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Seattle Fly Fishing Report – June 22, 2020 – The Time is NOW!

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Welcome to summer! We have seen an incredible insurgence of new fly angling interest over the past few months and why not? If done in the way we enjoy doing it, it is the epitome of social distancing outdoors. Long expanse of beach to yourself, intimate mountain creeks or long classic steelhead runs to swing your new spey rod through.

Well, summer is here but water levels are still a bit high. Water is in good shape clarity wise on many rivers but the creeks are still big and cold. As of now, best bet is Yakima River from a boat though that is going to inflate a bit for the summer so we recommend Google Earth and WA Fishing Regs book. Find some small streams you haven’t heard mentioned in the airwaves, see what is close to you and go check it out. Some will likely be tough with over hanging flora but others may surprise you.

Skykomish, Skagit and Sauk are in good shape flow wise and not really on most peoples radar so these are great options to consider. As we move into the summer season with low water, we encourage transitioning from those winter Skagit heads into more elegant, fun to cast Rage or Scandi heads. These simply come off the rod tip with more ease, feel smooth and generate beautiful loop shapes. If you happen to have an older, longer spey rod gathering dust, maybe give one of the Bridge Long Belly spey lines a try and see what spey really is. Come in and ask away, we are pretty into this stuff!

If you have tried to fish the Sound recently, you have possibly noticed a significant increase in kelp, maybe even a frustrating level of increase. 2 suggestions to help mitigate this issue.

1. Intermediate line or shooting head/beach line such as the Airflo Beach. Helps get below some of that kelp for a better fly presentation.

2. A stripping basket. We have 4 great options at different price points in the store, come by and check out the differences and pick up the one that suits you.

Have fun out there everyone and remember, we are here to help you be successful in, on and around the water.

Seattle Fly Fishing Report – June 18, 2020 – Freestones

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Freestone – A river with no man made impediments. In other words, no dams on it.

As we arch our way towards summer, we are still holding our breath for our favorite freestone streams to come into shape. Well, we can exhale a bit as there are a few in a state of readiness if you will.

The Naches among others is definitely approachable for you to step in and safely get around…for the moment. Keep an eye on flows as warm weather will definitely melt some snow and raise flows again but otherwise.

As water warms and clears the trout will become more active in these rivers as they have to become opportunistic. Reason for this is their world is in a constant state of change through most of the year through rising and falling river flows.

During high water seasons, these watersheds can be dramatically altered scouring much of the insect life from the river bottom. You can see by the graph above of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie that it looks a bit like a roller coaster right now and will for some time still. Flows will rise considerably during the day and drop again at night when temps cool. This up and down will repeat in consistent weather conditions while there is still snow to melt, which there is.

On streams like this you may see the full spectrum of hatches throughout a day beginning with BWO’s in the early AM, leading to PMD’s by late morning and early afternoon ending with caddis and stoneflies.

Even so these hatches can be quite sparse even in the summer forcing trout to make quick decisions on what they will take or not take. Some anglers may call these trout “dumb” but really they are simply acting in their own best interest by trying to eat everything that looks like food because their options are limited.

We like to throw slightly larger dry flies this time of year such as Rubber Leg Stimulators, Chubby Chernobyl’s, Golden Stoneflies and even grasshopper patterns will create an agreeable silhouette for these trout. Early in the AM, maybe use the buoyancy of these bugs to drop a Lightning Bug, Copper John, Bloody Mary or caddis pupa off until you see enough action on top to remove it.

Want more insight on what other freestone streams in our area are ready for you, give us a call or stop in, we would be happy to show you where to go.

Seattle Fly Fishing Report – June 15, 2020 – Summer is Coming, We Promise!

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Father’s Day is going to coincide almost exactly with the official beginning of summer. With everything that took place this past winter and spring, most of us forgot or didn’t have the opportunity to notice we had a decent snow year and are having a cool entry to summer so run off is taking a little longer than normal.

This means creeks and some rivers are a bit higher than we would like to see them for getting on them and not going for a swim or seeing fish come to our surface fly. Now streamers are a different story, even on the small streams, those wily little trout will go after smaller streamers if water is still too cold to prompt any hatch. Trout spey on the Middle Fork is a great idea and also presents a whole new way to look at the rivers you love to fish, including the Yakima and Cle Elum.

Speaking of these two rivers, the Cle Elum has risen to a pretty high state for accessing much walk and wade water so soft hackles and streamers or even riffle hitching a big Stimulator and skating that across likely water can bring some exciting takes. The Yakima is in great shape right now but we will likely see flows begin rising here in the next week or so to summer heights so get on it now. Evenings have been better for caddis especially in the Canyon.

Our preference for trout spey is the 4wt and here is why. Your line of choice, whether it be an S/A integrated, OPST or other head and running line system will be of larger grain weight and therefore be able to handle a wider variety of fly sizes, wind and of course be able to shoot longer distances. It also feels just a tad more substantive in hand which will afford you to feel how the rod is casting, maximizing your stroke efficiency.

Carp in the Columbia and surrounding lakes as well as local lakes like Green Lake. Bass are on fire in Washington and Samammish and steelhead, well, we know how that is so go swing away and enjoy the fresh air and scenery.

Any questions, never hesitate to ask, it is what we are here for.

Old Dams Out, New Ones Coming In…?

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So I am in a very privileged position to have a number of different agencies keeping me informed on what otherwise might not become greater public knowledge. Here in Washington we are celebrating the removal of a dam on the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula, hopefully returning river to a state compels consideration of future dam removals on other rivers. Under the radar, the following is happening right here in Seattle’s backyard read below:

It just came to my attention today that a FERC pre-application has been filed by Black Canyon Hydro LLC to develop a 25 MW hydroelectric project in the NF Snoqualmie that would divert up to 900 cfs of the river’s flow from a 1.5 mile stretch, Ernie’s Canyon, one of the premier whitewater runs in King County (FERC Project No. P-14110). The comment period on the pre-app closes July 10.

The NF only averages about 500 cfs annually! So, the sizing of the facility is likely intended to capture high flow events. They would be required (by permit conditions) to guarantee a certain amount of flow in the river at all times, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t substantially dry it up. The plan is to have a small diversion dam (about 7 ft tall) with an associated water intake. The water would then flow through a pipe for about 1.4 miles to a powerhouse further down the river. The elevation change is what creates the head for the power. So, the water would return to the river about 1.5 miles later.

The whitewater community is out in force against it but much of the angling community is likely unaware of this. While the water does get returned to the river, this could be devastating to the section between the dam and the return point as well as all the habitat upriver of the dam that would be flooded.

If it means anything to you, seek it out and get your voice in there here using this as the Docket Number P-14110:

FERC Ecomment siteShort comment fewer than 6,000 characters
Long Comment with Attachements
Receive all filings associated with this and other projects

Way early but not complaining…

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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 worrisome 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 temperament 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?!!

Emerald Water Anglers

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Seattle, WA 98116
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206-708-7250

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