My wife works for a big financial firm and when we go to holiday events with her co-workers, I dress up and look every bit a part of their regular social and work environments. Nearly anyway, minus the sandals, cracked and smelly feet, dirt under my finger and toe nails and gash on my face from latest spey cast gone askew with 2/0 hook.

As we begin to have a few drinks and gather around to chat, the obvious and inevitable question comes up, “What do you do for work?” The reaction to what comes from my mouth ranges about as far as you can imagine.

“That is AWESOME!”

“What is fly fishing?”

“No, I mean now, not what you did in Colorado.”

“Can you do that here?!!” “Can you stay busy and make any money?”

“What would you guide for here, there aren’t any trout streams are there?”

“Do you have a card?”

“Have you seen ‘A River Runs Around It?” No, I haven’t!

“So is that just on the weekends?”

“I thought they only fly fished in Montana?!!!”

“You must eat a lot of fish!”

“How do you keep the insects on the line when casting?”

“I fly fished once, in Montana, 20 years ago….” or “I have fly fished for 20 years, a day a year anyway.”

“Where do you take people? ‘We go everywhere, Puget Sound is one of our favorites.’ You can fly fish in saltwater!!?? What lives out there?”

I think you get the point, not a job those in the 7th largest city in the U.S. can really even concieve of having. And to be totally honest, sometimes I wonder why or how in the hell I came to do this. There is so little that is similar about this to what I did in Colorado and other Rocky Mountain states with one exception, every direction you look there is water beckoning to be fished, maybe more so here and there in lies the start of the problem. There, in the Rockies, it was EASY in nearly every way. Here it is a bitch in nearly every way, allow me to point out how.

1. Guiding in the Rockies meant having to bascially only know trout, that is it. Maybe a few different rivers, launch points and a little navigation and real rowing in a few select locations.

2. Longest drive I ever had was about 40 minutes from the shop to the river for a day trip.

2a. No traffic, not the stand still on 4 lane freeways we have here anyway.

3. Meet at a luxurious 7-8 am usually at the shop.

4. Back from a full day by about 6pm at the latest.

5. In the bar drinking again by 7 at the latest.

5a. Could leave car at fly shop over night and just walk down in the morning to meet next day’s clients.

6. If drove after drinking, knew town marshall by first name and typically had a few drinks with him the night before in the same bar.

7. Went to bed each night KNOWING we were catching fish the next day.

7a. Most likely big fish too!

8. Sleep well knowing the above!

Here in Seattle anyway, we need to know a bit more. There are way too many great fly angling opps in our area to pass up by simply guiding one river. Besides that, when your home river is blown out (or closed!!), which happens here frequently, how do you pay the mortgage? So here are a few of the things we as guides in this urban world need to be great at in order to be successful:

Pre 1. Washington did not win the big resident trout mega lottery, we have a ton of small fish, it is why Sage makes the 000wt.

1. Which way traffic is worst and at what times and how that coincides with where we want to take clients.

2. Must be proficient in all facets of local saltwater, spey casting and anadromous fish, mostly steelhead, resident trout in more than a handful of streams and creeks, tailwaters, freestone and spring creeks. All entomology associated with each, deep familiarization with all equipment coming out that is applicable to each.

2a. Did we mention Pike, Muskee, Bass and Carp? All are here and just waiting to be guided on a fly rod.

3. In the steelhead world, know all launch points on a dozen rivers, which ones fish at what time of year and at what flow.

4. Saltwater, must know at least 30 different beaches to begin to be successful all year in all weather conditions. Knowing which beaches are out of wind, which ones are blown out due to nearby creek flowing in and each of these 30, at least, at every tide level from -4 to +11.

5. In the trout world around here you can live like many by the whims of the Yakima River, one of our only trout managed rivers in the state and certianly the most well known. The Yak still has a dozen float options on it to know well. Wild rainbows here are very fickle so you better know your bugs or it will be a slow one!

5a. Guiding creeks, know at least 20 different ones within 2 hours of Seattle. All access points, options for when someone is there when you arrive.

5b. The what to do when someone is there I have to laugh at because while in destination fisheries, you have more people focused on fishing while there but it will never compare to having nearly 3 million, or more, within 2 hours and 1-2 percent of them focused on fishing. Most of them NOT fly anglers either so not only do you have nothing in common with them, they hate you much of the time. 1 for guiding but secondly for fly fishing. When was the last time you had a person walk over to you with a rock in their hand and say, “You need to get the hell out of here, this isn’t a fly fishing river, go somewhere else, NOW!”

