Month: April 2018

Fishing has been pretty good this past week.  We’ve had a good window of as good as it gets spring conditions.  We shall see how long they hold but it looks like I will be sitting at the vise quite a bit this next week.  Looks like Wednesday this coming week the river is going to rise.  If it will be enough to blow out is anyone’s guess right now.  We just have to wait and see.  It is going to get really warm this coming week.  And that 107% snow pack has to go somewhere.

So when things get funky out there and it becomes to difficult to effectively guide…I effectively use my time to tie flies for when the river is back in shape.  I have always tied my own flies.  I started tying the lures before I even touched a fly rod.  As a gear fisherman I always loved lures and the different techniques and types.  So when I learned that fly fishing you got to design and tie your own and try to mimic the natural world…I was like…sign me up that shit sounds dope.  I got a kit and started reading and learning.  Before youtube videos.  I started buying materials, learning the different uses.  Took a class, learned more, experimented, practiced, got better, then started catching fish on my stuff.  When I started working the industry my tying chops really came into their own.  I started tying dozens a day.  I started selling them.  I soon realized that it is way cheaper to tie your own then buy.  So I would buy 2 or 3 of the patterns that struck my fancy and I would deconstruct one…and keep the other two for comparisons.  I got really good at tying what was in the bins and catalogues.  Even to the point where I would fill the bins with my ties.

I started teaching classes.  Fine tuning my skills through teaching, large scale tying, and experimenting with different patterns for multiple species.  I didn’t live close to the river so I would also tie bass and carp flies.  I would take notes on the flies I tied, how they held up, how they looked in the water.  I made one of those fly tanks with the water and the stream flow thing, I made it out of an old fish tank.  Tested everything in it.  Put a mirror in the bottom so I could see what the profile of the fly looked like to the fish.  Brought bugs home and put them in the tank with the flies and studied them.  I totally immersed myself in it.  Entomology is super cool when you are a big science nerd like me.  I was obsessed with tying perfect flies and perfectly mimicking naturals.  I got really good at it, have some patterns that just work, because of it.  But my mentor reminded me about the three things that trout need when it comes to a fly.  Size, Silhouette, Color.

The fly doesn’t have to perfectly match, it has to perfectly mimic.   There is a difference.  Size plays a huge role both above and below, the water changes the way things look, and trout have eyes designed to see in a liquid world…unlike ours.  Trout also see color…but not the same way we do.  And light through the water column changes the way trout see color and light which can be very important when selecting flies.  Trout don’t see bugs the way we do…their eyes are not as advanced as ours, but they see shapes and interpret minuscule things like dimples in the meniscus that we can’t, and this is handy to know when tying flies.  So I started studying the attractor patterns, how light and water affect materials.  How trout interpret their environment, raided the biology section of my college library for anything I could find on stream habitat, trout, invertebrate life, found a lot.  Also found Lafontaine and his Caddisflies book…in the Biology Section…just FYI.

My world exploded.  I really started to find my kind of sweet spot with tying.  Your flies start looking like they are yours….not like all the other ones…versions of the other ones…your versions…and they work….sometimes better.   I tie because I believe that trout eat things they don’t see on a regular basis.  I have seen so many trout refuse store bought flies…those picky trout…the ones you hear about but can’t seem to get yourself…well…that fly that everyone is throwing at them…could be the reason.  You won’t find that stuff in my box.  Sure I’ve got a few store bought…mostly because I still buy a few that strike my fancy and then tie more to look like them.  I love when clients can’t tell the difference between the two…except mine will hold up to more trout typically.

I tie for myself because I still love the sensation of tying a fly at the vise, tying the fly onto the tippet, my heart racing as it drifts over the spot where I last saw the fish rise….that moment…when you ask yourself if your fly is worthy….and the trout answers.  That feeling, to this day, whether the rod is in my hand, the hand of my clients, or my children…after 12 years of chasin’ trout….I still cannot get enough of that rush…that flutter of the heart.  The shot of adrenaline as the fish and you meet through the rod bend.  The head shake, the run, the jump, the whole time smiling inside and out with the satisfaction that something I created was the key into that world of wild trout.  Damn fly fishing is cool.  For me it all started with the flies.  The fly is the most important part, how it looks, how it drifts, how the fish interprets it all.  It is the key to the door, it is what sets fly fishing apart from all other angling forms…that fly and what is required to unlock those river secrets….mmm…ya fly fishing is really cool.

