The Metolius is fishing pretty well. April historically is a funny month with some slowing of things between seasons, but all in all I would rate the Metolius as good fishing now. The Blue Wing Olive hatch, if found in the right place and the right time (that is about 1 PM and in eddies and pools and soft edges) is attracting trout to feed on the emergers and duns etc day. Most days we have found Cinygmula’s (yellow #16) mayflies in the drift, but keep your eyes open for these later in the day too, even in the early evening and have a Yellow Comparadun or Parachute ready to match the hatch.
Quite a few caddis, including October Caddis to medium grey caddis (#14-16) and smaller black caddis (#16-18).
We have not seen any March Browns yet, but my friend Phil saw some heavy risers out in the middle of some rolling runs, and it could be a sign of March Brown emergers. It’s getting to be that time. The Metolius is not a big MB river, but below Bridge 99 we do see the hatch in April and the fish like to eat these meaty mayflies.
My friends Doug and Chester both reported excellent fishing in the last several days. Chester had some amazing dry fly pursuits during the crappiest snowy weather you can imagine last weekend, and Doug found the same but used a Carrot style euro nymph with a ton of success. I am guessing they are eating that fly as a Silver Stripe Sedge Pupa.
I didn’t talk to anyone over the week that pursued Bull’s, but an 8 weight, a sink tip and some big streamers will certainly provide hours of entertainment. I was going to say cheap entertainment, but big streamers are expensive.
Don’t forget the seasonal closure of the upper river still is in effect until MAY 22. Keep out of the water from the Headwaters down to Allingham Bridge and let’s protect the spawning waters. I do encourage you to take a walk up there and look for the white rocks ODFW and USFS places on each Redd to mark where they found pairs of redbands spawning. There are a lot of White Rocks from Tract C Bridge up to above the Blue Hole. This is inspiring to know how many trout are up there using that pure water to creat a better future for the river.