Author: tamaracksguideservice

Its December, which is my least favorite month of the offseason.  It hasn’t been above freezing for days now, there is now on the ground, and most trout are in trout-cicle mode.  The days are short, the nights are long, and even tough we are halfway through the non trouty time of year…we still have some time before I can start to get excited about the end of it all.

I am alive, just haven’t been focuses on the business much besides tying flies.  Which has been great and I’ve sold over 1000 flies since I got back into tying and selling with any real purpose.  Days during the offseason are hard for someone who spends most of the other days outside of winter, chasing trout, full of energy, and knee deep in river water.  The slow pace of the offseason, by this time, is brutal.  The boredom starts to set in, I have a hard time focusing on anything, and in all honesty…I really just miss my boat.

The Hog is put away, out in the garage away from the snow and elements.  She’s buried behind and under stuff and my oars are wrapped up and put away out of the cold.  I catch myself looking at my boat and wishing we were both rolling and rambling down the river.  I can hear the water lap at the underside of the hull, I can feel the current lift the vessel up as I back stroke, the pull of the water against my body, the boat gliding to and fro across the river.  The way the anchor rope sprays water across my face when I drop to hold a spot.  Hopping over the gunwale and landing with a splash as I walk up to the next riffle careful not to spook the fish lying, lurking, waiting for a meal.  I miss my boat.

December, just not the fishiest of months for a trout angler.

I check out in December, its that midway point where I know I still have 2 months before things start to get trooty again.  I sleep in late, stay up early, and try and keep the fact that I still have plenty of time not to fish off my mind.  My lady is working now, and hopefully getting a full time position at one of the local schools.  My eldest kids leave everyday for school and my youngest and I are at home hanging out.  Let me tell you, hanging with a 4 year old is pretty fun.  Throughout the trout season this past year Z was always telling me that my trips were the longest ever, being gone for weeks at a time she still is getting used to the lifestyle that her siblings have grown accustomed to.  She tends to sleep in my arms in the mornings and I am lucky to have a young one that is so easy going.  She definitely makes the offseason more bearable with her shenanigans and general awesomeness.  Its been a while since I had a 4 year old at home as her older brother is 9.  I still catch myself thinking, damn, we sure did wait a while in between to have that last kid.

The calls for when I will be back are starting to come in.  I have calls and messages asking what plans are, when I will start guiding again, can people reserve days…that cabin fever is setting in with anglers now.

I will be back on the Yak in the early spring.  Plan is to leave here around the 15th of February and spend the first few weeks looking at when things will thaw, when the hatches will start, and what other fish might be ready for some anglers.  I am watching the snow pack levels now, checking to see how the snow piles up and what kind of water supply we may have for the trout season.  The snow pack tells me what I can look forward to or trout fishing on the Yakima.  I am hoping for a better year than the last.  Snow pack was great last year but yet again it warms to fast and we have major runoff events that put a damper on fishing in the spring and early summer.  The snow leaving quickly also left us with a hot and dry summer with fishing conditions getting really crummy in August.  Its kinda the new norm, and no matter how much work is done in conservation, I can’t make it snow more, melt slower, or do much of anything about it.  With this gig you get what the river gives you and you do your best without jeopardizing the resource.

Last spring sucked on the Yak.  It was blown out a lot, we missed hatches due to it, and it seems that it gets busier and busier riverside.  So February and March there will be some trout fishing, but there will be other fish too, like bass and pike.  I will be spending time in the first few weeks of the season getting reacquainted with the water and fish that aren’t trout.  I spent a lot of time chasing other species with fly and rod and part of this new adventure is getting back into those fisheries.  I will also be looking at work in other states and on other rivers for trout, places less effected by climate change that give anglers and myself more options and new experiences.  The past 4 years I have focused all my attention on the Yakima, building that part of the business up, working on conservation, and putting people on those beloved wild trout.  This coming season I will be focusing on fishing more, working more, and exploring and rediscovering fisheries.  The end of the 2018 season I fished more than I have in the past several years.  I fished literally everyday whether with clients or by myself.  That trend will continue once I get back into it in a few long weeks.

Don’t despair anglers, we are over the hill now, we just have to get back down the other side.  Now is the time I start tying for myself and the guide year, sell more flies, and start the daily routine of checking snow pack, weather forecasts, management and rule changes, conservation opportunities, and blogging and engaging my client base regularly.  Sorry I have been dormant for most of the offseason up to this point.  It was a kinda rough trout season, but its a new year, a new adventure, and the cabin fever is slowly turning into that drive for fish snacking flies, pulling line, and getting me all hot and bothered.

