fly fishing – Page 4 – Tamarack's Guide Service

January 30, 2015May 7, 2021 tamaracksguideservice Uncategorized

Frozen Browns and Angry Vacationers!!!

Well, I ventured forth into the state of Idaho over the past week. I needed a change of scenery after the holiday and the crummy winter we have been having here in the mountains. Heading to the south central desert of Idaho isn’t the ideal location but getting out of town for a while was refreshing enough itself.

Fishing in Idaho. I have fished in Idaho a few times, Silver Creek, Little and Big Wood, Snake, a handful of others. Idaho is not my cup of fly fishing tea really at least the south central area. I find that the desert areas and those around the Ketchum and Sun Valley area are one of two things. Either overcrowded or hard to access. It seems like 85 percent of the water in the state is within Private Property and I don’t really care for wading around the river bend and seeing a big red and white “No Trespassing Sign”. Its just kind of a downer. I don’t particularly enjoy wading in front of a slew of vacation rental homes while people sneer and get angery with me for fishing in their view. Oh well. I caught a few smaller trout on the nymph on the Big Wood while hopscotching around all the other anglers. I also hit a few large brown and rainbow trout on the head with a number of nymphs, but either the fish was frozen in the iced edge Silver Creek, or it just wasn’t eating with the super cold water. Double Bummer for Idaho fishing. I spent the rest of the time hanging out with family, playing with my dog, and reading…about fishing.

Driving! Holy Golden Trout do I hate driving. Of course when its a 10 hour drive with added in time for diaper changes, hungry kids, and my freaking 7 year old daughter having to pee every 50 miles, driving becomes a loathsome activity. On our return trip our rig had its transfer box blow for a second time in the past 9 months and now that has to get fixed. Meaning I am now on the hunt for a new 4×4 rig for this season (Anyone who has a cheap 4×4 that runs and doesn’t need a mechanic to buy it let me know!) Halfway up Manastash from Yakima around 10 pm the damn thing blew and we had to get a tow back to the apartment. Didn’t get to sleep till 4 am-ish and was up and to work at 8:13 am! UGH! But that’s part of being a grown up. As my wife and I talked last night, shit happens and you deal with it. A broken down car is a pretty normal problem to come up against considering our history. Props and much love to my in-laws for letting us kick it at their place and relax, and for helping us get the bloody car fixed…again. This guide season needs to get going already!

HOLY SNOWMAN BALLS BATMAN THERE IS SNOW ON THE GROUND!!!

I missed the Yakima and was happy once we crossed familiar bridges with her winter flows cascading underneath. With reports of a few good days while I was gone I felt like she was punishing me for leaving to chase other trouts. I will take a fish-less day on my river over any other water period. Something about this place is truly special. The more I fish other water and in other states the true reality of how special the Yakima River is, makes itself more apparent. A gem of a fishery and water system that needs to have the attention of anglers and guides like myself focused on it whenever possible.

I write a lot. I keep two personal journals. One that is for the river, with fishing reports, hatch cycles, locations, thoughts, fish, flies, all the good stuff a laid back fishing journal would have. The majority of the entries consist of short stories of my time and my thoughts while on the river. I use them as a reference for when fishing, I also keep them for my children. One day, I hope that they will help explain why a father spent so much time on the river, and for them to use as a guide and tool for when they go out on discovery for life and angling. The second journal I keep is of a personal, non-fishing, related nature. This bearded dude has had a lot of crap happen over the years and one way to explain it to oneself and others, as well as process things, is to write it down. I also remember things much better when they are written down. Which is why I can recall the river, for the most part, from memory because I have written down its turns, bends, and riffles. Ask my Lady, she thinks its crazy that I can remember when the hatch is coming, what is around the river bend, and how to set up the river three steps ahead of the current spot we may be fishing. It all comes back to writing. Writing can be a great asset to the angler and help refine and fine tune skills through reflection, thought, and the written word. Plus how the hell am I supposed to remember all this shit if I don’t write some of it down…fly fishing has a lot of parts dude.

