It was a bright sunny, cold morning on the river, with every fly fishing guide in Eastern Washington having a boat on it. As the boats scattered down the river we finally got to get the boat in. Running clean up has its perks and drawbacks.
Ben found one of the first and almost only perks of the day. Finding a nice Natch steelie on the Halo.
The rest of the day was fun with fishing, and relearning the spey cast. Picking in up well from the left side of the river, Ben looked like a natural. The right however is a different story. The spey rod was put down about halfway through the trip, after a nice size 3 Last Light got buried to the shank in the back of the head. It has happened to all of us and we laughed about it. Turns out between my dad, Ben and myself. Ben has put the smallest hook in himself, where both of us have buried a 3/0.
In the last spot of the day Pops got the funny pull of a fish, but we cannot confirm or deny what it was but where it happened it was a fish. Ben pulled the stick and pull then gone fish. And I ended up with the only skunk of the day with not even a sniff. That’s the drawback to running clean up for the clean up crew.
Might have a few more days on this river but its off to the Ronde Wensday for a couple of weeks.
Tight Lines,
Joe Ewing PFF, Northwest Steelheading