May is seldom the first month that comes to mind when we're asked for the shortlist of favorite seasons to fish. That being said, I don't think I give it nearly enough credit. While most local rivers, or at least large sections of them, are closed until the very end of the month, May is one of the best times to find yourself on any number of lakes and any number of saltwater beaches chasing any number of varied fish species you might want to tangle with. Add to that the single longest string of reasonably warm and sunny days we've experienced since early fall and you have the recipe for a downright enjoyable time on the water. After months of doggedly swing-step-repeating your way through the frigid Skagit and Sauk in your quest for the next chrome unicorn, it's pretty refreshing to go out and dance with all sorts of fish from trout to bulls to bass and their scrappy little panfish cousins. Long daylight hours present ample opportunity to fish before or after work and when the timing doesn't quite line up for a trip further afield, there's no shortage of fun fisheries to explore close to home.
We've had a busy several weeks at the shop with lots of new toys arriving every week, from the latest rods and reels to boats and more. It's always a challenge to find space for it all but we do our best to be creative. Be sure to take a gander at our new products page to see the latest additions to the shop. Over the next few weeks we're adding St. Croix rods and Bajio sunglasses to the long list of products we stock.
We had a great class with guest tyer Phil Latendresse from the Fidalgo Fly Fishers at the end of April. He taught some awesome techniques for flaring deer hair and designing bass bugs. Everyone seemed to learn a ton of new skills just in time for some late spring and summer topwater bass excursions. We hope to have him back down the road as he has some incredible insights that simplify the process of creating durable, attractive and, most importantly, fish-catching hair bugs. We also just wrapped up Speyapalooza 2025 at Howard Miller Steelhead Park on the Skagit. Attendance was outstanding (thanks to all of you), participation was even better and the consensus among participants and vendors was that the whole weekend was a super fun time. If you didn't buy a Speyapalooza shirt or figured out a little too late that you'd really like a Speyapalooza hoodie, let us know as we may have another small run made in the coming weeks. Next on tap for events, we'll be starting our summer spey demo nights at Nugent's Corner on the Nooksack in June. These demos are a great way to learn to spey cast with some instruction, improve a skill or simply try out some different spey gear on the water...all at the incredible low price of free! Keep an eye out for the schedule in the next shop newsletter.
In the meantime, let's dive head first into what's fishing now, what to expect coming up and our recommendations for how to make your time on the water a success. We hope to see you in the shop or on the water soon!
Lakes
While summer tends to be about meandering blue lines and moving water for many, right now is a fantastic time to focus on stillwaters. If you just want to catch a lot of trout without having to overthink things, the general lowland lake opener at the end of April means there are lots of recently stocked rainbows eager to eat just about anything. Small Woolly Buggers, Carey Specials, Partridge and Orange Soft Hackles, Peacock Soft Hackles and Pumpkin Heads have been catching their share of trout. The WDFW stocking report will give you an idea of which lakes received fish in Whatcom and Skagit Counties. With the North Cascades Highway now open similar opportunities exist in North Central Washington with Winthrop area favorites like Big Twin, Davis and Campbell offering some opportunities for some bigger fish.
Pass Lake has been hit and miss over the last month but when you connect, the average rainbow or brown has been in exceptional shape. My last day on Pass I had a behemoth rainbow blitz almost to the backing knot while I frantically surveyed the sky for signs of the resident bald eagle. The loud whine of my Hardy Marquis seems to act as a sort of dinner bell when the piscivorous raptors are nearby. Fortunately the eagle must have been napping with a full stomach that afternoon and the trout was gently released unscathed. Chan's Black Holographic Chironomid Pupa, Cat's Burnt End in olive and a large Ice Cream Cone have worked well during the chironomid hatches. Otherwise, Thin Mint Buggers, black Squirrel Leeches and white Bunny Leeches have been catching some trout fished near the bottom on a full sink line. Folks have been catching some large browns around dusk throwing Zonkers, CH Marabou Muddlers, Beldar Buggers and even smaller mouse patterns like Rio's Pip Squeak Baby tight to the shoreline around the wood and steep banks.
Beyond the stocked trout, lots of folks are venturing North to fish a variety of BC Interior lakes in the Kamloops-Merritt region or visiting quality lakes like Blue, Chopaka, Omak and Dry Falls east of the Cascades. Chironomids remain the predominant hatch on most waters, but callibaetis mayflies, damsels, dragons and, beginning in June, some caddis will be emerging as well. Make sure your box is equipped accordingly for your stillwater destination of choice. We have a robust selection of stillwater patterns and are always happy to recommend some of our favorites for your next trip.
Our local neighborhood bass and panfish are definitely waking up with the warmer weather and it's a great time to prospect Fazon, Terrell, Wiser and Whatcom with a streamer. We haven't found much topwater success yet, but that should improve as we get further along in the month and well into June and beyond. For Whatcom smallmouth, Zonkers in yellow or white, Clousers in chartreuse or chartreuse/white, Bass Masters and Jawbreakers in olive, black, white or orange have been our top picks. Panfish have been munching a variety of small leech patterns like Hale Bopps and BH Hale Bopps, smaller Woolly Buggers, Bluegill Bullies and Pheasant Tail nymphs. May is one of our favorite months for bigger crappie and bluegill. Concentrate on shorelines that get the most sun throughout the day and if you're not finding panfish and largemouth on the outside edge of the vegetation, explore a little deeper in the weeds. One of our more productive tactics for fishing deep cover is to throw a Balanced Leech pattern fairly shallow below a Centerlock or Airlock Indicator into the small openings in the lily pads. You never know what you're going to pull out of there and that's what makes this such a fun and exciting fishery this time of year.
Rivers
The Skagit River spring chinook fishery closes on May 15th for the open section up to Gilligan Creek. We've not had many folks finding success and this is one of the more challenging sections to fly fish as those fish tend to blaze through the lower river really quickly. Once the Skagit reopens higher up in June the salmon tend to slow down and stage where they're a little more receptive to eating a fly. Bull trout and cutthroat fishing below the Memorial Hwy Bridge has remained really good and should continue provided the river doesn't get too high. Our top flies have been #6 Clousers in olive/white and BH Rolled Muddlers for the cutthroat. White Reverse Spiders have been producing as well and Teo recently tied up a big batch for the shop. For the bulls, bigger patterns like the Sir Sticks A Lot or Dali Llama in white or olive/white or something really flashy like the Flashdrive 2.0 or Precious Metal have been working the best. The general stream opener is Saturday, May 24th. A lot of the higher elevation creeks will still be on the high and cold side but conditions tend to improve as we get into June. Right now your best option for a river trout fix remains the Yakima River. Between the Mother's Day Caddis, some Salmonflies and a few lingering March Browns, it's a great time to dust off your dry fly skills and fool some fish on top.
Beaches
Northeast Whidbey beaches are seeing some nice bull trout and a few cutthroat right now. There are still plenty of chum fry out-migrating through the North Sound so Chum Babies and Chumbody's Baby remain top patterns. The bulls really love the bigger stuff like Deep Minnow Stingers, Psychedelic Herring, Shock & Awes and the Just Keep Swimming baitfish imitations that replicate larger smelt and herring.