I tend to write drafts for blog entries and then whittle them down or cut them up for internet use. Some of them come from my journals others are made on the fly, and a few that I am working on are quite involved, with several parts, that are patiently waiting for the right time of year. Writing helps keep my brain in the game when fishing days are in short supply. It also gives me a chance to get a lot of entries finished for the year so they are a quick post in between trips. I spent a good chunk of my “vacation” writing and reading while listening to good tunes and enjoying a good smoke. I am getting very excited for the coming spring and the hatches to follow. Like the majority of anglers, I am getting quite tired of chucking nymphs to winter trout. While January has been mild and even a few fish have been caught on the dry fly this season, the winter is not over, and February could still bring us some snow. What we hope for now is snow that doesn’t stick around until late March, but we roll with what we get and there are always eager trout somewhere.

Tis good to be back home, and be busy, guided trips are starting to trickle in, flies are being tied, and we are another week closer to the spring! There is a Trout Unlimited River Clean Up on February 7th from 11-5 as well. Meeting at Fireman’s Park near the South Cle Elum Boat Launch. Come help us pick trash up along the river and fish a little, swing by facebook to check it out and RSVP! Yakima River Headwaters TU River Clean Up!

I am going to get some much needed sleep and get back at the vise in between work hours tomorrow!

Tamarack

January 21, 2015May 7, 2021 tamaracksguideservice Uncategorized

January Sun

Hit the river for the day. I tied a few flies this morning and hit the river around 10:30 ish. The fog was just starting to burn off when I got to the first spot on the upper river. The flows were up from the shot of rain and snow we got so wading was tough but I managed to fish a few good looking places before moving on. The river was too swollen near Three Bridges for me to try my luck at a few of my favorite winter fishing spots up and down river of there.

I decided to head back into town and hit my old friend the Cle Elum. This river never ceases to amaze me. I hiked upriver today to a spot I haven’t visited in a while. I remember hiking the banks on a early summer day after they start to back the flows off from the dam above. There is a great drake hatch and some of the most perfect looking water I have seen on a river hidden up in the trees. The only way to access it is to walk it or float it and you have to walk a bit so not a lot of people fish it.

The sun was burning off the left over water still clinging to the rocks, moss, and trees when I stripped out enough line for a proper cast. The section I was standing below is where the river narrows between some log jams. There is a deep trough, a shelf, and a large deep eddy on the river right side. A nice 30 foot cast to the top of the trough along the seam between the slow and fast water dropped. Another 30 or so dropped before I finally hooked a fish.

The sunlight was shining brightly through the trees. It hit the water and lit up the mossy and algae covered stones below. Midges flew from the surface of the water and congregated along the edges of the river near still water between the pebbles and rocks. I could see a shape holding in the seam. It flashed. My excitement grew almost uncontainable. I cast far up river, knowing there were probably other fish in the hole. I finally got a proper drift through the cross currents while trying not to spook the fish that was still flashing and feeding below. I did not want to miss my opportunity as the sun could be off the surface at any moment and all could be lost.

My indicator shot down and I set the hook with a high stick and a pull on the slack line. The fish hung in the fast water and shook slightly. I thought for sure it was a bloddy white fish but as I worked the fish into the slow water near me it spooked and woke up. It took line out with a slow hard pull and went deep. Then the head shaking came and I thought I was going to loose the fish since it was on the bottom size 16 zebra midge. One roll without tension and its over dude. My Winston bent and arced and vibrated as the fish tried to move into deeper water below me.

The trout took too much time in the fast water and I was patient. The beating the river gave me last week I was determined to do this correctly. The fish admitted he had been outsmarted and I pulled him into my nets embrace.

A beautiful Rainbow Trout. Bigger than I thought as well. A delightful surprise. I did not measure but a proper 16 inches of healthy wild rainbow would have been my guess. A hefty fish as well. The water was bitter cold so I kept it in the net as not to shock it too bad. I took my flies from the trouts jaw, had my moment that I have been longing for all winter long, and released it from the net. I gave the tail a light touch and the trout darted back into the deep water on the other side of the river.

