Sorry Mom we won't be making it this Christmas

After 6 months of planning and 9 hours stranded at the airport we were finally greeted with disappointment...

Lack of Fishing

I haven’t posted in a while but I have made a few fishing trips this fall. From chasing steelhead in late September on the Grande Ronde to trout on the Yakima. Most of my fishing consisted of local jaunts to the Snoqualmie when the opportunity presented itself. Although, fall is my favorite time of the year to fish I was unable to get out as much as I’d like because of long days at work and sleepless nights on call. Standing on the river with a Bluetooth in my ear waiting for a phone call is not my idea of fishing. Lately, I have been practicing with the spey rod and I’m hoping to pop the proverbial cherry this winter on a winter run steelhead.

Tis the season

With the arrival of fall my 3wt has taken a back seat to my spey rod. October caddis shucks strewn along the rocks and king salmon spawning in the Snoqualmie with the smell of rotting fish… Oh how I love the fall! With the days getting shorter this only gives me a 2 hour window of opportunity to fish after work. I have ventured a few times this late summer chasing the elusive steelhead only to be rewarded with a slowly improving spey cast and no chrome… In my experience fishing the Snoqualmie in years past, the arrival of the King Salmon is a marking point for improving steelhead fishing. Yesterday the Seattle area received a decent amount of rain I did get out and fish with no luck. I’ll keep at it.

Chi Chi Chia!

Eastside Hitchhiker. Found these growing in my boot after an eastern WA excursion. Chia wading boot coming to a fly shop near you.

Hopper Muncher

Green Butt Skunk

Happy Birthday Buddy!

It was my sons Birthday today which meant a fun filled weekend. Yesterday we held his party at the Lego store in Bellevue which turned out to be a blast! Screaming kids running everywhere hopped up on Cinnabon with the Lego store all to themselves. Even the adults got to partake in the Lego festivities. After assembling Lego sets and eating junk food for 2 days straight today we relaxed and after the laziness wore off we decided to go fishing. After fishing it was time for more cake. Good times!

Viva Espana!

Fly Fishing has always been a passion of mine but growing up soccer was number one. I was always traveling playing for various select soccer teams and fishing and hunting came in secondary. Today was an awesome day as Spain ended their 44 year wait as they defeated Germany to win the Euro Cup. Ole, Ole, Ole ,Ole

Perfect Cedar Bow

And the winner is... ME!

A couple-three weeks ago I stopped into my local fly shop Creekside Angling Company to celebrate their 14th Anniversary. Good times were shared by all including a BBQ and sweet sale. I entered a raffle and was surprised when my name was drawn for a new Scientific Anglers Sharkskin line. A $100.00 fly line for free…. Yeah!

Sunday Brookies

Rivers are still blown but at least there are some players unaffected by the run off. I snuck out this evening to catch a bunch of brookies willing to put a bend in my new Sage TXL 3wt.

Saturday Bass

Bass mastered this guy on a bunny.

Sailing in the Sound

Decided to take a day off from work and go sailing with some buddies out in Puget Sound.

Pine Lake

My boys are off to Montana tomorrow to fish the MO and I’m stuck in run off infested waters and a cell phone connected to my hip stuck on call this week. Livin’ the dream… I haven’t fished in a few weeks and I just couldn’t take it anymore… With boxes piled up from my recent move and the celly ready to ring at any moment “there’s an outage” I told myself ‘F’ it I need some therapy. With the warm temps all S Forks were blown so I opted for lake fishing and loaded the float tube and 5wt in the rig and headed to Pine Lake. Typically the midge hatches there are small so I have a pattern that usually does the trick and indeed it did. Right out of the stretch the first dock I laid the fish pimp in front of it went for a swim. Cookie cutter bow just what I needed! 1 hour turned into 2 hours and the submerging of the fish pimp continued without a call from work. It was good to get out.

Filson Waders

Filson has entered the Wader Game

New Casa

Wishing I was fishing… After weeks of stress, a blown transmission and a year of waiting my place is finally built. Taking a few weeks away from fishing was well worth it.

