Summer Is Over - Shouldn't We Be Sad?

September in the Seattle area means shorter days and darkness by 8pm... The nights are cooler now and it leaves one with the feeling that fall will soon be here. This is usually when a lot of people become melancholy and regret how fast the summer has passed.

But not us fly fishers! The onset of fall means the fishing is about to amp up and we can't wait. For myself, I've already got a late September trip to Idaho planned that should include wonderful fall colors and hungry Cutthroat trout beefing up before winter arrives. Those are the components that make for a great trip and we are excited to go.

Some lakes here in the home state will also see fat trout going on a feeding spree and I hope to take full advantage. I am also dreaming of a way to again fit in Steelhead this fall.

The possibilities are almost endless and I'll post the successes and the failures...

August was a very Pink Month

When all was said and done, my first attempt to target the Pinks in Puget Sound was quite successful. I went out six times on trips that ranged from no success to great success. My first trip was all of 90 minutes. The first week of August, Tommy and I had a short window of opportunity and we were determined to scout out Commencement Bay so we would be ready and able when the run peaked. We found our way over to the beaches between Dash Point and Browns point and got the lay of the land but the little bit of fishing we did resulted in zero bites.

My second trip followed a couple days later and was almost as brief but there in the boat was my very first Pink Salmon. As I described in my prior post, it was about 3 pounds and I was grinning from ear to ear. After all, I own a saltwater bay boat. Catching fish in the salt was the very thing I hoped to accomplish and here I'd finally done it. I was quite happy. I was even using a pink and white Clouser pattern that I'd tied myself.

Two weeks later on my third trip, I was out with Tommy and Terry for most of the morning and we boated eight fish between us.

Then the next day we hit the peak. Terry and I had 7 doubles that day and we lost a lot of fish but still boated 16 Pinks in total.

Then it tapered off with my last trip taking me back down to zero during the first week of September. I tried for several hours that day but got not even a nibble.

So I called it and decided I was done. Done until 2011, anyways...