Time: 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Upper Metolius, upper edge of Gorge Campground to the Camp Sherman store.

Fish landed: 0

Metolius River 06/18/2013 Photo Album

Challenging. Difficult. Educational. These are all adjectives I’ve read in reference to the Metolius River in central Oregon. The other descriptions, however, greatly intrigued me; a large spring creek with a steeper than normal gradient and significant hatches of western green drakes and golden stoneflies. These flies are large and easy to see on the water and usually bring large fish to the surface.

Shortly after reading the latest magazine article on the Metolius River in Fly Fisherman magazine, my daughter Amy called and informed me that she and her boyfriend Joe camped at Riverside Campground along the Metolius River, and she characterized it as a beautiful location. This prompted Jane and I to make plans to fly to Oregon to visit Amy and spend a few days camping along the Metolius.

Well, we waited quite a while but on June 17 our plans became reality. Jane and I flew from Denver to Portland on Fathers’ Day with backpacks and in my case, a large fishing bag. Amy picked us up at the airport and we spent Sunday night at her house in Portland where I was presented with a sturdy wading staff. Amy purchased a hockey stick at a thrift shop and Joe helped her craft it into a fine wading tool.

Fathers’ Day Gift – Heavy Duty Wading Staff

On Monday we visited the local supermarket and picked up necessary food supplies and then packed everything into Amy’s tiny Nissan Versa. It was quite an achievement to fit eveything in the small hatchback along with three human beings. Joe would drive up separately on his Ducati motorcycle as he was scheduled to work until 2:30PM on Monday afternoon. The trip was uneventful until we remembered that we neglected to pack the camp stove and lantern that Amy rented from Portland State University. Amy was able to connect with Joe prior to his departure, and he managed to somehow fit the two extra items into the boxes on his motorcycle.

There are quite a few national forest service campgrounds along the Metolius, but we selected the only one on the north side of the river and it was named Lower Canyon Creek. It was a bit tricky to find, but after asking directions at the Camp Sherman Store and obtaining a detailed map, we found our chosen destination. It was a beautiful spot where Canyon Creek merged with the Metolius River forming a huge junction pool right next to our site. We unpacked the car and put up our two person tents and then explored the West Metolius Trail as the trailhead was at the end of our campground. Amazingly there were no other campers to contend with at Canyon Creek during our entire stay. We hiked perhaps a mile down the trail and .5 mile downstream discovered a place where a huge spring gushed from the lava rock bank and augmented the flow of the river by perhaps 25%. The water was cold and crystal clear and exhibited a rich aqua hue in many spots. From a fishing perspective there were only three spots that could be fished effiectively as the river flowed rapidly from bank to bank with much whitewater over most of the length we hiked.

Huge Spring Enters Metolius River .5 Mile from Campground

I reviewed the Metolius article again and again, and it mentioned that the upper river was smaller and less difficult, but yielded smaller fish, so I elected to target that water on Tuesday. Amy, Jane and Joe decided to take a hike on Tuesday so they dropped me off on the upper river. I carefully sorted additional flies into my patch and fleece and small boxes as I would not be able to return to the car. There was no margin for error on these drop off fly fishing adventures. We stopped at the Camp Sherman store, and while Jane bought some supplies I wandered to the fly shop section, and an older gentleman was restocking the fly bins. I asked what stretch of water he would recommend and he suggested driving to the Allingham Bridge and fishing back up to the store. I also asked him about green drakes since the Fly Fisherman article stated that they hatch from late May until late June. I was disappointed to hear that I would not encounter green drakes on the upper river, that they were only emerging on the lower river. He did offer that PMD’s would likely hatch around 3PM if not sooner due to the overcast skies.

We jumped back in the Versa and Amy drove me to Allingham Bridge where she took a photo and we said our goodbyes. I agreed to be at the parking lot outside the store by 4PM to be picked up. I was now on my own, and I decided to walk downstream another half mile or so since I wasn’t sure I’d have enough water to cover in five hours.The area was gorgeous with spaced out ponderosa pine trees and lush vegetation all along the river including numerous wildflowers. There were numerous nice runs and places where the river split around logs and small islands. Surely this would be a fun day of fishing.

Dave Dropped Off to Fish Metolius on Tuesday Morning

I decided to begin with a yellow Letort hopper trailing a salvation nymph. I was hoping that perhaps the size 10 hopper would represent an early golden stonefly and the salvation nymph would serve as either an attractor or imitation of a PMD nymph. I worked some attractive water as I moved upstream, but nothing was attacking my flies. In fact I was a bit surprised that I wasn’t even observing any fish scattering from the bank as I waded and progressed upstream.

I swapped the salvation nymph for a beadhead hares ear in hopes this would cover more possibilities such as caddis pupa or PMD nymphs. This was a great thought, but again nothing was tempted by my offerings. Perhaps I needed to go deep due to the cold spring water, so I took the time to re-rig with a strike indicator and two nymphs. I read that split shot or the addition of external weight was prohibited in fly fishing only water in Oregon, so I tied on an Arkansas rubber leg as my top fly to add weight and below that I added a beadhead pheasant tail which is typically a more exact imitation of the PMD nymph. Once again I was stifled in my attempt to catch a fish.

The Arkansas rubber leg wasn’t producing and was hanging up on the bottom more than I’d like, so I removed it and went to a beadhead hares ear on top with a beadhead pheasant tail on the bottom. This drifted better, but perhaps I wasn’t getting deep enough now. As time moved on I became less confident that I would catch a fish, but I persisted and after seeing quite a few midges hovering over the water, I exchanged the beadhead pheasant tail for a zebra midge. Finally at the end of a drift I felt a tap and set the hook and felt the weight of a small fish. I carefully played the precious catch as I was starved for a fish, but when I netted the shiny finned creature I was disappointed to discover an eight inch whitefish.

Wildflowers Along the Metolius

At a few minutes before 3PM I began to notice sporadic pale morning duns rising from the current so I clipped off the nymphs and placed my fortunes on a light gray size 16 comparadun, a fly that historically produced well for me during pale morning dun hatches. It seemed futile to prospect randomly with this tiny fly, so I carefully observed the nice runs and slack areas for rising fish. Unfortunately I was not able to spot a rising fish during my entire five hours on the upper Metolius River. I cast the dry fly in particularly attractive locations, but fish were not looking to the surface.

Large Family

As 4PM approached I began to cover more stream and stopped only at exceptionally nice spots as I wanted to make sure I reached the store on time for my pick up. Alas, none of my strategies yielded any results, and I am forced to agree with all the adjectives that began this blog posting. The Metolius is indeed a very difficult river especially to a newcomer with no experience. Perhaps a dense hatch would bring fish to the surface, and at least then I would feel like I had a fighting chance. Amy said that Oregon experienced a warmer drier spring than usual, so I’m guessing I missed the western green drakes for this reason. The Metolius River is a gorgeous yet humbling spot in central Oregon.