Northwest Fishing Reports

Zebra midges are tied to imitate chironomid pupae and thus can be fished with or without an indicator, or as the bottom fly in a 2-fly rig. In most creeks/rivers, midges are a winter time staple and thus having some zebras (or other chiro patterns) in the smaller sizes (16-24) is good idea, especial...

Great day on the pond-nice work! Curious to know a bit more about this pond. Does you friend allow the public to use it (ie. "pay to play" if you will)?

Gary, you will be out there in no time getting after the bows and grayling as it sounds like the weather is moving solidly towards spring. Out of deference to you, I may have to anchor up on the rocks and sinkline for some of those bows since you are not able to get after them. Have a safe trip to S...

Gary..... I will throw you a bone :) Fished Dry Falls with my Dad for a couple of days this past week. Heard and read great reports of 30+ fish days from guys fishing chiros, bloodworms, etc. under and indicator in anywhere from 2-12ft of water. Just my kind of fishing! However, these reports were f...

Selectivity in the early season is typically not an issue as water temps remain low and insect hatches remain sparse to non-existent, although sometimes you may encounter an early season midge hatch that gets the fish moving and feeding selectively. What pattern you fish is generally a secondary con...

Gary, watching you "get it"- putting it all together to get the right drift and put that fly on the fish that day on the Spokane in water that is not easy to nymph - remains one of my favorite memories on the Spokane. I learned to fly fish on the Spokane and if I wanted to catch fish consistently, y...

Gary, fishing Medical and Amber will not be the same once you are gone. Fishing those lakes with you has been a great blessing to me (even that day on Medical last summer when you caught like 30 fish to my one and my indicator was right next to yours with the same flies! - I would gladly take anothe...

Rooscooter, great post! Thank you. Finding the thermocline- how do you establish where exactly that is? Are electronics necessary? I agree fish will hold there, but finding exactly that level is key just to get in the game so to speak if you are fishing during certain times of the day/season. Early ...

Not sure if this post will stir up some life on the flyfishing board, but since I cannot fish I thought I might see if some of you are willing to "talk" fishing a bit. Fishing stillwaters for trout in the heat of summer is generally not a good idea because of how it impacts the fish. However, assumi...

Anglinarcher, thank you. I will PM in you a few weeks time. Have a safe trip.

Dave

Anglinarcher, I agree wholeheartedly that caddis hatches can be the most difficult hatch to fish, hence my post. There are a plethora of patterns available, but more than in the mayfly hatches I have encountered, the pattern I fish during emergences of caddisflies seems more critical (assuming of co...

Seeing that this is a key hatch on the Spokane river, which is finally dropping into shape, I am curious to know methods, techniques, strategies, tips, patterns, etc. that you guys employ when encountering caddisfly hatches on the Spokane (or anywhere else for that matter. Specifically when trout ar...

I was reading through the old posts and came across this one, which intrigued me so I thought I would "dredge" it up and see if others might have some additional thoughts to share. The issue of water depth in relation to the size of fish was broached, with the experience this year being different fr...

Zen, Bill is currently working for the The Fly Shop in Redding, CA, which actually sounds like a great job in the conversations I have had with him since he left Spokane. He is doing well. Its our loss though for people like him, and fly shops like the one he ran to leave the area. We do have some g...

Zen, I cannot really speak for Bill, but the conversations we had in the months prior to his closing the shop certainly indicated to me that economics was one of the primary factors. People started buying items online, at Sportsman's Warehouse in the Spokane Valley Mall, etc., and I think it just be...

Craft stores are good places to find inexpensive materials to tie with, but as flyfisherman, I think its important that we consider other things beyond the price when we make a decision to buy something. Price is important, but there is something to be said for supporting the local fly shops, partic...

Sorry for the delay. I will put another call in to my "middle man" who is sending out the flies for me from his address in the States. He may have done it already, but if not, I will make sure he does it this week. Pace.

Dave

My flies are finished and are back in the States. They just need to be sent to you. I hope to have that done by the end of the week.

Dave

we need a few more! ill tie up a second pattern if needed, maybe a easy little midge. if there are only 6 tyers everyone will get two of each flys, still tie up a dozen. Beresford, I can join in and tie a pattern for the swap. I have a friend visiting Rome right now so I can give him the flies to t...

Anyone ever catch a steelhead on the fly? Iwas thinking about makeing a stelhead fly fishing rod and buying a reel, will 7 wt line do? I assume I need backing since steelhead like to run alot. What is your favorite steelhead fly? I fly fish for trout almost exclusively, but the other 10% of my time...