Hope to see you out there this coming season.  Things are percolating slowly now as I patiently wait for the offseason to end…and I can get back into my boat.

 

Tamarack

New YouTube video up. Go check it out. You can order these flies via email until I get the online store up. Limit 2 dozen per flavor per angler.

New YouTube video up where I talk about hair for tying. Go check it out.

Hey anglers. I’ve got some new content coming up to the webasphere this week. Today’s was a video about feathers, ostrich, goose, turkey, and peacock to be exact. How to use them, why, what for, and my you nest daughter Zoey lends me a hand.

Go check it out on the YouTube, give it a like and a share, comment on stuff you’d like to see and maybe it will be in next weeks video.

You can view the new tutorial here:

My hands are bruised. Beat up from the boat and oars. I have broken fingernails caked with dirt and glue, and river sludge. I have tippet and line cuts in my fingers and the hair on my knuckles is singed.

My eyes hurt, strained from looking at moving water every day for weeks, and tracking flies. Lost my sunglasses the other day too. My arms are tired. Legs and hips too. I move a lot on the river. More than most of the other guides and anglers I see. In and out of the boat. The anchor feels heavy as I heft it out of the cold water and walk the boat downriver. Careful to let the anglers fish before the boat goes through. My feet roll over boulders and stone. My feet more sure footed these days than ever before. It’s always interesting how the end of the season leaves my body.

My mind isn’t thrashed this season. A lighter guide year will do that. But the fishing this late season has been nothing but fantastic. Even the slower days produce some fantastic fishing experiences. I can’t help but feel a lot of people missed out. I’m leaving early but I can already feel the slow down coming.

The rain pelts my tent outside. Only a few more days of camping riverside before I’m home with my family. I miss them terribly. Feel like I’ve forgotten their faces and the sound of them around me. I miss my dog. But the pull of trout on my soul is still ever present.

I have fished almost everyday… for months. Guiding or on my own I can count on my two hands how many days I haven’t fished. But still I want more. Don’t want it to end. I feel this want to chase finned critters that eat flies. Even the days this season where I found myself saying, nah I won’t fish today…and an hour later I’m knee deep in the river casting flies. After all this time I’m still addicted. More so than what I see riverside. I don’t see a lot of familiar faces fishing on days off…at least not as much as I would have thought. But it just leaves more for me…and I’m greedy for it. And have gotten really good at it as a result.

The late season is my speed, slow, cooler, days with low hanging clouds, a biting breeze, and trout that takes flies slow and with purpose. The dry fly fishing this late season has been fantastic and I’m ending the week during the peak of the upper river BWO mayfly hatch. Waiting to set, watching the fish come slow for the fly, or the aggressive smack on the skate, the take of the streamer, or even that all too obvious indicator drop…I still feel like I can’t get enough of it.

The end of the season also makes me care less about things. I care less about the other anglers, other boats, the drama, the politics, it’s the end of the season and I just want to catch fish. I’m an angler first, and a guide as a close second. My guiding changes in the fall. I’m more direct typically. Trout want it a certain way, hold in specific water, and I have learned all the intricacies and secrets the upper river here has been willing to share. I know the upper in the late season. I don’t fish anywhere else…because it’s too good to waste time in the other water. Fish want it perfect, and want an angler to be attentive and focused. We threw 6x today…and it was the only way to get some of them to eat. They also want a perfect cast and drift which make the difference between a few rises and takes and a lot more.

The fall rewards good anglers, and clients who listen, watch, and trust. I don’t like to be second guessed on how I read water in the fall. I get a little cranky about it. I spend a lot of time learning the fish in the late season. I’ve spent a lot of years learning it. It works and that’s why you book me in the fall. I’ve consistently caught fish every day for weeks, and as a guide its not all about the fish…but I am a guide and I put people on some fing trout in the fall. Some of them big, some really pretty, some small, some that just take the fly so damn good, all fun, and all part of the gig. They are all good fish, and we have a lot of fun getting after them, still to this day I think we are having more fun in my boat than others no matter how many fish.

