tamaracksguideservice Fly Fishing

The Midway Point

Man its wet outside. I hope everyone is safe while the rivers crest and things simmer down after this crazy atmospheric river we have had. Here in Gig Harbor it has been very wet but otherwise fine. We hunkered down during it. The Yakima and the tribs got pretty angry topping out around 18 grand in cfs. Which is crazy big!

The winter offseason has been anything but. As always I am honest and up front in these bloggings on the webasphere. The stress of the current state of stuff is just kicking the shit out of small business right now. Across the board it has just kicked the shit out of us. Combined Kristen and I lost roughly $45,000 due to the state of the things. Its not just one thing to point to either. We also had a drought this year that sucked. I work in the outdoor travel industry, tourism, and its just been hit hard. Losing money sucks, and costs of things have only gone up on the day to day, so the last season was rough as we get to the midpoint of the offseason.

That being said, and all the doom and gloom aside. And let’s just not talk about the water levels last season; except I will say this…it was very dry last year, and nature swings really hard now. This is what that looks like. Moving on.

This offseason has opened up the opportunity to put some serious work into Searun Cutthroat Trout and Puget Sound, along with working towards the captains license. It’s a slow process for me. I have a healthy fear of large bodies of water and small fortunes wrapped into tiny boats. I am also overly cautious these days, I’ve had plenty of adrenaline thank you, I am here to make money and keep everything and everyone safe. Motor boats are just a whole different thing that I had zero experience with prior to this boat I have now. So this winter and my partner have helped push and drive the fishing and learning this winter.

The sound is amazing. After seeing the salt in Florida and never really enjoying it. Puget Sound is very different and much more my speed. Its slower on the sound, and quiet. I do not care for the city…like at all. Seattle is also loud. All cities are loud, but the west side metropolis area is condensed and loud. It is gorgeous though. I have seen a fare number of the large cities in the country and the West Side is very pretty. Organized a bit like Orlando Florida, but…still pretty skyline, Rainer makes a huge impact, the jagged edges of the sound dotted with houses up the ridiculous hillsides. It is a very unique and chill place. The waterways of the sound are less intimidating than Florida or even Michigan but they still are very foreign and unfamiliar to me.

As we get closer to Christmas I am switching gears to Steelhead. I haven’t guided them in a while but chasing them the past two years has slightly…I say slightly reignited that want to chase them. Clients have been asking for a while so we will see if it works out to be a regular thing. Living over on this side made it much easier to say yet to throwing some dates up for guide trips in the late winter before the spring season starts on the Yakima. I am already getting bored this winter and am ready for the season to start. Steelhead gets things rolling a bit earlier for me and alleviates some of the stress of 2025.

I do love the Olympic Peninsula, yes its wet, but damnit it quiet….no one is over there! Except for fishing. The epitome of out of the way is the real appeal of Forks and the OP in general. To be able to share that space with clients is something I have held off long enough. To be able to learn and cast; while maybe getting a grab in one of the most amazing spaces to swing a steelhead is something every angler should give a try. And to experience the OP in all its wet misty soft quiet awesomeness.

I have had the pleasure of interacting with OP steelhead on several occasions in my younger days. I am looking forward to being there with clients and helping hopefully facilitate that interaction with them. Steelheading, in my opinion is best experienced in a small group. It is better as a team sport, each encounter celebrated, each run equally distributed, flies, heads, tactics are discussed in between sets. Its a lot better than standing in the run in the suck by your lonesome freezing your tootsies off while it rains sideways or up.

The OP is a good time and a welcome respite from the dreary slow offseason. It scratches that fishing itch before the trout season comes along in mid to late March.

The move over here has been a nice change of pace. I am a bit of a homebody and hibernater in the winter months. The soggy windy days spent in the camper are broken up by days on the sound that open up a world of fishing that not many seem to be partaking in. The solitude of the sound has been surprising and very appreciated. The occasional ferry wake or fancier Yacht, maybe a fishing boat motors by, crabbers on the weekends, a sailboat or two, kayaker in the bay, its enjoyable and feels like the place is all mine.

