April Fly Selection

April Fly Selection 

Sea Run Cutthroat have a unique menu this time of year.  Swarms of Chum fry in the shallows, Herring hanging on drop offs, and small sandlance on the Eel grass. It gives an angler a few extra things to explore as they are out looking for Sea Run Cutthroat.  When picking/tying your April Fly Selection we have a few considerations to think about.

Chum Fry

Chum fry of coarse has to be the main focus due to the shallow water sight fishing that they encourage.  Cutthroat porpoising like they are sipping caddis flies on the Missouri river in Montana… Chum fry are an absolute blast.  Check out some thoughts on Fly Selection.

Chum Fry Flies

When the schools are small, we like to fish a real accurate chum fry profile like the “Chumbodies Baby”.  I like the red egg sack head because it makes my small fly stand out a bit.  I also fish this fly steady, but slowly.  Keep tight with the fly, but don’t make it run to fast.

April Fly Selection

Chumbodies Baby

If I see thick schools of chum fry,  I like to fish epoxy minnows, and really tear through the schools with fast strips and flashy chum fry profiles, if the bait is an inch, I would go a bit bigger, 2-2 1/2″. Why? It just seems to work. I like to pull the fly quite a bit quicker in these situations and try to find the feeding fish.  When we have thick schools of bait and not a lot of crashing fish, I tend to think the fish are gorged or just not around, and we need to find them quickly.  A good ol’ Epoxy minnow is a great searching pattern.

April Fly selection

Epoxy Minnows

Now if I see cutthroat crashing chum fry and slurping them down like crazy… The “Frisky Fry” gets tied on the floating line.  The small gurgler like head will keep the fly floating and skipping on the surface, but allow the bulk of the fly to skim just under the surface.  If the Chumbodies Baby is the technical assault weapon, the Frisky Fry is the Whoopy Cushion “gotcha” of the group.  I like to strip this fly just fast enough to make a commotion on the water and wait to see the bucket swirls of fish coming to the surface.

April Fly Selection

Frisky Fry

Sandlance

Sandlance are my favorite baitfish for sea run cutthroat.  If sandlance was a people food it would be the nacho. Every cutthroat loves a sandlance.  April is when we start seeing fish key in on them. Sandlance tend to spend most of their time in April schooled up along the edges of Eel Grass beds, and where a steep beach starts to flatten out.  So If you have a steep drop off at the edge of your beach, its probably not the best place to find schools of sandlance.  Sandlance are quick swimmers who dive when being chased and like to hide down in the eel grass. Cutthroat gobble these things up like candy bars and fat folks.

Sandlance Flies

Sandlance can actually grow to be a pretty large baitfish.  However, in April I tend to flirt with the 2 1/2″ epoxy minnow, or the 3″ Money Maker for most of my sandlance patterns. The epoxy minnows serve me double for when the chum fry are pushed off the shallow water and are hanging on the edges of Eel grass. The Money Maker is my go to fly for 99% of my Sandlance imitations.  The baitfish profile cast easy and has a ton of movement in the water.  This “Flat Wing” style fly uses a illusion of bulk without creating actual bulk and becoming buoyant.  Design along with the tungsten bead allows the fly get right to business fishing from the first strip.

April Fly Selection

Money Maker

I hide a tungsten bead in almost all of my sandlance patterns, and like to give a three second pause before I start to strip.  This gives the fly time to dive like a fleeing baitfish before the retrieve it.  Our retrieve stays pretty much the same for these all year long.  Short strips, start slow and end fast, don’t pause.  If you have been on the casting deck of my boat before you have seen the fish chase them in, and if you have made the mistake of pausing you have seen the fish veer off of your fly and disappear into the depths of Puget Sound.

April Fly Selection

Money Maker/Sandlance/Flatwing

Herring

Herring is a overlooked bait source for Sea Run Cutthroat.  I think much of this stems from the folks who write the books on Sea Run Cutthroat tend to be beach anglers.  Herring hang on the dropoffs and ledges in Puget Sound, making them hard to reach for most beach anglers on all but the lowest of tides.  Cutthroat will target herring when they venture into the shallower bays and when the herring are in big numbers.  Typically when we are fishing with Herring flies we are targeting bigger Sea Run Cutthroat trout.

Herring Flies

When we are tying Herring flies we need to remember a couple of things.  One, these are not narrow baitfish, so we need to provide bulk for the material.  Two, these are larger flies, so we need to pick the right hook.  Number one you can learn at a fly tying class, and number two I have some pretty strong opinions on.  The two hooks I like to tie my Herring flies on are the Tiemco 800s size 6, and the Ahrex NS110 size 4 or 6.  The heavy gauge wire will keel the hook well with a bigger profile fly, and the larger gape in the hook will make sure your hookups are well placed in the corner of the mouth.

April Fly Selection

Herring Money Makers

My herring flies are typically variations of the Money Maker, or traditional Flatwing.  Both of these patterns are sparse while keeping a larger profile in the water.  April is a great time of year to fish Herring patterns as they ball up near the shorelines.  The large cutthroat will leave small chum fry to target the larger nutrient rich Herring.  When retrieving the fly, you should be steady with short strips as the bait is pretty tightly balled up.  If you pull the fly in quickly you will tend to foul hook bait, or pull the fly out from under the bait balls where the cutthroat are hunting.

April’s A Transition

Overall April is a transition month.  The Cutthroat are spreading out from their winter holds.  The eelgrass beds are growing back to their summer thickness, and baitfish are moving back into their summer shelter.  Your April Fly Selection is all about being prepared for summer style bait balls, or spring chum fry…

April is also all about the All-Waters Spring Clean Up on April 29th! BBQ, Beaches, Fishing, and making Puget Sound great again.

