We had a great Thanksgiving weekend; the three of us headed over the hill Tuesday, and got into Sisters late that afternoon. It was relatively clear as we drove over the Santiam Pass, however around Suttle Lake the fog enveloped us and the temps remained below freezing until Friday.
On Wednesday we met some friends for breakfast, and then I headed to the Metolius. I had only fished the Met once before, a wonderful snowy winter day several years ago, however that brief excursion had resulted in nothing more than the big skunk-ola and cold fingers.
I have been very interested in hitting the Met again; a glorious day on Idaho's Silver Creek rekindled my desire to fish spring creeks, and the Metolius was at the top of the list. Fortunately, I had a gentleman offer to meet me at Camp Sherman and show me around the river. Mac, a New York transplant, was very gracious and gave me a quick tour from the Lower Bridge up to the Camp Sherman store providing a good overview of the river.
Waiting for the famed Blue Winged Olives
The Met is commonly fished in two manners - one is with a delicate presentation of tiny dries using a 4 weight and 15 feet of 6x, while the other is swinging a 4 inch size 2 double bunny through the deep pools with an 8 weight. I decided to try my hand at both methods, and strung up a dry fly rod as well as my steelhead rod for streamers.
Trout sipping emergers
The hatch started around 12:30 PM, with a few gentle rises announcing that the bugs were out. Mac and I fished his hand tied size 20 Parachute BWO's, however despite several takes I was unable to successfully hook up. I then decided to try my hand at swinging streamers.
Looking upriver towards the "Idiot Hole"
The double bunny is a large, heavy fly, no fun to cast especially when combined with a sink tip. You more or less lob the fly up river, mend line, and let it swing through the deep troughs and overhangs. I had several takes, including one tug that really perked me up, but I was unable to keep the big bulls on. Around 2:30 Mac and I pow-wowed, and decided that the hatch was never going to really ramp up due to the cold weather, so we called it a day and I headed back to meet the girls.
Downriver towards the "Dolly Hole"
Our friends Matt and Dargan as well as Matt's dad Taylor were meeting us Wednesday night. Taylor had just flown in from Maine that Sunday, and was excited to check out Central Oregon for the first time. Both Matt and Taylor are geology fiends, and despite my inability to retain anything that doesn't involve the word "trout", I always end up learning a thing or two.
Friday we boys headed south of town towards Squaw Creek, and proceeded to spend a few hours shooting clays. We ran into snow that afternoon, and were greeted with several inches in town Saturday morning.
The Mudge boys
Taylor showing us how it is done
I had a great time exploring the Met, and I've got the bug to fish it again. I hope to get over there December or January, but we'll see how the winter steelhead run is before I make any committments!
scott
On Wednesday we met some friends for breakfast, and then I headed to the Metolius. I had only fished the Met once before, a wonderful snowy winter day several years ago, however that brief excursion had resulted in nothing more than the big skunk-ola and cold fingers.
I have been very interested in hitting the Met again; a glorious day on Idaho's Silver Creek rekindled my desire to fish spring creeks, and the Metolius was at the top of the list. Fortunately, I had a gentleman offer to meet me at Camp Sherman and show me around the river. Mac, a New York transplant, was very gracious and gave me a quick tour from the Lower Bridge up to the Camp Sherman store providing a good overview of the river.
Waiting for the famed Blue Winged Olives
The Met is commonly fished in two manners - one is with a delicate presentation of tiny dries using a 4 weight and 15 feet of 6x, while the other is swinging a 4 inch size 2 double bunny through the deep pools with an 8 weight. I decided to try my hand at both methods, and strung up a dry fly rod as well as my steelhead rod for streamers.
Trout sipping emergers
The hatch started around 12:30 PM, with a few gentle rises announcing that the bugs were out. Mac and I fished his hand tied size 20 Parachute BWO's, however despite several takes I was unable to successfully hook up. I then decided to try my hand at swinging streamers.
Looking upriver towards the "Idiot Hole"
The double bunny is a large, heavy fly, no fun to cast especially when combined with a sink tip. You more or less lob the fly up river, mend line, and let it swing through the deep troughs and overhangs. I had several takes, including one tug that really perked me up, but I was unable to keep the big bulls on. Around 2:30 Mac and I pow-wowed, and decided that the hatch was never going to really ramp up due to the cold weather, so we called it a day and I headed back to meet the girls.
Downriver towards the "Dolly Hole"
Our friends Matt and Dargan as well as Matt's dad Taylor were meeting us Wednesday night. Taylor had just flown in from Maine that Sunday, and was excited to check out Central Oregon for the first time. Both Matt and Taylor are geology fiends, and despite my inability to retain anything that doesn't involve the word "trout", I always end up learning a thing or two.
Friday we boys headed south of town towards Squaw Creek, and proceeded to spend a few hours shooting clays. We ran into snow that afternoon, and were greeted with several inches in town Saturday morning.
The Mudge boys
Taylor showing us how it is done
I had a great time exploring the Met, and I've got the bug to fish it again. I hope to get over there December or January, but we'll see how the winter steelhead run is before I make any committments!
scott
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