In this video Simon demonstrates how to tie a balanced damsel nymph. The pattern is relatively simple to tie, and uses dyed ostrich feathers to create an “active in the water” nymph. The Balanced Ostrich Damsel Nymph can be used in lakes or slow moving streams. Be sure to have a good set of wire cutters for the balanced pins!
In this video Simon demonstrates how to tie a super productive Chironomid imitation. This fly it relatively simple to tie, super durable and highly effective.
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.
A freshly emerged PMD dun
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.
A Yellow Sally, one of the smaller stoneflies.
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!
Given the recent declines in Oregon Coast fall Chinook salmon populations, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is considering a more conservation-oriented approach to wild fall Chinook harvest in 2023 and has asked for public comment. This presents a crucial opportunity for wild fish advocates to weigh in on proposed limits to fall Chinook harvest. If adopted, this would be an important step toward more adaptive management for salmon runs throughout the state of Oregon, as well as a sensible strategy to ensure the viability of coastal Chinook populations for the long term. Before June 23, take the survey telling ODFW you support Alternative 1—the conservation-oriented management of wild Chinook salmon runs on the Oregon Coast. Please be sure to include support for implementation of ocean bubbles off Tillamook and Nehalem bays.
In this video Simon demonstrates how to tie a Beadhead Green McKenzie Caddis Soft Hackle. This is a big water version of an excellent all around caddis pupae pattern. Fish it subsurface dead drift or on the swing. This pattern can be made in smaller sizes and in a variety of colors.
John Fabian lived in Eugene and fished or hunted locally most days of the week for over 40 years. John was an incredibly giving man, and loved to introduce anglers to fly fishing. Many folks in our community will remember John, he was an absolute legend. John made films for Scientific Anglers/3M for many years and those films were on VHS( remember those?). Check out this film “remastered” on YouTube.
In this video Simon demonstrates how to to a simple and effective jigged style nymph. The green/olive color scheme he uses in this video is perfect for spring fishing but this pattern can be adapted by using other colors of body and hackle to suit trout fishing all year round.
Simon demonstrates how to tie a Green McKenzie Wet Fly pattern aimed at imitating the unique caddis that hatches in much of the McKenzie and Middle Fork of the Willamette Rivers from late April until late June. This pattern can be scaled down and used in smaller sizes for caddis patterns of all types. Try it in brown, cinnamon and orange as well.
Late afternoons on the McKenzie these big “grayish green” caddis emerge and fish love them. Swinging wets and skating dry patterns to imitate the caddis is highly effective. You don’t need a massive number of these bugs to be out to see fish moving to them.
Volunteers visited Finn Rock Reach in hopes of rescuing some natives and dispatching some “invasives” this week. The project is well underway and is going to provide tons more habitat for salmonids on the middle McKenzie River. We caught largemouth bass and a nice Bull Frog.
More about the project below.
From McKenzie River Trust
Partners begin implementation of the final phase of floodplain restoration at Finn Rock Reach on the middle McKenzie River Two and a half years after the Holiday Farm fire burned more than 173,000 acres in the McKenzie River valley, partners are breaking ground on the second and final phase of floodplain restoration work at Finn Rock Reach, a 278-acre conservation area owned by local nonprofit McKenzie River Trust. Starting in the summer of 2021, restoration activities have included reshaping roughly 120 acres of floodplain forest, and returning the area back to aquatic habitat along the Middle McKenzie River.
The project, led by partners at McKenzie River Trust, the US Forest Service, and the McKenzie Watershed Council, builds on years of investments in the Middle McKenzie Valley. Using what restoration practitioners call “process-based design,” the work simulates a large flooding event, spreading sediments across the site and lowering the floodplain back to historic elevations. On any given project day, people passing the area on Highway 126 can expect to see large equipment moving soil, rocks, and trees. Through excavation, new channels will be created and adorned with engineered large wood structures that will support the slowing and spreading of water across the site. This large wood not only promotes improved water quality but also provides critical habitat for fish and wildlife, including endangered Spring Chinook salmon who use the area for spawning and rearing. This project is made possible by committed community partners and funders including the U.S. Forest Service, the McKenzie Watershed Council, the Eugene Water & Electric Board, the Bureau of Land Management, the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Bonneville Power Administration, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), BCI Contracting Inc., Wolf Water Resources, and the Pacific Lamprey Initiative.
If fly fishing in NZ is on your bucket list or if you want to avoid some of the high season consider fishing the early season. We work with veteran guides and outfitters who know the early season game inside and out. Call Chris or Shauna at 541-505-8061 to make your booking.
In this video Simon demonstrates how to tie a simple caddis pupae with glass beads, turkey and Peacock Herl. This easy to create pattern is a great fly to tie in tandem with a heavier nymph or dry fly. We love this pattern in spring.
In this video Simon demonstrates how to use Rainy’s Tube Bodiz to create a realistic adult Salmon Fly. This low riding salmon fly pattern is deadly on the Deschutes, Madison, Henrys Fork and many other waters that have famed Salmon Fly Hatches. Rainy’s Tube Bodiz product make it easy to create extended body flies.
The McKenzie River has finally dropped into shape and is fishing great. Top to bottom the river is turning on in a big way. Water temperatures are increasing and so is insect activity. Anglers need an array of flies to cover a variety of adult insects emerging on the river. Below is a list of important fly patterns for the end of May and into June. The weather looks great for the week ahead. Enjoy your holiday weekend.
Kara Anlauf-Dunn of ODFW gave a great presentation at last months chapter meeting about how increasing stream temperature affects native fish and her studies on native fish tolerance to heat across watersheds. It should be a good way to prepare yourself for responsible angling as we enter the summer trout season and increasing temperatures. For a recap of Kara’s presentation, please visit this link.
For our next meeting, U of O alumnus and newly-minted NFS Wild Fish Fellow Alex Worth will be leading a discussion about views on hatchery vs wild fish. We would love to have people who aren’t necessarily fish-focused or anglers present for that discussion to get a wider range of views, so please bring your non-fishy friends with you!
Where: Ninkasi’s Better Living Room, 155 Blair Blvd, Eugene, OR 97402
The first 25 min or so of this podcast is shop and gear talk, then Chris and Christian get into specifics on fly fishing the McKenzie River. Check it out using the links below.
