Anglers! Streamside Coven Co. and I are hosting a three day streamer specific retreat on October 4th thru 6th.
This is a 3 day streamer chucking and learning fest. Details below. We have 2 spots left on this retreat. I highly recommend it for anglers wanting to really learn how to streamer fish and find big trout.
Bass. Ditch Pickles, bucket mouth, trash compactor, big lipped buddy. I love bass. I have a special spot in my heart for large and smallmouth bass. They are the species that got me into angling. I was a hard-core gear guy when I was younger. I loved to Bass fish and learned and discovered my passion for the puzzle of fishing through Bass.
I am old enough. I actually watched Bill Dance Outdoors on the Tele. I watched and learned from all the fishing shows. I had gear, lures, lines, boxes, of all shapes and sizes. I had just gotten into fly fishing but it wasn’t my primary way of fishing. Then I had all my fishing gear stolen out of my truck when I was 19 or 20, they left all the Fly gear. It just so happened at the same time I was transitioning to fly fishing more and more, so I just made the switch then and never really gear fished much after that.
But since coming to Michigan I have gotten back into bass. Mostly on the Fly. I gear fish in Michigan and learned I still know how it all works. My son hadn’t really gear fished so I spent time showing him and getting to fish with a spin rod again myself in the process.
Side by side on a typical day, each method catches the same amount of fish. It’s all about effort put in. Bass are pretty straightforward. They sit in relatively easy water to decipher and find relating to conditions. They eat and kill things regularly, fight hard, and are way less fragile than trout.
I grew up in the Columbia Basin farm country. Bass are everywhere. Both species. With this new boat, they are a little easier to get to now. I have wanted a larger fishing boat with a motor since I was 18. It may not seem like much but to a poor kid from dusty old farm country nowhere…my new skiff is a big deal. I get to fish those familiar places in a way I’ve always wanted. No oars required.
Bass I dare say are in close competition for trout on the Fly. Especially smallmouth. They are the same size as trout. A nice 18 inch smallmouth is a wicked nice fish, just like trout. They weigh about the same, and at that size, they put up similar fights, especially in moving water. Bass can be just as pretty as trout, just in a different way. The colors, the marbeling, stripes, cool gill plate colors, neat fins with spines, Bass of both flavors are wicked cool. They take the Fly similar on top and underneath with chases, follows, swipes, smacks, giant lunges, and acrobatic slaps. They fish hard and jump like trout, Bass are a wicked good time on a 6wt.
Now I will say Bass can be just as finicky and unwilling to cooperate as trout. Conditions like sun, weather, wind all play a role. Water temps, food sources, time of year. All need to be accounted for…just like trout.
So trout anglers will find that they can relate to Bass on the Fly rather well. There is a lot to learn about Bass. When trout are kind of figured out learning a new species can make you a better angler with both species. They eat different food, sit in different water, use structure, move in groups, they have a whole new slew of things to learn and casts to use and flies to get into that open up the world of Fly fishing that much more. It’s pretty rad.
I’ve taught a lot of people how to chase trout with Fly and rod. It’s never been the only fish I know how to chase. Underneath the past 10 years of heavy trout fishing and guiding, there is another decade of other species chasing and fishing I was fortunate enough to partake in. I’m excited to have the opportunity to share my skill sets with others. I’ve got the proper equipment finally, I’ve got years of experience built up, and I’ve got a whole group of anglers who, in my professional guide opinion, are ready to learn new things and venture into the wider world of Fly fishing.
I’m back in a week and August is a great time for bass fishing and learning new stuff. It ain’t all on the lakes either. We got rivers smallmouth will crush on during the warm summer. If you wanna up your skills and learn a new species and all that it entails I recommend coming out for a bass day. I’m stoked to teach it and experience it with anglers. And I’m so excited to guide out of the new boat.
See ya riverside for bass anglers. Soon!
Tamarack
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
Remaining Available Dates!
I am in my last 2 weeks here in Michigan. I’ve had some good down time, lots of exploring, some self discovery and building, quality and important time with my partner and I was blessed with my son wanting to spend a big chunk of his summer with me. I set out to have a summer off and get to fish and explore for myself and I’ve gotten to do that.
Michigan has taught me a lot. It is not the west. The vibe is different, the fishing very different, the landscape, the water, the people. Everything is very different. Not worse or better just different.
Warmwater species is by far my favorite out here in Michigan. The plethora of options and spaces to chase pike, musky, gar, bass, bluegill, and smallmouth is overwhelming. Vast lakes, small lakes, lakes connected by slewy rivers. You dodge jet skis and speedboat, pontoon party barges and other big tournament style bass boats.
I’ve been out of the bass game for a bit but damnit it’s been a good time fishing both flies and gear. A soft plastic worm still catches the biggest fish so that hasn’t changed. Popper fishing is fun with most hours giving at least a few shots if not dozens.
I’ve barely scratched the surface out here and another May to mid July adventure is in store for next year. I still have 2 weeks to hammer out a few more warmwater species areas with my new boat. I want some smallmouth and a shot at musky before I go. Lake St. Claire is on the menu.
The trout fishing is a different beast and I am leaving Michigan with a new found appreciation and respect for what I’ve been fortunate to fish over the past 20 years out west. Blue Ribbon out west and Blue Ribbon out east are two very different things. Out west it means there’s a lot of fish. Usually 1000 per mile to receive Blue Ribbon status. Out east Blue ribbon means easy access and wadable areas. Very different fish numbers aren’t part of the equation. Michigan has a robust stocking program and many of the trout fishing on the rivers is comparable to small spring creek fishing out west. Large fish are there, but wary, seasoned, hooked many times, and spaced out in very specific zones. Small fish are common and days are typically a handful of smaller trout and maybe a shot or 2 at big ones. It’s all at night in the summer. Usually a spot is picked and sat on until the window of feeding happens. It is a crapshoot through and through. Might happen might not that’s trout fishing.
