The Metolius River is always our #1 report and the fact that every single FFP staff member loves the river and fishes there often is why we can offer good reports there week after week.
Hatches are slowing down a little but keep looking for BWO’s and Caddis every day it is above freezing for the winter months. CInygmula hatches are sporadic and probably going to end their consistent daily emergences quite soon. But in a spring creek like the Metolius a warm December day can put them back on the menu for an hour or so, and the same applies to PMD’s mixed with the more ubiquitous Blue Wing Olives. I have fished a PMD at the Idiot Hole above Wizard Falls on December 4th and took fish on a PMD Film Critic while it happened. Spring Creeks are strange, but the Metolius is downright mysterious.
October Caddis will be important every day from now to April, and soon the 2 smaller cousins of the big Orange caddis #8 will emerge as another couple of options to match. The Silver Stripe Sedge and Snow Sedge (Sedge is synonymous term for Caddis and commonly used in the UK). These smaller Orange/Amber caddis ar #12 commonly, and are important throughout the winter in the Pupa stage and in the Adult stage as a searching dry. Orange Elk Hair Caddis, Stimulator, Clarks, Goddard and the Orange Missing Link are patterns to add to the list. For smaller caddis this week grab some Weiss’s in both the grey and tan, tan Iris and Corn Fed Caddis and make sure you have tan pupa to present as a nymph on a dead drift or a swing.
In the winter there are always some eggs in the drift, kokanee are done, but whitefish are getting going on the winter spawn, brown trout and bull trout are fall spawners and rainbows will begin to propagate over the winter. Eggs are important protein and a good nymph to have day to day now.
Stonefly nymphs are also really important, especially #8-12 Golden Stones. #6 Black stones have their day to shine too, and the fish are used to seeing them, but if you fish the Met in the Summer and Fall you are aware the Salmonfly population is way way way smaller than the Golden Stone population and that makes the Golden Stone nymphs the top choice 365, and especially so in December and January when a lot of the mayfly nymphs are in tiny, early instar phases and not as available in the drift.
I overheard part of a conversation on the phone at work the other day about Green Rock Worms, the free living caddis larva that ranges in color from bright green to olive. Species of caddis that do not build cases and specifically fall in to the Green Rock Worm name are Rhyacophila. Also look at Free Living larva that build a feeding “net” in front of their habitat on the rocks and add Hydropsyche and Chematopsyche. No cases either, so “free living” (who doesn’t desire that, man!) and it is not a bad idea to put them in the box as they become part of the biological drift throughout the winter months as they graze the bottom of the river until they need to move/drift downstream for greener pastures. Rhyacophila rappel down river and use a silken string to move, but I imagine that fails often enough and they really go adrift. It is easy to get more excited about the Pupa, because on a day to day basis there are Pupa in the drift, and with the larva, in terms of biological drift that only happens every so often. But if you are on the river on the right day with a Green Rock Worm and that drift is occurring, you’ll be happy you knew another arrow was available in your quiver.
All the standard Euro Nymphs like Walts, Perdigon’s of many colors and bead sizes plus PT’s, Blue Prince, 20 Incher, Zebra Midges in both Black and Red and Rainbow Warriors will be good this week (and next).
Some amazing Bull Trout have been landed recently and are being found on Euro Jig streamers in the pools and logs, and with big articulated streamers stripping or swinging them, usually on a sink tip.