Northwest Fishing Reports

I've decided to put down the spinning rod/reel. Plunking with powerbait and worms just has lost its appeal after 29 years. Flyfishing seems so rewarding to me and alot more effort put into it. At times it seems as if its produces more fish too. Anyone up to give me some help or anything what so ever? Hatch, what areas to fish, is it possible from the bank?, these kind of questions need answering and any other help would BE SO WONDERFUl. Thank you.

I will try to answer any questions that you may have. There are many guys on the site that fly fish that are willing also. You can probably connect up with someone on the west side.

I can tell you one thing, you are going to love fly fishing.

I too a few years back outfitted myself with fly fishing gear.Ive gone out twice in the 3 years since I bought the gear.I bought the book "Flyfishing For Dummies" but I need the book "Flyfishing for Dummies and Slow Learners".I've tried Rocky Ford Creek ,Crab Creek and the Yakima river with little to no success.I 'm thinking of taking a course in tieing and setup .I'm willing to learn ifin someone has the patience.

Ahhh thank you all too much you guys. Well I think I just may need to pick up a few books and have some teach firsthand how to cast and what to look for.

Ahhh thank you all too much you guys. Well I think I just may need to pick up a few books and have some teach firsthand how to cast and what to look for.

Hey KurtO,

I found some fly casting instruction on youtube by a contributor named booniecat.

The first one on casting (there is a series, I do not know how many) is: t2SgcCw6I8M

Maybe Marc or Joe could take a look and give a shout out about how good they are.

KurtO,
Here is a book that I have used and found to be a great resource. It's called;
Flyfisher's Guide to Washington, by Greg Thomas. The ISBN# is 1-885106-58-0
I've fished Rocky Ford before and had very limited success. Those fish have been caught too many times for me. I've only fished the Yakima once and that was from a drift boat. I hooked up several times, but only brought a couple to hand. You might want to consider the Deschutes River. It's somewhere close to Yelm, a ways south of Olympia. A friend of mine fishes there often and does well, but he knows the river. I wish you all the luck in your new endeavor. Email me or PM me if you have any questions. I'll do my best to answer them.
Good Luck & God Bless,
Here is a link to the book;
http://www.amazon.com/Flyfishers-Guide- ... 86&sr=11-1

I find all these links to be so useful. I'll let you guys know how im getting along and whatnot. I would like to purchase a rod sometime but have no idea what to look for. Fishing for trout. Line advise would help too. thanks again.

KurtO wrote:I find all these links to be so useful. I'll let you guys know how im getting along and whatnot. I would like to purchase a rod sometime but have no idea what to look for. Fishing for trout. Line advise would help too. thanks again.

It would be helpful to know what you are fishing for, where you intend to wet a line, if you are interested in catch and release or catch and fry, or are you targeting trout, steelhead, salmon or spiny rays. It all seems to be relevant. Let me know, I'll help where I can.
OK, trout. Lakes or rivers? Probably a 5 or 6 weight rod with a matching reel would be good for most occasions. Are you fishing for surface feeders (dry flies or emergers) or are you after deeper fish (streamers and nymphs.) email or PM and I'll help where I can.

lskiles wrote:Hey KurtO,

I found some fly casting instruction on youtube by a contributor named booniecat.

The first one on casting (there is a series, I do not know how many) is: t2SgcCw6I8M

Maybe Marc or Joe could take a look and give a shout out about how good they are.

I looked at a couple of the videos and here is my opion.

They are o.k. in the sense that they show you the very basics. The clips that I saw were out of sequence and didn't really show the overall line movement. Today, anyone can, if they have a video camcorder, post any type of instruction.

I suggest instead of listening to several different people in videos on Youtube, invest in a good DVD instructional video. Perhaps the best fly casting instructional film is by Joan Wulff. She is the wife of the world famous Lee Wulff. Teaching for decades, she has the experience that is presented in her video. This DVD can be purchased on Amazon.com at a very reasonable price.

http://www.amazon.com/Joan-Wulffs-Dynam ... 568&sr=1-1

The 16 Five Star reviews on Amazon tells me that this is an exceptional instructional video. Joan is a world class caster and presents the technique quite well. I am ordering the DVD to use myself and also to lend to friends and beginners.


