Mother's Day Trout

Mother's Day and I 'cutt'-n-run around 2 pm to fish the Snoqualmie. This weekend has been unseasonably sunny and warm. Temperatures reached 80 in North Bend this afternoon. I gauged water temperatures at 50-even. Water flows were picking up as warm temperatures are melting the remaining snows in the upper elevations of the Cascades.
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Note that I successfully last fished the Middle Fork earlier this week on May 7th as water levels hit median daily averages. Today I wanted to test the waters as they started to spike again with spring run-off. I found the river easily wadeable at today's slightly elevated levels. The wind was gusting upstream but was manageable.

With limited time I returned to my favorite fishing hole, and made my way downstream, casting my new Winston 5 wt and the best-ever flyline from Orvis (more on that another time). I used a Copper John and Blue Winged Olive Emerger team in a nice pool just away from the rapids. Plenty of submerged boulders and riffles on the surface. The water looked trout-ish even if there were no risers.

A very aggressive cutthroat took the BWO Emerger, which trailed the Copper John, and fought very nicely working first to the right and then to the left. The fish had nice coloring and was easily 10-inches, a nice cutthroat on this river.

Yesterday I purchased a sweet little Brodin trout net from Orvis. I had struggled in my early flyfishing experience to get the time I needed to examine the fish, photograph the fish and safely return the fish so I bought this net to facilitate the whole process. Turns out you buy the net and then a magnet-clip combo so that it attaches to your "D" ring on the pack or vest. Who know what "D" refers to but it's the ring on the back of your flyfishing vest. This whole combo makes it easy for you to carry and cast with the net then simply pluck it from your pack or vest when needed.

I also bought a cheap Fugi underwater digital camera, which I carry around my neck to improve my fish photos.. I am still the world's worst fish photographer, but at least I got photos this time.

When will I have so much equipment hanging from my neck that I simply topple over into the cold stream?

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.

Okie pond fishing

Sunday was my last day in Oklahoma before returning to Seattle. Scott Hood, the president of Trout Unlimited's Tulsa chapter and my new Okie fishing buddy, called me up Saturday night to ask if I wanted to try some pond fishing.

"Of course, I just need to be home for our family lunch."

We drove early Sunday morning from my old hometown of Broken Arrow to nearby Coweta to a pond that looked like a miniature bass lake. It had all the grass, tree stumps and beaver dams you'd see on a good Oklahoma or Texas bass lake. Instead of a Ranger bass boat, though, we could just mosey along at whatever pace we wanted. We covered about half of the pond by morning's end.

The wind was whipping up pretty good. We both brought our 6 wt. rods and cast part of the morning directly into 15-20 mph winds. With local knowledge, Scott got into the fish quickly. He landed a huge bluegill and then some nice bass. He also found time to give me a pointer or two on casting and popper retrieval, which helped.

Scott has fashioned a lot of creative bass flies out of things like broom handles, packing material and cork. Below is an almost comical frog pattern that seemed to excite the bass and bluegill.

I stuck with my Orvis freshwater popper, which produced 4-5 bass as well as this nice bluegill. Directly behind me in this photo is the man-made dam, where we switched to white wooly buggers (Scott had his own variation).

Most of the bass I caught were in the 1-1.5 pound range. Good little fighters who attack the surface stuff with some vigor.

I learned a lot on this trip. The most enjoyable lesson was that it's possible to expect to catch a nice fish -- rather than hoping to get lucky -- when you in put in the time, do the preparation and invite someone with real knowledge about the waters you're fishing.

Home waters

Sometimes fishing is a little more than just fishing. Last fall my dad was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. This spring he is cancer free after surgery and round after round of chemo therapy.

He looks pretty damn good standing there on the Lower Illinois River in Gore, Oklahoma. His brand new Simms waders and White River flyrod got their first test today.

After a long winter of surgery, chemo, recovery, talking and reading about flyfishing, we were on the river. Finally. It was good to spend my first day on the river trout fishing with my dad.

