I have been out of town for the past ten days or so and asked the staff to chime in with current conditions for the McKenzie and Willamette.
Owen Grigsby was first: Bright sunny days can make McKenzie fishing difficult at times, but water is in decent shape. Black caddis are out and a few leftover March browns. The above photo is one of the biggest fish I have seen this year, nice work Owen.
Lou Verdugo: I have been fishing the Willy from Armitage to Crossroads for the past month. Its been solid “good” dry fly fishing! Mckenzie arm is slowing down due to lower water level and temp. The hatch was March Browns, now PMD’s and caddis. The greatest hatch is now later in the day. Been catching most fish on the Willy. Many Cuts but the Redsides are in the there. Proven winners have been tan soft hackles, x caddis, and parachute Adams. No nymphing! All dry flies or swinging soft hackles. The coming week with clouds should keep it going….but I am going up river. Have yet to fish it above the dam.
Justin Helm: Alex and I did a quick float today from Silver creek down to helfrich. Overcast with off and on showers made for some decent dry fly fishing with the para rooster. When it was really dumping on us, we switched over to the hopper dropper and got some nice ones on that new hustler jig and purple dart from umpqua.
Bryson Fairlamb: March browns winding down, light hatch around 2 but wind kept fish from keying in on them. Dry dropper with Norm Chubby and jigged 20”, Duracell and smaller standard PT (#16) produced fish all day long. McKenzie is low and with low snow pack and very little rainfall, we will see what summer holds.
Thanks for the reports guys.
Have fun out there and lets hope for some rain in May.
CD