Dates are up on on the website, Steelhead and Spring Trout. It is getting full already with no weekend left open except the first one in March. The water is crazy right now but that is good news for the spring with lots of new spaces for trout and new lines to find fish in. Hope everyone is safe during these high water events. Hope to see you riverside this season as things settle down.

Tamarack

tamaracksguideservice Fly Fishing

Ooof

Well…the slowdown finally hit us. The summer has been a bit of a bust which isn’t anything new. With odd water levels, inconsistent conditions, hot weather hitting early, a lot more wind than normal the summer has been funky to say the least.

August is now here. The reservoirs are almost empty, we have the whole month of August still to get through, and the 85 plus degree days are going to hit us soon. Hoot owl is recommended but not required….yet. The water levels are dropping every day, and I expect the river to get smaller, hotter, and more busy with non fishing recreators as the heat comes in more.

Now its not all doom and gloom anglers. This isn’t the first drought this river has had to get through. I do have concerns for late August and September with the hot weather and low water levels coming But again, not the first time. That is why I give the river a break in the summer. I switch over to Bass and Carp and let the river be. I want it to be good for September and October. The early am grind for beating the heat, pressured and hot and tired fish that just want a break, and a river that just isn’t having it this summer in a lot of ways. It happens, rivers are finicky that way, and across the west the summer heat, low water, drought conditions, hoot owl restrictions are all over. It is now our turn.

The bass and carp fishing is a nice change of pace. Its a little bit more of a drive but makes up for it with the change in scenery, different kind of fishing, and a new experience.

But I also know things are tight right now. They are tight for us too. Everyone I talk to says similar things. I hold my breath as we come into August because the fear of cancellations on top of light bookings is there. I am always honest and up front anglers. Shit gets tough. This isn’t my first rodeo with turmoil, upheaval, and unprecedented shit. It’s been an uphill battle since covid. I have been at this long enough to see the trends, how people spend money, how things affect their want or ability to spend money. I work with people that are way smarter than me and work in a plethora of fields from construction, finance, tech, real estate, aerospace, agriculture, mechanics, education, healthcare, and so man others. All sorts, all income levels, all walks of life. The people that fish are just regular people that share this silly thing we enjoy with fish. I get to hear from these people, river time is therapy time for most people and they let me know. The boat is and always will be a safe space. The river takes what you give it and sends it down yonder. I just help get it out a lot of the time. Sometimes through fishing but most of the time, and when things are funky, scary, or uncomfortable, people just want to talk.

This job is still about people. Fishing is secondary. I find myself closing off, not going out, hunkering down. It puts you down, anytime there is downturn post covid it puts me in a depressive state. I have not doing anything. When it is mostly out of your control it is even harder to push through. I know others are doing that. I miss connecting with people. Its not the lack of fish…its the lack of people interactions this season. Some years its so busy and people heavy it burns you out. Other years its the opposite. With all the crazy in our world right now, the positive and shared connections with people seem to be the most important right now.

We need to be connecting and sharing experiences with each other during this time. We are all collectively…again…sharing the turmoil in our home right now. I’d rather share it riverside with anglers that need to feel that connection as well. To unplug from one world and connect to the real one. The world out here doing its thing without us. It feels like the summer of covid. Tight and uncomfortable, skating by with not quite enough. That’s just the truth. The work has only increased on the back end. Constantly brainstorming, trying pivoting. The same things that worked last year and the year before ain’t working this year. It has been hard to keep up for my trout bummy ass. That is why I have set changes in motion for next year to help and Kristen and I will be working together in a larger capacity. But that work is constant and always changing. Thankfully the guide work takes care of itself but at the end of the day its about butts in boat seats.

Being honest and open about things is the best approach for most situations in my opinion. I need butts in seats just like any other service or tourist industry that needs butts in seats. When people can’t afford it, don’t have time for it, are scared to jump into it, or any other reason that would make anyone think about recreating or doing leisure activities it trickles down. All in this together so to say. And its hard. That’s really all this post is about. Acknowledging that shit is a little out of whack right now and its stressful.

