Our Brita Is On Youtube!

A few good things have happened since the Corona lockdown. We get to know our kids a little better. Finally started on some goals that “we never have time for”. Repainted some of the house… Oh and Brita did a thing!

Brita launched her Youtube channel! Seafly907 on Youtube.

Talented, beautiful, and always entertaining! We, as the fly fishing community have a million reasons to be proud of Brita. However, her fly tying is probably the most recognizable of anyone I know. Very few tiers come to mind where you go “I bet that fly was tied by _______.” Brita’s flies are both uniquely her own and stunningly beautiful. Finally, Give it a view, give it a follow, maybe drop a comment in the comments section… Perhaps even mention All-Waters… Most of all enjoy!

We announced our first online fly tying class yesterday (chum fry-Tuesday 3/31)! Well… We are not done yet!

For next Thursday we have another one for you! Puget Sound Assortment. We will have baitfish, gurglers, attractors, and more! Pretty much, the flies that keep us rocking on the water!

Thursday April 2nd 6:00-8:00pm

Here’s the drill! Thursday April 2nd 6:00-8:00pm we will have our class on Zoom! Zoom is a online conference program that I will be able to see your progress and walk you through step by step how to tie our patterns!

These flies will be complex enough to challenge you, but easy enough that with basic tying skills you should be able to pull it off. You will need basic tools:

Vise (rotary is helpful), scissors, dubbing tool, bodkin. A whip finisher is optional.

Materials

We wanted to make this easy while supporting a local shop. All materials are picked and set aside at Waters West and ready to be shipped directly to your door. Give them a call, tell them you are taking our class and pay over the phone. You will have it in 1-2 days. 2 of our patterns will require UV Epoxy (or you can just end them without eyes) to finish. You can ask them for Loon Thin and Flow or equivalent.

WDFW Fishing Closure…

COVID, Statewide Lockdown, being called NonEssential (have you seen the smiles we deliver?)… Now a statewide fishing Closure?!! WTF!!

It was announced yesterday that WDFW was closing fishing. My gut reaction was “$H!tH3@ds!” However, after a few minutes to cool off and think I had a few more thoughts about the subject.

A simple “why” might help our understanding.

WDFW manages our state public lands and water ways for recreational hunting and fishing. Most of my audience do not visit the public docks, piers, walkways, and access points the state manages. These areas are to allow less mobile people have an opportunity at fishing. Think Edmonds pier, Pt Defiance, Maritime Heritage Park in Bellingham. These places all at certain points of the year can have countless people fishing from them. Not to mention the crazy amounts of lake docks, boat ramps, and public parks that folks stand shoulder to shoulder for the opportunity at a trout, salmon, or steelhead.

WDFW is dealing with a public health crisis that we have NEVER seen before. Something we do not really know how to deal with as professionals. While I personally doubt standing on a beach or in my boat fishing for cutthroat is contributing to the problem. Perhaps though standing in line at to grab a license or tackle probably is a issue.

Now add into the fact that WDFW could close these access points with high traffic and a high likelihood of anglers coming into contact with each other. Then they have to try to skirt the offending the old man who can’t walk a beach, the kid in a wheelchair who loves to fish, the grandma who wants to jig a few squid. I start saying “maybe they made the right choice.”

Bright Side

Let’s just take the two weeks off. Look at the bright side, you now have the opportunity to sign up for one of our online fly tying classes. Think about the steelhead might make it to their spawning grounds without 47 hooks being thrown at them. Even cutthroat will put some more weight on uninterrupted. Or take this opportunity to spend extra time with your family before disappearing on the water for the summer!

Spring Newsletter!

We sent a spring newsletter out this morning that was a bit out of the ordinary. Usually we include tips, tricks, hints, and all of that… I don’t even think we mentioned Chum Fry in the whole email. This time, we just had a bit much to say to include all of that.

Tips:

1.) Fish the back eddies to find the chum fry. Here is a link to some more tips on chum fry.

2.) Don’t try to launch your boat at WDFW ramps for the next two weeks.

3.) Stay tuned for online tying classes here at ALL-WATERS FLY FISHING.

4.) Subscribe to our newsletter!

Elephant In The Room

We are in uncharted waters here.  Covid19/Corona Virus has flipped the world upside down and rocked some of us to the core.  What are we supposed to do in these situations? What’s our responsibility to our clients? How to we move forward at the moment (or do we?)

So to the, the proverbial elephant in the room.  Yes, we are still running charters.  Until we are specifically told to shut down, I am working.  I am not asking any of our guides to continue, unless they absolutely want to (they do).