Books are o.k., but with the technology we have today with the DVD's, it is much easier to learn than looking at pictures or drawings. 40 years ago all that was available were books to learn from. VCR & DVD's weren't even invented. Man I would have given anything for a instructional movie to watch.

Another tip is if you have a mini-DVD camcorder, have someone video your cast and then take it in the house and review it. Then compare it to the instructional video. You will instantly see where you may be doing something wrong.

For $25.00 the DVD is cheaper than 3-4 professional lessons.

The thing to understand about fly-fishing (for me atleast) is that the fish are much smarter about it. If you go to rocky ford creek, or dry falls, the usual tricks don't work as well.

The best thing that has helped me is getting out on a lake with my float tube and trolling different colors of woolly buggers. By doing this I learned what the trends in color were, the depths that were working and the speed of retrieve. By using a woolly bugger for about the first five years I was fly-fishing I did not have to worry about which fly to use. A woolly bugger imitates many bugs and hatches. I would start to notice trends of when I would turn I would get a strike or after letting line out and then when it tightens I would get a strike.

Another thing I learned is to not go cheap on leader. I finally started buying pre-tied leader and it is a huge difference in casting.

also, at the library I found many good instructional videos on tying flies and fly fishing in general. Which really helped me out.

and remember, when nothing works, use the biggest buggiest looking fly you have.

Good luck.

oh and it took me three years and six trips to rocky ford before I landed a big one. I found the trick is to hide and not let them see you. Once they see you move on to another part.

I'll make sure to try and pick up some dvds from the battleground library if they have any. If they don't im going to buy something from amazon. Most of the time I'll be fishing for trout in lakes but would like to venture out to lewsiville river for some wild trout also. woolly buggers huh?

Marc Martyn wrote:

lskiles wrote:Hey KurtO,

I found some fly casting instruction on youtube by a contributor named booniecat.

The first one on casting (there is a series, I do not know how many) is: t2SgcCw6I8M

Maybe Marc or Joe could take a look and give a shout out about how good they are.

I looked at a couple of the videos and here is my opion.

They are o.k. in the sense that they show you the very basics. The clips that I saw were out of sequence and didn't really show the overall line movement. Today, anyone can, if they have a video camcorder, post any type of instruction.

I suggest instead of listening to several different people in videos on Youtube, invest in a good DVD instructional video. Perhaps the best fly casting instructional film is by Joan Wulff. She is the wife of the world famous Lee Wulff. Teaching for decades, she has the experience that is presented in her video. This DVD can be purchased on Amazon.com at a very reasonable price.

http://www.amazon.com/Joan-Wulffs-Dynam ... 568&sr=1-1

The 16 Five Star reviews on Amazon tells me that this is an exceptional instructional video. Joan is a world class caster and presents the technique quite well. I am ordering the DVD to use myself and also to lend to friends and beginners.


Books are o.k., but with the technology we have today with the DVD's, it is much easier to learn than looking at pictures or drawings. 40 years ago all that was available were books to learn from. VCR & DVD's weren't even invented. Man I would have given anything for a instructional movie to watch.

Another tip is if you have a mini-DVD camcorder, have someone video your cast and then take it in the house and review it. Then compare it to the instructional video. You will instantly see where you may be doing something wrong.

For $25.00 the DVD is cheaper than 3-4 professional lessons.

Thanks Marc...I knew you would come through on this. Excellent advice. My brother, who is fly fisher, told me that he will go to a shop or clinic avery few years and get a "tune-up" on his cast. It is always nice, according to him, to have an honest critique now and then.

I imagine your library system has everything on line so you can look up flyfishing or whatever you want and reserve whatever DVD's you want. We have used the library extensively through the years for instructional, educational, travel and just plain movie movie DVD's and VCR tapes. It's alot cheaper than buying DVD's etc and our library lets us keep them for 3 weeks at a time. Good luck with your fishing.
R

In addition to the tremendous amounts of books and videos available, keep in mind that you'll have to be patient with yourself and this new sport. You'll go on dozens of outings, if not hundreds, before you will become comfortable. Experience is everything. Force yourself to keep going out even if the first few trips are a debacle. Get with a local fly shop, partners or a club to gain info. Don't be afraid to ask questions...most guys on a lake or stream will share advice, techniques and patterns. Most of us can recall those days when we first started!