Get into your work, get into your angling. You’re fucking fishing…its amazing, and a privilege for so many so don’t waste the opportunity or time when riverside. I cherish all my river time. This job constantly reminds me how rich a life I have to spend it out here with these animals and in these places. My clients remind me. This is a special thing, fly fishing. And yet I still can’t explain it, but spending so much time on the river these past 4 years and living on it, waking to it, enveloping my self in it even more, it changes you. Hard to explain, but all anglers share that…something…that fly fishing can do to an angler…if they keep walking up around that next bend.

Tamarack

Hello anglers, I have the 9th 10th and 11th open and that’s it.

I will be heading to Idaho for the offseason, and Texas to start exploring the southern fisheries and guide opportunities. I also have a lot of work to do this off season with lots of content for the website, YouTube stuff, flies for sale, soft goods, a new boat to buy, an old boat to give some love, expand to potentially working new waters and states in the 2019 season, and more.

Fishing has been fantastic and we are in the BWO hatch now! Fishtober is here, get in on it before over… and I’m outta here.

Tamarack

Last night was cold. No frost but the rain and wind made it cold. This morning was cold too. I woke with the sun and could still see my breath. Outside the tent there was mist hanging over all. I could not see the river. After deciding it was too cold I retreated back to my tent and slept in.

The late season chill is here. Where the water temps are warmer than the air temps in the morning, and the fish start to slow down how they eat, but not how much they eat.

Mayflies are hatching. And fish love mayflies on the upper Yakima. The trout will hold in riffles for hours sipping and slurping small bugs. Sometimes you barely see the rise. Sometimes it’s a little fish…other times it’s a large fish.

I love little dry fly fishing. When trout only show their noses and rise with precision and purpose. An angler must be attentive and watch the take carefully. With such a small hook and such a methodical eat, setting too early will give the angler nothing but a spooked fish, and too late and the fish has usually spit the fly out realizing its trickery. I have spent years training my eyes too see size 16 and 18 dry flies at great distances specifically to become better at mayfly dry fly fishing. It has paid off over the years. Just this evening I sat and watched the riffle tailouts for eats. Saw the slightest dimples and small turns of fish to the surface for size 20 and 18 BWO left over from this afternoons late hatch. When I hooked my first I giggled. After the next 12 I had satiated my appetite for fish on little dries. Nothing massive, but lots of good fish on little dries.

I came back to camp to set up in the light for once and to tie flies. More smaller mayflies and emergers to be exact. I become infatuated with landing large fish on small flies. It is incredibly frustrating and can be painstakingly difficult but with practice can yield some life fucking up trout.

I landed my first over 20 inch rainbow on a size 18 handtied emerge BWO pattern. I use the pattern to this day. I barely saw the take save for 2 nostrils, a dimple in the river, and my fly disappear. My heart fluttered when I set the hook, and my chest began pounding when the small dainty rise was the largest trout I had ever encountered at the time. The choas, adrenaline shots, hooting, countering, and jumping that ensued lasted a few minutes. To my astonishment I landed this massive trout. My fly barely imbeded in between the nostrils just under the lip of the wild rainbows mouth. She measured at 22, a large hen. Before digital cameras and mobile phones were everywhere, I released her, the encounter seared into my mind.

I named my boat after that fish. The Subtle Take. Like I said, life fucking up kinda trout. The kind that make you chase them for a living. To this day, small mayfly fishing is one of my absolute favorite ways to trick trout.

I am here for 10 more days. In the thick of the late season hatches, I’ll enjoy every day before heading south.

Tamarack

Anglers, I will be done guiding the Yakima River early this season. I will be leaving on the 14th of October. I will be returning for the 2019 guide season and will be adding many more things to the business over the off season.

With a lighter than average year in terms of guide and guideable days this season I am going to end early and start work on the next phase of my business and guide career. I am sad to say goodbye early and be away from the Yakima for so long but there are other rivers, other fish, and new people and places to share and experience it with. Also new options for all my Yakima River Clients for the 2019 season.

I currently have the 3rd, 5th, 7th-11th, and the 14th open. My last few days before I end early.

I hope to see you all again and new faces when I’m back next season camping and guiding in 2019. Thank you to all that came out this year and chased fish with me and those that have been coming out for the past 4 seasons with my beardy face. It has been a pleasure.

I look forward to new water, new and old clients, and returning to the Yak next year. Lots of new stuff heading anglers way next year!

Thank you,

Tamarack

I’ve spent a lot more time solo during the season. As my family and I have had some chaos in our lives I’ve been fortunate to be riverside a lot despite being away from my family for extended periods of time.