6. The nitty gritty. The 3 things you NEVER talk about with clients — Religion, Money and Politics. Well, here you better be capable of it because most are going to bring it up at some point in the 4 hours you spend in the car with them that day. Yes, 4 hours sometimes of window time, not 15 minutes where you barely even get names of each other before you are on the water.

7. The tough shit. Get ready for months of swallowing your pride as you come up with reasons as to why your clients didn’t catch fish in either the salt or one of the dozen steelhead rivers in the area. This happens often in both so good night sleep the night before only happens with some help from alcohol or Tylenol PM, both if you are winter steelheading.

7a. Winter steelheading from Seattle, you either head north, south or west and that can change on a days notice. Up at 3am, get client by 3:30-4am, be on water by 6:30am with shuttle done, stand beside them in 35 degree water, in leaky waders with sleet or sheets of rain at least coming at you, always head on too. Then the long car ride back either sneaking sips of whisky from a flask between oncoming headlights that look like a cops or speeding excessively to get back and end the horribly uncomfortable silence…

7b. Wondering why you are the only boat on a stretch of river where there should be 30. It is the upper Hoh or other O.P. watershed and the water is just on the drop from the latest flood levels it reached a couple days ago. Come around a corner and, OH S–T, is that a log across the river? Not just any log but a virtual old growth tree, can you say portage of an aluminum drift boat with only 2 of you, and he is 70+ years old? This is only a bi monthly worry…

7c. Wear equipment you bought from the rep who tells you that some guy who guides 3 months a year in a low-pro glass boat in Montana tested these and said they were the bomb!

8. Our regulations book is the size of a small city phone book, 146 pages long this year! So on top of knowing all the above, you better know what is open, when, for what, where those boundaries are for everything. Get a lawyer.

9. Driving in downtown Seattle. Pick up at the Four Season’s, great, can you navigate the myriad of one way streets, bus only lanes and turn your SUV and boat trailer around in their barely limo sized pull through?

10. Did you check the ferry schedule last night? Each season brings a new first boat time at each dock, not checking may leave you sleeping for an hour in line waiting for the first one, clients love that especially when you get them up at 3:30 am!

11. Do this for 20 days a month and keep a girlfriend.

11a. It is now illegal to talk on your cell phone while driving here, blue tooth acceptable but how often are we using that?

12. Maintain yourself, boat, car, house, animal if you have one, squeeze in a concert and a couple nights out with buddies when you think you can handle the repercussions the following day.

13. Care. Care that your client each day still has the best time possible on day 23 of the above in a single month.

I know we aren’t the only ones who do this in urban environs, this is more of a nod to those who live in Miami, L.A., San Fran, New York, Portland (wait, Oregon doesn’t count as they have steelhead), Denver (doesn’t count either, you have half a dozen trophy trout waters open all year within 40 minutes of town), Boston, New Orleans and the rest of our brothers here in Seattle who love the lifestyle and can hack it, smiling.

I did my tour on the 3/day-2/night guide trip circuit where you are the guide, the chef, the doctor, entertainer, oars person, naturalist, geologist and geographer all in one. I used to complain about how hard that was, little did I know. When I get the chance to go back and do these trips in Colorado, MT, Oregon and elsewhere, I relish this time as it feels like a vacation…

Anyone want a job?

Written by: emeraldw

So it isn’t as though this is new but I get the feeling many have been sitting around, waiting to see if the fad of “switch” rods was going to go as fast as it came. Unfortunately I just don’t see that happening.

Pushed by recent interest in trying these new light weight switches by some clients, we have gone ahead and picked up a number of them to see if there was something relevant in our area where we could see using them, and we have.

Puget Sound is the perfect fishery for swinging or stripping baitfish patterns for aggressive sea run cutthroat. When our steelhead rivers are all blown and dedicated spey sport is still wanting to partake, game on! Locations in the Sound have enough current that is appears to be a river in front of you and allows for a natural lift, place, sweep and cast for spey casters and then the fly can work across current very naturally and does indeed get picked up by the marauding trout in the area.

Not that these couldn’t work on trout rivers all over, in fact I bought my first “switch” rod from Scott in 1997, the 11′9″ Arc seen above to use on the Gunnison where I was guiding at the time. Back then there weren’t really any lines that worked well on it and most wondered what on earth I would own one for and many more wondered why Scott even made it.

Well those days are WAY behind us and now we have lines and heads that work exceptionally well on these rods from Rio, S/A, Airflo and others. The other option here is to use appropriate grain weighted standard Weight Forward floating lines, this is actually a great option if the over head cast is going to be your prime use.

