Feeling bullish October 8, 2012
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Crossed paths with this guy on Saturday morning swinging/dead drifting on the Skykomish. He smacked a Delektable mega prince pretty hard and made a few fun runs before coming to hand. Beautiful morning, just me and Skadi Girl Dog.
At the vise March 10, 2012
Posted by saltcastings in Fishing.Tags: fly fishing, steelhead fly
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trying out a few things. holographic foil, red synthetic floss, fine wire, peacock herl, orange neck hackle, bronze mallard, red schlappen, badger hackle wing
Hood Canal Cutt March 3, 2012
Posted by saltcastings in Fishing, Uncategorized.Tags: David Bowerman, flyfishing, hood canal, sea run cutthroat
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Caught on a conehead squid tied by Jeffrey Delia.
Reel cool February 7, 2012
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My favorite. Orvis Clearwater III — Made in England, circa 1997.
Hello, Dolly January 29, 2012
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With the local rivers closing a month early due to lower-than-predicted steelhead returns, the boys and I made a hail-mary run up to the Skagit near Rockport today. We’d never fished it before but have been talking about going for a few weeks.
When we got there, we found the water well above average flows. I didn’t bother to look before we left, since we were going anyway. Unfortunately, our destination was too high to fish well. I whipped the water for about ten minutes and then started to pack it in. Noah stepped out in the midst of the confluence of the small creek we’d walked down to reach the river. He wound up and pitched a little Mepps spinner. I could see Skadi dragging Jack through the blackberries.
He barely got his feet set when a big dolly nailed the spinner. It bowed his little rod pretty good and made a few short runs before he got it into the slow water. By the time I got there it was all over but the crying. A 19″ beauty of a fish — light spots, white tipped fins and a kyped lower jaw. With a quick twist of the hemo’s he was back cruising the Skagit. Noah tried to raise another from the same pool but apparently they’d already got the memo.
On the way back to Darrington we found a gorgeous drift on the Sauk and dove off the bank. It would have been perfect if there wasn’t a guy already started through it. I swung for a half hour or so but no luck. We were due back in Seattle too soon for Jack’s indoor soccer game. First time on either river and I can’t wait to get back.
First tracks on the Sky January 17, 2012
Posted by saltcastings in Family, Uncategorized.Tags: fly fishing, steelhead
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Noah gunning for winter steel on the Skykomish.
Pink Sno September 26, 2011
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The boys and I picked up Regular Grandpa this morning on our way to fish for pinks on the Snohomish. We fished the same spot the week before and got skunked: lots of fish jumping and finning, but no bite. This time the boys were set up with gaudy pink maribou jigs while I was armed with an assortment of clousers, comets and other pink accoutrements.
Don and the boys ended up fishing well above me. At one point I turned to see Noah putting his little spin rod to the test with a sturdy fish on the other end. I reeled in quickly to lend a hand and noticed he was putting down the rod. I guessed he’d lost the fish, but since I was out of the water anyway, I might as well make the walk up and check in. Halfway there I hear him yell. “Dad, I got one. Can I kill it?” He was holding the salmon over his head like a prize fighter holding a championship belt. “Sure,” I yelled back, while several guys on the bank started to laugh.
When I finally reached them, the salmon was quietly resting on the bank and he was back fishing. Turns out his drag had failed shortly after he hooked the fish, so he dropped the rod and fought it hand-over-hand, landed it by himself with no net, and bonked it all on his own. Jack hooked and lost three fish, including one that was a real pig. Me? Shut out, again, but couldn’t have been more proud.
Cold steel September 12, 2011
Posted by saltcastings in Fishing.Tags: General Practitioner, Skykomish, steelhead
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I got up early to swing some flies on the Sky yesterday but no luck finding a fish. Noah and I found a long sweeper last year that looked like pretty ideal holding water so I thought I’d give it a try. I wanted to beat any crowds so I got there well before daylight and used a headlamp to beat through the blackberries. Eventually I made my way to the top of the hole and ended up standing around for a few minutes before I could see the end of my rod. I threw the same black General Practitioner I used on the Hoh — which, coincidentally, is the same fly I caught a small wild steelhead two years ago on the Sky — using a 10′ sink tip on the end of my floating line. That setup worked good at the head and tailout, but I didn’t like it in the slower part of the run, so I ended up monkeying around a bit in places trying to figure out the best method for keeping the fly in play. I brought my spool with the intermediate shooting head and tried a stimulator/dropper setup with a stonefly at one point, then went back to the floater with a regular 9′ leader and dredged the hole again with an egg-sucking bunny leech. It really should have been a dynamite morning as there was a heavy fog that kept the sun off the water until almost 9. Guess that’s why they call it fishing and not catching.
