Winter Passtimes & Reflections

So what does a fisherman do who doesn't fish during the winter. That's a fair question I've been asked on more than one occasion. Allow me to explain...

First, I've been pouring over the calendar and making plans for Spring. I'm trying to mix in more nearby destinations in 2010 - some that I usually drive by on my way elsewhere... Riffe Lake and Coldwater Lake to the south are two examples. Lost Lake to the east is another. There's also a certain spring creek in central Washington that no one likes to name out loud and I have actually never fished it. Maybe this will be the year. There are some rivers on the Peninsula I've never tried and a couple of large urban lakes very close by that I've only dabbled at.

That's what I love about my winters. Setting out a calendar and perusing the possibilities is a lot of fun.

Of course, in the mail I have recently received the Bass Pro Shops Marine catalogue and the Cabela's Fly Fishing catalogue. That helps pass the time.

At the end of January there will be the traditional Washington State Sportsman's Show at the Puyallup Fairgrounds but, alas, no Fly Fishing Show in Bellevue this year...

I also like to take time in the winter to pause and look back. Remembering fun trips, beautiful destinations, and great company is worth a pause in the normally busy routine. Below are a few snapshots from a trip that seems like a long time ago but was only ten years back in the summer of 2000. Okay, I guess that was a while ago... It was one of Tommy's first trips to Lake Chopoka with me and for a young man of nine years, it was a pretty successful outing. We fished from shore to keep it simple and he beached some real beauties on Scuds. Dad would spot and tell him when to strip and Tom would dig the butt of his rod into his belly and reel for all he was worth.

I will never forget it and I remember fondly that first night, sleeping in the back of the pickup and talking in the dark before we fell asleep. Tom is grown now and will leave in March to join the Army so there won't be any spring fishing together this year.

But I will remember that there once was lots of it... And we found in fly fishing a way to connect... And that connection endures.

Hoping Winter Won't Be Long

I suppose I first recognized that my winter was upon me when I tucked my boat into storage a couple weeks ago. Then came the rains of November and cooler temperatures in the 40's. And last weekend found me at the tying bench, replenishing supplies of Sealbuggers, Clouser Minnows, and Stimulators...

That pretty much confirms it.

And then tonight, just for fun, I threw together a few photo's and put them to music as a way of remembering this past year. It was a fun season even if it went too fast.

Here's to the passing of a couple months and an excuse to get back out there. Maybe my favorite lakes will thaw earlier this year...

The End of the Year is Approaching

As we head into mid-November and think of holidays instead of fish (at least some of us do), there is one bright spot in my fishing season yet to occur. That is the completion of my annual journal which I use as way to document and remember my trips. It's also intended to be a way for my boys to remember our times together on the water. Last year I published my journal as a small book. This year I am using a magazine format.

I'm looking forward to sharing this with friends and family as a Christmas gift. The 68 pages of photo's will cover trips to Amber Lake, Omak Lake, Puget Sound, and several Idaho rivers with brief mention of other destinations along the way. I've also thrown in some opinion, news, and pictorials.

This should be a fun edition and marks the 15th year for the Fly Fishing Journal. Tommy and Terry, my teenage sons, have contributed a lot of photographs to this year's edition and I was grateful for their company as well as the company of the many friends who joined us along the way.

Here's to another great year in 2010...

Kalama River Steelhead

My sixteen year-old son was sitting on a large rock yesterday at the top of a deep run. A few casts later the line went tight in the current and he felt a bump. Recasting, he felt it again and then eventually set the hook on what had to be a nice fish. It pulled hard and flashed in the hole before giving the fly back. But sometimes providence is on your side and another cast resulted in another take and this time he had the fish hooked good.

After a long fight he eventually held up a thirty-inch, bright and fresh Steelhead. It had to be 10+ pounds. A real beauty.

Some guys fish a long time for a moment like this (me being one of them). Terry caught his two hours into the day. He doesn't know how good he has it.

Or maybe he does.

Idaho in the Fall

Well, a week on the road in September can take a lot out of you but there's no doubt that it was worth it. My oldest, Tommy, came along and we fished four rivers in five days throughout a large part of north-central Idaho. 1,400 miles on the Tahoe proved we'd gone a long way...

Monday started on the South Fork of the Clearwater River. Tuesday was the Lochsa River. Wednesday saw us hiking on the Selway River. Thursday and Friday were spent up the north fork on Moose Creek. These rivers are all part of the Clearwater drainage which covers 9,600 square miles of beautiful countryside. Seventy percent of the area is forested and most is undeveloped. Much of it sits as it would have looked when Louis and Clark came through this area 200 years ago.

Of course, our target was the beautiful Westslope Cutthroat, which I consider just about the prettiest fish on the planet. The last afternoon of our last day offers a good example of what our trip was like.

Tommy had just come back from a hike up Osier Creek and we were packing up camp in preparation for heading homeward later. First, we would hit a couple more holes on Moose Creek.

Parking on the shoulder of the one-lane, dirt road, we grabbed our gear and went down the hillside toward the creek. We made our way through tall scrub brush that was already beginning to show signs of fall coloring. Coming out on a gravel bar next to the creek, it was only fifteen feet across to a steep rock wall that made up the opposite shoreline and created a deep green hole. The riffle at the top of the hole looked perfect but obvious signs of risers in the deeper water got Tommy's attention right away.

I sat down on a rock and leaned my rod against a bush while Tommy shook out some line. He made a modified steeple cast to clear the brush behind him and put a small Caddis pattern at the top of the deep slick. The fly drifted along and then quickly showed drag. Tom lifted up and recast, throwing in a mend to extend the drift. His fly went down to the lower end of the hole and a fish rose up after it was well past and took something else just beneath the surface. It was apparent that the fly wasn't tempting anyone.

"Wanna try something else?" I asked.

"Like what?"

"Swap rods with me. I have a beetle tied on."

Tom stepped over and traded his 3-weight for my 4-weight. He cast to the top of the run, into the middle of that inviting riffle. The fly showed drag again and he recast. Throwing in a downstream mend, the fly went about a foot before Tommy quickly lifted the rod to the sky and set the hook on a fiesty trout. He played him for a minute and then beached him. I took pictures while Tom worked to get the fly back and release the fish.

"That is a good one." I said. "How big?"

"Thirteen and a half." He replied, obviously quite happy.

Fish on these mountain creeks don't tend to get any bigger than about 16 inches so this was one of the good ones.

Releasing the fish and standing back up, he blew water from the beetle.

"Ready to try one more hole before we go?..."

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...