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Oregon Fishing Reports |
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Topics  Oregon Fishing reports Golden Stonefly Hatch Stoneflies for The Angler Spey Clave Report All pictures are Mouse-over. |
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2 Oregon River Reports is a new free service from: The Fly Fishing Shop - Welches, OR Oregon River Reports is intended to give anglers the best information on all the best fly fishing waters in Oregon. These reports are updated daily. Reports come from a wide variety of sources. There is a MultiMap of each river. Just click the link. MultiMap views may be zoomed in or out and are draggable with your cursor to show any area you may want to look at. Most MultiMaps are available as drawings or aerials so you can study road access or real details. Rivers and lake names that are underlined are linked to pages with more details. Current water flows are are graphed in blue as: Current Discharge =  Ten year average water flows are are graphed in green as: Median Discharge =  Current water temperatures are graphed as red =  The graph below is only a picture. Go to: Oregon River Reports for the real stuff. This service is still evolving. |
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Clackamas River MultiMap View of Clackamas River, starting at Mouth 
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| Spring
Hatches: The Salmon Fly Hatch (Part-2),
Part-1 05/10/09 Golden Stones and Yellow Sallies The first part of this article is about Golden Stoneflies. |
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| Rick Hafele says, "The large stoneflies of the family Perlidae provide
“golden” opportunities for the fly fisher across the entire continent." The Golden Stonefly that creates such good dry fly fishing on the Deschutes River is a member of the Perlidae family and is called Hesperoperla pacifica by entomologists. They are often called Willow Flies by anglers in the Rocky Mountain States. In most streams Golden Stoneflies require a two year life cycle. In some colder streams a three year life cycle is required. All but two weeks of this time is spent as a nymph crawling around on the bottom of a swift, oxygenated river. They prefer the swifter parts of most streams. As nymphs these insects are highly predacious and will eat most other insects in their territory that are small enough to be over powered. Quoting Rick Hafele again: "When it comes to behavior, nymphs of this family stand out as some of the fiercest predators of all aquatic insects. They mostly prey on smaller aquatic insects with small Diptera larvae like chironomids, mayfly nymphs and caddisfly nymphs topping their list of preferred happy meals. Some very fascinating predator-prey studies have been done with these stoneflies. For example, it has been shown that some Baetis mayfly nymphs can “smell” the presence of a large perlid stonefly nearby and quickly flee the area. The presence of non-predatory stoneflies causes no such response. Another example of their predatory nature often occurs when I teach streamside entomology classes. We generally put samples of insects from the stream in white water filled trays for a better view. This little self-contained insect zoo often includes some large golden stone nymphs. The tray is like a zoo without cages to separate predators from prey, and it usually doesn’t take long before one of the big golden stone nymphs begins to eat one of the small mayflies or caddisflies. It leaves quite an impression on those watching – a bit like seeing a cat catch a mouse – and clearly shows just how predatory these nymphs can be." In our watersheds, Golden Stones start to emerge in the spring when water temperatures reach 50-55 degrees. Unusually cold or warm weather can push the hatch forward or back. As adults, stoneflies can drink to cut down on dehydration but they do not eat. In all stages, they are harmless to humans. A hard plate on the underside of the tip of their abdomen, called the hammer, is “drummed” against a branch creating just the right vibrations to attract a female. Males call females with monophasic, 12-beat drumming signals, females answer with 16-beat signals, then males reply with 22-beat signals. Golden Stoneflies are unabashed and enthusiastic during mating. Many times several males will attempt to mate with one or more females, resulting in clumps of insects in the streamside vegetation. Like most stonefly species, the goldens crawl out of the water to change from nymph to adult. Starting a week or two before the hatch the nymphs migrate from mid-channel to the edge water. This migration causes the nymphs to become exposed to the trout and and a feeding frenzy can result. The actual hatch occurs on dry land and is of little importance to the angler. It is after the adult flies have mated and egg laying females are returning to the water to lay eggs that the best dry fly fishing occurs. |
