In less than a week, we'll experience the longest day of the year in the Northwest. While the summer solstice will last 24 hours just like any other Wednesday, the sun will shine for 16 hours and 13 minutes of it. Every year, around this time I try to fish as much of a day as sunlight permits when the opportunity presents itself. I've gotten pretty close but never quite reach the goal. Earlier this week I managed about 14 hours on the water. Not really being wired for pre-dawn wake ups, I usually fall short on the morning side of things but one of these days I plan to fish the full 16 plus. After a day of hopping from slick boulder to boulder, sliding down steep embankments, crawling through salmonberry thickets and vine maple tangles and fishing my way through the Skagit valley, I am genuinely a little worn out. I feel like it's a good problem to have and an even better goal to maintain through the years. I'd like to think that one day I'll fish north of the Arctic Circle and swing a fly rod for a full 24 hours, but we'll work up to that. At the heart of it, this annual ambition stems from an honest love of being on the water and looking for fish. The other side is an attempt to balance out that dark time of the year that will inevitably arrive with winter, when waters are closed, fishing opportunities lacking and the sun rises and sets seemingly in the blink of an eye. These memories born in the now help get through times when fishing is both less frequent and less fruitful.
At the moment we're blessed with an abundance of opportunity, from small stream rainbows to bull trout on the Skagit, some salmon openers and all the bass and panfish you can tease with a popper in the lingering twilight hours after work. While we all have our personal favorite fisheries in the summer, it's pretty exciting to explore a little bit of everything. I really like swinging a trout spey on our big rivers for bull trout, but am equally content to cast a tiny lightweight glass rod on the Cascade mountain creeks, or on the swampy local lakes for panfish after a busy day at work. It's all fun and all meditative in a most necessary way. We tend to thrive on the many choruses heard on the water, be it the spiraling notes of a Swainson's thrush in the cool shade of a cedar forest or the raucous bellowing of bull frogs along the cattails on the bass pond. We hope you're getting to enjoy that special time out there and if you're short on ideas about where or how to do it, we're always happy to share our thoughts and suggestions.
Thanks for a great turnout to our first Spey Wednesday of the summer last week. Despite the Nooksack raging high and brown after a recent rain, we got some good practice in and had fun casting a few new demo rods we've added to the shop collection. If you missed out, we'll have another session for July to be announced in the next newsletter once we pin down the date. If Wednesdays don't work for you, remember we offer private one-on-one spey casting lessons on the water if you're interested in learning or simply want to work out some kinks. Our fly fishing and fly casting class schedule has begun to ramp up this month, but we're fortunate to have both Lindsay and Teo working in the shop in addition to Brandon and I through the summer and we have opportunities available for anyone wanting some help. We're working on getting a bass tying night scheduled in later July as well for those of you interested in learning to tie some wicked topwater bugs for largemouth.
We hope you're savoring the long sunny days and getting to spend some needed time on the water, whether it's a multi-week adventure in Montana or a quick escape to the mountains to rock hop from spot to spot flicking dry flies into crystalline pools. It's shaping up to be hot summer already and with much of the mountain snow already fading away, a lot of waters are lower than usual for June. We stock both the Fishpond Digital Thermometer and the Cling Temperature Tape, which are great products to add to your summer fishing kit if they're not already in there. If the water exceeds 65 degrees Fahrenheit, it's time to stop fishing for trout or move on in search of higher elevation, cooler waters. Or better yet, test your mettle on any number of bass or panfish waters that dot the lowlands throughout Western Washington. We're pretty fully stocked on all of your summer needs from flies to floatant to leaders and tippet so we hope you'll stop by before the next trip. We also have a big array of sun protective clothing to keep you comfortable and cool while fishing as well as protected from the intense blasts of UV rays.
We hope to see you on the water!
Scott, Brandon, Lindsay & Teo
Rivers
While we love fishing the quality stillwaters throughout Washington and BC, there's something about moving water that cuts to the core of what so many of us love about fly fishing. Afterall, to our knowledge, Norman MacClean never wrote an unpublished sequel called A Lake Runs Through It. As of June 1st, most rivers and creeks throughout Washington are open and fishing. As always, check the WDFW regulations or app for closure information before heading out. There are a lot of options to check out right now so we'll do our best to summarize what's happening on the river and creek scene.
As for local salmon opportunities, the Skagit currently has an opener for spring chinook and more recently, sockeye salmon. A portion of the Cascade River is also open for "springers". To be honest, neither of these species come easy on the fly, but if you're so inclined, here are a few suggestions to help you get started. Chinook will typically hold in deeper faster water than other species. Look for runs with depth and large, rocky bottom substrate. Larger rods, particularly 2 handers in the 8-10 weight class combined with fast sinking T-14 tips help get your fly down in these areas. You'll want a short leader of at minimum, 15 lb. Maxima and a selection of darker, larger profiled patterns like Intruders and Squidros. Combinations of black and blue, blue and chartreuse, black and purple and a few bright pink flies are our favorites. Set the alarm early and plan to be ready to fish at daybreak. The first few hours of light tend to be the most productive. Sockeye generally move quickly through the system on their way to Baker Lake, which makes them even less inclined to bite. Look for soft pockets below fast riffles and other areas that force fish to slow down and rest on their journey. Fish light to medium sinking tips and small, sparse, bright flies like the Sockeye Killer. The NF of the Nooksack had a brief spring chinook opener that was supposed to run through the end of the month, but unfortunately closed early due to too many encounters with wild fish.