Content. The river only graced me with one trout today. I only fished for just over an hour and spent most of it walking upriver. I saw several trout working the midges underneath but they were easily spooked being in the sunlit water. Sometimes, especially in winter fishing, one is all you get.

I will be floating the upper river tomorrow and we shall see if she will give up a few more for a moment or two.

Tamarack

January 20, 2015May 7, 2021 tamaracksguideservice Uncategorized

Thoughts on Flies…and Winter…or Bleh as it shall be referred to.

In my Harry Potter room, tying a MB Emerger.

Yet again we are given a dose of warm weather and rain. The river has jumped up a few hundred cfs. It should settle by the end of the week again. That seems to be the mode of operation for this winter. No snow, lots of rain, and a fluctuating river. Why doesn’t it just be March already, without any consistency its like a precursor to Spring.

UGH! MEH! BLEH! Its kind of a downer really, all this pretty great weather in between all the rain and frozen H2O particles coming down, and no fishing. Water temps are still topping out around 39 degrees which is damn cold but fishable, so when the river is in shape it is worth it to nymph or streamer fish some holes. I am not getting my drift boat out until it decides to officially be spring and with February looming and big snows still anticipated for that month, it looks like it may be a late one.

If I have learned anything about the winters here its this (this is applicable to the months of November through March): “Winter is Coming…eventually…maybe around February 4th…but maybe next week…I don’t know…get back to me.”

Where is the bloody snow!? Literally everywhere else in the country that it is supposed to be snowing it is, but not here. While I have no doubt that it will snow, and it will probably be one of those miserable snows that just never stops, causes problems. Then when it all settles it will be March 15th and everyone will be bitching about how the winter was too short. Dude, the winter was shot like two weeks ago. Its so late now anyone that has a weather dependent business has already took the hit and is just playing the waiting game like the rest of us. The upper elevations are finally starting to get better but with crummy snow, warm winds, and rain mixed in, the conditions just plain suck. I haven’t even got my skis or snowshoes out of storage and at this point I may never this season. It’s too late to be playing in the snow, too much stuff to get ready for the spring…if it ever shows. My fear is that the winter will finally arrive…and then never leave. Like a few years back when the damn snows up high didn’t melt until late July.

I keep looking longingly at my fly rods all secured in their tubes propped up in the corner by the door. My wading boots have a permanent spot next to the heater in the bathroom where I dry them between wade trips. I say permanent because I have been out two times since November. Its driving me bonkers really. The saying, “Winter is Coming,” can suck it as far as I am concerned. Pretty sure Winter got lost and when it does show up its just gonna make everyone mad with its tardiness.

The tying has been my salvation. Without the ability to unplug from the day and the world by visiting the river, my cabin fever gets the best of me. Anglers everywhere know what I am referring too. That need to be outside, in the river, the smell of trout on your hands, bugs in your beard, a strong tug, a tight fly line, and a filled net, its becoming overbearing now. Late February is so close but the weather may have other plans. The vise is the only refuge I have, besides youtube videos of New Zealand and the Lapland. I have been taking my time and relearning a few techniques, fine tuning a few newly acquired ones, and getting creative but simple with my patterns.

I love developing new patterns, trying different materials, working out different ways to replicate and imitate the natural. My need to get into a decent fly shop with a plethora of tying choices, and a wad of cash is increasing dramatically as we get farther into this snow-less winter. My supplies are dwindling which is a good thing, I get a kick out of perusing the feathers, hair, and synthetics for flies, much like some anglers look at the fly bins. The other thing that short supply does is it forces you to try new things. Shit, I ran out of that, well lets try this instead. Then, bam! I have a sweet ass new fly to try. That’s how a few of my more productive patterns came about.

Is this the river of my dreams? No seriously I found this pic and don't remember what river it is. — Is this the river of my dreams? No seriously I found this pic and don’t remember what river it is.

