Trout: The caddis are taking over the show in no uncertain terms. The blizzard hatches we have described in the past are now at unreal densities! You need to see it to believe it. You can do well all day long on dries such as the X-Caddis or E/C Caddis if you concentrate on areas that are holding good shade. This last week we saw some really great dry fly fishing! The fish are not yet picky, and are eating most caddis imitations that are tossed into the right spots. The PMD and PED hatches are fading and are usually occurring either early(Pale Morning Duns), or late(Pale Evening Duns). In the morning nymphing continues to be productive, but with the great surface action why bother throwing nymphs and a bobber? Stop by the Warm Springs shop to see some of our favorite caddis dries and spent patterns. The Little Yellow Stones and Craneflies are still thick enough to have some imitations in your box in case some of the fish are really that discriminating. Water temps are around 55-59 degrees near Warm Springs and the river remains just under 4000 CFS out of the dam.

Steelhead: Steelhead counts have been above the cumulative counts last year, and that's the good news. 8827 Steelhead have come over the John Day Dam to date. The bad news is that water temps are already pretty warm, and that seems to be keeping the fish out of the lower river, at least in fishable numbers, for now. It should be a good year, but I wouldn't rush out quite yet.