I am right there with ya. Doing my best to get through it and fish when I can.

See ya riverside anglers.

tamaracksguideservice Fly Fishing

A Fishing Trip

A fishing trip. A thing all anglers eventually go on. Whether it be a 5 day excursion to Montana, a week in Belize, a few days in Alaska, or just a quick trip down the creek in the back yard. We all go on fishing trips. Some guided, some self lead, others for discovery, some for healing, friendship, solo time, a way to cut loose, unplug, or plug in and check out. We go fishing for various reasons.

These days I fish for fun. It is rare I get to go fish for extended periods of time and what I define as fishing for me may look a lot like boat rowing with a few casts interspersed. I fish water I like, fish I see, drifts I want fish to eat from. I see areas and want to see if I can decipher the puzzle. Can I become a part of that bubble line for a split second? Will it be long enough to trick or entice the creatures lurking within? What answer will it yield? I look for things on water that make my mind think like that…then I want to fish it.

I think less on the fishing of the trip and more on the overarching vibe and feel of the trip. Fish are secondary these days. The windy backroads through the Mustard Grass as the sun sets. The smell of the trees as we venture further up into the mountains. The looks from my partner as we get closer to our destination. The familiar faces and sounds of the little riverside town that everyone remembers me in. The campfire scents, the waves from fellow anglers, the taste of a beer after a good fish is landed. The trip is more than just fish.

The fish from trips these days are of course awesome and amazing encounters. But a lot of them are kept to those that were there on trips these days. My work is fishing, rowing, content, reports, emails, photos, text messages, and the last thing I want to do is be on that kind of grind when I fish for myself. So less pictures these days, more time in the moment. Dissecting how that fish ate, why this fish didn’t get landed, can we make this happen in this kind of water? Fish on trips for me are more about what can we accomplish in the space and less about the fish getting landed. I like landing fish still, but sometimes you just want to see if you can delve into that river world in fun an interesting ways just to see what happens. This trip we had lots of those. Like the large trout I saw feed and then was able to recreate the drift 20 minutes later and trick it. Playing it on 5x to the boat at anchor wasn’t the goal, just to see if I could get that fish to do the same thing I saw him do naturally.

Or throwing a reversal with the boat in one of our favorite bends and my partner hucking steamers back upstream into heavy current gettting the same giant cutty to slam the thing twice. Didn’t land it, which would have been cool, but being able to get the biggest nastiest fish in there to hunt and kill a fly was the goal. Or when we forgot our rain gear, it decided to dump for an hour and half and we made a riverside fire under a big fir tree and waited it out while everyone else floated by in the suck. The vibes were immaculate, when the rain quit, we were dry, warm, and the river was ours. Big fish came out to play and we were the only ones around. Things like that are what I take from fishing trips these day. Not the fish landed.

Spending time with my partner as she explores, discovers and improves her angling skills. The two of us learning and teaching each other. The random people coming up to us in camp to talk trout, or old friends that swing by because they too are on a fishing trip. The total and complete lack of technology while fishing. No service, no notifications, no one to text or email. Just quiet simplicity. These days that the main goal of my fishing trips. Quiet simplicity on a trouty river, with my dog and partner, unplugged from the world, and in tune with reality.

See ya riverside anglers.

Enjoy the Fishing Trips.

Tamarack

tamaracksguideservice Fly Fishing

Windy day thoughts.

I find that guiding is broken into 3 parts. Fishing, Rowing, People. The Fishing part is pretty straight forward, that being said; a good angler does not make a good guide, and a good guide does not need to be a good angler.

A guide is first and foremost…a teacher. Now fly fishing has this thing about fish that becomes the dominating factor. I had the opportunity to guide other things before fly fishing. Skiing, hiking ,rafting, paddling, camping, and a dash of climbing. There is only things to teach people so they don’t die, skills to succeed, how to do the activity well enough to enjoy it, and to guide the participants along the way through experiences, teaching, and educating them. There is a craft to being a good guide. I dare say, for a fly fishing guide, the ability to catch fish yourself is the least important factor.

