Summer is officially here in our lovely corner of the state and we are pleased to see that things are back on track with much of our normal summer fishing fare open and in pretty good shape. As we are obviously not situated on the banks of a premier year-round tail water fishery, the Confluence relies heavily on the seasonal diversity the North Sound has to offer in its fisheries. When our gut tells us its time to enjoy the rivers, the coolness of a foothills stream, the vivacity of a fresh summer steelhead, or the fluttering bugs and rising trout below a noisy riffle, we know we need to be there watching it unfold and savoring our short, precious time on the water. We feel at home once again. Between our moving water, high lakes, lowland opportunities and saltwater we’re faced with a multitude of choices when gearing up for our next adventure. The best news is that there are really no wrong answers.
Rivers
It’s time to bump our river reports back to the forefront as much of our current opportunity comes tumbling out of the Cascades. Once they finally opened at the end of June, we found most of our rivers in remarkable shape, from the Sky down south to the Stilly and Skagit. Heck, even the Nooksack has remained pretty fishable through the intermittent heat and balmy drizzle. While it’s near impossible to sample it all in the few short weeks they’ve been open, we’re doing our best to lumber down the forested trails and sun swept gravel bars to cast from our favorite rocks near and far.
Here’s the lowdown on what we know. The Skykomish has a fair number of summer steelhead being caught from Monroe up to Reiter Ponds. The NF Stilly seems to have a few lurking around and we expect to see a few more trickling in this month. We prefer two handers for our summer steelhead fisheries. Spey casting simply allows us to cover water more efficiently and fish some spots that are downright tricky with a traditional overhead cast. If you don’t own a spey or switch rod we can definitely help you with that. Another option is to convert your single hander into one bad ass spey-casting machine with an OPST Commando Head and Lazar Line running line. We’ve been playing with these very short Skagit-style heads at our bi-monthly Wednesday spey clinics and our minds continue to be blown by what they can do.
Don’t overthink the fly thing with summer steelhead. They are relatively hot to trot when you find them and give them a good long look at your Silver Hilton, Green Butt Skunk, Summer Run, Purple Peril, Bucktail Coachman or Lady Caroline. Skate a fly on the surface if you’re so inclined. We know of at least one fish that came to a skated dry fly on the Stilly within the last two weeks. Speaking of spey casting, our July 16th full day spey class with Charles St. Pierre is filled Thanks for the fast and overwhelming response on that one folks. It promises to be a fun and educational event.
The Skagit is in fantastic shape from the mouth up to Newhalem and we’ve been out a few times pursuing one of our absolute favorite salmonids, the bull trout. There’s a sockeye fishery going on until July 15th from the Memorial Highway bridge up to Gilligan Creek. This year’s run estimate is around 55,000 fish. Sockeye are notoriously tough on the fly but if you’d like to give it a go, fish the soft edges of bars in the lower river with light sink tips or poly leaders and small sparse Comet-style flies. The bull trout are scattered throughout the river, with deeper, slower pools and runs being favored lies. Above the Sauk, the river is gin clear and you’ll want to fish where there’s some depth. Again, we like two handed rods for this summer fishery in 4-6 weight. Light tips are generally in order and a variety of flies that imitate sculpin, juvenile salmon and trout or whitefish, like Sculpzillas, Dali Lamas, Kiwi Muddlers and Zonkers.
The Upper Skagit in BC opened July 1st. We’ve not been up yet, but imagine we’ll see the same trout food hatching and amassing along the bankside willows and red osier dogwood that we’ve encountered in years past. It you venture up that way, you’ll want Green Paradrakes, Green Drake Emergers, Tom Thumbs, small Parachute Adams, Griffiths Gnats, some Caddis patterns, small Pheasant Tail Nymphs and Twenty Inchers as well. If you’ve never been up there it’s breathtakingly beautiful with powerful wild trout and char and it’s much closer to home than you’d think.
