Pacific Fly Fishers' Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Blog

When I arrived at Lenice and opened the door of my truck, it was immediately pulled from my hand, blew open and shook the truck as it reached the maximum limit of the hinges. “Whoa, it’s a bit windier than I thought it was”, I said to myself.

In the parking lot, a customer and friend of PFF watched me roll in and came over to say hello. He regrettably informed me that the lake was fishing pretty slow and that it had been windy all morning and he was heading home. I could certainly see the wind hadn’t let up as I began packing my boat with the eight million fishing goodies I like to have with me in a day of fishing.

Read more →

I recently had the opportunity to help with the filming of a short video on fly fishing for smallmouth bass on Banks Lake. The video is part of a series of videos the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is producing to promote the amazing variety of fisheries found in Washington.

Bruce Bolding (WDFW Warmwater Fish Program Manager, Olympia, WA) and Danny Garrett (Biologist and video producer extraordinaire, Mill Creek, WA) were the representatives of WDFW and the ones producing the video. David Williams, author of the soon to be released book, Fly Fishing for Western Smallmouth, and I were the anglers in the video.

Read more →

It’s late spring in Western Washington and June 1st signals the opener for our local rivers. Summer-run steelhead fishing has finally arrived. Although the calendar might say it’s the sixth month and New Years is January 1st, I tend to count my years starting mostly with the steelhead seasons. So June 1st to me is the start of a new year for fishing tallies.

Read more →

Michael Bennett, and Mason Denger finally talked me into my first trip down the Yakima river in 5 years. It ended up being the best upper river day I have ever had. A handful of big fish to the hand, and plenty of missed opportunities to boot. The dryfly action wasn’t super, so we spent most of the day nymphing using Pats Rubber Leg Stones, Prince Nymphs, and Graphic Caddis.

Michael ended up pulling up this beauty cutthroat on the Prince Nymph. But the Graphic Caddis has seemed to be the go to fly if there has been any type of caddis hatch going on.

Read more →

Pacific Fly Fishers hosts trips all over the world. Our most recent one just concluded, by Ben Zander, was on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. The trip was a success and is recommended to any angler wanting to pursue baby tarpon on a fly rod.

The trip started with a flight to Cancun, easy enough, followed by a 5 hour van ride to Tarpon Cay Lodge in San Felipe. We were greeted by our lodge host Bato with a tray of Margaritas that I think must taste exactly like holy water. Tarpon Cay Lodge is a three story building, the tallest in San Felipe, that boasts fantastic Mexican decor and air conditioned rooms that sleeps weary anglers well.

Read more →

If you’re looking for something different, give Banks Lake a shot for great numbers of smallmouth bass. Mid- to late-May is a great time to fish Banks for the bass that are in pre-spawn mode. They are typically in five to fifteen feet of water and staging in or around rocky flats where they will eventually spawn.

Read more →

Pacific Fly Fishers is excited to announce that we have recently added Hardy and Greys as new product lines to our store (coming to the web catalog soon). Hardy has a long history in fly fishing and is especially significant in Spey reels in our region. Another influencing factor in our decision was two spectacular value-priced rods from Greys (a subsidiary company to Hardy). Here is a run-down of what we’ll be carrying in 2014 from Hardy/Greys…

Read more →

Knowing this rain was on the way and with the Christmas season starting to get crazy at the store, I fished the lower Skykomish today since it could be my last chance to get on the water until January. I fished two runs pretty hard but didn’t find a fish willing to eat.

Read more →

And an update on the lower river. Its a much different river than last year, to those that are familiar with the Hoh this is not news to you but for those that don’t know how this little river works. Rapids have disappeared, boat launches have moved back to gravel bars and take outs are no longer in main channels. For those that are looking at taking out at Barlows bring a trailer with a wench and a truck with good tires and 4WD. Here is a pic of my dads truck pulling the boat out at Barlow’s a little over a week ago.

Read more →