Fresh back from French Polynesia, wasn't an easy return from the photo above but sometimes you just have to buck up and do it!  Feels like spring, looks like spring, we sprang forward so it must be spring.  Steelhead are in full swing if you know what we mean, Chum fry are in the Sound and the spring hatches are beginning to emerge on the Yak.  All of this means...it is time to begin fly fishing for those who put the gear away for the winter season. 

Puget Sound - Chum fry emergence in the Sound is what everyone who fishes the local saltwater should look forward to.  It is the equivalent to the Salmonfly hatch on most western rivers in the Rockies.  Sea run cutthroat go ape over this and tackle them with wreckless abondon.  Small baitfish, parr marked with grey/white/olive/black configuration should work great.  It also won't take long for kelp season to be upon us so if you don't have a stripping basket yet, now is a good time to get one, in particular if you are intending to fish an intermediate line.

Steelhead - O.P. has been a typical winter exchange of up and down flows, snow and rain with some fish mixed in.  This season is always about keeping a pulse on a bunch of things.  Water flows and projected rain fall in conjunction with freezing level temps.  Also which system and high or low depending on above and how this all plays into when you can go.  It isn't simple other than if there is a chance it is fishable and you can be there, be there.  Sauk is about the same but the Skagit is usually a tad more consistent but on both, similar flies, sink tip rates, heads and rods.  7/8wt rods, T10-T14 tips and fly of color you have confidence in. 

Yakima River - Fly fishing the Yakima River this time of year is a bit like the steelhead report above.  Weather will impact it day to day from wind and freezing temps to pass closures.  Sprinkle in some warm days with sun and you find bugs coming off like crazy but if the next day those elements are gone, don't expect the same circumstances.  Go when you can go.  Flows are friendly here for walk and wade for a bit longer.  Skwala and BWO will be the first two to pay close attention to here.  We always hope for topwater activity but in honesty, probably need to be focused subsurface with an eye open for sipping trout.  In our opinion, always start on top!

Cedar River - Opens June 1st, 2025.

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