The season is here. In 15 years I can’t remember a Spring that has started off this good. Usually the weather is crap, the river is a hot dumbster fire, and the fish are uncooperative AF. But not this spring.

We are seeing skwallas…not just thinking about or hoping for them. That hatch should peak in the upper late this week and next. The BWOs are starting to percolate. Another 10 days and they will be an abundant food source. Then the March Browns show up, the water temps bump up to 50 and shit gets really silly.

The birds are awake, the trees are budding, the critters are frolicking…everything is waking up. I am no different.

I have fished more days than not the past 3 weeks. Typically shirking responsibilities and procrastinating damn near everything else to chase fish. It is both a strength and a weakness. I still have a tendency to say fuck it…and go fish instead. Shit off river will be there when my waders dry so why not get to it when the fish aren’t eating. It can get you into trouble if you let it. The trick is to keep everything off river simple…the riverside stuff is complicated enough.

The stength of being a bum is having things dialed in. Feeling the river, the fish, and having that guide juju that clients think is a super power. In reality…its just the result of work and time. It makes me really good at my job and serves me well when things start getting super busy.

I don’t have to think about the fish. They are creatures of habit that respond and adapt to their environments hourly. When its dialed in it becomes more about finding that groove so that we are all singing the same tune. Jamming the same juicy vibes man. That click. Where everything from the boat, the clients, the cast, the fish are all doing the things and we just fish. Having that knowledge and that constant contact and sync up with the river makes it so my attention is more focused on my anglers.

My first trip was dynamite. Typically I get skunked with my first trip or the first few some seasons! I waited until March to guide, and have been closely monitoring the river trying to see where she is at. I have gotten pretty good at it over the years. The fish are sitting right on the cusp of really ramping up their trouty behavior. That water temp is starting to rise towards 45 which is like a switch for trout. We are only a week or so away from mother nature flipping that switch.

We have a large rebounded population of trout from the 2015 drought. We also have a lot of big adult fish in the system this season. It makes the stoke wicked high.

The fish are looking up, the weather is amazing, the bugs are starting, and the spring season is finally here anglers. Get it while its good. We will have high water, blow outs, rain, wind, salmon pulses, and other things that make it funky this spring. When its good and things are aligned…get out here. For a trip or just on your own. As an angler you owe it to yourself to experience a spring season like the one we have shaping up. And it literally just started!

Its not every year we get opportunity to fish a spring like this. Its also not every season when we have all these big ass trout in the river. Being a natural wild spawning population these fish go through swings with population and size with every generation. This is a year where there are a lot of Boomer Trout out there that know how to play this fly angling game. Come see what its all about.

See ya riverside anglers,

Tamarack.