Stones

Tied these bugs up this past weekend while I was stuck at home on call. Hoping to use them on the Yak this weekend.

Fly Tying Legos

Ever wonder what your kids legos are doing at night? Well, if you tie flys they might be doing this...

Skwala Monday On The Yak

Bring the Skwala's, BWO's and March Brown's...

White People

Dude, I'm off the clock check the Northface Denali!

Desert Lake Report

• Date: Saturday March 8, 2008
• Where: Lenice
• Temps: Upper 50’s water temps 50
• Patterns: Various Chronomids, Buggers etc.

Fished Lenice and what a beautiful day. Intermittent gusts throughout the day but we weren’t blown off the lake just added some movement to the chronomids. Tried various streamers chrono’s etc. but couldn’t get the fish dialed in. Also varied the depths but the fish weren’t keen on one specific pattern. Between Allen and I a total of 8 fish with Allen catching a gagger! Biggest Tiger Trout I’ve ever seen taping out over 22” and a fat bastard at that! When he stuck this fish all I saw was a brownish/golden plank crashing the surface as it stripped line off his reel. At first I thought it was a brown but it wasn’t… Too bad for Allen we didn’t have a camera. This fish was glamour shot worthy… Damn son! Anyway, highlight of my day was my first Tiger trout. Didn’t see any callibaetis or damsel hatches just sporadic midge hatches. Another week or 2 it’s on!

In Celebration Of The Lake Opener

Took this a year or 2 ago...

Lightning Bugs

Lightning bugs tied on size 16 Daiichi curved hooks.

Old School Glass $16.00

For those of you looking for a glass rod on the cheap check out Troutlet.com. For 16 bucks you can get an Eagle Claw Featherlight either as your go to rod or as a back up to add to the rod collection. I purchased the 6’6” 5wt online and received it today. The site reflects a metal reel seat however the one I received had a plastic handle which is kinda sore on the eyes. I was pleased it came with snake guides as opposed the single foot ones which were reflected on the site. Other than the plastic reel seat, the cosmetics were really nice overall and the nostalgic yellow blank is cool. I contacted Troutlet and they advised they were unaware Eagleclaw had made changes and would keep me posted should the upcoming shipments have a metal reel seat and would be happy to exchange it. Either way for 16 bucks you can’t go wrong. I purchased this rod for close action fishing for the Snoqualmie forks and those tucked away little creeks and beaver ponds. It is a really light rod so I plan on lawn casting it with a 3wt, 4wt, and 5wt line to see what compliments it best. Here are some pics.

Lunar Eclipse Over Seattle

0 for 1 Today

So that makes it 0 for 4 on my last 4 outings chasing steelhead… I was so close to sealing the deal on a BIG bright fish today but just like my last couple outings the long battle ended with a confidence shattering spit fly followed by cursing. The adrenalin high I use to chase caused by electrifying runs and violent headshakes is now causing nightmares. Bushwhacking over a mile in cold rainy temperatures only to be rewarded with punctured gore-tex and scratches on my face and hands not too mention the near tail bone busting falls. I keep playing back each missed opportunity in my head on my drive home hoping to learn from my mistakes, but did I make a mistake? Or, did the fish just kick my ass? I’ve caught plenty of steelhead but man this is my worst streak ever!

Fish Swami - Online Fishing Log

Have you often thought about creating a fishing log to document trips or time out on the river? For years I have on several occasions but it never happened… I found the Fish Swami while surfin' the web one day and decided to create an account. The interface is easy and the layout is simple yet detailed. Give it a shot, I use it and if I’d get my lazy ass out to fish more I’d have more entries.

