First day fishing on the Middle Deschutes a week ago, I tried these 3 peacock variations for about 15 minutes with no success. It was not a day for these flies.
No fish feeding on top and very little insect activity in the air. I switched out those flies to try three different wets. Fishing down the riffles I got a few grabs but no solid takes until I replaced the point fly with my old Lightning Bug Soft Hackle. I ended my 45 minutes of fishing with three trout between 7 to 10 inches, 3 long distance releases, one break off, and about dozen grabs. the flies that produced were my old Lightning Bug and my new Fluorescent Yellow Lightning Bug.
https://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11596
The next day conditions were the same. I fished starting with the same cast and after a breakoff I changed the middle fly from the Ichiban Sakasa Kebari to my old Transition PMD. Yellow was the key again today. I fished twice as long today, fishing 2 sections of the river. My results doubled today with fish on the: TPMD, Fluorescent Yellow Lightning Bug, Polish Hot Spot Hare & Partridge and Hare'y Carrot Flymph .
https://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11423
https://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11613
The next day I was skunked on the Metolius swinging soft hackles and a few nymphs. There were a few large yellow mayflies egg laying but no surface activity. The Bull Trout even ignored my Vinyard eel until I left it securely hung up on the submerged lava rock on the bottom!
My last day on the Middle D was typical to 2 days before. The one variable was only the amount of smoke in the air from the OREGON WILDFIRES. Sometimes you could see the outline of the nearby mountains, other days only the smoke. The TPMD, Fluorescent Yellow Lightning Bug, Polish Hot Spot Hare & Partridge and Hare'y Carrot Flymph all produced again. I added a Yellow bodied Polish Grizzly Soft Hackle to the success column as well.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11492