This doesn’t look so bad I know, but keep reading…

So we know it is a part of our job, a job we have chosen to dabble our foot in or more like plug our nose and jump in the abyss with both feet. This isn’t so much a complaint as much as a plead, to several entities out there, some in our world and almost completely capable of our control and others not so much, or maybe they are one and the same, who knows!

First the ones I think we have control of. If as an angler you hear your fly hit your rod, please stop casting! I understand that when the fly is small and of the dry fly sorts, the sound of it striking the rod tip may not be as audible as a 3 split shot rig with 2 heavy flies. So there is some considerations here.

Secondly, though, when you notice your fly has struck the rod and IS stuck to it, PLEASE don’t think that with 3 seconds of high speed gyration that it will magically come undone, in fact it doesn’t. Image above was the residual effects of just this sort of remedy for an errant cast, an HOUR after the client had tried to untangle it, with utmost delicacy I will add. Don’t take this as complete sarcasm, there is a degree of admiration here for the fortitude shown in their effort. However, this is what we would label simply as a “start over!”

A quick snip or two, a few lightning fast double surgeons and maybe just one improved clinch this time and voi la, we are fishing again!!

Lastly, can someone, Einstein maybe, just explain to me the physics or maybe more simply the nature of how a line with only one open end on it can manage to create such a debacle? That is really all I ask, this and that my daughter live a full, happy and healthy life.

While on the water, these little fiascos ignite nervous laughter from all parties, we guides sweat them a bit because we know that if they show up early in the day, more are sure to come and here are some of the common reasons why:

1. Wind always comes up later in the day

2. Long days with few fish make for more frantic casters

3. Wives outfishing their husbands, sometime the other way around but not usually

4. Desperation on guides part to get that one big fish of the day and salvage a tip

5. Similar to what many significant others are accused of in malfuctioning relationships, guides fall victim as well… WE KNOW WE CAN CHANGE THEM, MAKE THEM BETTER PEOPLE

6. Picking up the rig with too much slack line, guide watches in slow-mo as theee ennntttirrrree ssseett–uuupp hhhiiittsss ttheeeee rrodddd…

7. Person in front or back makes concerted and admirable effort to cast over opposite shoulder, afternoon wind kicking up, tired and so on…

8. Stopping for lunch…it does give us a bit of time to recollect our composure and start anew but…the inevitability of it all!

9. Certainly the only one we like to see and that is the missed hook set on a fish immediately followed by another forward cast…

In the end, we love it or we wouldn’t keep doing it. However, the end of the day can send some into a deep and dark place where the only remedy, the only solace is the sunlight on their face, “late rent” notice stuck to their door and the need to get out and change another angler for the better, because we CAN!!!

Probably the worst of it all, way more so than any of the above mentioned tidbits is that we can almost always see it coming, way before it happens. It’s as though we can see the future and yet can’t do anything to stop it. Aside from acts or gestures that would land us in the drink or jail or both.

Really though, thank you to all who hire guides, we DO love ya! For those who don’t or can’t handle the afore mentioned menialities of the sport and profession, they are likely short for our world anyway so chalk up your $400 or so bucks to helping them find a new job sooner rather than later.

Written by: emeraldw

A new photo contest from our good friend Greg Thomas at Anglers Tonic hopes to exploit the bond between man and canine in their mutual enjoyment of fly fishing. Not just any photo contest either, here is some insight into what you might get a shot at:

“I just launched my Fishing Dog Photo Contest, which should be a lot of fun. Who knows what images I might see. Grand prize is a Loop OPTI spey rod and matching Speedrunner reel. Worth what? About $1,200 retail. I threw this rod the other day and it launches. Other prizes are coming from Hatch, Yellowdog, Bug Slinger, Smith, fishpond, RO drift boats, and Deneki. If you’d like to be included in this contest with prize donation just let me know.”

Having grown up with a black lab as my dad’s co-pilot in the boat, I have plenty of experience with dogs, that like water, being in or near it when a fish is on or being landed, holy crap! We used to have to chain our labs head to the bottom of the boat, literally 2 inches from the bottom. We only found this out after simply putting his leash around the seat, he nearly hung himself going after a winter steelhead we had to chase down a run on an Oregon coastal stream.

My other favorite is when the dog things larger fish are out to get them and the growling and play fighting begins, try stopping a nearly 100 pound male black lab, from attacking your fish as you beach it, keeping the line taught on a spey rod and you can’t even get to your fish.

At any rate, some of my fondest memories of fishing growing up involved in one way or another a dog. Dog Bless ‘em!

Check out Anglers Tonic for more details.

Written by: Dave McCoy

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

P-Line has been on the market for quite a while and hordes of gear fishermen can attest to the incredible performance of their copolymer CX and CXX fishing lines.  They are known for their low memory, abrasion resistance and superior breaking strength.  Relatively new on the market however is their CFX fluorocarbon leader material.  After listening to gear fishermen rave about it all season and watching it fly off of our shelves at work, I decided it was time to put it to test in some fly fishing applications.  While the line is too thick for use as tippet, it is ideal for use as a level leader for fishing larger bugs such as streamers and winter steelhead flies.

At $13.99 for a 25 yd spool it is cheaper than most other fluorocarbon materials, but what what about the quality?  Out of the box it is surprisingly supple.  Keep in mind that is comparing it to other fluoros… not tippet!  I’d rate it around the same as Maxima Ultragreen on memory and overall flexibility.  No breakthroughs here but better than some for sure.

Where this stuff really shines though is in its durability, knot strength and overall breaking strength.  Some fluoros are brittle and hard to tie knots with.  The friction from the material tightening on itself leaves your leader kinked and vulnerable to breakage.  Not P-Line!  I put it to the test on an all day streamer expedition and it performed admirably.

