With the majority of the runoff in our rear-view mirror, our local rivers and tributaries are shaping up nicely for summer conditions. Flows have stabilized creating great conditions for floating and wading. Both the Mckenzie and Willamette are currently seeing great hatches of PMD/PED’s, Yellow Sallies, and small Caddis. Golden Stoneflies are just starting to get moving, and you may catch a Green Drake hatch on a cloudier day. Hatches have been concentrated towards the morning and evening, but you may see bugs hatching sporradically throughout the day, especially on overcast days.
Dry-dropper rigs excel at searching water when there is not a hatch coming off, it is also a great way to make it through the mid-day “lull” and search above and below the surface simultaneously. Nymphing is also a great way to entice some eats when the surface is devoid of activity. Make sure you have your dry box, because when the hatch comes on, the fish have been feeding heavily on the surface.
Fishing a large foam dry with a nymph suspended below as a dry-dropper rig is a great place to start given the current conditions. Golden stoneflies are just starting to hatch and large foam dries that mimic them make a great buoyant choice for a dry-dropper rig. Montana Fly Comapany’s new “Double Stack” chubby is extra buoyant for suspending larger nymphs for fishing more swift, turbulent water. Here are some great choices for your rig: Double Stack Chubby Gold/Gold Stone #6-10, Morrish’s Still & Fluttering Golden Stones #6, or a Burkus Bear Back Golden Stone #6. Jigged attractor style nymphs like these should be your go-to below your foam dry: Jigged Duracell #12-14, Jigged PCP #14, or a Jigged Frenchie #12-14. If they are ignoring your nymph, try tagging a small caddis pattern or parachute off of the same piece of tippet, this is an extremely fast way to swap rigs and fish dries when bugs start coming off.
Dry fly fishing has been on lately, and this has us all excited. There have been reports around the shop of some heavy PMD hatches upriver. There also have been significant hatches of green drakes if you’re in the right spot at the right time. PMD’s make up the bulk of current hatches; there will be a morning and evening hatch of them. On cloudy days, this can carry on through the whole day. If fish are seen rising to small yellow mayflies, you definitely want to have some flies like these: Sparkle Flag PMD #16-18, Sparkle Dun PMD #16-18, or an Extended Body PMD #16. I’ve found for this hatch, due to the abundance PMD’s come off in, that fishing an emerger or cripple pattern is most productive. When there are loads of bugs on the water, the fish sometimes key in on the easier meals. For green drakes, throwing something like the following can be productive: DJL Green Drake #10, Hairwing Green Drake #10-12, or a Green Drake Film Critic #10. For large golden stones, the same foam patterns as your dropper setup will work plus more delicate dries like: Clarke’s Golden Stone #8-10 or a Yellow Stimulator #8-10. Yellow Sallies can be active during the afternoon and into the evening. These patterns work great when you see naturals, but also make a great mid-day searching pattern: Galloup’s Working Girl #16, Silvey’s Yellow Sally #14-16, or a Hi-Tie Sally. Small Caddis can be imitated by Tan Elk Hair Caddis #12-16, X2 Caddis 14-16, or a Clueless Tan Caddis #14.
Nymphing is a great way to get. through the mid-day lull on warmer days. Running a flashy, attractor pattern with a more natural looking one has been productive lately. PMD’s are responsible for the bulk of the bugs moving through the water column currently. These are the hot PMD nymphs: Jigged PMD #16, Split Case PMD #16, or a Flashback Pheasant Tail #14-16. There is no need to bring these nymphs in quickly to cast again, swinging your nymphs at the end of your drift can entice a big eat. Golden stone and yellow sally nymphs are on the move in preparation to hatch. Larger nymphs work great for gold stones, smaller sizes will effectively mimic the yellow sallies: Tunghead 20 Incher #8-12, Iron Sally #12-16, Sili Leg Stone #8-10, or a D-Rib Golden Stone #12. Green Drake Nymphs follow: Better Than Sex Drake #12, Rio’s Point Drake #10-12, or a Crown Jewel Drake #10-12. General attractor nymphs are also working great: Rainbow Warrior #14-16, Perdigon #12, or a Jigged Hare’s ear #12-14. I like to run a large nymph with a small one and let the fish tell me what they’re eating; once it is clear what they prefer, I double up on that style.
Swinging a soft hackle fly can be deadly during the PMD hatch. Using a small soft hackle tagged behind a small tungsten nymph, or fished solo with split-shot is a great way to target fish feeding on ascending PMD nymphs. Casting upstream with a few upstream mends gives your fly time to sink, and as it swings below you it will ascend. This mimics an ascending nymph, something fish can not resist. As surface feeding activity increases, having weight on your rig becomes less crucial and fishing your flies just below the surface will work even better. Here are some must have PMD soft hackle patterns: Soft PMD Emerger #16, Light Cahill Wet #12-14, or aSimple Yellow/Orange Soft Hackle #14-16. An often overlooked use for soft hackles is using them as a drowned cripple imitation. Fished closely behind a visible dry fly, these flies mimic an easy meal for trout.
Both the Mckenzie and the Middle Fork Willamette sit at good levels for a float or wading. As the rivers continue to slowly drop, wading access will continue to improve. Have fun out there!
-Simon
