The Metolius has been pretty darn good this week again, and I expect it to be the same for the weeks ahead. A lot of Kokanee have shown up to spawn (please don’t fish for them) so that adds a lot of protein to the diet for rainbows, browns, bulls and whitefish. Eggs mostly, but Mattias landed a bull trout this week that coughed up 3 kokanee and still ate his big streamer.
Drakes and Flavs remain a force in the afternoon. Look for spinners on warm mornings now.
PMD’s and BWO’s are strong, and could hatch late morning, afternoon or even early evening. Add some afternoon mahogany duns to the mix in a #16 Quill Gordon, Upright Rusty or Purple Comparaduns #16. Someone was in the shop talking about a good old Adams too. It can be a forgotten fly and in size 10 to 18 can match a lot of mayflies.
Caddis have been excellent too, from nymph/pupa patterns to emerging pupa at the surface, adults and even egg layers. Tan #16, Grey #14-16, Orange #6-8 and still a few Micro Caddis #18-20 around too.
Stoneflies are also rolling, with little olive stones #16-18 and golden stones #8-12 being the best and most common now. Could be some cascade stones #6 around in pockets of the river too.
There is just a good mix of many technical ways to fly fish on this magnificent river now. Euro, dry fly, streamer, indicator.
Bull trout action is going really well so it can be worth it to focus on that alone, or carry an 8 weight along with your lighter trout rod too