After a casting session Friday night at the pond behind our home in Tulsa, he fished well on Saturday and managed to induce a few good strikes from a finicky bunch of trout. Yesterday saw temperatures in the mid-80s and then the temperature dropped today.  The water level goes up and down throughout the day according to Tenkiller Dam's generation schedule.  After today he's now got the background he needs to make the full conversion from bass pro to trout triumphant.

We were very fortunate to connect with Scott Hood, Oklahoma's Trout Unlimited leader. Scott is a talented fisherman and a very thoughtful, passionate advocate for trout fisheries. Tulsa TU is promoting the sport, supporting members and working urgently to preserve and conserve Oklahoma's precious trout fisheries. Coming from the Pacific Northwest, where we almost take for granted that there is political and community support for the sport, I was inspired by Tulsa TU's efforts.  They recently worked to enter the Guiness Book of World Records for having the most flyfisherman at the same time flycasting.  Tornados got in the way but they managed to create awareness. They did this from a little trout pond the chapter supports as a means of getting kids, parents and grantparents to fish together. The Tulsa community should get behind this merry band of fishermen who are working to teach outdoor ethics and conservation in inner city schools while also keeping a watchful eye on the trout fisheries.

In the photo below I am unhooking a 14-in rainbow as my dad casts into a nice pool on the Lower Illinois. I used a rising hare's ear emerger with no indicator to catch a very healthy and aggressive hatchery rainbow.

The water was cold and clear today. This is not the fish I caught (at least I don't think), but with polarized sunglasses you could see big carp, trout, bass and shad in the river. The guy fishing to my left was catching some nice sand (or white) bass.

In the pond behind our house I fished Friday and Saturday night. I used a surface popper to land this magnificent bluegill which fought as hard as any of the trout or bass. I was impressed.

I landed 4-5 black bass on the same fly -- twitchy retrieve creating a moderate little ripple in the water as it advanced.

Back to the Lower Illinois for a moment. I grew up in Oklahoma and never understood that trout fishing was an important part of the allure and economy for a region of Oklahoma so close to Tulsa and to Tahlequah where I went to college and worked for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Gore and Webbers Falls depend on the trout trade. When cold water flows from Lake Tenkiller are low, the economy suffers. As these signs indicate, trout fishing has been a tradition in these parts for over 50 years.

Good Mojo

It took some pretty good mojo to break my two-month fishing slump. But today I finally landed a nice little cutthroat on the North Fork of the Snoqualmie near North Bend.

In no particular order, here is the good mojo that was needed. I wore the underwear Ella bought me recently with dry fly designs on it. I used my brand new Winston Home Waters 8'10" 5wt. rod, which arrived by mail yesterday. And I have been reading Ernest Hemingway's trout fishing short stories, namely Big Two-Hearted River and Now I Lay Me.

Adding to the mojo, I ended up in an area of the river I have not visited since my very first foray at fly fishing. (That's Mount Si looming above the river)

Spring finally sprung today. Hardly a cloud and temperatures pushed 60 even in the upper elevations. I headed for the hills after my son's baseball game and got in a couple of hours. I mainly just wanted to try the new rod, but then of course I had to catch a fish. One more cast. One more cast. Wait, how about I try that area. It looks good.

I fished a couple of pools near the road and then hiked about 15 minutes through a dense forest to an upper part of the river. I fished a promising area for nearly an hour switching from a stone fly to a nymph.

The wind was whipping through the valley right in my face,  I was about to leave when I figured I'd try a run just below a curve and rapid. The water looked pretty still.

I cast into the current and let it carry my Copper John down river. Nothing. Finally I looked downstream and noticed calm water. I made a long cast close to the bank, which sloped down gently and then quickly. I also decided to stip the line in with a little more purpose.

Along that shelf I finally felt the happy tap of a trout. I set the hook and brought him into shore. I didn't bother taking a photo because I felt they might be feeding and I didn't want to miss the action. There was not further action so I should have taken the photo.

