Sunfish

April 12 & 13, Seep Lakes, WA.
The 'gills crowded the shallow coves and took small poppers with abandon.
I fished for bass too, catching most of them on a bunny worm and - late in the day - two more on a deer hair bug.

"Drake magazine, you numba ten!"

Ten years ago me and my Buster pals got together and invented The Drake the worlds best fly fishing magazine. Now after ten years...
What?
Oh, right. It was actually Tom Bie who invented The Drake while he was sending out letter bombs from a small, remote cabin somewhere in the wilds of Montana. er,something like that.
But we did invent The Drake's message board, sorta.
The truth is that the tenth anniversary issue of The Drake is out now. Be sure to check out the Jessica Alba centerfold, woot woot!

Bull!

3/13/08
Sauk River: two bull trout, zero steelhead.

3/15/08
Yakima River: Three li'l pigs, all 'bows, each of 'em on a stimmy.

Ho-hum & Yawn

Ho-hum, Yakima River Saturday, March 8.



South Fork Toutle Monday, March 3. Yawn

February 16th, 08

Last seen at the end of fairly well executed double spey.

You Gotta Start 'em Early

A man should tie his own flies.

The other day a relative says to me something like, "There's a fly fishing store by my office and I thought of buying a Christmas present for you there. But what the hell am I gonna get for you; the angler that has everything?"
Two words for you Cousin Earl, two simple words. Bass Bugs.
Most times I do tie my own flies. Even if it means driving to three or four different fly shops to get the right materials for a particular pattern, gas prices be damned. In the long run it's cheaper though sometimes it seems like I'll have to tie flies for a long time yet to realize the cost benefit.
When it comes to bass flies, the big poppers, sliders and divers, I opt for the store bought variety. Too much work; spinning, stacking then shaping all that deer hair. A professionally tied deer hair bass bug goes for something like four or five dollars a piece. It would take me at least an hour to turn out a Dahlberg Diver or Messinger's Frog that looked half as good as the original. Hell even my boss thinks my time is worth five bucks an hour.
So....thanks Mom, I finally used that Bass Pro Shops Gift card you got me last year. Pass the word around, maybe Cousin Earl will catch on.

Gettin' The Spey Out

Spent a few hours practicing with the double hander this morn. Things are beginning to make sense and I've almost got a couple casts figured out. I actually even fished a fly through some holding water. Didn't catch anything but that's only 'cause there weren't any fish around. If I had caught a steelhead you can be sure that this post would be about something far more interesting than learning to cast the long rod.
Anyhoo, since I'm slowly turning into a spey nerd I've added a link to Spey Pages to the link column on the right. It's under "Forums, Bulletin Boards and News"
So there ya have it, now I'm off to the tool shed to color code my Delta Spey [line] with a sharpie.
Have good fishing,
Wally

Edit: I went out again Sunday (1/20) morning. The river was running low and clear at ~ 600 CFS, just low enough for me to cross. Lots of casting, no fish, added a third cast to my repertoire. At the end of the day, and back on the river left side I was shooting lots of line with a single spey. Good times, good times.

Please Feed The Fish; Hughey, Dewey, Poncho, Lefty, Louie, Atticus and Delmar.

Found this little widget over at Westside Fly. Give it a try, it's great exercise.

We Love The Drake

The Drake bulletin board is back. The Drake is faster, stronger and less dumb. The Drake is new and improved and wants you to know that it everything is okay. Visit Drake Country.

Voluntary Beatdown Leaves Town

It only took a year to change the way people read, write and talk about fly fishing. Jason boiled it down and painted it black. He made me want to fish for winter steelhead, then made me feel bad about myself. Now, after a year, he's calling it quits.

A few parting words from the Beatdown.

Fly Times: I thought a bond developed between us!
Voluntary Beatdown: No. Not really. You're scum, Wallace; you did it for RATINGS. You don't give a shit about us or anybody else except yourself; that's why nobody gives a shit about YOU. That's why "helicopters" were not "deployed."


FT: Now what? What'll you do?
VBD: You'll never understand. Me and you, Wally, we're not even the same species. I used to be you...then I evolved. From where you're standing, you're a man. From where I'm standing, you're an ape. I'm here...I'm right here... and you...you're somewhere else, man. You say why? I say why bother?

FT: Now what?
VBD: I realized my true calling in life.
FT: What's that?
VBD: Shit, man, I'm a natural born killer.

Spey: The New And Better Way To Not Catch Steelhead

Thee Originoo Trouthole practicing his reverse slap cast.

Old Timey as Hayull, Part II

Old Timey As Hayull, Part I

Got Taimen?

The Trout Bums/AEG Media have announced the
tour dates for this years Fishing Film Festival. Check it out now so that you can plan for the after party in your home town.

If Only There Was Fishing Like This In The Northwest

Gosh, them trout are big.

Hopper Water

Right now, somewhere in the southern hemisphere, there's a piece of water that looks like this and is fishing well with terrestrials.

Renegade

Renegade

hook: TMC 900BL
tag: gold tinsel
aft hackle: brown rooster saddle
body: peacock herl, 4 strands
fore-hackle: white rooster saddle

Invented by Taylor "Beartracks" Williams in 1928, the Renegade should be the Idaho state bird.

"Grayling Dragged Through The Coals"

Fly Fish Yellowstone reports on the how and the why the grayling is the Rodney Dangerfield of coldwater fishes.

"Suh-low"

Yesterday, I was finally able to take my new double hander out to the river. I only had a couple hours but had to get started sometime. I watched the DVD, gone over it in my head, I was ready.

"The most basic moves practiced over and over again become the most advanced moves."

Or something like that.

The first few casts were rough but I got the fly out there, which in the end is all that really matters. Then I slowed things down a bit and started thinking about the different parts of my cast. I worked on my pick up, then my anchor and "D" loop, and a little bit on the forward cast. Occsionally it would all come together and I would send a decent looking cast across toward the other side of the river.

Just as I was about to call it quits and head home to baby I met a guy from Michigan who had came out here to fish for steelhead for ten days.

"Do you fly fish?" I say.
"Yeah, for 18 years."
"Do you spey?"

Dude speys. Watching me cast he gives me some pointers, tells me to slow down. I've heard that about spey casting. "Go slow" they always say. Again he tells me to slow down, "slow on the pick up, slower." Then he shows me what slow is.

His pick up and back cast are in slo-mo, so un-fast that the line seemingly just hangs below the tip-top, barely enough motion to load the rod, back cast into a nice "D" loop then POW!, foward cast and the line lays all the way across the river.

Oh, that slow.

I repeat, "Suh-low" out loud and over and over again as he hands the rod back to me. I pick up and cast, laying the line out there. I slow down some more and cast again and again repeating my new mantra the whole time, "suh-low." It works and already my single spey is improving dramatically.

Thanks dude from Michigan, thanks a bunch.