Greetings and welcome to autumn. The air is a little cooler, days a little shorter and the rivers, though lacking much water seem to have plenty of fish in them nonetheless. Mushrooms line the forest floors, yellowed big leaf maple leaves wither and drop to blanket them, making them challenging to find. Much like the mushroom hunt, grabby salmon have been harder to come across of late. Leaping, porpoising, gliding through runs undetected, only now and again do they pause long enough to nip curiously at your fly and giving you that chance you've been hoping for all day.
"Am I doing it wrong?" is a question we hear often when it comes to fall salmon in the rivers. The answer is always a tough one. While there is no shortage of presentation tricks and flies at your disposal, sometimes they just don't bite. The good news is that there seem to be plenty of coho around and at some point as waters cool, the days become increasingly overcast and the fish slow down in their upriver migration just a little longer the catching should become almost as good as the fishing has been.
My favored summertime after work bass and panfish routine has given way to early mornings in the Skagit and if I don't hit snooze on the alarm, I can squeeze in a good 3-4 hours on the water before work. I've found too that given the low water and relatively clear conditions, fish have been most willing to cooperate when the sun hasn't yet bored a hole through the dense mist blanketing the valley. There's something about hearing fish jump and breach well before you can even see them that gets your adrenaline going. It's been a fun local fishery and those mornings when the coho won't play, the cutthroat have been more than willing to take up the slack. Persistence is your best friend when targeting anadromous fish and more than one unproductive venture has been salvaged by an extra last cast or three.
We're happy to be keeping pretty busy in the shop over the last several weeks, further evidence that fishing is more than decent both locally and farther afield. It's good to see so many of you getting after it right now. I always have it in the back of my mind that there will eventually come a time where there's far less fishing opportunity and I'll wish that I had more willingly gotten up at the crack of dawn just a few more times. So whether you're trekking into the Cascades for one more shot at a favorite alpine lake, heading north to chase big fall rainbows in the BC interior lakes, plying the edge of a kelp bed for coho off the beach or chasing the latest waves of salmon and cutthroat on our home rivers, keep up the momentum. It's always worth it.
Aside from the hustle and bustle around the shop, we've got some exciting events coming up. Thanks to all that showed up for our Sage and Redington Spey Demo Night on the Nooksack. We had a great turnout and even I convinced myself that I need a new R8 Spey despite the multitude of longer than average rod tubes already adorning my garage. If you'd like even more small group spey instruction, we have Tim Arsenault, Bridge Spey Lines designer, Speyorama casting champion and all around two-handed casting guru, coming down from BC to teach an all-day spey casting class on Saturday, November 2nd on the Skagit River. This is an intermediate to advanced class for $150 per person. We have 2-3 spots available so RSVP quickly for this not-to-be-missed opportunity. We also have the International Fly Fishing Film Festival coming to the the Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon on Thursday, October 24th. We'll have a raffle at the show featuring some really cool prizes like a Sage Foundation 9' 8 weight and a guided river fishing trip for 2 with Joey Mara from Waist Deep Media.
Enjoy the rest of September and expect October to offer some even better fishing around the Pacific Northwest. We hope you find some time on the water as it goes by all too soon. Thanks and we'll see you in the shop, on the beach or on the river.
Rivers
Both the Nooksack and Skagit Rivers are full of coho right now and we found a surprisingly odd number of even year pinks in the Skagit earlier in the month. Both the number and size of the fish would seem to indicate better than average ocean conditions and we can only hope that carries over to upcoming runs as well. While the coho seem to be just about everywhere, the trend has mostly been that they are moving upriver rather quickly, and as such, have not been the greatest biters. I've noticed over the years that this isn't entirely unusual with our early fish. I expect October to be notably better on this front. The North and South Forks of the Nooksack are scheduled to open on October 1st and undoubtedly already have some coho in them. There have been enough fish coming through the Skagit that you can pretty well find them from bottom to top, whether fishing down in the Mount Vernon area or further upstream below Marblemount. The Stilly is also open from the mouth up to the Cicero Bridge on the North Fork. I've been having a blast targeting sea run cutthroat with a 4 weight single hander, floating line and a slow sink poly leader stripping Hot Head Buggers or Rolled Muddlers around the slow moving, very woody sections of river. For coho, Coastal Buggers, Hot Head Buggers and Xmas Trees have been productive when the water is reasonably clear. In more turbid water such as you'll often encounter on the Nooksack, Egg Sucking Leeches in purple or pink, Hare Snares or Alaskabous are much easier for fish to see in low visibility conditions.
If you've not yet had your fill of trout rivers for the season, the Methow closes at the end of September, most creeks remain open through October 31st, as does the Skagit above Ross Lake in BC. Don't overlook the Yakima River either as irrigation season has ended the the river is now nice and wadeable. Effective fall flies include Orange Foam Run Caddis, Morrish October Caddis Adult, Morrish Deep October Pupa, Orange Stimulators, Purple Haze, Baetis Nymphs, Lightning Bugs, Zebra Midges and Crane Fly Adult patterns. Of course if you'd rather throw streamers, now is a fine time to do that too!
Lakes
If any of you have recently driven by Pass Lake near Anacortes to fish the west Whidbey beaches for coho, you could probably tell by the color of the lake alone that it's closed due to toxic algae. If you missed the vibrant green soupy appearance then the prominent sign at the launch says the same thing. It's a shame because it's such a fantastic fall fishery. You can monitor the State Department of Ecology site for updates on the conditions. Locally, Squalicum Lake (open year round) cools off and begins fishing better this time of year, and most lakes listed in the WDFW regs booklet will stay open through the end of October. Small leech patterns, bloodworms and small midges are your best fall options. As so many folks flock to the salmon and steelhead rivers this time of year, lakes can afford you just the solitude you were looking for and you'll often have them to yourself in the fall.
Beaches
Well, it's been an interesting year off the beaches along Whidbey for coho. While there appear to be endless schools making their way into the rivers, it's been a tough go for most of the month off the beach. A lot of the fish have been bigger than usual, which is great, but have been travelling through so quickly that it's tough to get a good crack at them before they've passed. We suspect a lot of the coho are opting for deeper travelling routes to access the rivers as well, making them a more difficult prospect off the beach. Area 9 remains open through the end of September, so you've got about a week to keep plugging away with Clousers and Flash Drives. Pick a period with decent tidal movement, preferably early or late in the day and cast away. If you wait for the reports that it's good then you already should have been there yesterday.