Opening the door to the store today, it finally feels as if summer might be on its way into our lives.  Warm air, fog over the Sound and a quick glance at river flows show the run off is beginning to wind down a bit.

All of this is great news as we have been fielding questions for well over a month on when and if we are going to be able to fish some of our favorite summer haunts...well we are close!

Yakima has come down for the moment to a reasonable flow of around 4500, still a bit higher than we like but with a boat this is a fishable level.  This is also caddis and stonefly season with some drakes tossed in for good measure so be prepared for that as well as mornings and evenings fishing better than mid day on sunny days.

Puget Sound is as full of bait as we have ever seen.  Literally the entire island of Vashon is being held captive by bait!  Sandlance and herring are the bulk of it and SRC's are chasing like there is not tomorrow, especially in the early AM and right at dusk.  If you were to hold your hand up to the dusk sky and see the silhouette it creates for you, that is how a cutthroat sees our Sound Searcher or other surface fly.  It is prominent and under the guise of darkness they are quite comfortable coming up to check it out.  For subsurface patterns, the profile needs to likely be a bit longer than a few months ago, bait are growing so be prepared with patterns that can be trimmed if necessary but are long enough to represent what is out there now.

The Cedar has made significant strides in making itself available and it is.  Flowing below 600 which is still high but we consider this ready for action.  Be smart and safe, have caddis, stimiulators and streamers for under those log jams and against the rip rap and undercut banks, that is where the bigger ones will likely be found.

Warm water is doing quite well also in all of our lakes for bass, carp and muskie.  We realize for many these are new species to the plate so ask questions because if you like the following:

Sight casting...
A hard fighting fish...
Surface fly action...
Aggressive takes...

Well then we need to get you doing this because there is plenty to be had!

Summer steelhead...if you follow what is going on around here for steelhead then this is pretty short and sweet and you can move on if not then realize we have small numbers of wild steelhead around the Puget Sound region for summer fish.  Yes, the Skykomish and Stillaguamish as well as the Green will have some fish returning.  Will they be easy to connect with, only dedicated time on the water will tell.  Cowlitz is having a good return of hatchery brats so that is an option as well.  Curious to find out more, please call or stop in, happy to have the conversation with you.

Creeks are just about there.  Most of the small streams draining south facing snow packs should be ready sooner than their north facing siblings so think about that before jaunting out.  We never nymph these streams as they should be viewed as a dry fly anglers delight.  Water will still be cold but later in the day they should begin to look up for food.  These fish live in a volatile world so they are going to be excited to see anything alive floating over their heads.  Bigger flies just on top of the bubbles of a steep drop as they dissipate with draw them from their aerated sanctuary. Another couple weeks and we should be in good shape everywhere...almost!

Looking forward to a hot weekend, have fun out there and let us know how we can assist.

EWA Staff