Parr for the course

In golf a par is good. In flyfishing, a parr is not as rewarding. Nimrod these days is mostly catching parrs, a  young stage of life for trout and salmon. After hours of fishing without a bite on the South Fork at exit 45, I switched to the Middle Fork in Tanner around exit 32.

As the sun was sinking around 6 pm, I cast into a long dark pool along the eastern bank. A little rainbow parr took my nymph and I brought it in for closer inspection. I was happy to avoid the shutout, but disappointed I didn't have a decent fish to show for the day's effort.

Tonight I looked at USGS to see why the flow seemed so high tonight. The water was murky with river silt. It appears the river flows have risen, fallen and are back on the rise over the past week. Temperatures on this fine fall day rose to near 60. I saw a good bit of insect activity this afternoon.

With some experience now under my belt, there are some things I'm realizing:

•  I need either to hire a guide or fish with someone experienced. I may not imprpove without some help.
•  I need to get some wet flies. My nymphs and dry flies are getting me only so far.
•  I need to get better at reading water for trout lies, and I need to understand better how to cast into those lies.
•  I want to get another rod to learn steelheading and beach fishing.

This is a wonderful sport with much to learn.

Flyfishing in DC

I travel to our nation's capital, Washington, D.C., a fair bit. Heck, I used to live there and met my wife there.

This week I got off my evening flight from Seattle, and headed straight for Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, to visit a new fly shop that has been open just a month. Urban Angler is a high-end shop in New York City that has just expanded into the D.C. area.

My cab stopped outside the fly shop in a historic town founded before 1750.  I rolled  my bag in to chat with the lone manager about local fishing. The very helpful manager told me that decent fishing is 3-4 hours away in Pennsylvania or West Virginia, but there is some worthwhile flyfishing for enthusiasts within casting distance from the Kennedy Center.

The Potomac has been disappointing this year due to bad weather. But come April I am told to fish a 6-weight, 250 grain sink line at Fletcher's Cove near Georgetown. There I might find some good sized American Shad (see photo and link below)

I bought a couple of unique flies thar are supposed to work wonders with DC-area shad. As Arnold would say, "I'll be back."

Spectator Sport

This afternoon Nimrod trapsed along a precarious south bank of the South Fork of the Snoqualmie attempting to get to an inviting pool I noticed from the bridge off Exit 38 at Grouse Ridge. After casting into the runs and eddies upstream from the pool, I decided to move back downstream to swing my nymph from the headwaters down to the bottom of the pool. About that time a gentleman stopped his car on the bridge above me and to my left. Suddenly I had a spectator!

I cast a couple of times short and then stipped out about 45 feet of line for a longer cast that might reach the bottom of the pool. The nymph, which looked a little like this one, sunk and drifted. As I began to bring in the line I felt that wonderful little tap of a trout. My rod tip shuddered and I carefully raised it. For the first time Nimrod felt the confidence to really play the fish. With a spectator looking on, I slowly worked the trout toward me and allowed the fish to stay in the water as I walked a few yards to retrieve my camera.

As I brought the fish to shore the gentleman on the bridge offered a nice round of applause.

I was certain I would catch a couple of trout today but this was it. Not only am I terrible at fish photography (see above and all over my website), but I am also terrible at identifying the fish. I believe this is a rainbow. Any help on the id would be appreciated.

Looking ahead, I will work my way further East on I-90. I also plan to buy a rod or two for the Puget Sound beaches. I really need to get into some bigger fish!

Waders 1, fish 0

Nimrod bought waders and wading boots on Saturday at Creekside. Today I had my first wading experience in the South Fork of the Snoqualmie off Exit 32.

Rising early Sunday morning to Head East, I assumed my fishing luck of the past month would build today. It didn't. I caught nothing. What's more, I'm not completely sure I even got a bite.

But I loved the wading! It was very liberating to look up or downstream, locate a piece of water I wantged to fish and then just walk to it. What a concept.

I parked North of a bridge on Cedar Falls Road and hiked down a slim path to the abundantly clear Snoqualmie. It was overcast and cool. I tied on a dry fly, slid down the river bank and enjoyed my baptism in Simms Freestone waders.