For us, our new found love for them is actually on Puget Sound for sea run cutthroat. It is a fun and exciting way to fish the beaches as well as gives the opportunity for other anglers to learn some new casting skills that will make them better anglers in the long run.

While nymphing with one in a river could be one application, we prefer to use them with Compact Scandi heads and utilize a variety of casts from 2 hand over-head casts to pokes, single speys and snaps to change direction on moving fish.

Some of these slightly heavier rods are going to be wonderful summer steelhead sticks on rivers where and when wind isn’t an issue and others will make sweet streamer trout sticks on larger water. Some will cover what is left in between.

Are we just getting bored with same old single hand casting or is there a genuine need/niche for rods like these? Good question. I believe there are some legit reasons for why someone would benefit from these and learning how to spey/underhand cast.

One is the age old reason that a roll cast is ever brought up to beginners learning to fly fish. No room for back casting. I believe a single spey and even the snap T and double spey are more dynamic casts that allow anglers to be more accurate, cover more water and do so in a more calculated fashion.

Secondly is that learning these casts will make ALL fly anglers a better angler period as these casts are all achievable with your single handed rod, clear down to your 000wt from Sage. Yep, that rod can come alive with these casts and these longer rods make learning how to do it, very easy.

Thirdly, as we begin to fish longer distances in the same watersheds, line management is a key factor in realizing success. These longer rods will allow even semi novice anglers a much easier time with mending than a more common 9ft 5wt will.

The lightest switch we are using is the Echo SR 4wt and are waiting for the 240 grain Compact Scandi head to make its way to the public so we can really give it its fair shake.

Probably one of the toughest aspects of figuring out which rod to buy is a side by side test. Actions are all over the board from company to company as are the lengths from 10′6 5wt Redington to 12′6″ Echo by Dec Hogan.

There are a few we don’t have yet but will by end of the summer to round this out and going in everyone should know there are some that are great as small spey rods and others that are going to perform much better as an overhead casting rod, even though they will obviously do both. As with nearly everything in this sport, final judgement is quite subjective from angler to angler.

Any questions, let us know, happy to answer them. Happy 4th of July to everyone.

Written by: emeraldw

I recently took up spey casting, and in doing so I learned a great deal about why fly fishing is important to me.  The ideas manifested in this article have been swimming around in my mind for a while now, finally developing into a single cognizant flow during a recent steelhead trip to the Hoh river which proved to me that simply catching a lot of fish is highly overrated.  Achieving a true appreciation of the sport of fly fishing and experiencing the awesome level of fulfillment it can add to one’s life involves a depth of understanding that goes far beyond feeling a fish throb at the end of your line, dragging it onto the bank and snapping a few photos to show your buddies.

Before I get any deeper into this, let me start from the beginning…

I learned to fish for steelhead with a single handed rod using a strike indicator and a team of nymphs.  In my mind this setup will forever be known as a set of training wheels.  There are several reasons why a person might choose to bobber fish for steelhead, and very few of them have anything to do with mastering the art of fly fishing.  I utilized this tactic because I wanted to catch steelhead.  I was already well aquainted with nymphing for trout so there was almost no transition at all.  Apart from reading water to find steelhead holding lies as opposed to feeding lies that trout prefer, there is no difference between nymphing for trout and steelhead.

Is it an effective way to steelhead fish?  Damn straight!

But I digress, even though my new set of training wheels allowed me to catch many large, hard fighting fish I was left feeling empty, like my success had been unearned.  I didn’t feel like a “real” steelhead fisherman, just a guy who caught a lot of steelhead.

When I think about images synonymous with fly fishing for steelhead I picture a frostbitten sunrise on a sprawling river like the Skagit.  I imagine wading deep into the river’s flow feeling for purchase on the cobble rocks with numb feet.  I can hear the line rip free from its anchor point on the waters surface as I swing the thirteen foot double handed rod wide to form a D-loop, and then up and out over the river.  I make a big mend to let the sink tip do its work and then tighten on the line.  The fly swings across the current searching for a fish.  Nothing.  Cast, mend, swing, step, repeat…

A steelhead fisherman covers water while searching out his quarry.  Patience, persistence and meticulous attention to detail are his key virtues.  Countless hours spent on the water have given him a keen sense of his surroundings.  He is aware of the subtle changes in current speed caused by variations in the river bottom.  He has faced the disappointment of arriving to a raging torrent of a river after a fresh winter rain and the challenge of tempting a large silvery fish from the bottom of a crystal clear pool under the midday august sun.

This is the depth I was lacking, and in learning to fish with a two handed rod I was taking my first step to becoming a “real” steelhead fisherman.

