Started to think it would never happen...

First year with the spey rod

Like most people who fish, I began my time on the water gear fishing for whatever was in the lake that day as a kid or trolling the Hood Canal for whatever we could find. I fly fished on and off growing up, but still very little. It's only been in the last couple of years that I really began to take fly fishing seriously and develop a serious addiction to the sport. After the first 15 minutes of casting my new two-handed fly rod and also after whapping myself in the back of the head several times, I caught my first fish on the Spey rod. It was a 13” shiny little Dolly Varden in October on the Skykomish river. I thought to myself “this is going to be easy if I'm catching fish already.” Little did I know…

 

Now, I can't even count all the holes in my jackets from learning how to cast or how many flies I lost because I had no idea what a T-17 was. I even snapped off an expensive shooting head one time because of that heavy sink tip. The learning curve has been massive. After a least one day nearly every weekend for the past two years, gallons and gallons of gas, several long road trips to different rivers, watching Skagit Master 1 multiple times, watching Skagit Master 2 multiple times, and then reading from front to back a book written by the great Dec Hogan, I finally am now feeling at ease with my spey rod in hand.  It's only within the last year or so that I've felt confident casting in most situations and conditions and have actually started to see results.

 

 

First Swung up Salmon

This past fall I hooked my first salmon on a swung fly on the Skykomish river. Throughout the last couple of years, I have swung flies and hooked up on several Dolly Vardens,  some Chum salmon, multiple Rainbows, and a whole grip of cutties. All are great fish and all have brought me great satisfaction, but in the end it boils down to my personal vendetta for those chrome ghosts.

 

 This past weekend on the Sky we hiked in to a spot on the river where I knew there should be some fish (since we caught one there two days before on the meat sticks). After a couple casts with my gear rod (aka meat stick) I became bored and decided to go back to the spey rod and walk down river a ways. Wind howling, I had to adjust my casts to figure out how to get some line out without creating a rats nest in mid flight. Second or third cast up just from the tail out, mid swing, there was a weird “nudge” on my line, half a second later, SMASH!! Lifted my rod and there she was! Three acrobatic spin jumps, and she swam right at me full speed. THIS is why they tell you get a large arbor reel for steelhead fishing. Reeling in at full speed I was terrified that she may have spit the white and orange barbless intruder, but then I caught up to her. Got her to shore and that was it. Two years of practice for 2 minutes of enjoyment. Bonk! Off to the grill, it was a nice 6 or 7 lb chrome bright hatchery female. Never been so happy about a dang hatchery brat.

 

 

You always hear about the “grab” and that moment was something that will be hard to forget. I have caught fish many different ways, but none as satisfying as this. It was a swing I will never forget, and I will never be able to pass through that run on the Skykomish river without swinging my fly through its entirety with anxious anticipation of another "grab".

 

For the last couple years I have been severely addicted to fly fishing. This did not help…. 

 

 

 

 

Puget Sound Sea Run Cutthroat

The past few years, late February through the end of May has turned into sea run cutthroat fishing season for me. This is the part of the year when all of our local rivers here in the Snohomish/King/Whatcom county area are closed to fishing through the Endangered Species Act. Though other times of the year may offer some better sea run cutthroat fishing, this is still a very fun and easy alternative to swinging flies for steelhead. Steelhead fishing is in full swing other places, but it is just not feasible to travel somewhere every weekend to chase steel, when within 20 minutes of my couch I can be standing on several different beaches.

Sea run fishing in the Puget Sound offers easy access, great scenery, and is a fun rapidly growing fishery. The south end of Puget Sound offers some of the better beaches in the area, but the north sound offers some good beaches as well. Places like Picnic Point, Lund’s Gulch, and Mukilteo waterfront offer very easy access to cutties. Just watch your back cast, as there are often beach combing families walking these beaches, and many of them will be curious as to what you are doing and are oblivious to the fact that fly fishing requires a little space.

Sea run cutthroat will feed on whatever and whenever something is available, they are opportunistic feeders. When the water is moving, more things to eat are swirled around; hence you should fish moving tides. When tides are slack, food is not moving, so sit on the beach and drink a beer during slack tide. Big tide swings will offer the best fishing. Just like rivers, look for seams, where slower water meets faster water, this where the fish will find food. Bait fish patterns, shrimp, spiders, and poppers should be the go to flies. Most likely in the 4 – 6 size range.

When it comes to gear, I have invested next to nothing on sea run specific gear. I have an old brandless reel I found in a box at a garage sale for $2 and a cheap 6 wt. rod. No need to get fancy, spend your money on gas to get to the beach to practice your casting rather than fancy gear. Many beach anglers will use a stripping basket, but I don’t use one and haven’t really seen the need for one. Weather conditions in the Pacific Northwest this time of year feed the stereotype, it rains a lot. Be prepared for windy and rainy days. The wind can often pose a challenge on the beach. If you can, try to make to wind work in your favor. I spent a windy morning at Picnic Point yesterday, but was able start at one end of the beach and use the wind gusts to propel my casts and work my way down the beach around the point.

There is not a ton of information on sea run cutthroat in the Puget Sound. There are groups working to learn more about these fish, and to get some sort of idea as to how many fish there are out there. This is a catch and release only, open year round salt water fishery. This is an awesome fishery that is growing in popularity. It’s an easy way to break into fly fishing since there is not much required other than a rod and a few flies. So head to the beach and enjoy.