One More Pull

A beauty James Reid landed on his Winter Run Bamboo, Doublehand 

The morning sun rises,

reflecting orange and pink skies.

One more session; before we have to leave.

Scurry to put on waders; 

forget the morning coffee buzz, just gotta get in the water. 

One last cast, 

one more pull, one more landed; 

it's never enough.

Washed Ashore - What you can make out of Plastic

Spey Nations, Catskills and East Coast Flavor

Tight Lines Fly Shop and "Spey"

Amidst a busy summer with Marty running bass trips in 105 heat and low water and me working for TRCP, I dropped Tegan off at my sisters on Whidbey Island, Washington and flew to Newark, New Jersey for a quick tour starting at Tight Lines FlyShop and ending my trip on the Salmon River in Altmar, New York for SpeyNations. My mother was born and raised in New York. Despite still having relatives out East, I haven’t visited since I was a kid.  What I remember was the lights of the big city.  This time I would land in Newark, by pass New York City and head North to where the Catskills meet the Adirondacks.   My uncle told me that this is where my mother fell in love with the outdoors and I see why.

My flight arrives in Newark midnight, E.T. .  Nancy and Andrew Moy from Tight Lines ( a full service shop with a fantastic tying selection, spey rods and “Spey” the shop dog.  Half hour from New York, this is the place to go if you need material and equipment. )  arranged a shuttle to pick me up. I’m greeted by Mike, born and raised in New Jersey; he’s full of questions about the West coast. He speaks with pride about being an East coaster, we compare the cost of living and he tells me his from central New Jersey.  

If you’re from South Jersey, you don’t ever want anyone to ask if you’re from North Jersey, which you think is basically New York. If you’re from North Jersey, you don’t ever want anyone to ask if you live in South Jersey, which you think is basically Philadelphia, or worse, Delaware. If you’re from Central Jersey, doesn’t ever ask if Central Jersey really exist. It does.

Catskills Museum

The next morning I meet the Moy’s, full of energy and fun, this is going to be a great week! Heading north we stop at the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum that is working to protect and promote fly -fishing. Engulfed by a history that dates back to the early mid 1800’s with bamboo rods on display by H.L Leonard to a collection of art by Lee and Joan Wolf and more. I discover this is where fly-fishing in the U.S. really got its start and is the birth of the “Catskills Style.”  

In 1890, sporting magazine columnist Theodore Gordon wrote to the renowned English fly fishing author, Fredrick Halford, complaining of the selective nature of the brown trout's feeding habits, and soliciting suggestions on fly selection for Gordon's Catskill waters. Halford sent back a cache of flies that were productive on the placid English chalk streams of Kent (on display at the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum, in Livingston Manor, NY today). Gordon recognized the flies needed to change to  imitate the local hatches, so he tweaked the design of Halford's flies to created the high-floating Quill Gordon dry fly, the first of the iconic "Catskill style" of dry fly.   

Andrew and Collin on the Beaverkill

After an hour in the museum and becoming members, Andrew and I continue our journey to the Beaverkill River, a tributary to the East Branch Delaware.  At the Moy cabin we wader up for an evening fish.  Swinging isonychia nymphs  and drifting isonychia dries, trout smack our flies under a gray sky against the lush green “tropical” forest.  As dusk approaches, the sky lights up with Fireflies.  I’m as giddy as a child remembering catching fireflies as a kid in Tennessee. Nancy and I chase the flies trying to catch one, she manages to seize one and I let it crawl on me, watching it illuminate green, it flies away.    

Patrick shares his secret flies 

The next day we meet our sports to hone in their spey casting skills and fish the evening hatch. PJ and I miss the evening fish and head to Altmar.  She’s from Canada and new to the sport, is on a sole mission to  submerge herself in the Spey culture and what a better way than a full day lesson and off to Spey Nations for the weekend.

Malinda - Malinda's Fly Shop

Hand Crafted Fly Box by Adelcio Chavez

Get your Dunkin Donuts at the Simms Booth

We arrive at  Tailwater Lodge on the Salmon River.  Greeted with laughter’s and hugs by Patrick Ross and his friends as well as West coast locals Travis Johnston and James Shaughnessy, we’re happy to be there and eat  crab fitters and best burgers I've had hands down!  Patrick’s , a  long time angler who owns the Anglers Lodge where the first Spey Nations took place,  he has been hosting West Coasters since.  It's great to have local knowledge and a down to earth host.  Saturday morning arrives and PJ and I head to the Spey Nations location on the Salmon River. 

Spey Nations started as a format to share the passion for Atlantic Salmon, raise awareness for a fishery that people love and the two handed culture.  With coffee in hand we are greeted with hand shacks and hospitality.  The lot is lined with industry booths and people hustling to say hi to old friends and make new ones. The vibe is about having a good time and sharing the fervor we all have for preserving the fish we love and promoting the sport we are nuts about.   The evening ends with beers, BBQ and laughs and preparing for a class the next day with a group of awesome women that are avid anglers and the token guy (just kidding Ron).

Sunday’s class is a blast teaching single speys and snake rolls and working on casting with the non dominant hand up. We laugh, talk about fishing and flies.  I’ve made new friends and this is what our sport is about! 

