The PNW is home. And the natural spaces my backyard. A big communal backyard. My first outdoor memories are of the places I know work and live in. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel all over the country. I can say with certainty that there are no other places that compare.
Montana, in all it’s vastness is in a category if it’s own and is just adjacent to the PNW. An 8 hr drive for the trout bum, hike seeker, or park visitor. There is a reason the Northwest part of the country draws so many to it.
It is diverse, with mountains, oceans, deserts, rivers, lakes, streams, forests, farms, and cities. It is like a melting pot of all the good stuff from all over the place, in a smaller compact form. Just the ability to drive in any direction for 3 hrs and be in a completely different landscape is a huge reason. Everywhere else, it’s a much longer drive to see anything different. Hours. Like lots of them.
The roads here are amazing, and not clogged up with billboards and crazy lights. Say what you want about traffic, it’s worse…way worse in places. Detriot and fuck me sideways Chicago is a nightmare. LA…ya, traffic here sucks…but it could be a lot worse.
It’s pretty here. It’s not filled with smog. Yes we get smoke these days but that is everywhere. The planet is literally on fire. But the PNW isn’t dirty, trust me. And all the construction is happening everywhere. From Michigan, to Florida, up the Northeast and into the nothingness of south Dakota and Wyoming. Infrastructure bill is everywhere you go. But here. It’s less impact full, mostly because this place is always updating roads due to our crazy weather.
The PNW has some of the most diverse and actual seasonal weather. We still have a spring, summer, fall, winter. And they feel like it. Other places it’s rather the same. Dry and hot, wet and hot, dry and dry, cold and dry, wet and cold. The PNW has more than 2 modes and the ability to drive and change biomes in 3 hrs is not something other places of the country have. Cold in the winter, drive to the other side of the mountains where it’s 20 degrees warmer, and not filled with snow. Head south east to the desert and have sunshine in December. Don’t like the heat, head north into the mountains, or to the peninsula where it’s temperate. Everything is right in our backyards here.
This place is unique. And it is special. Coming back here after time in other spaces only solidified that feeling. Only through experiencing new places could I quell the nomad in me. I get periods of drive and ambition to explore and change things. I do not like to sit still. Tis why my lifestyle suits me. Having a space where I can do that all the time with ease and accessibility is why the PNW is home.
As an angler the PNW is very diverse and way less populated than other fisheries. Trust me. Less people here compared to other places, and with less diversity in spaces and longer distances away, other areas of the country get very very crowded.
We have all the fishing. From saltwater fish and spaces without the palm trees, we have salmon, trout, warmwater species, sturgeon, big rivers, little ones, desert lakes with flats, steelhead, we have harvests, and commercial fisheries that are rather well managed by comparison to others. We have high alpine streams and lakes, places you have to hike to, big mountain lakes, saltwater sounds, bays, sand flats, open deep sea, and that’s just fishing. The sheer diversity of outdoor use and accessibility is unparalleled. We are lucky to have it.
I say all this because this is my backyard. I was a boyscout in these woods. Raised my kids near these mountains, make my livelihood off the waters, I’ve played here, grown up here, made a life here. I have a passion for sharing these spaces witb others. Helping them discover and play in our big backyard.
As a guide I want to be more diverse, and operate in more of these unique and special spaces. To bring people into them so that they can appreciate, respect, and find enjoyment in the place they call home. There is so much here all around us in the PNW. Coming back here the drive to chase more, explore and share more of it is increasing. To learn more about it, to seek out and find new things, revisit familiar places, meet and interact with more people. Share with others that feel the same kind of pull and connection to the PNW and what makes it home.
I am so happy to be back. Excited and stoked to be doing what I love. Grateful and thankful that I have the ability to explore and share this place with other. And always appreciative of the support I receive from my clients, followers, fellow anglers, outdoorsy folk, river rats, guides, and PNW lovers.
See ya riverside anglers.
Tamarack
Tamarack's Guide Service 