For me the trip starts at the vise. Every time I tie a new March Brown Emerger, or Skwala Stonefly Nymph I fish it in my head. With each turn of the quill or wire I cast the fly into another riffle or run. When I head cement the fly at the finish, in my head, I am releasing the fish and casting for the next. Sitting at the vise didn’t use to be that way. I sat at a vise before I ever picked up a rod, but now, every time I tie its like a little dose of fly fishing on the river. It gets so bad sometimes I tie flies in my sleep and come up with new patterns for the rivers of my dreams. It sounds super dweeby but hey, I am a nerd for fly fishing.

The one thing that I am missing is that angler to angler connection. My Lady listens to me talk about trout, flies, rivers, and everything in between all the time. We stay up after the minions go to bed and talk about fishing. Well I talk and she listens. She thinks its cool. A little nerdy but she has been watching me develop into an angler and tier closer than anyone. While I love talking to her about fish, she doesn’t share the same passion for it that I do. She wants to travel with me to rivers, learn how to better row the drift-boat, and there isn’t another lady I know that can rough it in the outdoors like she can. She’s the best kind of fishing partner…the one that doesn’t fish, but can row. My Lady is not an angler and that’s cool and she knows it.

I do miss tying with a group of anglers, talking shit and telling lies. I saw that the local fly shop is having tying on Sunday mornings and I will try and hit it, but work gets in the way. I should look into a group of anglers getting together somewhere like a coffee shop or something and tying for an hour or two one day a week. It would be cool to be amongst other anglers, share patterns and techniques, talk about fish and the river. I don’t get a lot of that in my tiny little room under the stairs where my vise and materials sit.

I love to tie, but I love to fish even more. With tying for guiding now its a bit more fun because I am tying a huge amount of flies that I normally wouldn’t. For myself, I typically tie a set of flies at the beginning of the season and that’s all I need. A set being 6. I do not intend to tie all of my flies but a majority of them will be tied and not bought. Why not? I still tie a set at a time, but I was taught that tying the same pattern 24 times in a row can make tying really boring and mistakes happen when you get lazy after about the 20th fly. I switch between two and three patterns until I have 2 sets of each. The next day I may repeat the same patterns or move on to the next hatch. It keeps it from getting dull or feeling like a chore. I finish a set of March Brown Emergers, I get tired of tying tiny little mayflies, and move onto a large Salmon Fly Dry, then maybe a Green Drake nymph, and then back to the Emergers. I get special requests from friends for sets of flies, Craneflies are a big one, as well as my super tasty October Caddis Pupa, and those also give me an excuse to change it up as well.

The other plus side of tying for the guiding season is I feel like I am working. Not just tying for myself but tying for clients is a big push for me. I have tied for anglers and sent sets of flies off in the mail from time to time but never the amount I’m tying for guiding this season. The guides at the shop I used to work for would have me tie certain flies for them. It saved them having to buy a few before their trip. We also used to tie for each other all the time. Carp flies, for trout flies, a particular guide had some amazing bass flies that I still use, and we all shared patterns and tying lessons. They were notorious for stealing flies from the table before heading out on trips though. So don’t leave flies hanging around. I always got very critical but always constructive feedback on patterns of mine so I welcomed the less flies in my box.

There is something quite satisfying to hear a guide or angler praise a finely tuned, personally tied fly pattern. It always made me feel like I was doing something right when my flies were in other anglers’ boxes. I never got nervous about my flies being out there, but I have always been laid back about my flies. Fish eat ’em for me.

It’s cool that not everyone can tie them, you can’t find them everywhere, and just because you have one doesn’t mean you are fishing it right. I have met a lot of anglers that just put the fly on/in the water. Its always a riverside treat to meet an angler or anglers that see you catch a decent fish and ask what you used and you show them something they wouldn’t have in their box. I am always handing out flies on the river. I never want someone to get off the river with a bad taste in their mouth. If a few of my flies help make their day better than of course I am gonna hand them out. What really get’s me is when they ask how to fish it! Oh man, yes, lets talk about that.

Flies do a lot of things besides catch trout; they inspire anglers, help concoct stories of grandeur, enlighten and educate on the ways of the river, and each one is a tiny work of art. Such simple but intricate things; much like the trout they catch, much like the anglers that tie them on.

Tamarack

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