The current was brisk but the waters are still low this time of year. I walked upstream casting into riffles and pools. Nada. The dry fly offered some bright white, which I hoped would stand out a bit in the grey.

I gave up and drove to an access pointn off Tanner Road in North Bend. I tried the dry fly there, switched to a drab nymph and then cast concern to the winds -- I threw a big, blazing fly. Same result, nothing. I worked pools, seams, riffles, rapids, you name it. Nothing.

On my first day in waders I came away with this observation. Flyfishing should be an Olympic sport. It is a real sport. I am a runner, yet I was impressed with how physical it is to climb the bolders, wade up swift currents, keep your balance on an obstacle course. All the while the fly fisherman is looking for promising water, thinking about the right fly and presentation. Good flyfisherman are good athletes.

Like an athlete, I keep asking myself today why nothing worked? What did I do wrong. Today was not a 'game' day but I did get in some good practice.

The First Forays

My first real flyfishing experience was last summer on the Flathead River with a guide out of Whitefish, Mt. We cast for miles along the Flathead in a drift boat but sadly caught very few cutthroat. My son caught a couple and I caught exactly zero. Nimrod!

But the gear, the approach, the fish, the water! Wow, I fell in love.

This summer I bought a 9', 5-weight fly rod (ClearWater) with a Battenkill reel from Orvis. I went into the shop with no pretension -- I just admitted right up front that I knew nothing. If you pretend to know something the sales people will treat you like an expert, but if you make it clear you need help they will go out of their way to explain and answer questions. The salesman was head of fishing operations, and he took the time to show me the options. In the end I felt confident I had chosen the right equipment.

I got a quick lesson on how to assemble my 4-piece rod, attach the reel and tie two basic knots -- the improved clench (to tie on your fly) and the double surgeon (a knot to add fishing line). While practicing knots at the counter, the Orvis fishing manager told me to get out there. He encouraged me not to spend my time reading about fly fishing, but actuall fly fishing.

That's all I needed.

September 5, 2011
North Bend of Snoqualmie River
With a new fly rod in hand, a flycasting lesson and a little practice outside my house, I headed for the North Fork of the Snoqualmie to fish for trout. Sunrise is 6:27 am, and my upbringing told me that the early bird catches the worm.

My son and I would have been on the river even earlier but when you are a Nimrod you don't really know how to access a good fishing spot. All we had been told was go to North Bend and fish the North Fork. Turns out that's not so easy to find. We drove all over North Bend looking for a road that would get us close to a fishing hole with a gravel bar from which we could cast.

We found our spot just off North Fork Road near North Bend. We didn't have waders but instead showed up in sandals and Crocs. The water was bracing but tolerable. What wasn't tolerable was my fear of encountering a bear or a couger after I saw warning signs posted in the natural area's parking area. Then we saw mounds of poop which I could only assume was from a bear. We made noises trapsing down a trail and after a few anxious moments stepped onto the rocky river beach.

We waded up the right side of the stream casting from the center toward the bank. We stunk but our casts got longer and more accurate. The sun began to rise over Mt. Si and we felt the air warm. The bugs became visible hovering over the water. And then I noticed a fish swirl beneath a shady tree.

As a beginner my side-armed cast seemed the most accurate and so I began placing my fly near where I saw the swirl. On the second cast I felt a strong series of bites and saw the fish swirl again. I yanked the rod like I would with a bass on and...nothing. I yanked too soon and too hard.

But my feeling was ecstatic. I had found this fishing hole. I had assembled my flyrod. I had selected teh fly, tied it on and cast to the right spot. I felt like a flyfisherman for the first time!

September 17, 2011
Tolt River near Carnation
Caught my first steelhead! I rose early again and decided to try a new location -- the Tolt. I found my down the eastern bank near King County's Tolt-MacDonald Park. I saw a dead steelhead almost immediately and assumed fish must be around.

