Big bugs all over the Upper Middle Fork: Caddis, Drakes and Stones

Headed up to fish the Upper Middle Fork Willamette on foot yesterday afternoon and found lots of willing, wild trout. What I didn’t expect to find was a bunch of McKenzie Green Caddis. Anybody else seen them up there this late? There were also big stoneflies and huge mayflies. I’m not enough of an entomologist to tell you whether that’s a green or a gray drake in that picture below, but whatever it was had the fish on top. The high and dry hopper dropper rig was my go-to set up, but most of the fish took the dry.

Middle Fork Willamette

Middle Fork Willamette

This is prime time wading on the Upper Middle Fork. With 20 miles of fishy water between Lookout Reservoir and Hills Creek Dam to explore.
-MS

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9 Responses to Big bugs all over the Upper Middle Fork: Caddis, Drakes and Stones

  1. Rob R says:

    very nice fish photo! glad you had a good day up there.

  2. b-christ says:

    I would say Green drake, although we have at least three species that fall into that label. The gray drake usually comes off in the fall starting in late August and is all gray with black mottles on the wing.

  3. Arlen says:

    Definitely a green drake (Drunella). They’re coming off now in a number of higher elevation, colder streams. That’s not the kind of place favored by gray drakes (aka black drakes; Siphlonurus), and gray drake duns are seldom observed–usually you see just the spinners. Gray drake nymphs seek out shallow, weedy backwaters to hatch, and emergence is thought to occur mostly at night, when they crawl out on the vegetation.

  4. Arlen says:

    And oh, I forgot to add that gray drakes hatch around here in June. The small number of them that we have in the lower elevation valley rivers were hatching a few weeks ago; pretty much done now.

  5. b-christ says:

    Thanks for the correction. What is the extra large gray speckled wing mayfly that hatches in late August through October in the Willamettte drainage? I’ve seen them from as high as Ollallie on the Mc and as low as Island park on the Willamette.

  6. Arlen says:

    You might be thinking of Isonychia, also sometimes known as the western leadwing, that hatches in that time frame. Check Westfly for pictures:
    http://www.westfly.com/entomology/mayfly/isonychia.shtml

  7. b-christ says:

    That’s the one . Thanks again!

  8. Brad says:

    My son is visiting from Denver and I wanted to take him out to either the McKenzie or the Willamette. Can anyone recommend good walking access to either river? We only have Sunday so do not have much time to explore. Thanks and Happy 4th!

  9. Karl Mueller says:

    There is a ton of goood walk in access on the Mckenzie. Crossing Goodpasture Bridge and driving five miles the road turn to gravel and there are about three miles of walk wade acess. As for the Middle Fork-good access around Oakride–that’d take a bit more exploring maybe.

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