The fish in the Fall seem to be pretty spread out at the moment. The ODFW is stocking the river regularly, and there are decent numbers of fish in the system but finding them in any number can be a little tricky. Covering water and sight casting to fish as you go is a good approach, the likelihood of finding a honey hole that will produce fish after fish is fairly low. The warm weather we’ve had is increasing bug activity, and there are various mayfly hatches coming off throughout the day. Various attractor dries have been producing fish, but nymphing has been the most consistent way to produce numbers. Again using general attractor patterns that aren’t necessarily intended to imitate a specific insect, but rather to imitate a wide range of insects well have been most productive. The ODFW has been putting in good numbers of large fish, which are always fun to target with a small streamer or leech pattern.
Suggested Dries: Purple Haze #16-20, Parachute Adams #16-20, PMD or BWO sparkle Dun #16-20, Elk Hair Caddis #14-20, Olive or Peacock Chubby Chernobyl #14-16
Suggested Nymphs: Copper Microstone #16-18, Quasimodo Pheasant Tail #16-20, Black or Red Zebra Midge #18-22, Black or Red Winker’s Midge #18-22, Black or Copper Lightning Bug #18, Black or Red Two Bit Hooker #16-20
Suggested Streamers: Olive Wooly Bugger #8-10, Olive or Rust Bunny Buster #8, Black or Olive BH Micro Leech #8-12