Cutthroat

Westslope Cutthroat

Monday night the West Seattle Posse got together to rob me of half my allowance. Poker that is. The big winner was a gracious enough to buy me breakfast the next morning.
I ordered the usual; 2 eggs OM, hash browns, english muffin and a cupp-a-joe.
JT had his usual, whatever that is.
We scarffed it all down and were on the road by 0930hrs, bright and early.
Pulled off in a little mountain town for gas, JT kicked in for that too, must be learning manners up there in Eh-Land.
As far as the WDFW is concerned the year starts April 1st so we had to pick up new fishing licenses. JT lives in Canada but he convinced the kid behind the counter that he's still a Washington resident.
After all that noise we still managed to get on the water before the hatch. The first thing we discovered was that beavers had altered the flow of the river reducing side channel johansen to a mere trickle.
Its possible that the the high flows had actually changed the streambed but I'm not prepared to let the beavers off that easy.
There are hardly any fish in this river so the trick is to be exactly where the fish are exactly when the hatch is coming off. JT worked the head of a nice pool upstream of the side channel and I worked a rip rap bank well downstream. We both managed the "trick" well enough considering that the hatch was pretty thin. I landed two cutts and a 'bow. WT, I mean JT (thats what Sven calls him) landed three 'bows and a whitey. We weren't competing but if we were I think I would have won.

Blown

March 30, 06. The March Brown Drake hatch has begun in earnest but there weren't enough of the big mays to raise any fish. I had to fish with nymphs, stonefly with a pheasant tail dropper. The pheasant tail took three rainbows and a bunch of whitefish.

Lenore Lake, March 19, 06.

Wayne finally took Doryl and I out to his "secret spot" on Lake Lenore. Or at least, at first, we thought he did. After 6hrs of fishing and only 4 fish between the three of us it became apparent that Wayne's "secret spot" was a red herring. Either he's been lying to us about how good this place fishes or he took us to a decoy location so that we don't go to the real "spot" and fish it without him. Either way that Wayne is a crafty SOB

Camping at Big Pine

Thee and myself spent a couple of days fishing and camping in the Yakima River canyon. The water was ice cold, flowing at ~1300 CFS, and the winds were howlin but we both managed to get into fish. The baetis and the skwalas have begun their emergences, it will only get better in the coming weeks.
The radio reported that a snowstorm blew into the cascades this morning. I drove the Honda Civic this time as it uses half the gas my Jeep does (thanks Bush) and decided that I better skip fishing today and get over the pass as soon as possible. As it was I barely made it over. Coming down the west side was even worse. At one point I had no control over the car and the slush sucked me over to the shoulder. My car kissed the wall bumping me back onto the highway. The hub caps are a little worse for wear but it could have been a lot worse. Good thing I was going slow.
The moral of the story is not to cross the pass in a little Honda, without chains, when chains are required.
WT

Peacock Hackleback

Peacock Hackleback

hook: Dai Riki 075, #10
underbody: .030 or.025 wire
tail: rubber sili-legs, amber/tan
hackle: brown saddle, dry fly
body: peacock herl, twisted into rope

John,
The Peacock Hackleback is tied with dry fly saddle hackle. I like for the hackle to be a little bit longer than the hook gap to keep the goop off the hook. It sorta works. I also clip the hackle along the top of the hook shank so that the fly flips over when it sinks, hook point up.
In most situations I want the fly to get to the bottom pretty quick. But more and more I've landed carp that have taken the fly in the middle of the water column, as it drifts to the bottom. So I now tie flies in two weights; .025 wire (with black thread), and .030 wire (red thread) .
I'm also interested in taking carp that are cruising near the surface in deep water, you need a boat to see these guys but they are definitely out there. I'm thinking that if i present a flotsam weight fly to 'em they'll take it.
I'm looking forward to corresponding with you. Maybe you'll make out to the desert this summer, might show you some spots that will blow your mind. And if you find some water on the Columbia down there that has acres and acres of ankle to waist deep water be sure to let me know

Another Year Behind Us

p. dieter photo

Big Ben With East Lake Brownie

Today I found out that my friend Ben died from a gunshot wound that he inflicted upon himself last week. WTF?!
We weren't real close but we did know each other from corresponding through email and on a online fly fishing forum. I first met him a couple of years ago at Burning Pram.
What I remember most about Ben was his writing. Ben posted great stories on the Westfly Bulletin Board. My favorite of which was " Desert Waderings," http://www.westfly.com/forum/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=011048#000010.
In person Ben was warm and friendly. The last time I saw him was at Burning Pram III. I remember that he said that he was glad to see me and I could tell that he really was glad. That it made me feel good that someone I had only met once, two years ago, was so happy to see me. I was happy to see him too and now as I look back I'm thankful that I got to see him one last time.
Take care Big Ben.

Big Bull

That's how much it cost to replace the camera I dropped into the river right after I took this picture. At least the memory card survived the dunking.
In spite of all that it was a good day on the water. This was my second of two bull trout that I landed that afternoon. They both took a light brown woolhead sculpin.