See ya out there anglers.

Tamarack

It’s here for a bit. As long as conditions hold anyway. But superb fishing today and it should continue.

Fishing was absolutely stellar today and I quit early! March Browns are hatching in the afternoon and fish are all over them. We have a few skwalla hanging around with the war,we days and BWO’s and Caddis are out and about.

I have availability for the rest of the month and the flows and weather look to hold through next week. Come get in on some amazing spring fishing on the Yakima River!

Full Day Trips: $375.00 for 2 anglers with lunch.

Half Day Trips: $275.00 for 2 anglers.

Visit the website or hit the Book Now Button.

Awww ya!

I put up a tie of the Batman Prince after getting requests for it.  Apparently its a hard fly to find in the shops.

 

So I am all for river shenanigans and getting silly on the river.  I do it all the time to relax, detox from the guide week, or just to enjoy the river without the pressure of having to guide or fish seriously.   I especially engage in this type of behavior in the summer time as I am about 100 trips in and things start to get to you.  So you spend some time riverside with buddies getting silly, catching a few fish, but mostly just dinking around.

Then there are times where the fish are feeding, selectively, and require the utmost attention, focus, and stillness of the angler.  These situations can be very intense, with large trout actively feeding just within cast reach.  The kind of trout that if you cast too much you’ll never see them again.  So you wait…you watch…you listen….and you don’t make too much noise for fear that this trout will become aware that it is being stalked and is the quarry of the attentive angler.

Yesterday we found ourselves in such a situation.  In one of my favorite runs of the upper river.  A pod of fish 4 of which were very large began feeding in response to the March Brown and BWO hatch that was sporadically coming off.   A large trout in particular, was feeding on a 30-45 second interval.  Coming up and hoovering insects by opening its mouth just under the surface and letting the mayfly drop in with a faint gulping sound and a kick of a dorsal fin before lowering back into the depths.  It was intoxicating to watch, and the fellow angler I was with and I were enjoying just watching them eat before we made our approach.

They were spooky, we had to try 3 different flies, and several different approaches.  We hooked one but not the one we were after.  Finally I was able to get a good drift and I got refused…twice.  Gave me a look…tracked the fly…but wouldn’t commit.  So we waited.  To see if they would reset and give us another shot.  Unfortunately we did not get another shot.

The type of day I described at the beginning of the blog, well we had a group come through that were having that sort of day.  And they were being silly, loud, and fishing they way they wanted to…not the way the fish were demanding.  And that is all good.  I have no issue with it…but that kind of day….does not mesh well with the type of day we were having or with the current pod of fish we were working.  As the other boat came through the run of course…our sensitive fish decided they had enough and retreated back to their hidey holes for the afternoon.  Even with bugs over head…they were aware of us and would not come back out to play.  A huge bummer, especially when others can clearly see what you are trying to do.

It happens.  I get bummed, I might blog or talk about it, but it happens and it sucks.  We found a pod of fish that required technical skill, patience, and proper angling approaches and methods and we were in the thick of it.  To have moments like that become sullied just sucks.  And I am not super upset about it…just bummed is all.  I’ll have more moments like that and I will have clients and myself catch fish during them.  It all comes down to two things.

Some of us are out there to chase fish and become a part of that world that trout live in…others are just out here to relax, cut loose, and make themselves feel good.  And that’s okay…just don’t curse in church when the others are praying.

The Yakima is in good shape this week and the March Browns, BWO’s, and some drakes are starting to hatch in the afternoon and fish are starting to look up on a regular basis.

#flyfishing #flytying #chasintrout #yakimariver #ya #yakimariverheadwaters #tamaracksguideservice #rainbowtrout #westslopecutthroat #wildtrout #nothinbutnet #netshot #guidelife #troutlove #springfishing #dryfly #flyfishingguide #pnwflyfishing #pnw #flyanglerlife

I started a YouTube Channel.  I will be uploading all sorts of stuff over the course of the season and doing lots of live streaming there.  I am hoping to do a weekly live stream about fishing and recap the week and stuff like that as we get moving into the season.  Here is a live stream video from today of me tying the Chubby Chernobyl in Salmon Fly Flavor.

So, I am stuck in the house while the river goes through the annual spring time run off episode.  After a small taste of the river side life I hate being stuck inside for extended periods of time.  Things are waking up out there.  Spring brings about new life, and I love being out and about among it all.

