We arrived at Black Bear Lodge on Sunday afternoon, 6/22/26 and fished for three days, hoping we’d find Green Drakes on the Upper Columbia River just below the US/Canadian border. We left our home waters, the Metolius River hoping to find more Green Drakes. I hope you read the last post about Chasing the Green…
This year’s Green Drake hatch on the Metolius has really been hit or miss for us. Seems like it’s been like that for the last couple of years. That doesn’t mean we haven’t seen Drakes. We have, just not the numbers I recall. Chasing the Green Drake Mayfly hatch is one of my favorite of…
Wow, where does the time go? It’s been a couple of weeks since we were fly fishing the Lower Deschutes River from Warms Springs to Trout Creek. I thought this post would have been completed already, but I must have lost track of time. On to my report. We last fished the lower Deschutes in…
My regular readers know I’m mostly a dry fly fisher. I found a couple of trout rising regularly on my favorite river recently and struggled to find the right fly. I didn’t want to give up and move to a different location hoping to find more rising fish. As I tied on a fly, cast,…
I hope you have enjoyed my images from the water posts over the years. I haven’t shared one of these is quite awhile. I’ve been on the Metolius waiting for Mayflies to hatch in the afternoons and found myself with camera in hand, capturing what I see around me. I said this before that the…
One of the benefits of being a custom fly tyer is the opportunity to learn and tie new-to-me flies. The latest is a Parasol Post Pheasant Tail Emerger. I wanted to share some of my favorite new-to-me flies with you today. This is my first try tying a parasol post fly. I’ve watched a couple…
We have plans in a couple of weeks to float the Lower Deschutes River from Warm Springs to Trout Creek. While I say Salmonfly hatch, we’re more likely to fish Golden Stone imitations as they’re the second major stonefly to hatch on the Deschutes at this time of year. I’ve been tying a lot of flies…
It was my privilege to volunteer as a river helper at the 2026 Southern Oregon Casting for Recovery Retreat at the Big K Ranch near Elkton, OR last weekend. Casting for Recovery (CfR) is a retreat designed to help women in various stages of breast cancer enrich their lives through fly fishing. My wife is…
Can you believe it’s almost May? I’m anticipating the hatch in the next few weeks as many insects begin their annual cycle. I’ve started to see a few PMDs on the river to go along with BWOs. It won’t be long before my favorite hatch of Green Drakes begin to hatch. How about Salmonflies and…
My friend Jeff Perin, owner of The Fly Fisher’s Place here in Sisters, OR, writes a terrific weekly fishing report and mentioned opening day is just around the corner. I’m somewhat spoiled because my home waters, the Metolius River is open year-round. But not every fly fisher is that lucky. But it got me wondering,…