A day of trout fishing in Michigan is different than out west. After several weeks of trout fishing, various rivers floating and wading, talking with others, and experiencing it for myself, I have formed my thoughts on it all.
I leave Michigan knowing I prefer western trout fishing. Not better out west just different and more my speed and vibe. I cannot see myself guiding for trout in spaces out east. Just not my thing. And that’s okay. I felt similarly about Florida, and Alaska, I’m a PNW boy when it comes to the troots.
The warmwater stuff out east…doesn’t even compare to out west. Michigan and Wisconsin are warmwater paradise for anglers. I’ll be back working those fisheries into my guiding. A captains license for 2025 will make that an easy reality.
I am excited to head back to the homewater. Michigan has made me appreciate the experiences out west tenfold and realize how lucky I have been with the lifestyle I have. I get to travel, pick places I want to fish, work, and live. The things I seen, shared, experienced, not just out west but everywhere I’ve been, I am truly fortunate. Thankful to the anglers that frequent my boat and allow me to help them experience fly fishing.
Excited to come back anglers…see ya riverside soon.
Tamarack
Anglers! August is booking up and I’ve had some things move around which has opened up more dates!
Remember I’ve got Bass on the Fly in the new boat and Yakima River Trips up for grabs.
August Open Dates:
4th thru 8th, 11th thru 15th
18th thru 23rd, 27th thru 31st.
New September Dates:
2nd thru 5th, 7th and 8th just opened!
16th and 18th.
October Dates:
2nd, 16th, 21st thru 24th, 30th.
That’s what’s left for 2024! I’ll be back on the Yak August 1st. I’ll be running early morning trout trips on the mainstem Yakima and Bass Trips on the lower Yak, Potholes, and Quincy Lakes areas.
Book a morning of trout and an evening of Bass! Give warm water a try, why helping me log hours in my new skiff chasing bass around. Learn new stuff or just run hopper droppers for trout and have a good ol time. There are options and I’m back in the west doing what I do best anglers.
See ya riverside soon! Reserve Today!
Tamarack
My last August weekends and Fridays are up for grabs.
Aug 11th, 18th, 25th
Fridays left are the 23rd and 30th
Weekdays open to beat the summer crowds.
Bass and Trout Trips.
Aug 30th and Sept 1st I have clinics with Kristen we are running together with spots open for $175.
Reserve before it’s full. Sept and October has a few open dates.
#flyfishing #flytying #chasintrout #guidelife #yakimariver #yakimarivercanyon #pnw #seattleflyfishing #suncadia #guidelife #troutbum #Trout #hogislandboatworks #flyanglerlife
Anglers! The summer has been fun but I miss the West!
I’m opening up August Dates on the Yakima River and Bass Lakes.
I will be bringing the new skiff with me. You all helped me get it. It’s only fair you get a chance to see it and maybe take a trip in it.
I will be offering Bass trips with my skiff on Potholes and Quincy Lake Areas.
Yakima early morning trips chasing those big bows and cutties on dries!
Michigan has been a trip, and it has been fun learning how this place may and can come together for me over the next few seasons. I’ll slowly be building out operations here. But the Yak and the west are calling me back and I miss working.
You know the drill, reserve soon. Big change of plans I know but I’m ready to head back west.
Hope to see ya riverside in August on the Yakima Anglers.
##flyfishing #flytying #chasintrout #yakimariver #yakimarivercanyon #guidelife #troutbum #trout ##catchandrelease #washingtonflyfishing #seattleflyfishing #suncadia #explore #education ##hogislandboatworks #flyanglerlife
Happy 4th of July Anglers! I’m headed back to the Yak early. Michigan has been a fun experience that we can all talk about in the boat when I get back.
It’s gonna take more time to get things operational out here. So instead of not working or fishing this summer, I’ve decided to come back a month earlier than planned. I miss work and the Yak.
I’ll be taking August trip dates!
I’m bringing my new skiff with me for real this time so everyone can lay eyes on it, I can actually work out of it before the winter, and it only seems right since everyone who has been a loyal customer and supporter of mine the past 10 years helped me get it! I’ll have bass dates open in August on Potholes Resevior and the Quincy Lakes area.
Sign up soon. August gets here quick and I head out July 24th to head back. August 1st thru 30th are open. September and October are almost full but there are a few dates for the fall hanging out there.
I’m taking my son along with me on a road trip to take home home to Idaho. I’m gonna fish a bit along the way with him and have a proper father son road trip.
A bit of a change of plans but it’s just fishing. I hope to see you riverside in August anglers.
Book soon!
Tamarack
Washington Anglers! I’ll be back this September and I’ve got the weekend set aside for Fly Fishing Schools!
Learn how to fish on a budget! Build community, meet new anglers, learn from 2 experienced education based guides! Have a lot of fun!
We have 2 days with 10 spots for each day! Get that friend into fishing, help your kid or significant other, or knock the dust off for the fall fishing.
Anglers who sign up will also receive 10% off a guide trip booked for the Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 season!
Sign up today! The Fall season is almost full!
@troutpsychology
#flyfishing #flytying #chasintrout #yakimariver #yakimarivercanyon #pnw #suncadia #seattleflyfishing #guidelife #troutbum #wild #trout #catchandrelease #education #hogislandboatworks #scientificanglers #river #fish #flyanglerlife
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