A lot of the time I am out there alone enjoying it all.  But when I am guiding its almost always with a pair of people.  Some anglers have been fishing partners for decades, some are trying out different people to see if they mesh well riverside.  Some are long time friends, co-workers, family, you name it I have seen it when it comes to clients.  One thing I have seen change since I started back in this industry 10 years ago is the amount of women and young anglers getting involved.  I can tell you that I have a large portion of my client base in the women and anglers under 35 demographics.

I fish with a myriad of people.  Its one of my favorite parts of the job, the social part.   Meeting all those different people you get to learn, see, hear, converse, with others that are typically far different from you in many ways, but also share common interests…hence the fishing.  This makes you cultured, it opens your eyes to others, it allows you to get a different perspective by being with other people that you may not necessarily spend time with otherwise.  That’s a big part of the job of guide…being able to be around all different types of people and facilitate an enjoyable experience for the clients.

There is a lot happening in the industry right now.  Women are finally prevalent in the sport, and not just to sell gear…everyday I am delighted to read articles from women in the industry talking about their struggle, how they came up in to the sport, the challenges they face.  I hear it from my clients regularly.  As a father of two daughters one of which wants to learn to row the boat and hold lines on the river this year,  and the other turning 4 this month continually asks when we are going to go fishing.  I want my daughters to grow up knowing that the fly fishing community and industry is inclusive and filled with strong outspoken women that are as passionate as the rest of the anglers and guides out there.  I know several women, mentors of mine, women I look up to as anglers and guides that have inspired me to become a better angler and guide myself.  I want my children, including my son, to grow up seeing fly fishing as a place for all to enjoy the outdoors, and the places that fish live.  I say it all the time…trout don’t care what job you have, what color your skin is, where you go to church, how old you are, how much skill you have, or what you have between your legs.  Trout and the river are an equalizer…I have witnessed a 10 year old girl with no prior experience, through listening and hard work, cast, trick, play and land more fish than her dad of 30 years experience and it being a stiff competition to say the least….she also did it in her pajamas as the trip started at 5 am last summer.  I watched a mentor of mine Molly Semenick, play a beast of a brown trout for 8 minutes…no one else could have landed that fish that day…I have spent the past 3 seasons teaching and fishing with women anglers that are just as skillful, passionate, and knowledgeable about fly fishing than any of the men in the industry I have met.

I hear the bad stories…and the good…more good than bad though.  It’s been a very positive thing in the fly fishing industry and the majority of the stories I hear relating to women and their encounters with the men in this industry are positive.  Which is why I encourage anglers of different backgrounds to fish together.  Its good for you.  Being around the same people all the time can drive you a bit crazy.  Getting out of the comfort zone, talking about issues that make your hair prick up, doing all that riverside keeps things pretty sane in my experience.  Its hard to have a huge argument when surrounded by a river and rising trout.  Besides…you can always just say…shut the hell up and hook that fish.  But fish together.  I think that if more men and women fished together we would have a lot more good things come about as a result.

I am all for women teaching women, and women specific or women only groups.  This is in no way against that kind of stuff happening in the industry.  There are plenty of professional women in this sport that have every right to teach, guide, and what have you when it comes to this industry.  I feel a little left out as a man sometimes as I too love to learn from others.  In my experience as a guide I learn just as much if not more from the women anglers that frequent my boat mostly because it is a newer and different perspective within the sport and I am a sponge.  I want to see more women in the rowers throne guiding clients down this river, I am training my eldest daughter in the hopes that she will be rowing riverside beside me before too long.  My daughter has already expressed interest in learning from other women in the industry.  Mostly because she doesn’t wanna be around Dad all the time, but as a young women herself, I know my daughter would be more inspired if she saw other women out there doing what her dad does.  Luckily for her there are lots and even in our own state we have guides and anglers that I can’t wait to introduce her to as she grows up and chases trout and fish on her own.  Then I get to do it all again with the second daughter!

So go fish with people.  Different people, from all walks of life.  Listen, talk, learn, fish, enjoy that human connection over some river and trout.  It will be good for you…and who knows…you might find a new fishing buddy that you never would have thought you’d enjoy spending riverside time with.

 

Tamarack

We are in the thick of spring now.  The weather changes constantly, today it snowed, last week it was almost 60 degrees, there is a bunch of wet in the forecast later this week.  It’s…variable to say the least.  With the recent salmon pulse we also had variable flows.  All these things plus the bugs and other wildlife have an impact on trout and their environment…and the trout react accordingly.

