Wish we could say this has been and easy time, obviously it hasn’t been at all but the world continues to rotate and we continue to evolve while spinning with it. We understand how much being on the water means to everyone’s psyche and as we always say, we are quite simply here to help you learn, have fun, grow and find success out there. We as always, greatly appreciate the support everyone provides us, we love being here for you. We would also like to applaud and thank all the demonstrators who showed up in the Junction yesterday, voicing the need for change and doing so meaningfully...in mass and peacefully. We truly are stronger together. At this moment fishing around the greater Seattle area which we consider 3 hours driving time is pretty darn good, all things considered. So here is the run down:
Yakima flows are about where they should be considering where we are in the season and with our snow pack. Caddis are abound and our wonderfully fickle trout are paying more concerted attention them and should from here forward. Still seeing some Yellow Sally stoneflies and a few March Brown mayflies around the upper river and streamer fishing will definitely get some fish to move. Trout spey, use that long rod to skitter some caddis down river of yourself, even riffle hitch that little Elk Hair so it stays on top as it comes across. Don’t know how to do that, drop by and we will show you.
Puget Sound is filled with lettuce so don’t worry about packing a lunch! Intermediate lines can help with this by getting your fly below what is suspended on the surface and you will absolutely want/need a stripping basket for this time of year and we have 4 to choose from if you don’t have one. Baitfish are growing in size so have larger profile flies on hand and trim if need be. Hood Canal has been seeing an increase in resident Coho activity and more cutthroat showing themselves as well. Try to fish an out going tide as often as possible. As a tide comes in, it doesn’t necessarily bring the kelp to you but rather lifts is back up into the water column from its resting point on the beach. So if you have to fish an incoming, scout the beach a bit and if there isn’t a ton of kelp on it, likely have less to contend with as the tide floods.
Mountain creeks are mostly going to remain pretty high for a bit longer but following cooler days and evenings, you may be able to find some slightly lower water. We don’t typically do anything but dry fly in these watersheds so larger stimulators are one of our favorites. If you want to drop a little Copper John or Hare’s Ear off the back, by all means do so but these trout have a short feeding season so they will be pretty opportunistic. Caddis, attractor patterns and if you want, small streamers will do great, especially in another couple weeks.
Cedar River remains a bit high and BUSY but that is because it is a great little urban river to explore with quite a lot of public access. We really like fishing streamers against the log jams. Some evening dry fly activity for those able to stay out late, use some caddis and finally Chubby Chernobyl with a dropper through shallower riffle water will likely move a few fish as well. In other words, enact your favorite tactic and get after it!
Lakes are fishing well for trout and bass. Some high alpine ones will remain mostly frozen so stay lower for now and for the warmwater species, surface poppers, frogs and baby duck patterns are the ticket! These are so under appreciated in our area, we are going to spend considerable time getting people up to speed on how to and where to fish here locally for them so stay tuned.
Steelhead rivers here in Puget Sound are open again and at the moment are at a fantastic flow for swinging some flies. This can be a very good time to be on these rivers. Water will still be sort of cold and have some color so don’t completely abandon your winter tactics but maybe go not as heavy on your tip, T7 or Intermediate would be great and go/stay smaller on your fly. This is just our recommendation, as everyone knows this is maybe the most subjective space in fly fishing so take our 40 years of swinging flies with however many grains of salt you like. Have fun out there, stay healthy and respect one another on the water, its for all of us to enjoy.
