Some exciting moments this week!

East Lake - La Pine, OR (Deschutes County)


by The Fly Fishers Place
7-3-2026
Website

East Lake had some exciting moments this week, foremost for me was watching Dan use the Pink Hopper with a Beetle dropper, but the afternoon hatch of Callibaetis offered some really lovely dry fly opportunities which I love. 
Yesterday the 1st fly I tied on when the hatch began was an Olive Haze. We didn’t need any other flies for the duration of the hatch. Usually it is not so easy. If you are a regular reader of this report, you know we love the off white extended body callibaetis for the duns, the captive dun and the sprout for emergers and either the cdc spinner or the bent cripple for spinners. 
Chironomid pupa or red blood worms under an indicator from 10 to 18′ deep is good, or down over 20 to 30 feet deep with the type 7 full sink on the dangle. Using a chriromomid on the point and a blob on the dropper is a great combination of flies to fish this way. 
Yesterday we did not have great nymph fishing with my normal set up of the Red PT, CB Cate under the drop back bung. Watching Live Scope told me why, and an adjustment was made. The fish were feeding in deeper water areas but at 6 to 8 feet deep, and no where near the bottom there. And along the edges they were close to the bottom but only in 6 to 8 feet of water. So I just cut off the dry fly, added a dropper tag and an Oros indi, tied a CB Cate to the point position and a Poxy Back CB to the tag and we whacked a bunch of fish including a nice brookie. 
I love EL this time of year and I just have one thing to add and that is watch water temps over the next 2 weeks. It got to 62 yesterday, and 68 is the temp we can no longer safely release our special fish. I’m surprised how few anglers have a thermometer. Get one and in July and August use it. In nearly any of our lakes the mornings are going to be safe to fish, but maybe after lunch it’s time to rest the fish until late evening, or tomorrow morning again.





More Reports

The Fly Fishers Place Reports
for Friday, July 3rd

Metolius River: Still a few Green Drake stragglers hatching
Crooked River: Crooked River is fishing great now
Fall River: Lot of happy fish in there now
McKenzie River: McKenzie River has been good
Deschutes River- Lower: Best for nymphing throughout the day
Deschutes River: Middle Deschutes is fun for dry fly fishing
Deschutes River- Upper: There have been some good days

The Fly Fishers Place Reports
for Saturday, June 27th

Metolius River: Green Drake is winding down
Deschutes River- Lower: Good days to enjoy
Deschutes River: Middle D is a good choice
Deschutes River- Upper: Nice catches of quality browns
Deschutes River- Upper: Upper D Headwaters stretch is wonderful
Crooked River: Crooked is fishing quite well
Fall River: The Fall River is good
McKenzie River: Good for our guides this week
East Lake: East Lake was good this week
Paulina Lake: Paulina was good
Little Lava Lake: Little Lava was really good this week
Hosmer Lake: Hosmer is good
Crane Prairie Reservoir: Can be good most of the time
Three Creek Lake: Very productive most days