The Metolius continues to be our bread and butter, with cold spring water providing sanctuary for every creature in and around the river. What a gift.

Hatches remain the same as last weeks discussion. Golden Stones are primarily an upper river hatch still. They will spread out on the middle and lower river later in August as per usual. Norm Woods and Clarks Stones are the best!
PMD hatches are so important from the Nymph stages, through emergence, cripples, duns and finally rusty spinners at dusk.

• Brown Micro Mayfly,
• Split Case PMD,
• KD Dun,
• Half Down Dun,
• Knock Down Dun,
• Sparkle Dun,
• Film Critic,
• Comparaduns and either my Sunset Spinner or Rene Harrops CDC Biot Body spinner

are the flies you’ll need for this important summer hatch.

BWO’s are coming on near the hatchery pools and eddies about 5–7PM on a lot days. Again, a lot of the same flies from the nymph stage to the spinner stage should be important. My favorite three flies for the BWO hatch are a Film Critic, a KD Dun and a Purple Comparadun.

Caddis are coming off better and better, with an expected surge in more caddis in August coming too. X-Caddis, CDC Caddis, and Iris Caddis win the Metolius game mostly. Tans and Olive in #16-18 mostly, but keep an eye open for some really small “micro caddis” coming on in a charcoal or black body in the evening. #18-20.

Pink Lady and Ameletus are mayflies to keep an eye on. Look at last weeks report for more info on those two hatches and pick up some flies to match them, especially coming in to August.

Yellow Sally’s have been important. They range from a Size 12 to an 18, but I would say a 14 or 16 is the sweet spot for matching the hatch. Don’t be shy to trim hackle tight to the shank to create a low floater. SO many times I see yellow sally’s they are really struggling in the film and barely noticeable unless you get your face down at the waters edge to look.

Lake Runner Bull Trout have certainly arrived in the lower and middle river. Big fish require big rods and big flies. We’ve got some awesome Bull Trout rods from Echo and Redington for under $300 bucks. We just hate seeing people overplaying these big guys on a 6 weight.