The Nooksack is producing some trout in its headwater sections, as are most of the open tributaries. Once the snow fully melts off the glaciers, expect the Mainstem and NF Nooksack below the falls to color up with sediment from Wells Creek, Glacier Creek and the Middle Fork. Small attractor dries like Royal Wulffs, Royal Trudes, Elk Hair Caddis, Humpies, Stimulators and the like will curry the attention of hungry trout in the headwater sections and tributary streams.
East of the Cascades, the Methow and its tributaries are putting out some nice cutthroat, rainbows and cuttbows. The river remains a tad high but clear. As we ease further into July, look for conditions to trend toward ideal with hatches of caddis, PMDs, yellow sallies, PEDs and terrestrials going strong. Come prepared with Elk Hair Caddis, X-Caddis, Para-Sallies, Slickwater Caddis, Peacock Caddis, Chubby Chernobyls, Stimulators, Bugmeisters and PMD Sparkle Duns for dries. Pat’s Rubber Legs, Double Bead Stones with a dropper of a small BH Pheasant Tail, Prince, Copper John or Lightning Bug make for an effective nymph presentation when the fish aren’t eating on top. Don’t hesitate to trail a small nymph below a buoyant dry fly to increase your odds.
Lakes
The big news is that there’s a hex on Lake Whatcom. There’s actually quite a few of them coming off just before dark around the hard-packed clay/mud shoals along the lake. Smallmouth, trout and a host of swallows, cedar waxwings and bats are picking them off with reckless abandon. It’s a wonder any of them make it to sanctuary before becoming something’s next meal. Dirks Factory Hex, Hexagenia Nymphs and Hexagenia Emergers are the go to flies. Though a big yellow Humpy or Stimulator would probably get noticed out there too. Whatcom remains on the cooler side compared to last year’s tepid water, so the fish are strong and energetic and revive quickly, which we like to see. Padden gets a hexagenia mayfly hatch as well, though in smaller numbers than what we see on the big lake.
Many of our lowland lakes are getting on the warm side for trout. Gaining elevation is like traveling backwards a few months through the season. If the fishing on your favorite local lake is getting sluggish and unproductive, hit the trail or bumpy rutted road for a quiet mountain stillwater and you’ll find fish doing what they were doing a sea level a few months ago. High lakes trout see less pressure and have less time to pack on some calories during the short, snow-free season so they’ll tend to be fairly obliging at times. Great high lakes patterns include the venerable Adams, Mosquito, Flying Ant, Elk Hair Caddis, Griffiths Gnat, CDC Midge Emerger, Soft Hackles, Zug Bugs and small Woolly Buggers. Bass, panfish and all those other fish with stout, pokey fins are fishing well. Mornings and evenings are best and through the heat of the summer, surface presentations with poppers, mice and frog patterns are the way to go. You’d be surprised how big some of the bass grow in our backyard.
Beaches
We’re getting reports of good cutthroat fishing throughout the Sound, though we’ve not been fishing beaches much of late. The delayed and much anticipated river opener is a lot like that favorite new toy at Christmas that we’re not quite ready to put away in search of greener pastures. Cutthroat fishing should remain pretty good throughout the Sound and Hood Canal this summer with Silky Sandlance, Sea Run Buggers, Jim Dandy’s, Conehead Squid, Olive Woolly Buggers and Miyawaki Poppers and we are certain to get out for a weekend or two once the novelty of moving water wanes a little.
We are planning to chase chinook on the fly in Area 9 when it opens July 16th. Think big herring pattern and we’ll let you know how our season progresses. Pay close attention to the saltwater regs this summer. There are quite a few changes to our normal salmon seasons. We are getting really excited about the Confluence Fly Shop’s first hosted Albacore Tuna trip in early August. If you happen upon us whipping up 4/0 Anchovy patterns on a slow afternoon at the shop, there you have it. If you’re also wondering why you never heard about this trip in the paragraphs of our newsletter or on our website, well…that’s how quickly it filled. We had a 6-person boat filled before it could even go to press. Given the interest, we are bound to book a few more trips for next season so let us know if you’d like to exercise the 12 weight and every last shred of muscle fiber in your arms next year and we’ll keep you updated on the dates we get reserved.