Understanding fishing is different than fishing. Theory and practice so to say. I can understand physics and never go to space, or play an instrument well but not write or even be able to read music. I happen to be a decent angler and a good guide. Also can play an instrument and can’t read music so…

Understanding fishing, the gear, techniques, waterways, all of that is necessary. Being able to apply those skills not so much. I would say, as a guide I fish quite a bit less. But I also fished a lot before I was a guide. Being able to teach those skills well is better than being able to apply those skills as an expert. Does a guide need to practice, yes. All the time, honing and tuning the craft is part of understanding the fishing part of guiding. I am always practicing, it may look like fishing sometimes but its typically, almost always, for work. I will be the first to admit I am not the best angler, not even close. Nor do I want to be. Do I want to be a good guide, maybe even one of the better ones…sure.

Rowing, the second part of guiding for me. Rowing requires the basic physical ability to move a boat on the water with oars. But to be good at it, understanding how a river works, moves, breaths, reacts, and how to move a boat in that space for fishing is entirely different. Anyone can learn quickly how to not die in a raft of drift boat. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be river rafting and boat rentals. Rowing one with an understanding of how to use the river to the advantage of anglers, in relation to how fish move throughout a river, and the angles, timing, vectors, speed, and all the things in between makes for a great guide. Confidence in the ability to use a drift boat or raft as a tool for fishing on a performance and professional level. Not just to steer and make it downstream. Experience is the best way to come by it. Time on the water, and lots of different water. It is really just time. There are some classes, I teach lessons on it. But after a while, it really comes down to repetition and practice. Not everyone is out here learning to row to be a guide. Most just want to enjoy their boat for the weekend. That’s why I still get hired by boat owners. I have spent a lot of time getting good at rowing for fishing with the mindset it was a key component of being a good guide.  Moreso than being a good angler.

People skills are by far the most important thing in guiding. You are taking people out. You can be the fishiest person around and be shit with people. A guide is all about people pleasing. I happen to use education as my base, I look at being a guide as a teacher. A National Park Ranger Guide teaches, educates about the area, wildlife, and issues it faces all while exploring and facilitating the experience for others. Rafting guide, ski guide, climbing guide, they are teaching you a skill, helping you through the experience, and exploring the space with you. Fly fish guiding is no different. Being able to teach, relay information, converse, bond, share time, food, intense moments, slow moments, potentially dangerous moments, emotional charged, self discovering, healing, moments, all sorts of things come when you start taking people out onto the water, into wild spaces, and they interact with fish. It’s mind-boggling the experiences you share with clients over 11 years. They run the gambit of everything you could think of. Truly, just as diverse as people are; so too are their reactions to fly fishing and all in entails.

Being a good guide is about understanding the theory and being adept in the application of the skillsets, understanding people, and facilitating fulfilling and enriching experiences for people. I feel like I have done a good job of that over the years. These days, I teach less, which I would like to improve over the next few seasons. I can always improve my fishing stats, but that comes down to teaching the skills to anglers better, which I am constantly fine-tuning. It gets harder the better your anglers get, I will admit. The stakes are a bit higher when your clients are good anglers and you start being able to get into some advanced stuff. The victories are sweet, but the defeats are debilitating.

With the down time I typically get in the summer I have time to think about the spring season. Reflect, improve, tune up things. I get to plan out and push the rest of the summer. The fall is almost fully booked so there is little to do there except fill in. I get time to blog, tie flies, hang out with my puppy, fish for myself a little, and help my partner with her business. The guide life changes the longer you do it. I find myself fishing a little less, but also working on the back end of things a little less too. I get to guide more, and be on the water with anglers, which is where I have always wanted to be. Just on the water. Not on the computer, or social media, not taking phone calls and answering emails all day. Not having to create crazy content or turn myself into some professional angler. I just want to be on the water. That is where all the good stuff happens. On the water. If I am on the water I am making money. I am doing what I love. I am with people that I want to be with.

I will see ya riverside anglers.