One thing I had been reading about is how to analyze water. There are riffles, seams, pools, rapids. I tried the pools below the rougher water. Nothing. Then I decided to wade out into a riffle. I didn't know at this point how to "swing a fly" but I essentially swung a fly by casting upstream at an angle and then let the fly drift downstream. As soon as the fly line extended and I began to pull in (strip) line...BAM...I felt a series of strong bites. I didn't rush it. I held up the rod and held the line firmly. The fish, a small one, frantically surfaced and pulled the fish up onto the bank. I had landed my first fish on a fly rod.

September 25, 2011
Lake Sammamish at Issaquah Creek
Those of you who are actual flyfisherman can look at my location and the date and recognize I should not have been fishing there. This is the weekend before Salmon Days when fish and wildlife prohibits you from fishing within 100 yards of the mouth of this creek because of spawning. But I stupidly waded out there, marvelling at the large, very dark salmon surfacing around me. Fortunately I didn't catch anything. It was a good lesson that Nimrod novices need to read the state fishing rules.

October 1, 2011
Skykomish near Monroe
My son's 14th birthday! I hired guide Chris Senyohl to show us the waters and help us catch some salmon. It was a good investment of time and money. First cast my son caught a good sized Coho on  a spoon. I caught a very small one on a spoon, and then we switched over to led-headed jigs. By short-casting (we were using bait rods not fly rods) and  then giving a couple of quick twitches as the jig reached bottom we managed to catch around 30 pink salmon. It was a big day.

We fly fished for sea-run cutthroat later in the day with a surface spider, but didn't catch anything, although I did get a good bite. (Photos below are guid Chris Senyohl with my son a pink or humpy salmon. Below that is Nimrod with his son and a Coho)

October 8, 2011
South Fork of the Snoqualmie
With a little recent experience under my belt, I finally felt like a fisherman. I visited Creekside Angling Company in Issaquah to get some advice on where to fish and what to fish with. I happened to talk with the local rep for Simms waders and he suggested a few spots in and around North Bend. He also hooked me up with a few new flies.

I took Exit 32 off I-90 and drove around a bit. I found a spot off Tanner and fished the eastern shore of the South Fork. It was an Indian summer day. The sun was hot and the bugs were thick. There was a real mix of water to fish (again, rapids, riffles, pools, seams). I started off with a colorful large fly which I found a little trick to cast. After working that fly up and down the stream with no action, I made an astounding conclusion: hot weather meant warm water which means the fish are at the bottom.

I tied on a nymph, swung it from a riffle to pool and voila! A beautiful cutthroat.

Getting started

I grew up in Oklahoma bass fishing on the lakes and setting trot lines for catfish on the creeks. Fly fishing was not something I ever saw or thought about until moving to America's Pacific Northwest. For nearly 18 years I've lived just outside Seattle, a place where the mountain streams and Alpine lakes are world-renowned for trout and salmon.Last summer my son and I hired a fly fishing guide in White Fish, Montana, during a family vacation. We spent the day on the Flathead River just outside of Glacier National Park catching a few cutthroat and mostly getting our lines tangled in the brush along the banks.

But the hook was set. We vowed then that the following year (this year) we would really learn the craft. But how?

Based on my current experience I'd recommend several sources of learning:

Books
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Flyfishing -- This book is a must. Don't be embarassed by the tile. It really breaks down the a lot of the skills, terms and knowledge you will need. I bought this the same day I bought my first fly rod.


The Orvis Guide to Beginning Fly Fishing -- This guide came with the fly rod I bought for my son -- a pre-packaged set.  Like most things Orvis does, the books beautifully prepared.  It's also quite useful and a good complement to the The Complete Idiot's Guide. I am glad I had both.

Fly Fishing Basics -- My doctor friend down the street is also a fanatical (and beginner) fisherman. He walked this book down to me early in my learning. I love it. The explanations and illustrations are really compelling. And, as in all learning, you will need reinforcement. Author Dave Hughes is a great teacher.

Central Cascades Fishing Guide and Flyfisher's Guide to Washington -- Most if not all states and regions have these guides, and you need them.  My guides are super helpful. They combine geographic and angling background that you need in order to have an informed conversation with anyone about fishing in your area.