Fishing with a 7 foot tungsten versi-leader, the low visibility nature of the fluorocarbon allowed me to cut my tippet down to a mere 18″ of 10lb CFX.  Swinging through a shallow run my sculpin looked as if it was swimming all by itself!  I connected the versi-leader to my fluoro tippet with a perfection loop and attached the fly with a uni-knot with a 1/4″ sliding loop for more movement in the water.  I had no problems with the knots at all, in fact they tied butter smooth with no kinks or frays.

Breaking strength?  At one point I snagged up on a log and had to walk backwards up the bank with my rod pointed at the fly, pulling with all my might to break free.  My fly popped back into my face… the pressure had bent an extra heavy #2 streamer hook completely straight.  Did it say 10lb test on the package?

Needless to say that little test gave me the confidence to put the pressure on every big fish that I hooked in and around the same logjams.  I didn’t give a trout an inch, and my leader saved me more than once when an angry lunker drove head on for a big rootball or tangle of limbs in heavy current.

All in all I am very pleased with the way this stuff performed.  At the end of the day I had caught several very nice fish and didn’t break off once despite getting in some pretty hairy situations.  As for applications, i’d say CFX is perfect for anything where big flies, big fish, heavy cover and clear water are involved.

Thanks P-Line for a great day in the river and some wonderful memories of the ones that didn’t get away

Written by: Charlie Robinton

Harry Lemire, legendary steelhead fly angler of the Pacific NW exudes his passion and reflections of decades angling for one of our most sought after game fish, in his own unique way.

From days of double digits steelhead on local and regional waters to those that got away, Harry is one of the most entertaining personalities to spend time with as he shares insights to what once was and thoughts on modern fly tying and fly fishing equipment.

Born in Rhode Island, a fortuitous meeting with his future wife and a job at Boeing landed Harry on the western slope of the Cascades and smack in the middle of steelhead country. The rest is history so to speak as he is one of only a couple people in the world currently who have mastered the art of tying flies without a vice. Not just flies but full dress Atlantic Salmon flies and he does so with the skill and steadiness of hand required of surgeons and all while talking with you as if he were doing nothing at all.

If you have never done so, next time at a show or event where Harry is tying his full dress Atlantic Salmon flies with his bare hands, stop talking grain weights with the regional rep,( who is bored by the way of doing so with you) and go plop yourself down in front of Harry and watch how easy he makes this look. You will be inspired to go see for yourself, that with a vise, this is MUCH more difficult than Harry makes it appear.

Thank you for your time and dedication Harry, see you again soon.

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

Well over a decade ago, I moved to Telluride, Colorado in my former career (if you can call it that) as a ski race coach. Summer jobs around the western US were easy to come by as a fly fishing guide so I was excited to move to this quaint little town and add yet another few rivers to my book of knowledge.

One of the first rivers I would begin to guide was the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and who would be my first guide trainer, none other than Frank Smethurst himself. Fresh after a season of flipping a raft with clients in a rapid called Cable and losing the keys to their private jet, for the mile or so leading up to Cable, Frank was in my ear, “Do you see this life jacket I am wearing, it is the most buoyant one you can buy. Know why I wear this one, it is because I was wearing one like yours when I flipped and didn’t come up for nearly a minute!! You MIGHT want to consider changing yours, or not flipping.”

For a week Tee Clarkson and I got this from everyone on our rowing and fishing but no one was more tedious about it than Frank. “You aren’t actually going to fish that are you?” tone soft but condescending.

At any rate, I have known Frank for 16 years or so and when we got the chance to fish together this past week on the O.P., I was happy to see nothing had changed, fish honestly do fear him, everywhere, as he is simply the most passionate angler I have ever known and has game to boot.

While our time on the water was shortened prematurely by rain, it was a wonderful flashback in time to the good old days of Telluride and the people who helped shape who I am as a guide today. To watch Frank catch his first winter steelhead and be a part of that experience was just another page in our history together and one we won’t forget anytime soon.

Thanks Frank for coming out and as always, great to see, drink and fish with you old friend.

Written by: Dave McCoy

It is a bit early in the year to be focusing on the forks of the Snoqualmie but, when the flows are around 500 on the middle and the weather has been borderline t-shirt appropriate, well, have to hit it.

Skwala’s are everywhere and while fish are not necessarily airing it out like Jordan after them, they are most certainly eating. Low snow pack year however is worrysome as this means the August time frame could be really tough on the fish.

South fork looks amazing right now and these fish have a slightly different temperment to them than the middle fork fish, at least down low. Super clear water and not quite as much food under the stones, they have been quite selective. None-the-less, no one is fishing here right now and it is light until after 7pm. Why not?!!

Written by: Dave McCoy

Hatches as most people consider them don’t really occur in the the local saltwater of Puget Sound but for those of us dedicated to this fishery, the arrival of the first salmon fry on the beach is akin to the arrival of the first BWO or Caddis of the season on a river.

When these baby anadromous fish hit the beach it marks the time when Sea Run Cutthroat should be revisiting the Sound as well, back from a winter and early spring in the rivers and streams.

This is the beginning of some fo the most exciting times on the beach we have all year, when anglers have the opportunity to experience nature at its best; baitballs being crashed under their rod tips by voracious SRC’s, assaulting flies both subsurface and on top.

Curious anglers can literally watch as these fry leave the freshwater of small tributaries and enter the salt for their first time and almost immediately be marauded by cruising trout.

They have arrived, I am pumped!

Written by: Dave McCoy