Tamarack

tamaracksguideservice Fly Fishing

Damn

Damn…Anglers, I won’t lie. It is hard to focus right now. The world is loud, unpredictable, and the last several weeks have been soaked up by so much of what is happening in the world right now. Damn.

I just got back from a 2 week haul down to Florida and back. Kristen and I picked up our camper and our new puppy. It was a long trip. We had just finished steelheading for 2 weeks when we left. So on top of everything else its been non stop moving and doing stuff the past 4 weeks. The season is here. Its creeping in for me. I haven’t fished yet. Lots of prep work to be done and the boat needs to be patched before I can float it. I also had cancellations this upcoming weekend so it puts a slow down on getting ready. The weather is good. So are the flows. Bugs are starting, fish are moving, the spring is here. Its a bit somber. There is a lot of uneasiness hanging around. A lot of us are worried because the bookings are light, cancellations loom, people’s attention is occupied. For good reason. But to say that things are not funky would be a lie. Its funky.

The river still flows. The trout are unaware, and its less noisy riverside. We have good snow pack this year, the weather is looking favorable for spring fishing…less wind than last year. After travelling and being in and out through most of last year it is a reprieve to be home starting a new season. No matter what happens off river, I am home and get to fish…and that counts for something.

No matter where you sit on things right now…doesn’t really matter. What is happening right now if being felt every where. I just drove through most of the country and travelled even more of it in the past year. No where is not feeling it. Just being in a grocery store and listening to people in Florida, Texas, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, it didn’t matter. Every where a TV was news was on in some form. If you can call it that these days. From gas prices, to eggs, to talking with my friends losing their jobs. It ain’t great anywhere. That sucks, and collectively we are all in it no matter what side of things. I expect things to get harder in my industry. I work in a luxury service that hinges on things like cheap travel, food, imported goods, strong economy, people feeling safe to spend money, things like that. A general good mood is required for people to want to go fishing and pay for it. I can’t blame or get mad or frustrated by any of it. That sense of dread from covid and the sheer lack of work and income is scratching. Not much else to do but wait and see…and go fish.

I am excited to fish this spring. Its a little subdued, this off season has been a trip. My mother going through cancer treatment and coming out the other side positively. Going back to guide life and living out of our camper. My eldest daughter getting ready to become an adult this summer and be around more. Travelling, working, trying to keep things going. I am ready to dig deep into fishing and let it rule over my brain for a while. With a dash of hopelessness, dread, and a sliver of maybe things will be okay I move forward. Chasing fish is about the only thing I am good at anymore these days. If the world is going to be loud I will go where its quiet for a while. Better place to think anyway.

I hope to see you riverside this season. While you are fishing on your own or if you happen to book a trip with me. We all could use a little time away from it all…in the pursuit of a simple trout on the end of a fly.

Tamarack

tamaracksguideservice Fly Fishing

Returning to Fishing

I have been an angler for 20 years now. Started at 18 and haven’t stopped. Fishing has been a determining factor of who I am for my adult life. I turned my passion for fishing, teaching, exploring, wildlife, the outdoors, and guiding into a business. It has been a good business that has given me opportunities my 18 year old self would have never dreamed of having. The past 20 years I have spent a good number of those days fishing. It grew exponentially as I hit my mid 20s. Then it plateaued. I became a guide.

Guiding meant I fished less for myself and helped others fish. I spent the past 10 years doing that. I still would fish. But it was much less than before I was a guide. The busier I got, the less time I fished on my own. I loved it. But burnout is a real thing and I have wanted to fish more and more for myself in the past few seasons. I started taking more trips for myself the past few summers. Hitting rivers I fished when I was younger, and finding new favorite ones. I shared rivers with friends, fellow guides, former clients, and anglers. I met my partner riverside and have travelled and fished all over the country the past few seasons. I moved to Michigan on a new adventure and to seek out new water and opportunities. I will be taking most of the summer off to just fish for myself.

