The Metolius River is fishing well

Metolius River - Metolius Springs, OR (Jefferson County)


by The Fly Fishers Place
7-25-2025
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The Metolius River is fishing well and it depends on the time of day and the area of the river you choose what you’ll find so let me break down some ideas for you along with times and areas, so you know what to expect this week. 
I’ll move from top to bottom:
The headwaters stretch is a brilliant piece of water in mid-summer and now is no exception. I personally love to roll through here with my euro nymphing rod and a Purple Perdigon or an Olive or Natural Walts Worm with a Gun Metal Bead and a Fluorescent Orange Hot Spot. The Fat Ass Caddis and PT’s are also high on the list! During my time on this water, I’ll look for PMD hatches (try a Flag Dun and Sparkle Dun and Film Critic), and late afternoon and evening Caddis hatches (usually up here a #16 or 18 Tan or Olive pattern will be best. Try X Caddis, Missing Link’s, Iris, Corn Fed and Henryville Caddis) 
My favorite thing about the upper river is the constant trickle of Golden Stones in July, August and September. Now is the time to capitalize that and fish a Clarks Stone or Norm Woods Special, often near the banks, but this is small water fish will often sit in the mid-river pockets too. While you’re up there remember the Jig Streamers! 
Once you get down to the Camp Sherman Store area and from there to the Gorge Campground the hatches are about the same as the upper headwaters but look for more BWO’s and try some Parachute Adams #16 and Purple Haze #16-18 as searching dries. Some of the pools and runs are perfect for deeper nymphing and a Golden Stone pattern is a top choice with a Tan Caddis Pupa dropper. 
The Middle River from the Canyon to Bridge 99 is good early morning for Bull Trout. You can fish this in a lot of ways, but getting on the water early is the most important part of it right now. Nymph with a Euro Jig Streamer, or swing a big articulated one. Camp Sherman Dad at the shop got some nice fish this week with White and Olive/White streamers.  You can also jig a streamer along the banks and log jams (usually with something black!) and have good chances for success. 
During the mid-day the PMD hatches will pop for a bit each day, usually between noon and 3, but on the Met I never use a hatch time for a guarantee to coincide with my watch. It happens when it happens. In the late afternoon as the sun goes off the water the #20-22 BWO’s will begin to hatch. In the evening, we always hope to see the tan summer caddis in enough numbers to get the fish excited too. I suppose they are always excited about the pupa, and drifting a Tan Pupa deep is never a bad idea, but I always have a strong desire to see them feeding on emergers and adults at the surface! Finally Rusty Spinners will come to the water to lay eggs at dusk and that is our final opportunity to see rising fish. Until tomorrow….
From Lower Bridge CG to Candle Creek CG has the same hatches as the Middle River and is a coin toss as to which access point you want to start from. You may find better dry fly fishing through here now. 
Here are a few other things to pay attention to, because sometimes B-Roll ends up stealing the show. Yellow Sally’s and Little Olive Stones. Micro Caddis… I don’t think the main hatch is coming from another 2 weeks but when it happens in it gets a lot of attention! A lesser-known olive mayfly called an Ameletus. A #12-14 Olive Haze is a great fly here. Midges are too easy to miss and discount as the fly the fish are not eating, but that isn’t always the case so put a few Hi-Viz Griffiths Gnats in your dry fly box. Yellow Soft Hackles can be nymphed, swung as a wet fly or greased with floatant and fished as a dry fly. I’ve also done well with a Purple Soft Hackle here. When Euro Nymphing a deep slot, a Tan Fat Ass Caddis with a PMD Softmerger on the dropper tag is a great summer combo. Try it. Those Softmergers are in the PMD section towards the top and don’t get enough attention because everyone just thinks it’s a weird dry fly, but for a few years I used it with more success as a nymph a described above. 




More Reports

The Fly Fishers Place Reports
for Saturday, July 19th

Metolius River: Great time of year on the Metolius!
Deschutes River- Lower: Strong evening caddis hatches
Deschutes River: The Middle Deschutes will be a fun morning
Deschutes River- Upper: Ants and Beetles are a great idea!
Fall River: The Fall River is fishing well
Crooked River: The Crooked River is a top choice
McKenzie River: Summer days on this river are special
Hosmer Lake: Lots of cool things happening!
Little Lava Lake: Little Lava Lake is a top choice
East Lake: East Lake is good
Paulina Lake: Paulina Lake is fishing good
Three Creek Lake: Three Creeks Lake is always a favorite

East Lake water temps along the shoreline
East Lake

7-14-2025
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