There are really only two things in my life. Fly fishing and Family. One at which I am really good at and the other I have had to improve upon, evolve, and change for the better. Fly fishing is something that I had to work very hard at to get good at. Like any fly angler that decides to put more into this gig, the world of fly fishing opens up and grows exponentially in the techniques, species, gear, places, people…it just gets bigger and better the more you put into it. I have become very good at fly fishing, and exceptional at tricking a trout with a fly. It is one of the only true skills I have developed and put effort in over my life. I’ll be honest, I have half assed a lot in my life. School, other work, marriage, fatherhood, I skipped out of a lot to chase fish. That is my life, riding that fine line between responsible adult and general trout bum. My wife can attest to it, sometimes she acts like she doesn’t understand it, but she does…better than anyone. At times she is the force, like gravity, that pulls me back towards the other world outside of trout, rivers, and flies. Without her I would be lost in rivers and have little else in my life. She gave me three beautiful and amazing children, and our early adult lives and the young lives of my children have both suffered and prospered due to fly fishing. I am away from them more now, which naturally makes me appreciate and long for them that much more. And moving forward I will be away from them for longer periods of time. Like now, I will not embrace my family again until the they end of trout season.

It’s like the long wait for spring trout fishing…I have this anxious, patience filled period where I must wait until I can see my family again. At times its excruiciating not being able to share my day with my lady. Hear my children’s excited voices when I come home off river, each child asking me about the trout and clients of the day. My 4 year old still learning what it is that daddy does for a living, constantly telling me that my trips are the longest ever. It breaks my heart a bit…more so than losing a battle with any trout. I miss things, like any parent, father or mother, that works away from home for a living, there are times when I am only getting glimpses of that part of my life. And my family only gets glimpses of the other part of my life. It all makes me work harder, it is what fuels me, where my energy comes from. Knowing that when the season is done…I get to just be a dad and a husband…something fly fishing has shown me is all you need to work towards being good at. Fly fishing has made me a better person, made me work harder at being a better father and husband. I may be gone for extended periods of time, but that time away makes me strive to be present and a part of my families lives when I’m home. Something I didn’t have too much of growing up, and I am working towards sharing more of this life with my family and involving them more in the future. A life filled with summers living riverside during trout season, winters together, springs in tropical places for salty fish, and showing my children that growing up a little non traditionally is a good thing. Why not, the 9-5 life was never the plan. Bringing everyone along for the ride has always been the plan. A plan my wife and I are constantly adjusting and improving for our kids and ourselves.

I share this river and these wild animals with so many people. People from all over the world, people from all walks of life, backgrounds, and creeds. We all share in this fly fishing experience and what I’ve learned over the years is that it’s not always about the fish…but the people you share them with.

I get paid to share these places and bring people into them through fly fishing. Some for just the fish, others for that thing all fly anglers can’t quite describe but we all can understand. There is something that fly fishing does to you if you stick with it long enough and let it invade more of your life. My children and wife see it from one angle, and the clients and anglers I fish with from another, and like sitting in my boat, I am in the middle taking it all in.

This gig isn’t about fish. Not catching the most, the biggest, being the best guide, being riverside more than others, it’s not about any of that shit. As one of my guide compadres has said, they all pay the same, and they do, but money, still to this day has been a well appreciated side effect of being a trouty person. I have had the good fortune to have done pretty good as an independant small business guide. I have no complaints and have seen what hard work and patience can give a more business savvy angler that wants to make a living off what they love. More important to me, my children see it.

I had the opportunity to work in a cubicle and make large sums of money. Live a totally different life, a life like many of my clients, where fishing is just something I do occasionally and plan to do more of in my retirement. It’s the old story of the fisherman who meets the MBA client that tells him to get more boats, grow his business and run it for several years, make more money, make a name for themselves, and then retire and do what they love for the remaining years. The fisherman doesn’t understand because he is already doing what he loves, working for himself and his, and is…content. I am working towards being content. Working in the field I got a degree in until I am old enough to retire and spend my remaining years doing what I loved just seemed backwards to me.

Why not work hard at what I love my whole life and spend all my years doing what I love instead of only my older years? My work never feels like a grind, like something I have to do. Even the hard days, the tough clients, and the persnickety trout can’t turn this gig into something that feels like a chore. That’s the work part of this job. If I can show my children, my wife, and myself that ones life doesn’t have to be a grind to retirement I will have succeeded in one of the things I am striving to teach myself and those I love.