Of course there is an underlying reason for the time off and fishing for myself. In my experience, the best way to learn a new area is to fish it. My lifestyle affords me the ability to be a trout bum and do just that. I get to enjoy fishing for a while. Find what inspires me, what fish species drive me to chase them, where will I find encounters with fish and nature, what areas will make me want to keep them to myself, and which ones will make me want to share? These are things I spent my 20’s answering, exploring all over the western trout fisheries. From Alaska to Colorado, and everything in between that struck my fancy and that I could get to. I found amazing fish, met wonderful people, and got to experience fishing in a way I didn’t know was possible.

Before social media mind you, I am that old now. This was back when digital cameras were a brick and we are all about megapixels. A lot of these adventures were captured on actual film or not at all except in memory. I didn’t have a decent camera the first time I hooked a bulltrout in Canada, there is a tattered picture of a greenback trout from Colorado somewhere, and on a sim card in a storage unit in a box, somewhere in Idaho there is a picture of me holding my lifetime steelhead from the OP when I was 22, right around my birthday. I had adventures, I caught fish, I experienced wilds and rivers, and places all before it meant likes and follows or was part of my business. It was just for me, for the joy of it. It had no influence other than I loved to fish.

I settled on the Yakima 10 years ago. I had opportunity to guide all over but I had a new family at the time and my personal off river life kept me close to where I grew up. I fell in love with the Yakima River. I know every inch of that river these days. I became a very good guide on that river and was fortunate to share that river with hundreds of clients over the years. I have built lasting relationships as a guide with people out west and will always return to chase the trout in the big waters out there.

The East is a different beast. And many have left comments or asked why I came East. As a home grown PNW angler who has fished just about all the good stuff over the past 20 years. I am good. I have experienced it all for what I wanted to fish and see. These days its a little more crowded then before 2010 but I have fished and caught enough trout out west for now. That will surely change with time but for now…I am good. The East has a lot more to offer. A bigger piece of the fishing world. I hit Florida this past winter for a month. It is one of the largest sport fishing destinations in the world. It is massive in terms of fishing. Michigan the the Midwest area are equally as large but more spread out and makes the western side of the countries sport fishing world look very small. Commercial fishing is the big dog out west, as someone who has worked in Alaska and been a sport guide for a while, commercial fishing for consumption is the big player out west. Here in the east its more just the sport fishing. Yes there is harvest, but its mostly for sport with a side of harvest.

I had some confusion with one of my last posts that I compared Michigan to Alaska. Now the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is like Southeast Alaska. Just without mountains. But what really hits me is the local fishing culture. That is what reminds of me of Alaska. Fishing is just older and more engrained in the everyday lives of people in Michigan, much like Alaska. That is the comparison. Here near Detroit everyone owns a boat, most people have fishing gear, and everyone has fished or does fish. Fly fishing is a little less common but the further north your go the more you find it. The west makes fishing out to be a really big deal, and dresses it up in really polished fancy cloths in comparison, takes itself really seriously. And I am from the west and am part of that. The east just doesn’t care as much. Fishing is just something everyone does. Less of a big deal, and with it readily available to everyone just about anywhere even these urban areas, the fishing culture is just very different. I enjoy it because as I just want to enjoy fishing with no pressure…that seems to be the main operating speed out here.

I have been back almost 2 weeks. I have fished more days than not. I have only had one kind of crappy experience, more due to a crummy fly shop encounter than anything else. Some places ain’t all they are made out to be on social media anglers just saying. But besides that, this fishing has been rather good. I can’t complain. A rained out Au Sable River last week sucked but I was able to learn about how finicky that river is and how I don’t want to fish finicky rivers right now….I have had enough of those for a summer. I love bass fishing. It is simple compared to trout fishing a river. I love simple fishing. Bass eat, they like topwater they are easier to track and predict, and when I put effort into catching them…I really catch them. I don’t care about size…I am a trout angler not a bass tournament guy…I care about eats. I want eats. So bass fishing is great…because in 3 hrs of puttering around the lake I can stick 15 to 30 bass when I put effort in. I enjoy that kind of fishing. Move into a zone, hunt the fish out of it, work a grid, depths, angles, lengths, structure, lanes, weed beds, drop offs, ridges, bars, I get to use sonar tools and really pick apart areas. Make my brain work without the pressure of having to produce for anyone or anything. I am just getting to fish the way I like.

