The lake comes alive at night. Bullfrogs resound from the reeds. Bats flit here and there, sometimes ticking your rod by accident. Coyotes yelp and howl somewhere in distant darkness. We even hear the whir of nighthawk wings as they swoop over the lake picking up insects, though we barely see them in the failing light. But the sound we're most acutely focused on is that distinct pop of two lips smacking together, that awkwardly audible kiss when another bluegill or pumpkinseed sucks your fly from the surface. When the sun dips below the last stand of cattails along the western shore of the lake, your ability to see largely disappears with it. We slowly trade visual for acoustic perception and fish on until we either get too tired to continue or the fish stop biting, which may not happen until daylight begins to peer over the edge of the Cascade foothills again. Nights like these are just one of the many summer joys we anticipate each July.
Our North Sound Chapter of TU had our annual Fazon Lake One Fly Competition the other evening. Competition is a loose term in this case. There's no prize, no ceremony, no semblance of fame that ensues for whoever is lucky or skilled enough to catch the most fish. But there is companionship, hilarity and a wee bit of trash talk that always accompanies the event. We do it every year around this time and always look forward to it. So far, the One Fly has been mostly attended by our board members, but at some point perhaps we'll broaden it to the public. The rules are simple, you are limited to one fly of your choosing for the evening to catch as many fish of any species as you can muster. If the fly is destroyed, you're out. If you lose the fly you're out. You can certainly keep fishing after disaster strikes but you're done adding to your fish tally for the night.
This year I think we all mostly elected to fish topwater patterns and went with various proprietary color combos of a small Gurgler style fly. Brandon strategized to augment his numbers by catching 3" panfish one after the other. It wasn't a bad play as these fish probably won't wrap you up in the dense weed mats that clog the lake by summertime. You simply need catch a few of them mid-air as they whizz by over your shoulder following the enthusiastic hook set. I managed to snap off a fly on my third fish of the night after I probably nicked my tippet extracting my Gurgler with forceps from a large bluegill moments earlier. Like a NASCAR driver spinning out into a fiery crash on the first lap, it was over for me before it started. Likewise, Charles broke a hook a few fish into it and was done. Our buddy Travis circumnavigated the entire lake over the course of the 3-hour tournament, smoothly plucking bluegill, crappie and bass from every weedy cove and cranny until he punched out victorious at 10 pm when the One Fly ended with nearly 50 fish. Congrats Travis on a job well done. You'd better watch your back come next July.
Beyond the many bass and panfish lakes that dot the North Sound low country, summer finds us wandering creeks in the hills, hitting the trail to an alpine lake, swinging streamers on the Skagit and floating dries on the Methow, which has fished really well over the last few weeks. There's not typically much sleeping in. Lots of late nights, early mornings and long days on the water. Admittedly, it's a little exhausting at times, though nobody in their right mind would dream of feeling sorry for you and they shouldn't. Like most good things in life, summer seems to end all too quickly and the pace will inevitably slow as the days shorten and the number of fishing options decreases. Until that happens, I expect we'll continue to enjoy a surplus of hours on the water revisiting some of our favorite fishing haunts.
It's been a busy July at the shop and we continue to bring in a number of new products. We've got some new shop bull trout shirts and hats in stock and will be doing another run of different hats in the next few weeks. We've also added several really cool new fly patterns that are ideal for summer conditions both in the dry fly and streamer categories. If you're in the neighborhood on Wednesday, July 22nd, LFS is hosting the 2nd annual Squalicum Block Party. We'll have sales on summer sun wear and Suncloud sunglasses going that day and will also have a free raffle for a Simms Tributary Hip Pack that you can enter if you pay us a visit during the event. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, LFS will be serving up free hot dogs that day as well, so come help us celebrate with the other waterfront businesses at Squalicum Harbor later this month.
Without further ado, let's dive right into the variety of fishing options available at the moment. We hope you're enjoying the season as much as we are.
Cheers,
Scott, Brandon, Lindsay & Teo
Rivers
As of right now, river levels are decent and water temperatures conducive to good trout fishing within most of our watersheds on the west side. Keep an eye on smaller lowland streams like Whatcom Creek or the Samish. It's a good idea to keep a thermometer on hand and stop fishing when the water exceeds 67 degrees. These sea level streams with reduced flow tend to warm up more quickly than rivers like the Skagit and Sauk or mountain tributaries at higher elevations. The Cling Temperature Tape is an easy way to monitor water temps. Stick it on your net handle, hold it in the water and let the color coded readout be your guide. If you're in the yellow zone up to the mid-60's, play fish quickly, limit handling time and keep them in the water at all times. If the tape registers in the red zone, it's time to go elsewhere so we can reduce trout mortality.
The Methow has been fishing really well over the last couple of weeks. Right now the river is right around 600 cfs on the Winthrop gauge and is ideal for walking and wading. It's floatable too but getting pretty skinny in spots. The river typically bottoms out around 400 cfs and it'll be time to keep a close eye on water temps. With luck and some intermittent cooler weather, Methow water temps will hold through the end of July, but come August, you'll likely want to limit your fishing to early morning hours or fish other drainages where the water may be cooler. We hate to see these big beautiful wild cutthroat and rainbows going belly up in warm, oxygen-depleted water, so it's best to leave them alone until the river cools off again. For the time being, we're seeing a mix of scattered golden stones, yellow sallies, pmd's and caddis hatching along with hoppers ending up in the drink often enough for fish to take notice. It's prime time for fishing dry flies over there with Gold, Tan or Purple Chubbies, Bugmeisters, Fuzzy Wuzzys and the new Rio Skater Tot covering the bigger bugs. The Purple Parachute, Parachute Adams, Elk Hair Caddis, CDC Caddis and PMD Para Wulff are all most effective when the trout seem to be keying in on smaller caddis and mayflies and actively rising, but we still favor the big foamy floaters when blind covering water for big fish. Subsurface, Morrish Dirty Birds, Red Copper Johns, Duracells, Perdigons, Fire Starters and French Dips as a dropper with a larger Pat's Rubber Legs, Jiggy Pat's or Fat Bastard as your anchor fly are fishing well. If you prefer to swing, Partridge Soft Hackles, BH Sparkle Pupa or Swingin' Caddis are great choices.
