On the Metolius River, so far the Green Drakes have been mostly below the Lower Bridge (Bridge 99) area. It seems late to me now that the big mayflies have not yet really popped near the hatchery or up in the canyon but rest assured they will. On what day, I don’t know but it will happen soon and go for the first 3 weeks in June throughout the river from the Gorge to Candle Creek. For now, have the nymphs like a Jig Tungsten 20 Incher, and a Peacock TJ Hooker. When the emergence is happening it can be great to run a Green Drake Spilt Case Emerger off the back of a Green Drake dry fly. 24″ of 5x fluorocarbon tippet to separate the 2 flies and keep the nymph up in the zone where trout looking up will notice it.

What is not late are PMD’s and Caddis and we have fished good hatches of both this past week and both will be important for the upcoming period lasting the rest of May and all of June. Caddis dries like Iris, Edible Emergers, X Caddis, Corn Fed, Keller’s and Henryville are wonderful for the surface, and Fat Caddis, Primetime Pupa and Sparkle Pupa during and well before the hatch. Did you know that Caddis Pupa may be in the drift for a vert long time before making it to the surface? I remember reading this in Gary LaFontaines epic book Caddisflies and Gary did the research watching the flies from underwater to know what he was talking about. This makes Caddis Pupa such a smart choice as a nymph to use frequently on all of our caddis rich rivers out west. I just read a substack by one of my favorite and most respected fly fishing writers John Juracek, and he rated his top 10 nymphs, and caddis pupa was the #1 spot. I for one get very mayfly focused and I know it is a shortcoming of mine that mayflies are my favorite kid on the team, but never overlook caddis, especially on the Metolius.

As for Mayflies, besides our drakes the PMD and BWO hatches are good to very good in many places on the river, and fishing the entire cycle of these 2 hatches from nymphs to emergers and crippled emergers, duns and spinners is essential for success on the Met.

Today marks the opening of the Upper River above Allingham Bridge! This is great water a place I know a lot of us cherish to enjoy a more quaint and easier to access area of the river. Up here those PMD’s and Caddis will be popping I’m sure, make sure to have some Soft Hackle PT’s with and w/o beads, Golden Stone nymphs, Caddis Pupa, Perdigons and Walts Worms, CDC Hares Ear, Frenchie’s and 2 Bit Hookers.

Over the next few days Monday looks to cloud up and cool off, this could be great for Drakes but also could be better for Bull Trout extending opportunities longer through the day instead of low light in the morning which tends to be the best on days with a forecast of a lot of bright sun. I’m not saying bulls don’t get caught in the middle of the day, but your best target time is first light and low light. Big streamers and jig streamers have been good out there. You need a 7 or 8 weight rod, and it always amazes me how many anglers come to the shop thinking they will catch a bull on a 5 weight. First of all, most of the flies are too heavy to be supported for casting on a 5 weight (or even a 6) and more importantly we need to respect the fish here. They are big and you always need to choose your gear to fight fish quickly, with respect for their survival, not just to wear them out to exhaustion. That is not honoring a special wild fish at all and it is our responsibility to do that and release them with the strength to live on.