May flows

Today I had about an 90 minutes to fish from 12:30-2 pm. Temperatures around mid-day in North Bend along the forks of the Snoqualmie reached the mid-60s on their way up to low 70s. Winds were gentle, and much to my delight the water flows looked manageable at less than 1,500 cubic feet per second.

I suited up quickly in waders and assembled my new Winston trout rod, which has had a pretty good catch-ratio so far. I tied on a Hare's Ear emerger for no particular reason other than I knew I wanted to get below the surface and I was seeing bug activity at mid-day.

The Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie was relatively clear, cold and surprisingly wadeable. The boulders in this particular stretch create a number of pools and slack water where I felt trout would be holding just out of the rapids. After a half hour or so I switched to a team approach -- a March Brown dry on top and a Copper John nymph as the dropper. I cast just just the seam of the run and pool, let the team drift a bit and stripped in line at a purposeful rate. Just as the fly was reaching a boulder I felt a healthy tug and a cutthroat bent my pole. After a strip or two the fish jumped up out of the water and made another effort to get downstream. I brought the fish in but did not measure or photograph. I would estimate the fish was 8-9 inches with nice coloring.

I felt certain there more fish to be had but that was it, and I ran out of time.

There is more snow melt to come, but it felt like today might be the beginning of more fishable streams and rivers in our near future?

Friday I fished for searuns on the Puget Sound. I saw a lot of small fish -- I assume baby Chum. Sunday night I tried again for hatchery rainbown on Green Lake. I didn't see any nor did I get any nibbles. Even the Osprey seemed to get skunked.

But optimism is in the air this May afternoon.