The Metolius River is in great shape and over the course of the week there were a lot of good days and moments reported to me. I was unable to enjoy it for myself as planned and hoped for. Business and mom stuff took away from a free afternoon, but that is okay. Both are very worth it.
I live vicariously through so many wonderful friends and anglers some of these weeks.
Mattias, Gavin, Joey, Chester, Eric and Phil were all kind to share with all of us their experiences this week which was a whole lot of nymph action and very little dry fly catches but there were some.
Remember the river is open below Allingham Bridge and closed up to the headwaters until 5/22/26 and there is plenty of good water to find and spread out in now.
So far the hatches have been Blue Wing Olives #18, Cinygmula #16, March Browns #14, October Caddis #8-10 (they are tapering down but usually keep going well enough until May in most years), Tan Caddis #16 and Grey Caddis #14-16 and Midges #20-22. This weather today sprouted a few flying Carpenter Ants along the river. If it holds for another day or two, on Tuesday and Wednesday carry a #12 Flying Ant to the river for sure. We are all still expecting Pale Morning Duns to pop soon. I thought it might happen early with the warmth we had, then of course last week was quite cool for several days. Who knows for sure, but it could have delayed the PMD’s a bit, but in any case it is pretty normal for them to be hatching well in April. As always, fish the cycle of every hatch, nymph, emergers (pupa as a caddis or midge), cripples, adults and spent egg layers.
The very best flies this past week were Eggs, Stonefly Nymphs, Green Drake Nymphs (the Peacock/Olive TJ Hooker and the Jig 20 Incher), Perdigons and Caddis Pupa.
There were some super good Bull Trout caught over the week, mostly on streamers. Some good kid in an orange jacket scored this one