Hatch Guide for Western Streams -- Ok, flyfishing is really fishing with bugs. You need to understand the bugs that inhabit the stream you intend to fish. You don't have to be an entomologist but it helps to know whether your stream during this particularly week or month is hosting mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies or midges (among others). I bought this book to help me match bugs with artificial flies.

Online
There are a lot of good websites and blogs to read. I've listed some of those I liked best on the front page of this blog. In addition, I like the Orvis podcast which you can download from iTunes.

Magazines
Early in my learning I bought a bunch of fishing magazines. What I discovered is that I am mostly a flyfisherman. Many of the fishing magazines emphasize size. You find page after page of huge King salmon or some other large species. What interests me are a variety of trout, salmon and other species that you would find in rivers and creeks. I also like flyfishing in salt water but I want to learn about strategies, strories and species. Fly Fisherman is the one I keep by the bedside to inspire and inform. Fly Rod & Reel is also a good catch.

Trout Unlimited
I received a complimentary membership in Trout Unlimited (TU) when I bought my rod. Perhaps it's because of my early career working as a speechwriter for former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel, a conservationist from the Reagan era, but I immediately mailed in my membership, and I'm glad I did. Trout magazine is essential reading, and it doesn't take very long for the novice fly rodder to realize that protecting our lakes and streams is a duty.

Experience
The best advice I got when I bought my first fly rod was go out and fish. You can study and become an armchair flyfisherman or you can go out and fish. Sure, you will make tons of mistakes and you will not catch many fish in the early days. But no cast and no trip is a wasted investment of time. You will learn, you will get better and you will catch fish. Just read the posts that come after this one.

Guides
One of the best ways to get experience is to hire a guide. Over the past year I've hired a guide in Montana, Cape Cod and the Pacific Northwest. I haven't caught a lot of fish with the guides but every fish I have caught on my own is a direct result of what I learned with the guides. They aren't cheap ($400 for the day / $200 for a half day), but you have to amortize the investment over time.

Friends
Once you start flyfishing you are going to find that people you know are also passionate fisherman. They don't talk about it much but once you do they will become important sources of encouragement and information. So talk about your fishing, share what you're learning and how you're struggling. You are going to be surprised by the new friendships that develop.

Why Fly Rod Nimrod?

My blog is about fly fishing from the perspective of a fanatic just taking up the sport. That's the fly rod part of the blog's title.

The Urban Dictionary defines Nimrod as a slow-witted person. That certainly describes my current state of fly fishing.

When selecting a title for the blog I searched fly+rod+Nimrod and found nothing, except this 1955 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette blurb about a novice flyfisherman who hooked a low-flying seagull on the backcast. Nimrod! Sounds like something I would do.

Nevertheless, the Urban Dictionary and other sources also document Nimrod as a "mighty hunter."  Who knows, maybe one day my fly rod will become feared in the lakes and streams of the Pacific Northwest where I live. For now, though, my rod catches more chuckles than chum.

But that's my idea for this blog. As I start out, I want to share my mistakes, stupid questions, stumbles and occasional successes.  To the beginner, fly fishing can be intimidating.  So much of what I find out there is serious, expert and prosaic, even romantic (ever see A River Runs Through it?)

I have learned something from everything I've read, seen and heard, but I also thought it might be valuable to capture what I am learning even as I am learning it. Peer mentoring for the fellow first-time flyrodder! This blog will summarize the books, magazines, podcasts, videos and TV shows I find useful. And I'll share my experiences along the way

Five years ago I started a baseball blog -- CodBall -- because I was learning about how amateur baseball players become Big League baseball players. The blog became popular and I ended up co-owning the Walla Walla Sweets of the West Coast League.  I remember finding very little useful information about baseball players before they were drafted so I decided to learn and to write about it.

I have a couple of goals for this blog. First, it will simply be a place for me to write about fly fishing. Second, I hope it provides a forum for questions and information that helps the beginning fly fisher.

The best advice so far came when I bought my first fly rod. "You can read all you want, but you gotta get out there. Learn by doing."

I have followed that advice. I've had some success but I've also made a fool of myself along the way. As KC and the Sunshine Band would say, "that's the way I like it."