #16 Yellow. Besides that he was using a Soft Hackle PT he tied with really good success as a dry/dropper rig.
I am usually not a fan of a dry/dropper on the Met, as I worry about drag, but Gavin and old Trout Dirty himself (Aaron from the shop) might be changing me mind on that front. They both do dry/dropper rigs and catch fish.
For me, I typically like and fish a 16 to 20 foot leaders for #12-22 dry flies, with 5x, 6x and 7x tippet on the fine dry flies, so I’ll need to adjust that set up to hang a bead head PT behind my dry.
The Yellow Micro Caddis have not exploded yet, but are showing signs of life. #20 Tan Elk Hair, and a yellow Iris Caddis are the 2 I like. Also starting to see more #14-16 Tan Caddis, #16-18 Olive Stones and more BWO’s. Things I expect to see more of really soon: Mahogany Duns #16, Ameletus #14 olive mayfly, Salmonflies here and there with short burst of important or unimportant hatches all over the river.
In about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks the Flav’s and Fall Green Drakes and Giant Willow Flies will be in the mix, as well as the 1st October Caddis of the year which we usually see in late August near Bridge 99. Big Orange Pupa is the fly of choice.
Bull Trout Fishing is good, right now mostly on big streamers including our triple articulated leeches, the Milkshake, Dolly Llama, Sparkle Minnow and Circus Peanut. Also, smaller Euro Jig Streamers like the Sir Mix a Lot is a great choice.
Plenty of good nymphing hours during the day. We’ve been hitting it with Euro flies for the most part.
And don’t forget about good days with the Golden Stone Hatch on the river from the Riverside CG to Gorge and even some in the Canyon and around the Hatchery and Bridge 99.

The Crooked River is our Gem. PMD hatches are great, and bringing fish up to the dry fly at least a couple of hatch cycles per day. We’ve seen the first hatch in the morning around 9 or 10 and again later in the afternoon about 2 to 4. Have not heard about the evening, but would guess it is caddis and rusty spinner time.
Nymphing is outstanding !

The Fall River is almost always a good place to fish in the area and holds a special place in my heart from all the memories made there since the early 80’s. It’s way more crowded these days but I encourage folks to go early in the morning or after 3 and stay to dusk and that is way better.
Hatches have been good most days with Tan Caddis #14-16, Olive-Gray Caddis #16, PMD #16, Midges #22, Yellow Sally and Olive Stones #16-18 plus Ants, Beetles and Grasshoppers working on the surface.
Euro jig Streamers and Perdigons are excellent, I would also use an Olive Hares Ear, Zebra Midge, Tungsten Micro Mayfly in Brown #16 and Olive #18-20 and Black #20 or a 2 Bit with the same size and color range as discussed with the Micro May’s. Egg’s and Mop Flies are often overlooked in the summer but they are good flies for the Fall River fish, and should be in the fly box.

The McKenzie River is going to be one I will report on tomorrow or monday after I see what this huge thunderstorm does to the flows….. Last week it was excellent fishing. The next few days may be high and muddy but let’s wait and see. If it does blow out I think it will be brief, like a day or 2 before quickly clearing and going back to normal.

The Lower Deschutes is another I am concerned with Shiitake Creek at Warm Springs and the Warm Springs River and Trout Creek runoff. We will see in the morning what happens but I know Mt Hood got one hell of a storm and that is drainage to the Lower Deschutes from some of its slopes.
Again, last week on the Deschutes the fishing was very good, and we saw great hatches of Caddis and PMD’s and clients had amazing nymph fishing during the day. I’ll also update the conditions for the Lower D as soon as I know tomorrow.

The Middle Deschutes is fishing pretty good in the mornings around Bend and Tumalo down to Cline Falls on Euro Nymphs, and in the evening on X Caddis, Purple haze, PMD, PED and Rusty Spinners.

With the cooler weather I like the opportunities the Upper Deschutes from Wickiup down to Bull Bend offers. Hoppers, PMD’s, Ants and BWO’s. I also like to fish streamers up there and work the banks. Nymphing is ok, but the weeds make cleaning flies a frequent occurrence.

The Headwaters Stretch of the Upper Deschutes is nice fishing with a Chubby or Hopper and a Perdigon dropper. Look for pockets that are deeper water and run a Euro nymph through it. Usually good Whitefish numbers if you know were to look.

See you on the water or in the shop! Thanks as always for reading my reports and supporting the process.

Jeff

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