For streamers, we've been having success sizing things down in the lower water and fishing Wounded Sculpins, Morrish Micro Jig Sculpins and Mini Dalai Llamas for the big cutthroat, rainbow and cuttbows.
Closer to home, the Skagit and Sauk Rivers have been fishing pretty well for bull trout. Dali Llamas, Sculpzillas, Sculpinators and the Sir Sticks A Lot have been our top producers during the last several weeks, but as summer progresses and fish sometimes refuse these bigger patterns, opt for some smaller offerings like the Wounded Sculpin, Morrish Micro Jig Sculpin, Hot Head Squirrel Leech in olive and natural or the CH Kiwi Muddler. We tend to fish all of these flies with a 3 or 4 weight trout spey, short Skagit head and sink tip to help get the fly down. You can simply swing the pattern in the current, but with their summer metabolisms in play, bulls are much more inclined to chase a stripped fly or one retrieved erratically. You can also use single hand rod with a floating line and Polyleader or Sonar Leader looped to the end to help sink your fly deeper.
Mountain creeks are in prime shape and the weather is even fairly conducive to putting the waders away for the moment and wet wading. People often ask us what the best footwear for wet wading is. One option for light use is the Korkers All Axis Shoe or Swift Sandal. The advantage of these is that you can put a felt or studded sole on them for added traction. If covering some distance or navigating more rugged terrain, we prefer something with more ankle support and wear a fulling wading boot in conjunction with the Korkers I-Drain Neoprene Wading Sock. The new Orvis Ultralight Boot is a great option if you're hiking a lot and want to cover some ground. They'll incredibly light and the Michelin rubber sole is one of the more grippy options for use both in the water and on the trail.
As for flies, a small selection of dry flies is predominantly all you need. Our favorites are small Stimulators, Moodah Poodahs, Grumpy Frumpies, Yellow Humpies, Rio's Dry Humpers and Adams Para Wulffs. All are pretty easy to see in broken water, float high and catch a lot of fish. If you're so inclined, high stick nymphing Perdigons, Blowtorches, MOPs and other heavily weighted jig style nymphs through the deeper pools and faster pockets can produce some bigger trout on occasion.
Lakes
Lakes at higher elevations of 4000-6000' typically fish well for trout through the summer heat, but our lowland lakes have begun to feel like bathwater on the surface these last few weeks. Trout typically retreat to the depths seeking cooler temps. Although you can catch them with a full sinking line, bringing them up through the oxygen-poor warm surface layers is really tough on them and can lead to increased mortality. We recommend waiting until cooler fall weather arrives to fish our lowland lakes for trout again, especially in shallow bodies of water like Squalicum Lake. If you're hitting the alpine lakes, fly selection can be pretty simple for most of them. A few sizes of Parachute Adams, Ant or Beetle patterns, Mosquitos, Griffiths Gnats and Parachute Black Gnats are about all you need for the surface. Add a handful of Zug Bugs, Hare's Ear Soft Hackles and small leech patterns like Chan's BMW and you've got the depths adequately covered.
There are innumerable lakes within a short drive after work for most of us that host a variety of warmwater species. Whereas trout struggle in tepid summer water, bass and panfish are at their best and we have some incredible fisheries pretty close to home. For largemouth, bigger frog patterns like the Dry Rind Frog and Rio's Foam Slice Frog or mice patterns like the Mouserat or Master Splinter work their magic late in the evening when these critters come out to play at the lake's edge. Luna, Neon and Froggy Poppers as well as Rio's PTO popper are also exceptional topwater options for bass. Stick to smaller stuff for panfish like the Bream Poppers, Chernobyl Ants and small dry flies like the Flying Foam Beetle or Purple Dry Humper. During the summer, the last few hours before dusk tend to be the best time to target spiny rays and if you're into it, sticking around for an hour or two after the sun goes down can be really productive.
Lake Whatcom smallmouth fishing has been decent as well. Fish crayfish patterns like the Clouser Crayfish, Crazy Dad or Jawbreaker on sinking lines around rocky structure in the mornings on the bottom. Working chartreuse Clouser Minnows and yellow Zonkers around the docks and shaded areas is effective too. The annual hexagenia mayfly hatch is happening on Whatcom as well. Focus on fishing around the hard-packed clay shoals near dark. We often start fishing the Hex Nymph pattern before seeing adults, but once the swallows and cedar waxwings show up and start picking off emerging duns, we'll switch to a Crystal Tail Hex Emerger on the surface.
Beaches
There continues to be a few sea run cutthroat around the eastside of Whidbey to tide us over until our focus shifts to chasing coho salmon on the westside of the island next month. Small Clousers, Gurglers, Imitators and Foul Free Herring are our top summer picks for flies. There tends to be a lot more floating vegetation around the beaches this time of year. Fishing the outgoing tide generally offers cleaner water with less salad to foul up your fly.