For trout fishing, the Skagit and Sauk are great places to pursue rainbow and bull trout throughout the summer months. Currently, both are in fishable shape from top to bottom, though as the hot days persist, expect visibility on the Sauk and the Skagit below the Sauk to degrade due to glacial melt from the Suiattle and Whitechuck Rivers. For bull trout, large streamers like Galloup's Dungeons, Sir Sticks A Lot, Jerry's WMD Sculpin and Dali Llamas on a sink tip are in order. The rainbows tend to prefer smaller streamers like #8 Sculpzillas, Hot Head Squirrel Leeches, Soft Hackle Streamers and Wounded Sculpins. Don't be afraid to try more conventional nymphing tactics, dry/droppers and even swinging small soft hackles on these rivers below riffles and in areas with defined trout-holding features. Sometimes you'll be surprised by what you encounter.
East of the mountains, the Methow has been providing some decent fishing and with Hwy. 20 recently re-opened through the North Cascades, the drive becomes a little easier and certainly more scenic for those of us in the North Sound. The river is currently on the rise after the weekend heat, but is still under 2000 cfs at Winthrop. 1500 cfs and lower is ideal for walk and wade fishing, but it's very floatable at these flows. Streamer tactics work great when the river is up and patterns like Dali Llamas, Sculpinators, Beldar Buggers and Pocket Rockets on the swing are all worthwhile. You can also fish double nymph rigs or euro nymph to find success. Pat's Rubber Legs, Jiggy Pat's, Duracell Jigs, Blow Torches, Dirty Birds, KJ's Hot Ribbed Hare's Ear and Copper Johns are all productive on the Methow. Golden Stones are out and about this time of year and a Morrish Fluttering Stone, Gold Chubby, Gypsy King or Tan Fuzzy Wuzzy are great bugs to toss with a Rainbow Warrior or Lightning Bug in a smaller size as a dropper. If the trout are rising to smaller mayflies, the tried and true Purple Haze is hard to beat in the appropriate size. If you're getting refusals, a PMD Sparkle Dun will often bat clean up.
The Upper Skagit in BC opens July 1st and will provide additional trout opportunity within a reasonable drive in another few weeks. The Cascade foothills are cut with countless smaller streams and tributaries flowing into the upper portions of the Nooksack, Skagit and Baker Lake and most offer abundant, though often smaller rainbow, cutthroat, brook trout and in some cases dolly varden. These are perfect places to avoid the crowds, revel in some solitude and see what you find around the next bend. The fish in these places don't often see much pressure and respond well to a variety of small dries like Elk Hair Caddis, Royal Wulffs, Para Wulffs and PMX's. We especially like Rio's Dry Humper as it floats exceptionally well and is really easy to see on the water. Small Partridge Soft Hackles, BH Prince Nymphs, Bloody Mary's and Hare's Ears also work well if you prefer to fish subsurface. Sometimes you'll find larger fish by nymphing that are reluctant to rise to a dry. While you should certainly use the equipment you already have to fish the creeks, if you enjoy these fisheries, a shorter lighter 2 or 3 weight rod really allows these smaller fish to show their stuff and they make navigating through the brush much easier.
Lakes
Lowland trout lakes are already on the hot side and about done for the summer. It's prime time for bass and a variety of panfish, however, and spending a few hours on a quiet lake in the evening hours after work is a perfect way to finish out the day. Topwater is generally the way to go from this point on as many of the shallower lakes like Beaver, Fazon and Terrell are now so heavily vegetated that fishing subsurface becomes challenging. Neon Poppers, PTO Poppers, Luna Poppers and Kermit Poppers are perfect when the bass want something noisy. If you're striking out with these presentations, try a Covert Mission, Chew Toy or Slider pattern. Sometimes subtlety is a virtue and commotion without the noise is more productive. Size everything down for panfish. Any of the Bream Poppers work really well as long as you fish them slowly. Chernobyl Ants, Deer Hair Damsels and Madam X's are also excellent choices.
If you have a boat and want to get after smallmouth, both Lake Whatcom and Samish are fishing well with Clouser Minnows, Flash Drives and Zonkers around the docks and areas with abundant shade and rocky structure.
If you like a good hike, it's about time to get after those alpine lakes. Fly selection is pretty simple for most lakes, with Mosquitos, Adams, CDC Hatching Midges, Para Ants and Griffith Gnats covering you on top and some Zug Bugs, Soft Hackles and small leech patterns working well when the trout aren't actively rising.
Beaches
Cutthroat are around on the eastside of Whidbey and around Camano Island. Small Clousers, Imitators, Foul Free Herring and Mini-Ceivers are great baitfish patterns during the summer months. There can be a lot more seaweed and eel grass in the water this time of year, so outgoing tides tend to make for cleaner fishing. If anyone has been fishing around Clayton Beach and finding cutthroat please let us know. The Coastal Cutthroat Coalition is looking to tag more fish this season for their Samish Bay study and the success rate in finding cutthroat in this zone has been spotty thus far. The coho forecast for Puget Sound looks pretty solid this year, so start tying or buying those Stinger Clousers and herring patterns for what we hope will be an awesome beach salmon season off the west side of Whidbey later this summer.