Wednesday 

Today was sunny but a little windy. Rich stopped at the Wizard Falls parking to walk up into the canyon area but there were alot of parked vehicles so he bailed out on the canyon and we met a our camping spot above Candle Creek. It was empty when we arrived around 2:30.

Rich tried out his new 7” long streamer that looks like a spawning Kokanee; he hooked a bull trout on his first cast but the knot came loose. We though he had lost his streamer that took nearly an hour to tie, but later we found it laying on the bank and have no idea how that could happen, but we’ll take all the good luck we can get!

Ken arrived late in the afternoon. After dinner stargazing and satellite spotting was good but we didn’t stay up late.

Thursday

The morning dawned clear with temps were in the low 40’s. After such a hot summer it felt downright chilly!

Today was garbage day at the campground and the garbage truck made a heck of a racket barreling down the washboard gravel road. This morning we went up to Camp Sherman for breakfast burritos, checked out the “hatch box” at the fly shop then fed the trout under the bridge a few goldfish crackers. 

The river was a tad lower than last year. This made our favorite log a lot more stable to fish off of. Everyone caught fish in the afternoon. Green drake dries and nymphs were the ticket until around 5pm, then the hatch & bite stopped.

For dinner we had steaks provided by Ken.

Friday

Friday was another nice sunny day. Matt & Ben got here at 9:30. Ken made fried us homemade egg rolls supplied by his wife. They were fantastic. 

It got pretty warm today, making for perfect mid-day camp sitting & chipmunk feeding weather. Most of us got a late start fishing. The action today wasn’t as good as yesterday but we all got a fish or two. At the end of the day we saw a big bull trout hunting for Kokanee at the mouth of Abbott Creek.

For dinner we had Kielbasa sausage dogs provided by Rich. 

Saturday

Night temps dropped into the low 40’s, making for a crisp morning but not much of an early morning bite. We had a couple more people roll in on Saturday, bringing our total to 8. The hatches were not really happening but most of us managed to force feed a fish or two.

Walking upstream in the early afternoon I heard a buzzing sound, thought it was a ground beehive but it turned out to be a rattlesnake hiding by a pine sapling. Fortunately we never saw it again!

We had a great dinner of hamburgers & everyone contributed good sides. The sun went down around 7 and it cooled off fast. With the clear weather we had another good night for stargazing and satellite watching. 

Sunday

After coffee and a little breakfast it was time to pack up and hit the road. Matt and Ben hit the Santiam on the way home and did well. 

Thanks to everyone who came and made this another great Metolius River Fish A Long!