Travelers

We are obviously a company that deals with MANY traveling anglers.  All of which have been canceled.  Our relationship with lodges has been a major part of our business and we have been rocked to our cores watching them shut down. 

Our friends at Alderbrook Resort have promised to pay their employees throughout this crisis, and we cannot say enough to show our admiration for how they have handled this.  This has nothing to do with us, however I thought it was important to point out something positive.

Cancelations

How this affects us?  We have canceled about 35 trips for the next two months that were staying with one of our lodging partners.  It just is what it is. I think this was a important step in keeping us safe and we appreciate the steps we and these clients have taken.  Hopefully we will see those folks again when it is safer!

If you are looking for one of these dates, we will offer you $150 off Full Days and $75 off of Half Days.

Moving Forward

If you are symptomatic, been in contact with someone who is, or been a reckless moron attending underground Corona raves, please cancel your trips.  Please be responsible and bring your own water bottles, we are suspending our Kick Plastic program for our clients and will have disposable water on the boat again until this is finished.  We have reduced our water from 40 flats of water a year down to 2 with this program, and we look forward to moving back.

I know these are scary times, and all of us at All-Waters Fly Fishing appreciate all of your support.

Don’t Sleep On The Mighty Coho of Bristol Bay!

If batman had the bat signal… I had the Wild River signal. Our friends at Wild River Guides reached out last year when one of their guides had to miss a couple weeks of their season.  I gladly jumped on a flight to Bristol Bay, then spent some of the most fun weeks ever floating the most remote rivers in Bristol Bay chasing fish, camping, eating, and exploring.

At night we would day (night) dream about getting some of my favorite clients out to remote Bristol Bay to enjoy what they had to offer.  Thats where this email comes in.

John at Wild River Guides spent most of the winter securing a permit to extend their season in the Togiak River Wildlife Refuge so we could take a week long trip down the Togiak River fishing for the mighty coho.

Ever wanted to catch coho on surface flies? Catch fish till your arm failed you? Have a truly wild experience in the most remote sections of America? Fly into the most beautiful rivers in the world? Or just hear dirty jokes from me WAY past the average 7-8 hr day on the water?

Let’s do it!
September 2nd-9th

All inclusive (minus flights to and from Dillingham) $5600

We have been heavily neglecting this since last fall! I could make all the excuses in the world for it! However, instead of making excuses I will just let you know this! We have been slamming trying to make 2020 the best season yet! It will be a hard task after these last few years! However, I think we are all up for the challenge!

Stay Tuned and know we have some super fun stuff coming soon!

I have been on the water for the last 32 billion days and just have not had the motivation to keep up with these. However, our most popular blog subject is back… Q & A. We had a ton of questions following the last one and I just thought I would bring it back, it is fun to do and we had the questions in our inbox still!

Q.) What is the worst hook incident you have ever seen?

A.) Look, I have had a few on my boat. I saw a picture of someone in the eye once, it looked gross. But in person I was probably the victim of the worst one I have seen. I’ve yanked them out of peoples heads, arms, back, neck… But I had one go through my finger and out my fingernail while tying one on. The barb was not pinched yet and the barb stayed under the nail… It makes me think of a Game Of Thrones style toucher to look back on. It was awful… I had to just grab some pliers and rip it out, because I could not get help from the customer and I could not leave it in there digging at my nail bed. It was that or end the day… I believe it was Jesus that said “The show must go on.”

Q.) Do you hate running conventional tackle trips?

A.) No, not at all. Look, light tackle/spin fishing trip are fun. The way we fish with spinning rods is almost exactly the same as fly fishing. We fish gulp minnows on jigs or spoons, and we cast and retrieve very similar to fly fishing. Not to mention, if we are getting people interested in the fishery and showing them how much we care about it. We are effecting people the same way and hopefully tipping the narrative towards being sustainable fishermen/women.

Q.) How do you feel about politics or religion on your boat?

A.) I feel the same way about politics on my boat as I do on land. If you don’t feel the same way as I do, you are an idiot. haha

I love learning about people and politics. I firmly feel that we have tabooed the conversation for so long that we have created a false narrative that the two parties are massively opposed to each other. When really we all want mostly the same thing. We want our kids to be safer, healthier, and happier than we ever were. We want our air clean, our fish plentiful, and our economy thriving. How we get their, I don’t know. But I know that not listening to the other side is probably not going to help. So whether you are a Trump fan, a Bernie fan, or anyone else. I think it’s super cool that people would trust me enough to want to share their thoughts with me.

