The Winter of June

June in western Washington was mostly cold and rainy. It felt like winter had returned and the fish decided they could wait a while to get active. Still we went off in search of fishable waters a few times and even found sunshine on the east side of the state. There weren't a lot of fish caught but there were enough and we enjoyed ourselves.

On Riffe Lake, I took my son and his cousin, Josh, in search of Smallmouth but the weather in the Cascade foothills was so poor that when we got there we knew the Smallies would be hunkered down deep. So we fished for Silver Trout instead and caught a few until I looked over at Josh just before lunch. Neither boy had brought more than a raincoat with them and it had been raining so hard that they were soaked. I was looking at Josh's feet and watching a blue stream of water come off his jeans and flow to the back of the boat where it ran out the scuppers.

"I think we may be done." I commented.

Terry spoke up, "Yah, I'm done."

He was as wet as his cousin and we packed it in.

With the heater in the truck cranked on high, both boys were asleep within ten minutes and I was left to daydream of past Junes when the sun used to shine. Still, it was a grand adventure and part of the right of passage for true Pacific Northwest fishermen...


On another trip to Dry Falls Lake, I went with Frank Emrich and we took his two-man pontoon boat out for an afternoon. I caught a few nice fish between 16 and 18 inches and we almost got the boat tied back on the trailer before the evening rains started up. I jumped in the cab of the truck, out of breath, and fairly wet. Frank looked at me and said, "You know I get credit for all those fish you caught. Because I was rowing, that technically makes me the guide..."

I just rolled my eyes and started the truck. I would have a four-hour drive home to think of a rebuttal for that one.

June adventures. You gotta love 'em...