I dabbled in fly fishing, on and off, for 15-20 years before I arrived in Washington in 2002. I was fortunate enough to have a boss who was a fly fishing nut and who was also new to Washington. He became my mentor and so it began! The learning curve was incredibly steep but within a few years I became adept at reading hatches, choosing patterns and the necessary equipment, dead drifting a dry fly drag-free, and piloting his Hyde drift boat on easy rivers like the Clark Fork, Yakima, and CD'A rivers. I "cut my teeth" on lakes though, by dragging/stripping bugger, leech and nymph patterns from a pontoon boat in hot spots like Fourth of July, Amber, Coffeepot, Medical, Fish Lakes, etc. etc. etc. I watched those more experienced fishermen around me and asked questions. Soon I was dropping anchor instead and learning how to get after them with chironomids under a strike indicator. A couple years later I watched a guy, over a course of 4-5 trips to Amber, consistently catching trout when everyone else was struggling. Swallowing my pride I kicked over, introduced myself, and asked him his secret. This guy, Dave, was simply fishing chironimids vertically in 25-30 feet of water with a full sink line, utilizing a slow retrieve from bottom to top from an anchored pontoon. I tried it, halfway learned it, became patient with it, and now swear by it when the water warms and fish decide to stay deep. This technique is dirt simple and ultra-effective. Dave, coincidentally, is now one of my fishing partners. I'm still tapping the depths of his and my other partners knowledge.

Good luck and have fun with it! I must admit, it's addicting. When that cutthroat sips your PMD, a large rainbow executes a vicious, toilet bowl flush type strike on your skwala or hopper pattern, or your strike indicator slips under the surface while fishing chironimids (Down goes Frazier! as one of my partners describes it), you'll be absolutely hooked and will have to keep coming back for more!!!

Rosann G wrote:I imagine your library system has everything on line so you can look up flyfishing or whatever you want and reserve whatever DVD's you want. We have used the library extensively through the years for instructional, educational, travel and just plain movie movie DVD's and VCR tapes. It's alot cheaper than buying DVD's etc and our library lets us keep them for 3 weeks at a time. Good luck with your fishing.
R

She is right. Unfortunately not all the videos will be of excellent value to you. You will have to find out by watching them. What this might do is narrow the field down till you find the ones that are good for you. Then you could buy them to watch over and over without having to remember to take them back on time. I use the library all the time and the movies or books I want that they don't have I request they buy.

I am by far not an expert on fly fishing but I am willing to share my limited experience. First, I am starting my second year. When begining it seemed beyond my ability. I bought an inexpensive outfit, took a casting class and began to practice. Without a doubt practice is key. I did most of my practice in the back yard. I bought some books and eventually I went out to my sons place to try my hand in his trout pond. I caught my first two trout and I was hooked.

I made what I think was several significant choices. First I got known at the local fly shop. Next I joined the local fly fishing club. Now I have source of supplies and connections with experienced fisherman. Finally I committed myself to tying flies.

Fly fishing offers such a wide variety of activities off the water. It used to be when I came home and put the boat away I was done until next trip. Now when I return from fishing, I know I have other fly fishing related activies to occupy my time.

So how have I done in less than a year? I have rainbows, chum salmon and searun cutthroat trout in the log. All caught on flies that I personaly tied. I have several new friends whom I fish with on a regular basis. Just think on Sunday I will only be 70.

Mike :thumright

w7co wrote: So how have I done in less than a year? I have rainbows, chum salmon and searun cutthroat trout in the log. All caught on flies that I personaly tied. I have several new friends whom I fish with on a regular basis. Just think on Sunday I will only be 70.

Mike :thumright

You are doing great!:cheers: Wonderful, isn't it.o:) Happy early Birthday!!

In my earlier post, I mentioned Joan Wullf's video Dymanics of Fly Casting. I ordered the DVD and watched it. She is fantastic. It is the best video I have seen on casting and was produced exceptionally well. She is a very gracious lady and truly is an expert instructor. She explains the subject extremely well and shows it clearly. It is a 5 star rated for sure. This would be a great investment for anyone starting to fly fish or like me, tuning up your cast.