The Metolius is always are favorite so it gets the top spot in the report 99% of the time. I was out there yesterday and the river is in great shape, with a little runoff coming out of Lake Creek but that “absorbs” in the Met nicely. Not much for dry fly fishing, but I am always hopeful and I never recommend not having #18 and #20 BWO emergers, cripples and duns for a possible encounter mid afternoon. Often our winter hatch is around 1:30, but I admit that is a huge generalized statement. Be on the lookout from non to 3:30 and if you want to catch a fish or 2 on a dry fly in the winter it is wise to be in a soft pool or eddy and have a 12′ 6x leader tied up.
What has really been working is eggs, golden stone nymphs, october caddis pupa, tan caddis pupa, BWO color 2 bit hookers, frenchie’s, olive or brown jig Napoleon’s and red lighting bugs. If you had that nymph set up for the next 9 or 10 weeks you will have good days on the river. Also, you see the mention of both October caddis pupa and golden stones, we have a fly that splits the difference beautifully called a McGee’s Girdle and its an orange variegated rubber leg tied on a scud hook, so it is short shanked to imitate a curled up and drifting stone, or matches the size nicely for Oct Caddis.
I know of several good bulls this past week that came to a big streamer. I will also say that as we get into mid-winter a lot of bulls are caught on a nymph and a larger red ice cream cone is one they often eat under an indicator.