For me it is freedom. I have been tied to the Yakima River’s schedule and rhythm for 10 years. Dialed and locked in. My drift boat and I just chunking out miles and working that river. My entire work life has been attached and dictated by the Yakima River. I wasn’t lying when I said I needed a break. Once I got out of Montana on the drive east…I finally felt things stop pulling on me. I love that river anglers…but I need a break.

The Freedom I feel out here is also because I have the 2 things that I need to really make that possible. My trusty guide rig, and my new boat. My new Hog Island Skiff is finally growing on me. I have had mixed feelings about it since Florida. But being here in Michigan I am glad I have it. It allows me to fish as I please, where I please. With my roof top, rig, and boat I can explore and discover as I see fit. Working out here is the goal and will happen sooner rather than later, but for now I am enjoying the ability to just fish for myself.

I enjoy the quiet of the stillwater and rivers out east. It has a different feel than the waters I have encountered out west. The eastern waters speak playfully, filled with life. The bird songs have a different cacophony than those I recall from my younger days. There is mystery in the east. A myriad of abundant species of fish make for a surprise each encounter. There is less pressure out here for me. I don’t feel the need to perform, no one knows me, I am just fly fishing. When I fish I get to be quiet, just enjoy, be a part of it. I missed this kind of fishing. The summer will be filled with days where I can fish as intense or as aloof as I want. A chance to recharge in a way I haven’t been able to in a long time. A chance to fish.

Tamarack

tamaracksguideservice Fly Fishing

A Michigan Summer

Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer. Back on the homewater, the Yakima River, she is having her regular salmon pulse bringing the river up for the weekend. It will still fish just fine. But as always an inconsistent river. I will not say I miss it. To be honest I do not. I have fished and guided the Yakima heavy for 10 years. It has been my main fishery for 20 years. We both deserve, earned, and need a break.

Michigan is very different. It is humid here. Like Florida in November. I love it. Growing up in the Columbia Basin in Washington I am accustomed to dry heat. Which I loathe. Desert ain’t for me. But this place. Michigan, a deciduous, marsh, swamp, lake, river meandering maze of a state…is quite different and all to appealing. Even in the urban area outside of Detroit that I am currently staying it is a wonderful mix of nature and human development. There is water everywhere. From where I am sitting I am within 20 different bodies of water…all of which have fish, all of which have public access for wading and boats. It’s like Alaska, only thing I can reference this place too. The amount of water, the culture surrounding fishing, boating, and water is thick. The further north you go the more rugged and wild this place gets. It reminds me of Alaska. Even the humidity to a degree. But its much warmer here.

I have trout, bass, pike, and gar fished since I have arrived from my long drive across the country. What a drive too. I did 2200 miles in 2 days. It was nuts. My trusty Toyota Guide Rig made it all the way without a hiccup. Since then we have bummed it up to the Au Sable river. Which is having a weird summer just like most places out west. Rains blew her out so to speak, put fish down, and the water temps here are already on the rise due to low snow and warm temps. Just like out west. Which is a reason I moved east. Here, when it gets warm, there are considerably more options for an angler and a guide.

There are more warm water species here and in abundance than anywhere out west. I have a lake 10 minutes from the house I fished the past 3 days that has at least 6 different species in it. Largemouth, Smallmouth, Bream Species like Bluegill and Sunfish, Pike, and Gar, and probably a muskie or 2. Caught fish each day, some big, with effort could have really good days. That’s just one lake. I hit another a few days ago that was mostly a boating lake but also was full of bass and fished well for the amount of time and effort I put in. Better days than I’ve had out west chasin bass for sure. I haven’t even scratched the surface. Michigan is home to one the most famous small mouth lakes in the world. Lake St. Claire. We share it with Canada. Its an hour from where I am, and is touted as the best smallmouth fishery around. Again just one lake. Michigan is home to some of the best stillwater fishing for multiple species. Between Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, you have one of the largest and most diverse sport fishing regions in the country. Fishing is a very different animal out here compared to anywhere in the PNW and even Montana. Again Alaska is the only place that compares when it comes to fishing culture.