What a nice day.

A word about my new rod. Trout Unlimited offered the rod (and a full set-up) as part of a package to attract life time membership. Winston created a limited edition -- TU Life Time Member -- rod that I hope stays in our family for generations today. It's a "fast" rod with great action. I was able to cast with great accuracy today and a good long way. What a great investment. I opened the box just last night. The rod is batting 1.000!

The Salt

Today I am washing the Puget Sound salt off my rod and reel as I prepare to fish the Salt River of Arizona. I'll be fishing the tailwater below Saguaro Lake.

Nimrods like me learn not to just show up and fish long stretches of water. Instead I called ahead last week to talk with Cinda, the flyfishing manager at Orvis in Scottsdale. I told her I wouldn't be able to drive the 3-4 hours many fisherman drive to find water up in the mountains. My son will be playing baseball and that's my main attraction.

But she had the perfect solution. Turns out the Arizona fish and wildlife department has just stocked the lower Salt with 3,000 rainbows, plus there are bass in those waters. With temperatures expected to reach into the 80s this week Cinda feels there is a good chance the bass will move in to the shallower water to spawn, plus the trout numbers should still be pretty good.

I am taking waders because the water is supposed to be cold despite the warm air temperatures.

Normally I wouldn't write about a trip until afterward, but preparing for this trip has taught me some new things. I wanted to capture those learnings rather than muddle my later reports with background. I just hope the fishing is more interesting than the preparation to fish.

For starters, I bought a new 6 wt. spool of intermediate line for the bass fishing. I am taking just my 6 wt because it should be just fine for both bass and trout.  I'd prefer to have a 4-5 wt for the trout, but if the wind picks up it will be better to have a six.  And the six will work just fine for the bass or even the carp if I get into some bottom-feeders.

With the new spool I can easily switch between my floating line for trout and an intermediate line for the bass and other fish I might encounter. I practiced switching the spools today.

For flies I am taking buggers (black and white) for the bass as well as a few surface flies in case they are rising in the heat. For the trout I am told just about anything will work but I will focus initially on Zebra Cidges and Hare's Ear. Cinda said there are some caddis and Blue Winged Olive going off as well.  So I packed a pretty good box of flies for all eventualities. I even bought a few expensive carp flies.

Dove at the Orivs here in Bellevue counseled me to twitch and strip and slowly for the bass because it is sight fishing and they are likely spawning.  The bass won't take the fly until it's right in their face. First stip they look. Second they move slightly into position and third, STRIKE! At least that's what I'm hoping.

I may also trip Kiwanis Lake in Tempe which is very near my hotel.

Wish me luck. More later.

A long month

I haven't caught a fish since January 2nd. I'm fishless in Seattle. Despite many hours on beaches, river banks and lakes, I can't seem to get even so much as a good bite. Disappointment and frustration have set in.

After a very cold, snowy, windy January, we finally saw a week of sun during the first week of February. I watched water levels fall to seasonal averages throughout the week. I like to visit USGS streamflow online to see where water levels are at my favorite locations.

On Saturday, after purchasing a sweet new Sage #8 flyrod for steelheading, I drove to the Fall City bridge only to learn that the fish and wildlife folks closed down the river system to protect the native species. Understandable, but it threw a wrench in my plans. On Sunday I drove up to the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie and was skunked despite feeling like I had found some pretty good water pockets.  Nothing was biting.

I went back and studied the streamflows. Seasonal averages are still higher than the water levels I fished during the fall. The water was clear but not gin clear as they say. My backcasts seemed to always be right up against the brush.

I've learned some new waters, and I've probably improved the accuracy of my casting under more difficult circumstances. But still, no fish.

I am going to take a break. Next time I need to go with a guide to snap this losing streak and to improve my skills. I am off to India on Thursday. I think I'll hold off fishing until March. The Yakima with a guide sounds pretty good right now.