Green River Report

• Date: Saturday February 02, 2008
• Where: Green River (fishing) Snoqualmie (spey casting)
• Flows: 268 CFS
• Temps: 30 to 40 degrees and sunny

Today’s Agenda:

• ‘The Day on the River’ in Carnation
• Steelhead fishing on the Green

This morning I started out in Carnation attending ‘The Day on the River’ link with Aaron Reimer. I’m new to the spey game and Aaron is a plethora of information and very helpful. I learned a lot today and as the morning progressed my casting and presentation was looking good. Amp’d with confidence I was chomping at the bit to chase steel. After hanging out at the shop in Carnation I headed home dropped and off the two hander and traded it for the single hander and was off to the Green. I arrive at the river about 2:30 and the water was low and clear. Guess I won’t need a sink tip… The water I was targeting wasn’t swinging water but more pocket water not suitable for swinging so I went with the indicator set up instead ( for shame!). Anyway, after half an hour on the river as I’m floating the tail out of a run when my indicator goes down and a rocket of a fish doesn’t hesitate and runs straight down a white water chute like bat out of hell… OH SHIT! Miraculously, to my favor the turbo charged fish shoots back up the chute and is running at me. Stripping line like a mad man I get the fish on the reel and to my surprise I bring in a small 21” 22” unclipped fish… YES! Damn, what a friggen awesome day! As I’m working my way down the skinny river I come to a run that has a deep slot. I’m thinking to myself this run has to have a fish sitting in it and sure as shit I’m right! After a couple casts my line goes tight, as I set the hook my rod buckles over and a pissed off steelhead decides to give me a glamour shot pose and jumps out of the water. ONCE AGAIN IT’S ON! As I fight the fish he hunkers, tail slashes, runs and gets my heart racing… Alright, this is a BIG colored up buck and I’m not about to lose this one…. Come to daddy! Right when I think he’s done I apply side pressure to bring him in and that’s when my line comes catapulting back at me... Damn it! After I regained my composure I fished a while longer with no results. Great day on the river!

These Kids Don't Need No Stinkin' Fly Rod!

Steelhead Muddler

Hybernating summer pattern

Green River Chrome

• Date: Saturday January 19, 2008
• Where: Green River
• Flows: 650 CFS
• Temps: 30 to 40 degrees with rain

I decided to head out and fish the Green today. I got to the river around 2:30 and was fishing shortly after. This was my first time fishing the Green this year and the water was in perfect condition. Armed with the Loop Multi 6wt I headed up river traversing through logs, boulders and blackberry thickets. I came upon a run that looked ‘fishy’ and began swinging through it. I had forgotten how tricky it was to wade this section of river and had to look each time I made the steelhead two step. Without any luck swinging I switched over to an indicator set up. I worked the same run and after a few casts I was rewarded with a submerged indicator. As I set the hook I felt the head shakes however it didn’t seem like there was much weight at the end of the line. That’s when the fish went ballistic and shot across the river taking me into my backing. Next, it shot back at me and I reeled like a mad man to keep tension on the line and keep the fish on the reel. My rod was buckled over and this was when I was wishing I had brought my 8wt… Next the fish got pissed off and decided to shoot up river with me in hot pursuit banging my shins on boulders trying to keep my rod above the fish. Oh yes, now I remember this feeling, this is the reason why I spend days on the river in freezing conditions without so much as a strike… Now it all came together and I was getting closer to the prize. I started to feel nauseous as I continued to fight the fish I don’t know if it was the hangover or the flashback of that big wild Sauk steelhead I lost last time… Now it was time to bring in the fish but there were boulders so I was trying to position myself so I would be able to land it. Just when things were coming together my line went limp and the fish was gone… I brought my fly into see what happened and my leader broke. I’m chalking it down to the steelhead kicking my ass. Can’t wait for the nightmares tonight, but I’ll be back!

Custom Painted By Yuhina

Yuhina painted this beautiful painting for me. He chose a picture of a toad of a brown I caught in Montana and let the creative juices flow. Check out his site on the link above. Dude has skills and can create a painting for you to remember that catch of a lifetime or just cause...

Olive The Little Woolly Bugger

Olive is here! I ordered these for my son and he can’t wait to read them. Every fishing or outdoor enthusiast should get these for their kids.

Feed My Fish

Click on the pond and feed the fish