This idea was driven home for me when Ted and I drove out to the Hoh river to fish it one final time before it closed for the season.  Like any fishing trip it began with high hopes and giddy, sleepless nights in anticipation of that electric surge when a fish is peeling drag off of your reel.

Within ten seconds of arriving at the river and wetting my line I knew I would not be experiencing that feeling on this particular trip!  My casts were awkward and disjointed.  On each successive attempt my line would appear to die right in front of me, leaving me feeling quite impotent as an angler.  To make matters worse, boat after boat drifted by us with gear fishermen raving about how many fish they were catching.  We even observed one set of anglers cleaning two beautiful chrome bright wild fish at the edge of the river, a saddening and frustrating sight on a number of different levels.

One might think that feeling the intense frustration of not being able to fish effectively while numerous others were enjoying success would cause me to throw down the spey rod and grab the glow bugs and strike indicator.  To be honest, there were a few moments when the only thing keeping me from launching the thirteen foot contraption clear across the river like a javelin, knowing full well I could throw it further than I could cast at that moment, was the fact that it had the name Dave McCoy engraved on the butt section just above the cork.  However, I never once thought about switching back to the training wheels.  My resolve was set, and my desire to learn to spey cast greatly exceeded my desire to land a steelhead.

Luckily I was not alone in my struggles, and I had some lessons from Dave, who is a phenomenal teacher, to fall back on.  So I started with the fundamentals I had learned while casting on green lake during my initial spey lesson, and along with a few helpful tips from Ted McDermott that fixed some hitches in my cast I eventually got to the point where casting turned into fishing.

Slowly the moves became ingrained and my casting turned into a rhythm.  Cast, mend, swing, step, repeat.  My numb feet dug into the cobble rocks and held fast as I stood thigh deep in the powerful current of the river.  I relished in feeling the “snap” in my snap-t and smiled at the satisfying sound of my anchor tearing from the water as I swung the rod wide to form a d-loop and sent the line sailing out over the river.  My frustrations were carried away in the flowing current and I was able to look upon the place I was in with new eyes.

Bald eagles soared overhead.  The afternoon sun warmed the back of my neck.  As the power and beauty of the Olympic Peninsula soaked in I reflected that Ted and I had it pretty good.

On day 2 Ted got himself a fish. And we were able to explore a beautiful section of the upper river.

We met up with some fellow guides, Dylan Rose and Ryan Smith who were drifting the upper river in Dylan’s raft.  Together we enjoyed a beer and some laughs.  Ryan was gracious enough to allow me to cast his CF Burkheimer double hander with a Skagit Line, a staggering difference from the old Sage VT2 and Delta line I had been heaving for the past two days.  I was reminded of yet another reason other than catching fish that I enjoy fly fishing.  Sharing my experiences with friends.

To be clear, I do enjoy catching fish and I have nothing against nymph fishing.  In fact I still firmly believe that it is an effective tool for catching fish under certain circumstances.  If catching fish is the only goal you have during your trip, if that is your sole purpose for taking time off work and away from your loved ones and traveling all the way out to some gorgeous river in the middle of nowhere, then go ahead and nymph, you will catch fish.  However, If you are anything like me, then you might get to thinking that maybe in this crazy world of fish porn and internet forums, where competition is high and one-upping the last guy with more pictures of bigger fish has become the norm, maybe we should re-evaluate why we began fishing in the first place.  To get back to our roots.  To satisfy an urge to explore the unknown.  To get in touch with ourselves and our primal human instincts.  To master an ancient art form.  To become part of a worldly culture and recognize the importance of an energy greater than our own.  These are the reasons why I chose fly fishing as a path for my life.

No more training wheels for me!

(special thanks to Dylan and Ted for some of the great photos!)

Written by: Charlie Robinton

So while pursuing hatchery steelhead on the Cowlitz River this past month or so, looking for those large, beautiful chrome bright planters, we stumbled across a new species. Not new in that no one knows about it but new in that no one we know is guiding for them specifically.

What was once considered the atrocious by-catch and indiactor of “fishing on the bottom” is now revered by some anglers.

Catostomus macrocheilus, otherwise known in fish nomenclature as “suckers”, are a vibrant, hefty and native species. More predictable than steelhead typically, they are now adorned with praise and gratitude for having saved many fishless days by moving with aggression to swung flies, as aggressively as they are capable of anyway.

We are now deep in the development process of new flies that will enable us to bring even more, larger fish to hand in a day. Look for these patterns to be picked up by Umpqua and copied by other major manufacturers, we will keep you posted on what they look like and in the meantime, enjoy the eye candy as Jim Witwer helps his fine catch pose for the camera.

Nice work Jim!

Written by: Dave McCoy