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Bullet Head Golden Stone, Female This is the most popular Golden Stone pattern that we have sold over the last 10 years. |
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| Item | Description | Size | Price | To Top |
| 6050-4 | Bullet Head Golden Stone, Female | 4 | 3 for $5.85 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
| 6050-6 | Bullet Head Golden Stone, Male | 6 | 3 for $5.85 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
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Foam Stone, Golden This un-sinkable fly is very productive in many situations. The segmented body is made from sealed cell foam plastic. It will float in fast turbulent water. |
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| Item | Description | Size | Price | To Top |
| 99500-06 | Foam Stone, Golden | 6 | 3 for $5.85 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
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The
Norm Wood Special This golden stonefly imitation may be the most popular fly during the "Salmonfly Hatch" |
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 Norm Wood Special tied by Norm Wood. It's rough looking, but deadly. |
 Norm Wood Special by an unidentified tier. This fly caught several Redsides. |
 Untrimmed Norm Wood special tied by Mark Bachmann. |
 Copy of Norm Wood special with a wing that sticks up too high. |
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Wood Special, Golden Stone Norm Wood was a very popular fishing guide on the Deschutes River for 30 years. His Golden Stonefly pattern is tied with a wing & tail made from tan dyed calf tail hair. Calf tail traps air between the hairs fibers and floats very well. Some anglers believe that these flies will often out produce patterns tied with the more conventional elk hair wings and tails. The lower fly at right was trimmed to the most popular configuration. There are a number of Norm Wood Specials out there. |
 Norm Wood Special as stocked by The Fly Fishing Shop. |
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| We have examined this pattern as tied by the originator, and copies of the original flies as sanctioned by Norm, and flies that are so called Norm Wood Specials done by tiers who had no knowledge of the original concept. The flies we sell are meant to be trimmed. (A picture of this fly pattern is second from the bottom at right.) This pattern imitates a golden stonefly, which is a very low floater. In our experience the Norm Wood special fishes best if it is trimmed to lie very flat on the water. If we sold them trimmed to how they work the best, they |
 A trimmed Norm Wood Special that has caught twenty trout. |
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| would be so ugly that you wouldn't buy them. Besides trimming much of the bulk from the fly, many knowledgeable anglers treat the wing with a high viscosity floatant such as Cortland Dab or Mucilin Paste. This slicks the wing down and makes the fly ride even lower. We learned a great trick many years ago from our friend Bill Howland, who rubbed Mucilin on his Salmonfly patterns and then baked them in the oven so the floatant would penetrate all parts of the fly making them nearly unsinkable. |
 The above Norm Wood special in action. |
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| Item | Description | Size | Price | To Top |
| 11035 | Norm Wood Special, Golden Stone | 6 | 3 for $5.85 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
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Stimulator, Yellow This seems to be the most popular of the Stimulator patterns. It is used as a golden or yellow stone or hopper imitator. It may rank with the Royal Wulff as one of the all time most popular searching flies. |
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| Item | Description | Size | Price | To Top |
| 11988 | Stimulator, Yellow | 6 | 3 for $5.25 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
| 11989 | Stimulator, Yellow | 8 | 3 for $5.25 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
| 11990 | Stimulator, Yellow | 10 | 3 for $5.25 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
| 11991 | Stimulator, Yellow | 12 | 3 for $5.25 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
| 11992 | Stimulator, Yellow | 14 | 3 for $5.25 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
| 11993 | Stimulator, Yellow | 16 | 3 for $5.25 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
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Indicator Madam X, Gold This low floating fly has a white tuft on top so that it is more visible in low light conditions. |
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| Item | Description | Size | Price | To Top |
| 00108-06 | Indicator Madam X, Gold | 6 | 3 for $5.25 |
Sale Over
-->SALE ENDED |
