Lessons learned

It is mid-July and I am just a month away from completing my first year of intensive fly fishing. This weekend I discovered a few things about my education.

I fished Lake Sammamish, Snoqualmie and Cedar River this weekend -- each just for a few hours. What I have discovered is that I now know how to catch fish, mostly small but beautiful trout in moving water. Catching bigger fish requires more strategic thinking and technical skill, which clearly I am still developing.

Take Sunday evening for example. I was on the Cedar River which has fallen to below 400 cfs. I entered the water having already tied a dry fly and a nymph tandem. I immediately noticed fish rising and cast toward them. Nothing.

I switched to a Stimulator-type pattern and got trout to attack the fly. I had not seen this kind of action before on a river. What I discovered was that I was acting like a spectator, observing the fish rise and attack the fly but failing to set the hook. It was just so fun to watch them come from no where and boil up around the fly. After a dozen casts I finally set the hook and caught a nice little cutthroat which I quickly returned to the cold waters.

I fished for a couple of hours and just enjoyed watching the rises without ever setting the hook. I did have a larger one on but he got loose and I saw a considerable silver flash flee from my fly to deeper water. I have some work to do.

On Saturday night I caught 4-5 small cutthroat on the Snoqualmie near the Fall City bridge. I also brought my 6-weight which I had rigged with a steelhead streamer. I cast far and wide but never had a strong strike.

Looking back over my biggest successes, there are two lessons I need to heed.  The first is to do a little more homework. Talk with fly shops, get local knowledge. The other is to get some polarized glasses so I can see and anticipate rises more promptly. It's almost too late once you see the rise.

Another lesson is to be more open to conversation with people while gearing up or down at the car. I have tended to be pretty guarded but very often friendly people are eager not just to ask questions but to share information. Yesterday a young fisherman stopped by the car to ask me how things had gone. I shared with him where I had fished, what I had used and what techniques were (and were not) working. He reciprocated by sharing with me a secret pool a mile downstream from where I fished. He pulled out his cell phone and showed me a spectuacular rainbow trout he had landed just a few days prior.