In the spring we don’t smash fish like we do in the summer or the fall especially.  Its not 30 plus fish days…its 6-10 if things are in our favor.  High caliber, big, healthy, spring time trout, that fight hard and take minutes to land when you get a juicy one.  That’s why you fish in the spring.  Most days are filled with nymphing, and a few hours of dry fly fishing if you can stick with it.  Streamers can work too, but again, fish are more inclined to chase food when warmer water temps push them to do so.  Spring time floats can be slow, the days can be fish-less, and there is always that smell of skunk that can waft around the boat in the spring.  I’ve learned to just roll with it.  If you break the water down, and do everything in your arsenal and it still doesn’t produce…that’s just the way she goes sometimes.  Lots of days fishing in the spring will teach you that.  It also will teach you why you come out here and suffer through the craptastic stuff…because there is always the chance….that you’ll get that 20 incher.

Every season clients ask me how many big fish we catch a year.  I tell it straight and as many know, we measure a lot of the bigger trout we land when conditions allow.  I’ve got that ruler on the deck of the boat for a reason.  In the past 3 seasons I have seen 4-8 actual 20 inch fish landed in my boat out of this system.  Almost every single one has been caught between February and Memorial Day.  Not saying we get into more but we don’t land them all.  Most other guides I work and talk with agree on that number.  A handful of true 20 inch fish landed and another handful missed each season.  You know what days they typically show up on?  …the ones when you’ve got that skunky smell wafting around you.  And no…that’s not my boat you smell on my day off when you float by riverside…that is the smell of frustration, defeat, and utter disbelief …at how slow the fishing is.  The spring can break your patience, I’ve got guide and angling friends that get really down on themselves not being able to produce fish in the conditions.  Then get even more frustrated when there’s a good day out there and you miss it.  It happens…the spring has one thing that makes it very difficult to fish and break down…lack of consistency.

Trout respond to their environment, and when they respond in a way that is less than complementary for anglers…it makes for slow days.  Fish will hunker down in heavy flows, they won’t eat in colder water, they react to boats, birds, and lines going over their heads, shadows, sun, rain, wind, it all plays a role in how a fish goes about its day.  So if the flows are heavy, and cold, fish may be deep, and sleepy.  Harder to reach for anglers, harder to get drifts to, harder to locate, all these things make your probability of finding fish willing to eat low.  As a guide I try and keep that probability high by changing the game, trying different tactics, and breaking everything down until there just isn’t anything left to try and you just have to start the whole process over again.

In the spring when we nymph, we are constantly changing depths with the type of water we fish.  I add and subtract split shot and dropper flies as I read and interpret the water for anglers.  We work on mends and different drift lanes, I will have anglers run two different rigs, with different flies and depths and drift different lanes in order to search out and locate where the fish are in the water column.  Whether it be 3 feet or 9 feet deep…we will do everything we can to find those pesky troots in the spring.

When the dry fly game decides to pan out it typically takes two things for fish to start looking up in the spring.  Enough bugs to justify making the effort to eat in the top 3rd of the water column…and slow enough water.  The trout are in the slow walking speed stuff when the water is 45 or less.  On days when we get closer to 50 the trout start moving into faster water and move closer to food sources.  But when its still cold, especially every morning until mid May, trout are hanging in the slower stuff.  So the food that goes over the top of those areas has to be abundant enough for trout to come up.  If the hatch is light you will get a few light feeders, if its heavy, you get pods gorging.  Pretty straight forward.  And always fish the water not the fish,  you may not see them eat on this river…but they are there…they just like it right the first time out here.

As we get further into spring and water temps start staying close or above 50 fish have more options for where they can hang out, and food.  Every few weeks the trout get more options for food and fish start to move around in relation to that food.  Some fish will key in on certain areas and food sources as they are more prevalent in that particular sections of river, while fish in another section may have different holding water, feeding water, and food options in general, and will react differently.  When I get bored with one section, I try another.  That’s what is great about the Yakima, every 20 miles of river it changes.

So if you have that skunky smell hanging around you on spring days…just remember…everyone has them.  There are a lot of things working against the angler in the spring.  But…every once and a while…you have a bitchin’ day and even if it’s just one fish…it might be that true 20 inch trout we are all after.

Hope to see ya riverside.

Tamarack