This season, I focused heavily on just being present in the space. I needed time off.  Like many of us do. I felt like I had been in a grind that was getting me nowhere. Honestly, since covid, it’s been this weird survival mode, and the current state of the off river world hasn’t made things any easier.

Places can get stale.  And I put this out there with no ill intent, but people can get mundane, too.  I can become mundane.  And I felt that way with the spaces I found myself fishing. Michigan has been an out of comfort zone adventure that I needed.

Learning to appreciate new spaces for what they are, overcoming the urge to compare them to others. Just being present, listening, observing, enjoying. When fishing is work, that part of it can be lost or fuzzy. Michigan and the disconnect from my beloved western rivers has been eye-opening.

A reaffirmed appreciation for my lifestyle, what I have been able to fish, see, and share.  The places I call home and know best, missed, and I posses a want to seek them out fully I haven’t felt in some time. Exploring and discovering places the past 2 years has been something I always seek out.  I have gone through several bouts of wanting to nomad and freely disperse. Over my adult life I’ve done it many times. From week long excursions to Montana or BC, to months in Alaska, or Florida, to part of a summer in Michigan and many more. The desire and need to venture out has always been there in me. The older I get the more I want to chase it.

My partner has made it more possible. Her desire for adventure and nomadic life is similar to mine.  She plans more and operates less in the chaos than I do, which is a benefit to us both. But sharing this experience with someone who seeks it out as wholly as I is by far the best thing about it.

This life is never boring and is constantly riddled with sections of class 4 and 5 water to get through. Learning to appreciate the space one finds themselves in no matter the situation is a true, sometimes painful, but always enlightening lesson. Must be why I’ve got such a chill demeanor.

Michigan is a place where things are slowed down, quiet, and it leaves time for contemplation. There hasn’t been any pressure to produce, guide, be a certain way.  I’ve gotten to just explore, fish, and find things out for myself. It’s the experience I prefer.  I don’t want to be guided or shown.  I prefer to find out myself, fish are secondary for me. 

I’ve learned to slow down more here.  To just enjoy fishing. Spent time with my son just being a dad who takes his son fishing instead of a guide who does it for a living. I’ve had time to just be in a new space and learn to appreciate it and the others I’ve been.

Heading back to the homewater I feel a different kind of excitement. A longing to be on the rivers I call home that I haven’t felt in some time. The pull back into those familiar spaces is at its peak now.

Appreciate and slow down in the spaces you find yourself in. The river is never a place to be hurried. A lesson we can take off river.  Spend a few more seconds, taking in the sights, smells, sounds, and feelings around you in the moments you find yourself knee-deep in the river.  Examine the fish a bit longer in the net.  Sink and settle into the feelings these encounters, places, animals, and people give you. I encourage it.  It’s what you’re really after in the end…those few moments when all else is faded and it’s just you and the space you’re experiencing.

Tamarack

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Published by tamaracksguideservice

I have been fishing the Yakima River and its surrounding tributaries, creeks, and lakes for 10 years. I have been tying flies specific to this river for 10 years as well. I have guided not only the river but also many of the hiking and mountaineering trails in the area and fished some of the more remote lakes and streams. I love to fish the Yakima River and have been running my driftboat here for 5 years. I guide a little differently than the other services here and have a slightly different philosophy on guided fishing trips. Its all about the experience, and while I can't promise there will always be cooperative trout, there will always be good times. I learned from some of the greatest anglers the Yakima has both on the water and at the vise and I guide to share and pass on that knowledge and expertise so others can enjoy this river as much as I do. I love to teach people to fish, I love to teach people how to read the river, and I love showing people the beauty and art of fly fishing. My service is a bit cheaper but that is because I have no shop taking a percentage. I use a lot of my own fly designs and patterns that no other guide has and have spent the past 10 years fine tuning my tying and patterns specific to this river. I have flies, leaders, tippets, and fly rods and reels, and always welcome anglers to bring their own gear. If you need waders and boots I can arrange for a rental. I support my local fly shop for my trips as well as it is important to me that our local shops stay open. When you take a trip with me it all about fishing and the experiences that happen along the river. I love getting my clients to have great moments with our trout here. Ask me all the questions you can, I want to teach as much as you want to learn. Whether you are an experienced angler or brand new to the sport I love sharing this river with people. I guide the Yakima River and many other secret waters in the area. When you give me a call I will ask you lots of questions as I want to make sure you have the best experience possible while chasing the trout we have here. Whether its a guided river float or a hike and fish, or a walk and wade to the secret places, I can help make your fly fishing experience memorable and fun. Give me a call today and lets set up a time to go fishing.

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