Yep, there it is in two words. Fall rain has finally arrived and we need it in nearly every watershed. As move into mid October, time to start shifting focus on which fisheries to engage with and which to say goodbye to for the next 8 months or so.
Yakima River - We have a bit of a water shortage to say the least for the Yakima so as we speak it is lower than we have ever seen it, period. This time of year it should be around 700-900cfs but it is around 500cfs at the moment. This means a couple things for you the angler. One is the river is soooooo approachable for walk and wading, crazy easy access. The other is the fish are more concentrated so slow your pace a bit. Pick each pool and run apart slowly. Move up it with a dry fly and maybe a dropper then turn around and rip some streamers through or swing some soft hackles. You will learn more covering less, we promise.
As we have been guiding over here the past few weeks, we have noticed a few things. First is so many people fishing nymphs and bobbers as they float down the incredibly low river. We have stayed almost entirely on top and been doing great. We are in the stage of October Caddis some Baetis season so have respective flies for both in each of their forms.
Puget Sound - Pinks are gone, silvers are milling around and cutthroat are excited to have their beaches back! Lincoln has been proving to be quite the SRC beach lately. Most have been finding them either down by the ferry or around the point to the north of the pool. Most baitfish patterns are working well as are several surface patterns like the Sound Searcher. Soon though we are going to see more of the sipping cutthroat as small shrimp/euphaasid begin to show up which means having small little flies and gently rest in the top few inches of the water column and make tiny little sip dimples in the surface as if they are small little baitfish poking their heads up. Don't be fooled, often times in the coming couple months it will be shocking the size of fish making those little depressions on the water's surface. Get out there, this is your backyard fishery. Are you frustrated at times? We get it but the only way past that is to come ask questions.
Forks of the Snoqualmie River - They are still fishing pretty well at this very second but that could change with the impending rain and cold temperatures in the mountains. When we get this first cold snap of the fall, the water temps probably drop 10 plus degrees our little friends go into a sort of shock, sending them into energy conservation mode of the next 6 plus months which signals time to leave them be. Again, they are still looking up right now but we guess it will change here soon.
Steelhead - Several rivers in the area are going to continue to do well for steelhead. Klickitat being one of them, Grande Ronde and Deschutes are all in their prime right now and if it needs to be closer, the Cowlitz will have some late summer fish sitting around. For us, this time of year presents a unique opportunity to skate flies for steehead and this is really THE time of year to do it and feel confident they will take. That is unless you are Dave who pretty much skates all year anymore! Anyway, we have some great skaters as well as summer traditional flies and of course bigger winter flies. If you aren't spey casting yet, let's figure out how to get you doing so. We promise you will not only enjoy this way of pursuit but you will want to figure out how to do it all the time on every fishery possible.
Book a a private spey class with us and we apply the class fee towards your purchase of a new spey rod/reel set up.
That is is, keeping it short like the daylight, get out and fish, we have terrific all year around options and we are more than happy to help you figure them out.
Call | 206-708-7250
Email | shop@emeraldwateranglers.com
Text | 206-708-7250
IG | @ewaflyshop_seattle or @ewa_women
Happy fall everyone, see you here soon and check out our events page, we have some killer events coming up!