Spey Army

After the class Patrick, Travis , Captin Jamie and I  head out for  a Northern Pike mission near Lake Ontario. This is my first time seeing Lake Ontario and I feel like I’m standing in the Kodiak harbor. Seagulls fly over head and sport boats line the docks.  What feels like a sea breeze chills the air. We launch “Team Water Spyder” and shoot up an estuary. Rods are rigged and 30 pound mono is tied on. We cast towards grassy banks and strip.  Patrick’s fly lands, a head turns and the speed of the Pike leaves a boil the size of Old Faithful.   We fish till we can’t see any more missing some great takes and landing a couple juveniles.  What a great way to end an East Coast trip.

Caption Jamie leads the way! 

Little but strong !

Lily's on the water

Rushing back to the West coast to pick up Tegan and hightail it back to Maupin for work and preparing for a session with Ron Wyden on the Oregon Economy and Recreation. I’m thrown back to the hustle of our life and grateful to have the opportunity to visit the East Coast and make new friends!  Thanks to all the good folks that made my trip possible and all the new friends I made, too many to list. Thank you Geoff and the Spey Nations Crew, Patrick Ross, Andrew and Nanacy Moy, Tailwater Lodge, Melinda’s Fly and Tackle Shop, Jamie Perry, Travis Johnston, Joe and Delores Saracione, Simms Fishing, Rajeffs Sports and  Costa Del Mar.  . An extra big thanks to my sister and brother in law for watching Tegan!!

A Childs Perspective

Bison in Lamar Valley

Fountain Geysers

Wolf at the Gizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone

Tegan and Alice, Riverside Anglers land a trout

Mountain Goats

Missed the Salmon Fly hatch by a week but Tegan had a blast inspecting the nymphs.  

New friends!

Deschutes Redsides

Home water. 

Surface slab.

Red side.

Mia captured this lift off.

It's been a fun few weeks over here!

Get some April and May 2016 with us.

www.littlecreekoutfitters.com

Swing the Fly 2.3 Winter

Steelhead Paradise

The Fly Matter

Brown Trout

Time to Fly South and more ...

Wondering about Deschutes Water Temperatures

If you fish the Deschutes you've noticed changes in  the summer water temperatures, the presence of brown algae, unreliable Macroinvertebrates hatches and steelhead runs are later. Like me, you wonder what is going on and what is being done. Deschutes River Alliance (DRA) has been collaboratively working using, science-based solutions to address basin-wide threats that may adversely affect the health and function of the lower Deschutes River and tributaries.  I've asked Dave Moskowitz of Deschutes River Alliance a few questions. 

Can you  tell me the current status of water releasing and how this is effecting steelhead?  

No data has been released from the Pelton fisheries workshops that were held in March.  Our understanding is that results are very poor. What is available are the trapdata at Pelton, and returning numbers are really poor as well for adults.  I'm talking about reintroduction returns for the arts of the river above Pelton-Round Butte. 

 It seems there is more green and brown algae that I would relate to warm water, is this true? What kind of algae is it?  

The green plants you see in many runs are not algae but a plant.  There is the elodea which is dark green, and then there is a bright green plant that grows in many places as well.  Those are not algae.

The primary algae in the lower river are two species of nuisance algae that are more golden brown or dull beige-green.  These are not invasive but are considered nuisance because they are inedible by bugs and snails. Algae is the base of the food chain but not the primary species we are seeing in the lower river.

The algae is not primarily here because of the temperatures.  The flow regime for the lower river begins in January and there is primarily a top release from Lake Billy Chinook (LBC) and it continues through the spring and early summer.  The warm water may help the algae bloom earlier but the top releases are of nutrient laden waters and they are the principle risk to the lower river.

 

Have the hatches been effected ? Later or earlier hatches? 

The bug hatches are continuing to be affected.  Few if any March browns.  Very sporadic PMD and PED hatches with some amazing hatches followed by nothing.  Same with caddies.  Blizzard hatches one day, nothing the next.  No crane flies.  Huge midge hatches.  Timing and density appear to be very variable.  Trout guides cannot count on dry fly fishing and often are nymphing to find fish.

Rick Hafele has over 100 observations loaded on our bug hatch app that is being used by guides up and down the River.  We are excited about a second year of reports.  His report from 2013 is available here.

DRA also helped ODFW with a trout survey this spring - their first trout study since 2001 - and that report will be out this fall. 

 What is Deschutes River Alliance doing ? 

We have been doing things that really require expertise on water quality monitoring (we had 14 people in the field for our water quality tests).  We have been limiting the hatch observations to very skilled anglers who know the difference between caddies species, for instance.  

Water temp data can be gleaned from the USGS sites at Madras and Moody.  We have helped PGE place and retrieve water temp devices for two years and have not been given the results.  

We did our own temp profile of the entire lower 100 miles this summer.  Also took pictures of the algae growth from the air.  We will have a bunch of info by late October.

 DRA is trying to use our money wisely so we do not print up color stuff much. Check the website for more info on what we are doing. 

We will be doing more scientific work in 2015 but we will likely be on to much more.  We are in strategic planning mode right now.  

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 How can people help?

" Please visit our website and get informed about the issues as we have a ton of information about the Deschutes and what we have learned.  The Hafele Hatch Report is a good place to start.  Stay informed, sign up to receive email and alerts and if you love the Deschutes, please make a contribution of any size!"

Flyfish Gaunaja Honduras