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Robotic Golden Stone This was the top secret back eddy killer for a number of years. It is still very effective. |
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| Item | Description | Size | Price | To Top |
| 6100-06 | Robotic Golden Stone | 6 | 3 for $5.85 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
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Rogue Foam Stone, Golden This un-sinkable fly is very productive in many situations. The segmented body is made from sealed cell foam plastic. It will float in fast turbulent water. |
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| Item | Description | Size | Price | To Top |
| 10858-06 | Rogue Foam Stone, Golden | 6 | 3 for $6.95 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
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X-Stone, Golden This egg laying pattern has a lot of motion. It is especially effective in riffle water. |
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| Item | Description | Size | Price | To Top |
| 01116-06 | X-Stone, Golden | 6 | 3 for $5.85 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
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Small stone flies have low silhouettes and can be very difficult for the angler to see. They are often the culprits when trout are rising splashily during mid-day, but there appears to be nothing on the water. These insects can also be maddeningly hard to represent with a fly. A fly with a high silhouette gets nothing but refusals much of the time. |
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That is why the Flint's Stone Series evolved into the three patterns offered below. They are the most recent attempt in replicating these small, elusive, delicate insects in their adult form. They represent many years of research and offer the closest representation of the most common local species. They are designed to be fished in slick water conditions where a Stimulator or similar bushy fly just won't get the job done. When fishing rougher water conditions, try the Lemon Drop Sally & Nasty Sally patterns. |
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| Flint's Stone, Yellow
Isoperla, Female These little bright yellow stoneflies hatch during June & July, as the Salmon Flies are trailing off. Trout target females during egg laying. |
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| Item | Description | Size | Price | To Top |
| 6057-14 | Flint's Stone, Yellow Isoperla, Female | 14 | 3 for $5.25 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
| Flint's
Stone, Yellow Isoperla, Male The males of the most common little yellow stones have a red & orange butt. This is a good fly to fish along the grass during the hot part of the day. It is also very good in back eddies. |
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| Item | Description | Size | Price | To Top |
| 6056-16 | Flint's Stone, Yellow Isoperla, Male | 16 | 3 for $5.25 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
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Hopper/Stone This fly depending on the size can be a male golden stone, a female little yellow stone or a grass hopper. |
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| Item | Description | Size | Price | To Top |
| 99270-10 | Hopper/Stone | 10 | 3 for $5.25 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
| 99270-12 | Hopper/Stone | 12 | 3 for $5.25 | Sale Over -->SALE ENDED |
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STONEFLIES FOR THE ANGLER Eric Leiser & Robert H. Boyle Knopf, First Edition printed 1982 Subject Category: Fly Fishing Format: HC Pages: 174 pages Trim Size: 6" x 9 1/2" ISBN: 0-8117-0169-7 Photos: by Matthew Vinciguerra. Illustrations by: Bill Elliott |
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Stoneflies, aquatic insects of the order Plecoptera, are an important food for trout. This authoritative and comprehensive book gives anglers all the information needed on tactics and techniques for fishing imitation stoneflies. Also gives complete, detailed instructions on how to tie the nymph and adult patterns. Fully illustrated with drawings, plus black-and-white and color photographs.
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| Item | Title | Price | To Top |
| 0-394-50822X | Book, Stoneflies for The Angler, by Eric Leiser and Robert H. Boyle | $29.95 | SALE ENDED |
| 0-394-0822X-B | Book, Stoneflies for The Angler, by Eric Leiser and Robert H. Boyle with any purchase over $100. That is 20% OFF plus FREE SHIPPING | $26.95 | SALE ENDED |
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Spey Clave Report To sum it up, this year everything worked. The weather was perfect. The river was perfect. The crowd was awesome and everyone had a great time. Plans are already in the works for 2010. |
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The Fly Fishing Shop, Welches, OR
1(800)
266-3971
Fish long & prosper,
Mark & Patty