I moved here so that I could have more options and I have lived in the PNW my entire life. A big change was also something I was after. This is a big change. The driving and the urban areas alone here are above and beyond anything out west for my county bumpkin ass coming from a town of less than 2000 people. The fishing is overwhelming. Again what I was after. I have more options than I could get through in a lifetime here. So many places to fish. Not only that, Michigan is central to so many other places to fish. Its easier to travel to places like Wisconsin’s Driftless area, the whitewater of Pennsylvania, Canadian wilderness, I can get to Florida in 2 days skiff in tow and everything in between. It’s mind boggling.

In Washington, in 6 to 8 hrs I could be to some of the best trout fishing in the west. In 6 hrs I have access to literally hundreds of bodies of water. Blue Ribbon Trout streams, famous hatches, small and large mouth bass fishing up the ass, some of the worlds best muskie and pike fishing, carp, crappie, bream, catfish, walleye, there is so much here. This summer is a time to explore.

I find myself really digging the spaces I find myself in. I love to fish, and guiding the same body of water for a decade has taken its toll on my passion for fishing personally. I love guiding, but I started out with a pure love and passion for fishing. And here in Michigan, away from everything familiar, I am finally able to be free in that space again. It has been needed. Guiding is my career, and I am always chasing guide days on the calendar. Already my Fall Season for Trout on the Yakima is almost full. But I need to fish for me. That need to go fishing that my clients hire me for. That feeling has been lost on me over the years. I have been work focused. Which is still enjoyable but not the same as just getting to go fish. And even out west, when I would take time off to go fish, there was always pressure to produce. The west does that. It skews the fishing world and holds angles to this somewhat unattainable standard. Big fish, big casts, big takes, big likes, big profile views, all the right gear, look the part, polished, and porny. That’s just not fishing. And I am the first to admit that I feed into that with what I do for a living. I try and tame it with the live streams and the blogs, but the machine of social media and what commercializing this activity does will always be a facet of this business.

Here in Michigan I get to take a step back from that a little bit. Kind of figure out which way things are going to flow as we transition into something different.

Guiding here is not far off. But I will enjoy taking some time of from guiding. I have put a lot of time into guiding and there are other things in fishing that I am good at. A lot of that has taken a back seat to guiding over the years so I am looking forward to tying, producing content that isn’t in line with what our industry wants, give anglers something real. Me exploring the east through trial and error is pretty real. Out here, I am going back to basics. Tying my own leaders and flies, using less expensive gear, because it doesn’t really matter. Fly fishing along with everything else in the world is getting expensive and I refuse to let something like money keep me from enjoying fly fishing. When I entered this gig it was like that. It catered to the rich and wealthy. Fuck that, fish don’t care, and I see the trend of pricing out the regular fly angler happening again in fly fishing. It has never had to be that way. That’s something I want to show out here. Because I am a broke ass trout bum guide. I live this life for real. And you don’t need all that fancy shit to get it done.

I haven’t even started to scratch the surface of fishing out here. I am looking forward to it. And I will be guiding out here before too long. I already have been to places here that I want to share in a professional capacity. I want to test my guiding and fishing skillset with clients. I want to meet new clients and people, learn the things that connect them to the water and fly fishing, or maybe introduce them to it in their own backyard. It is why I guide. Not for clout, or money, or to be famous on social media. But to share spaces with others and let them experience nature, water, and fish in a unique way with a fly and rod in their hand. There isn’t anything that is quite like it.

Michigan is a good place for me to do that. I have accomplished that on the Yakima, it takes care of itself and I will continue to work the west. But I get to explore the east and share that experience with all my followers, clients and new people. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I am looking forward to exploring and discovering through fly fishing here in Michigan. The summer is just getting started. Lets go.

Tamarack