As far as religion goes… Pretty much the same thing. If your god tells you to hate anything… Probably keep it to yourself. Other than that I am fascinated.

Q.) I only fish a popper for cutthroat.

A.) That is not a question sir. Also… You are missing out on a lot of cool flies and sweet fish. Believe me when I say I love fishing topwater too. So… cool… I guess.

Q.) I don’t like fishing sinking/shooting heads. Do you have advice?

A.) Shooting head styles of fly lines can be frustrating. Particularly when you are not used to the way they cast or sinking lines. First, and foremost I would recommend getting used to it… Go practice casting the damn thing.

Look I get it. A type 6 sink streamer tip line feels clunky if you are not used to casting it. But if you slow down and get the timing right, it is not much different than your full length line. All floating lines are going to be smoother to pick out of the water. But a sinking line does not need to be difficult. I will tell you what. If you contact me, I will meet you somewhere and show you how to cast them. (justin@all-waters.com) I will also show you HOW to practice casting.

Alright, our ball is rolling and we are going to get back into updating the blog a few times a week starting now. So, we will bring the Q & A section back as soon as we have a handful of questions again!

September Fishing Report

This September fishing report is all about cooling water. All summer long, day in and day out, we are checking that water temperature and keeping the boat moving north. We start early, and plan our day around finding and staying on cold water. It is the main focus of finding fish in the summer time.

Well… All of that is over. Our September Fishing Report could be called a celebration! We have finally gotten a few big rains, cool days, cold nights, and the water temps are back down around the 50’s. The trout are pretty much celebrating right now. Cold water holds more oxygen, and lowers the stress level of our Sea Run Cutthroat significantly. So happy fish, means hungry fish! Hungry fish, means happy fishermen!

Will You Get To The Point!

Sea Run Cutthroat are using these cool waters to chase Anchovies, Sandlance, and Herring up into the shallows! Since the shallows are cold again, these fish are smashing bait up on the flats and not really caring too much about their personal safety.

The way we have been targeting these fish is to find the steep drop offs with a large flat, and hold the boat right on the edge of the drops. Casting up onto the flats and stripping the flies toward the deep water, keeping our flies in-front of all of the ambushing and blitzing trout.

From the beach, you might try to reverse this by finding a shallow shelf you can wade onto and cast into the deeper water and pull your fly up onto the shelf. Not quite ideal because you are standing where we want our flies, but you should pull quite a few fish right off the edge of the drop off.

So… What Are They Eating?

The Rio’s Nice glass is a nasty bug. The Hook is sharp with a big gap and it just down right fishes. When I saw the fly the first time I believe my reaction was “Holy shit! That is genius.” The glass beads reflect light and are translucent. They also add weight giving the fly a natural dive and dip in the water. The materials are light and tied in a way that keeps the fly from fouling while casting or getting hit by fish. I am a down right believer in this one and it has quickly become my favorite fall big fish fly.

It’s All Over

That’s it, Our September Fishing Report is over! Here are some dates and some things to look forward too!

September 14^th, 16^th, 21^st, 25^th, and 27^th are our open dates coming up! We are looking forward to sharing the water with you! Have fun out there!

Tarpon Camp 2020

While we are in full swing of big fish season, we are also filled with excitement for our 2020 Tarpon Camp! Our friends at Florida Outdoor Experience invited us down for a week of tarpon, cocktails, and fun in the heart of “Ol’ Florida”.

Homosassa Florida

Homosassa is a special place to fly fishermen. Not only hosting the world record for tarpon on the fly. Homosassa is home to the most amazing backcountry in all of Florida. Manatees, gators, dolphin, spoonbills, and tons of sea turtles… Oh yeah, it’s also a world class fishery for not just ‘poon, it’s home to redfish, snook, sheepshead, sea trout, tripletail, grouper, mackerel, and a variety of heart stopping sharks. All in a little shrimper town… Oh yeah… It’s also home to me. I was raised pushing off the docks at McCrea’s Marina in down town Homosassa. I cannot wait to share it with you!

Florida Outdoor Experience

This is a special week of fishing for me. I couldn’t imagine sharing it with anyone else other than the kind folks at Florida Outdoor Experience. Gray and Lacy have been nothing but great to us over the last couple of years and we are so excited to be back with them in 2020!

We will be in Tarpon Camp (our beautiful waterfront home in Homosassa) May 31st-June 6th. This is an all inclusive trip for $3000. Looking forward to sharing Tarpon Camp with us this season!