Here are the flies we will be fishing in September 2018!
Andrew
 |
| FB PT Curved - Great Mahogany fly |
I
am thinking about a trip out to fish the South Fork of the Snake in
Idaho. A wonderful cutthroat fishery that promises loads of dry fly
fishing, the South Fork is an underlooked fishery in the Rockies
compared to some of it's neighbors like the Madison or the Henry's
Fork. September is a great month to be there. Mahogany Duns should be
rolling, BWOs by the end of the month if the weather turns at all, small
terrestrials and maybe a few nymphs.
 |
| Parachute Mahogany |
South Fork Chernobyl
Foam Beetle, Hi-Vis (cause I can't see that well)
BWO Quill Body
Parachute Mahogany
Parachute Hopper
BH Flashback Pheasant Tail Curved Hook
Rainbow Warrior
Lightning Bug BH
Rob
 |
| Golden Demon |
September is the transition month in the Pacific Northwest. The first week and a half are typically hot and dry, but slowly the days get cooler and more humidity slips into the weather patterns. By mid-September we usually (but not always) get our first rain showers of fall. These freshets accomplish exactly that, they freshen up the rivers. Even if the rivers don't rise much the mood of the fish certainly does. Fish that have been sulky and dower liven up and start becoming interested in their surroundings again.
This is the time of year that steelheaders live for, and for me there is nowhere on the planet to better experience it than the North Umpqua in Southwest Oregon. 34 miles of fly only water with beautiful surroundings make it an ideal place to witness the transition from Summer to Fall. The equipment I take along are 12'6 to 13 foot 7 wt
Spey rods rigged with floating
Scandinavian shooting heads. This combo is perfect for maneuvering around boulder filled runs that often spoil the swing with shorter rods.
 |
| Silver Hilton - a Classic |
Flies of choice for the Umpqua are basic.
Muddlers and
Skunks are my mainstays but any traditional steelhead flies like the
Autumn Gold ,
Golden Demon or
Silver Hilton will work fine. Be careful in your selection though as
weighted flies and flies tied on shanks are not legal. Whether on the Umpqua or another steelhead river in Oregon September is the time to get out for these aggressive fish.
Nikolai
 |
| Rooks Blueberry |
The Crooked River in Central Oregon is a fun place to be in the fall.
There’s lots of riverside camping below the dam, and the trout fishing can be
pretty good. I haven’t found very big rainbows recently, like I used to. But
there’s still lots of hungry fish to bend your 5wt. The fish there love purple and blue flies. If I head to the Crook’
I’ll be sure to bring the following patterns:
Mahogany Dun
 |
| Autumn Caddis |
Isonychia (great Mahogany pattern)
Autumn Caddis
Purple Haze Sparkle Body
Rooks Blueberry
Stan’s Blue Midge
Purple Prince
Rick
 |
| Tom Thumb |
I’ll be honest: I’ve never fished East Lake in Central Oregon. But from
what I hear, it’s a really fun fishery. I want to find some browns this fall, and East is a great place to find a lunker. I'm not really sure what dry flies to bring, so
what flies will I be fishing? I have heard that the old
Tom Thumb is a killer in the fall. It's a silly looking fly, but wickedly effective.
But to catch a big brown, I will be throwing big streamers like the
Conehead Marabou Muddler,
BH Crystal Bugger,
MT Sculpin,
Sculpinator,
and the
Slumpbuster. The browns start to cruise the shallows again this time of year, so throw that big chunk of meat in the shallows, start stripping and hang on!
 |
| Sculpinator |
East Lake is 6,380 feet above sea level, and for us lowlanders here in Hood River (about 200 feet in elevation), that is awfully high up.
*So I’ll be sure
to bring warm clothes and my ski jacket, because the weather will get pretty
chilly this time of year.
Joe
 |
| Parachute Ant |
It is the end of summer and I'm heading to the
Owyhee River in Southeastern Oregon. The water temps are cooling and fishing should be stellar! We will be hitting Brown Town hard. I expect to run into
Mahogany Duns hatching, along with the possiblitiy of
Pale Evening Duns. There are always plenty of
midges around, while
scuds (my favorite is the
Middle Bead Scud) and worms (
Squirmy Worm all day!) are the go-to flies when the hatches are not bringing them up.
 |
| Parachute Hopper |
I will also have some various
caddis patterns ready, along with small hoppers (
parachute hopper is my go-to),
beetles and
ants. Brown trout love a
Purple Haze if you just really need to throw a dry and nothing else is working
Ben
 |
| Fruit Cocktail |
I will be heading out to try my hand at some big ole' largemouth bass. There are some relatively obscure lakes along the Southern Oregon Coast that hold lunker bass, and September is a great time to hit them. The water cooling down makes them super aggressive as they need to pack on a few pounds before the rainy, cold Oregon winter ascends. Here are some of my favorite fall largemouth patterns.
Mr. Hankey (Because watching them eat a mouse is awesome!)
 |
| The Hooded One |
Hare Grub (Throw this and the Hooded one into the weeds)
The Hooded One (Trust me, this fly works)
Fruit Cocktail (A favorite topwater popper)
Saltwater Clouser Minnow (The saltwater hook is stronger)
Saltwater Diver (Just a damn fine pattern for big meat eaters)
Jeff
 |
| Mega Prince |
I will be heading to beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada. Not exactly a fly fishing destination, but I have fished there enough times that my friends and I have figured out what there is to figure out about fishing on Lake Mead. We will stalk some carp in a couple of shallow bays when the sun is high, and then head out on his party boat and convert it into a striper machine in the evenings.
The carp there like small and rubber legs.
Carp Crack and
Carp Girdler are my favorites, but I have also done well with the
Beadhead Red Squirrel or a
Beadhead Mega Prince.
 |
| Carp Crack |
The stripers are usually about 25-30' deep and require a heavy, long sink tip, and heavy fly. Let is sink for like 3 minutes and then strip it in as fast as possible.
Bunny Clouser Minnows in Chartreuse are my my productive pattern. When the sun goes down, the pods of fish come up top and are happy to eat a
Pultz Pencil Popper.
Cameron
 |
| Barry's Pike Fly |
The cooling weather begins, and it's effect on gamefish species is remarkably good. Northern Pike, for one begin to become accessible again to the fly fisher as they begin pursuing prey in shallower waters. Weed beds, drops, anything that provide a natural place to chase prey is a good place to begin. Eagle Nest Lake, New Mexico in most years provides very good fall fly fishing for Northern Pike. While the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish are trying to actively reduce the Pike species, they admit the numbers appear to be stabilized and they are awfully fun to catch.
 |
| Pike Deceiver |
I will be taking a big rod, probably both an 8 and a 10 weight. While you should be prepared with a sink tip or a full sinking line, hopefully they are shallow enough for a floating line. I will be bringing plenty of flies as those teeth can destroy flies really quick. My favorite pike flies include:
Barry's Pike Fly,
Big Y Pike Fly,
Pike Deceiver, and
Pike Trailer Fly, to name a few.
And if the Pike game proves fruitless, the lake has good numbers of kokanee for the fall, and loads of trout too.