There will come a time when this life allows me to share more of it with my family. When it’s not just clients and anglers I’m sharing these places and fish with. This life has its perks. Living smaller, living smarter, and having time off to be just a father and husband gives me the ability to be myself and all the things I personally and professionally want for myself. As my family and I continue down this path we will have these opportunities to experience and share all the amazing things fly fishing entails together. While I may be gone and far away during times, my family and I are working towards the days when we are all together, travelling, fishing, and sharing it all.

I’ve had many riverside peeps and clients ask me about all the changes, check in on me, offer a meal or couch to chill on, and I am thankful to you all. Fly fishing just has a lot of good people in it. My family is grateful for the trips, the tips, and the support of our little guide operation.

Fly fishing is about the people you share it with. The more I do it, the more that simple concept sinks in. The younger angler I was selfishly ignored that concept for a long time. Yes I get excited for fish…but it’s more about the excitement I see in others that gets me going. If I could pay bills, clothe and feed kids with that energy I would. I have seen fly fishing heal, cure, calm, and invigorate people. The river and trout are the great equalizer in my life. Nothing matters to the trout except a good presentation and a respectful handshake before parting. My children can learn a lot from that. There’s a lot more going on under the water than meets the eye.

Unlike the dad that goes to the office every day and work is just what daddy does, the goal my wife and I are striving for, is that we as a family live this guide life, and we all share in what it offers. I cherish my time here on the river with clients, and look forward to the off season when I am just a Dad. A Dad that my children see doing what he loves and sharing it with them. Taking them fishing, which is so much more than just fishing, especially to a kid…trust me I know all too well what a simple boat ride can do. Tying flies with them, teaching them, coaching them, maybe one day guiding with them, but most importantly, sharing this life with them as they grow up. Never making it just something I do, and never just something for me.

This last push to the end of the season is the start of more to come. More to the business, more for my family. Working towards the ability to share it all with them and give my family a life that is content and happy, filled with trout, good casts, damp 20’s, new places and people, experiences not every kid gets to have, and a life that has a lot more than just fly fishing…but still…a lot of fly fishing.

See ya riverside anglers…

Tamarack

Fishtober…a term coined by my good friend and boat maker John St. John at Hog Island. Fishtober is that sweet time of the season that comes as things simmer down, the colors change, burn bans are lifted, big orange bugs start hatching, and trout start packing on the food for the winter.

Like most critters as the winter approaches, trout start feeding aggressively and gorging on food so they are nice and fat for the cold winter months ahead. This time of year on the Yakima River coincides with our October Caddis Hatch and our annual fall spawning salmon. Fish start hangrily eating food as they prep for the low water temps that will turn them into troutcicles and slow their metabolism down to zilch. They don’t eat much when they are damn near frozen, but like a bear that needs to prep for hibernation, so too do the trout.

Fishtober is that time of year when trout are just eating. Constantly. Sometimes snacking all day on stuff other times gorging when the hatches are peaking, but no matter where you fish here on the yak in the late season, there are trout eating.

It’s starting to get cold. Sometimes 30 plus degree temperature changes during the day. Water temps start to drop overnight and trout take their time waking up. Things slow down, the river drops in flow and the trout become more aware of their surroundings. The leaves are changing, the vine maple a scorching red and orange along the river banks. The cotton woods turning yellow, and soon when I look to the highlands, I will see the tamaracks change to gold. Frost will begin to greet me every morning, and mist is already hanging over the river every morning. Water temps are warmer than air temps before 10 am in the upper. The river is quieter, until you hear a kingfisher chatter as it zips by, or your concentration is broken by the sound of a large gulp that could only be a big trout rising just yonder.

The light fades fast now, but the fishing can be intense in the evenings as the cold sets in but the trout still have things to eat before everything cools for the night. I find myself taking my time in the mornings, starting floats and fishing later, and staying riverside after all the other anglers and boats are back at home in time for a little Netflix and chill. I’d rather chill with the fish and set up camp in the dark…the fish make it worth the inconvenience.

I can hear elk bugle at night, and listen to them walk by my tent every morning now. I even met a big bull riverside the other morning, we both wanted the same hole. Me for the fish, him for the drink and scenery I suppose. I let him enjoy it while I fished downriver until he decided he had watched me sling enough casts.

Fishtober is in the air anglers. In all my years fishing the Yakima, the last 4-6 weeks of the season have always been my favorite. I plan on fishing and or guiding every day until the end of October this year.

Hope to see ya out here this fishtober…get here before its over.

Tamarack