In late November Joe and I made a last minute decision to head to the Snake and Grande Ronde rivers for two days of fishing. We had originally intended to head into BC and fish the mighty Thompson River, but an outstanding Snake River fishing report from Garry Sandstrom, fly fishing manufacturer’s representative and former owner of the Morning Hatch Fly Shop, stirred our interest in heading east instead of north.
I’m sure you all heard me talking about going Lingcod fishing over the past week and a half. Now it’s time to put my money where my mouth is. Joe and I literally spent hundreds of dollars on rods, lines and tying material in anticipation of catching these honey badgers of the sea. Armed with his video camera, Peter was there to document the whole escapade. Let me first tell you that we really had no idea what fly or even what kind of water to fish. The interwebs do not have a lot of info for a fly guy, but we read everything we could. I spent a week annoying my wife and tying big flies, some of the largest flies I have ever tied. Fast forward to May 6th and, with enough gas to get us to Japan, we launched the Boston Whaler. Off we went.
Sunday, the beauty of this area is just what the title suggests. Was able to fish the upper sky Sunday morning before the sun came out to visit. Low water conditions are here for the summer. Which means light lines and more traditional flies. Was able to get two really good takes, well one really good grab and then the missed fish just subsurface. It is always fun to watch the boil even if you don’t hook up the fish. But there is something to be said about feeling something goofy and then seeing the boil of the missed fish. Tried a bunch of different skaters to try and tempt it back, but to no avail.
Ah, Pass Lake. I love this lake and feel so fortunate to have such a great trout fishery so close to where we live. Yes, I know… the road along the south side of the lake is noisy, but I guess that doesn’t bother me too much (except for the occasional dumbass that feels compelled to yell some incomprehensible garble while driving by in a ’84 Pontiac Fiero with a fabulous primer gray and Bondo paint scheme). Okay, other than that, I love this lake.
I guided on Lake Whatcom on Monday with customer Arne and his two sons, Blake and Dakota. We had a great day and good weather. The fish were pretty tough but we got plenty of little guys and had a couple good-sized smallmouth up to the boat but they managed to get off. Overall, we caught smallmouth, yellow perch and a few really nice cutthroat throughout the day.
Fished Mayfield Lake with Jesse C. the other day. We were looking for the elusive Tiger Muskie. Jesse has been researching the Tiger fishery at Mayfield for quite some time. He has fished it a couple times recently with our buddy, Nic V. Nic has also been researching the possibilities of this fishery with a fly rod. Their first two times out, they hooked fish… including a couple MONSTERS that Nic hooked and lost after a couple vicious head shakes. (And these fish really to seem to fit into the MONSTER category nicely).
I recently had the pleasure of fly fishing for tarpon.
In mid June I also had the pleasure of getting married. So, being a fisherman and never leaving my rod at home it would only seem fitting that we take a honeymoon where fishing can be done. Hello hot, humid, smelly Key West. I have always wanted to try for tarpon but never thought I would get the shot.
With Joe continuing to have great reports for him and his clients on the Sky, I dropped everything on Tuesday and headed out to get in on the action. The river jumped to 15,000 cfs on Monday so I was hesitant to go that day… but Joe and clients hooked FIVE that day! Sure as shit, I was out there the next day with the river still running at 12,000 cfs in the morning. Despite fishing in the trees on some of my favorite holes, the water clarity was good. I put the boat in at Monroe and headed all the way up to Gold Bar, then fishing my way back down. Only a few boats were on the river so that is one benefit of high water. It scares away most of the other anglers.
Fished the upper sky with Mason Denger of PFF, John Farrar of NW Flyfishing, and myself. It was cold, and very wet. And, by wet I mean the river was on the way up way up, at the end of all of it all the river had come up over a foot on us.
The nice thing about fishing water like that is that you end up with the river all to yourself. Fishing tends to be tough with the river moving up the way that it was but we were able to dig up one player towards the end of the day. Had a few more rolling around but only could get one to play.
Fished Banks Lake for a couple days in May. I was primarily there for smallmouth but encountered a few other fish of interest along the way.
The first day, Vance B. met me over there around mid-morning. Earlier in the day, before he arrived, I was messing around with carp on a large, shallow flat. It was loaded with carp! I tried to sneak in there as best you can with a 20-foot boat, and managed to find a few fish that appeared to be feeding. One of our customers is a carp fanatic and has been incredibly helpful in providing information on just how to fool these difficult fish. He also armed me with some of his favorite carp flies!