Pacific Fly Fishers' Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Blog

Fly fishing for coho, or silver, salmon can be incredibly fast and furious or it can be incredibly frustrating. Known for having "lockjaw" once in the rivers, the wily silver salmon has its own personality just like the other Pacific Salmon species. Hitting the river at the right time, having some patience to find out what they will react to, and covering lots of water can make a dramatic difference when searching for some fall silver. We get spoiled in the PNW with opportunities, but a big "hooknose" should be on every angler's list.  

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Fall is finally here! The leaves are turning, the days are getting shorter, and the weather is finally cooling off. October is a month that many of us dream about all year long and the fly fishing opportunities are almost endless. There's so much to do, it's hard to fit it all in! This is a great time be trout fishing in both rivers, and lakes. Steelhead and salmon are filling the rivers, and it's a great time to wet a line and get tight! Here's a look at what you can target in the month of October, where to go and what to use!

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Fly fishing for Skagit River pink salmon in the Western Washington Puget Sound area is an exciting, unique fly fishing opportunity we’re fortunate to have in our backyards. The season sneaks by quickly so put some dates on the calendar and use this complete guide to the when, where and how-to for this extremely fun, every-other-year run of plentiful salmon.

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Fly fishing Lone Lake on Whidbey Island, WA is a great trout lake for anglers in the Western Washington and Puget Sound area. Lone Lake is open all year with peak fly fishing opportunities in spring and fall. See our complete guide to getting started on the right foot fly fishing Lone Lake.

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September is well underway and the fly fishing opportunities are numerous. In the Western Washington area, the most notable is probably the return of loads of pink salmon to Puget Sound and its rivers. In addition, we have lots of silvers showing up, steelhead entering the Columbia system, loads of bass and warmwater opportunities, and September is a fantastic time to be on the Yakima, Methow, Naches, Green, Deschutes, and many other trout rivers. 

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Take a look at our most recent newsletter, sent today, August 27, 2025. It includes new Skwala products, which includes waders, boots, jackets and more. Also, see new fly patterns and take advantage of a 25% Off sale on Winston AIR TH Spey rods. Plus articles on Understanding Sink-Tips and Part II of an article on Choosing the Right Leader. And more!

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There is a lot of confusion around sink tips, and we get asked all sorts of questions about sink tips all of the time. We commonly hear people ask "I'm going to the ****** River, what sink tip should I use?" and it's really not that simple. What are they? Which one should I choose? What does T14 mean? Well we're here to help you better understand the world of sink tips. And I could talk about this topic for days, Haha! There are many different kinds of sink tips that are available these days, and knowing which ones will work for you can be a little intimidating at first. So we're going to give you a full run down on everything "sink tip" so that next time you walk into a fly shop you'll know what to get.

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I think I've been enjoying Washington's August fly fishing opportunities a bit too much the last few days. As a result, August is one-third over and I'm just getting to my updates for this blog post! So, sorry for the delay, but here are some ideas for great August fly fishing trips in Washington state and the surrounding areas.

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In Part I of this article, we talked about the basics of choosing a fly fishing leader and focused those discussions primarily from the perspective of the trout angler. In Part II, we’re going to take things further and discuss a few more details which will surely come up, such as nylon leaders vs. fluorocarbon leaders, leaders for large, weighted or air-resistant flies, and leaders as they relate to common casting issues.

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