Chum Fry Fishing Report 3/13

Chum Fry Fish Skin

Chum Fry Fishing Report 3/13

Man-O-Man where to start?! Chum Fry is the keyword for this March Fishing Report and they are damn near everywhere! This week we have had Cold/Comfortable/Warm/Perfect/Wet weather.  It has been down right confusing trying to layer up in the morning for a day on the water.  However, the chum fry is out in full force! Sight fishing for big cutthroat along the flats has been down right amazing! Schools of chum fry getting caught up on the shoreline current has been our main keys to success.  However tossing big baitfish off the dropoffs on slack tides has lead to some great success on the slower parts of the tides.

Fly Fishing this time of year is as good as it gets.  If you stay in the chum fry the fishing has been great, and if you get out of the chum fry the fishing has been unpredictable, however not to shabby either.

Chum Fry Big Papa

Listen up!  I’m going to give you the trick of the season. Slow down and just do some searching.  We just slowly cruise the shorelines, waiting to see fish heads and bait boiling, then make your cast at feeding fish.  “Alright there he is make your cast… slow, strip, STRIP,  speed up… STRIP, STRIP!”  Then start laughing and playing your fish!  Come on now, how could it get any better?  Chum Fry season has delivered in an absolute spectacular way this year!

Chum Fry Fish ButtHere was the conversation at the dock yesterday;

“Hey Justin, I just realized the guys who recommended you said you tell a lot of jokes, we didn’t hear any today!”

“…Shoot man, I don’t know why I didn’t tell them.”

His wife then said, “I know why, you were to busy netting fish and laughing at the fishing!”

 

A few keys to success:

  • Stay out of the run off!  As the winter turns to spring the snowmelt can shut the fishing down.  Stay away from the creeks that are kicking out the snow melt.  Allow me to elaborate on this. First, snow melt will often lower the water temperature and clarity, making it difficult for fish to hunt. Furthermore the snowmelt carries lots of minerals that can lower the oxygen levels and often makes for lethargic fish.
  • Stay with your game plan! If you are fishing somewhere with a lot of chum fry, stay fishing in the bait.  Your go to spot probably is not going to fish the same if all the bait is south of you still.  Cutthroat will move to the bait.
  • Work out from the source! Start by, finding the creeks that are dumping the bait, and move out to the good water north of it.  Also, this is a great way to find new water for the whole year and great fishing now!
  • Slow down!  Sometimes your eyes are better for searching than your brain. Take some time to just stare at your situation.  Looking down the beach is often the best way to find a starting point.  It might seem counterintuitive to stop casting, however that is often the best place to start when things are not going as planned.

UPCOMING WEATHER

This coming week we have some cloudy overcast weather in the mid-high 50s… But what the hell do those weather men know anyway?  I’ll take that mid 50 degree weather any day after the past month of cold.  If you look at the forecast it looks like “Fishing Weather”!

Dates!

Chum Fry Big Fish In Net

We don’t have many for the next few weeks.  We moved some stuff around today and opened up the 19th, 25th, 27th, 31st.  I can’t say this enough, Thank you so much for all of you who came out this month. I am humbled to be able to share the memories with all of you!

April Dates:  3rd, 10th, 12th, 15th, 16th, 22nd, 25th, 27th, 29th.  We are filling up pretty quickly and looking forward to another great month with all of you!  Chum fry will still be emerging from the rivers all through April and we will stay ahead of them all month.  I am fired up and looking forward to continuing the roll we are on!

Chum Fry Cutthroat Swim Away

Captain’s Clean Up

We will announce soon the Inaugural Captain’s Clean Up for April.  Keep an eye open for it later this week!  We are super excited to party with you all and spend the day cleaning up Puget Sound.

Spring Is Started- Fishing Report

Spring Has Started – Fishing Report

Holy smokes,  This weekend was a blast! Spring Has Started! Thanks to those who came out and joined in on the fun!  Last week we had great fishing, and found most of our fish on Shrimp and Sculpin patterns, we were going strong… Then it started to go down hill…

Spring Has Started

The Scramble

First, we had a last minute cancelation of our entire weekend! Not an awesome move.  However, occasionally things happen, and we have a super awesome client base that was able to help me out and fill in the dates! Thanks so much for your support guys!

Next, on Thursday, we went to wash down the motor and our water pump went down… Again, our weekend was in shambles!  We called around, got the parts and were back up and running for Saturday morning.  We unfortunately had to cancel our Friday and move some things around.  But we managed to salvage the weekend!  Timing could not of been better!

Spring Has Started

The Flood Gates Are Open- Spring Has Started!

Saturday morning we headed into one of our favorite spots.  The weather couldn’t of been more pleasant.   However, our typical spring spots were just feeling empty.  We hunted for a bit, and eventually caught on to what was happening.  The fish were super podded up on small schools of chum fry.  Once we found the small pods of bait, the fish were absolutely frenzied and quick.  We managed a really good day, with lulls and then fast moments of brilliance.

Spring Has Started

All day Saturday we just felt like it was ALMOST perfect fishing conditions… We were absolutely right. Sunday morning we rewarded for our game plan… Chum Fry were kicking up and we stayed in the bait and the fish all day.  At high tide we pushed real close to the creek mouths and we could see the bait being pushed out by the current of the outgoing tide.  Right onto a buffet line of savagely feeding cutthroat trout.  Forget about professionalism for a minute.  When you drop three fish on one retrieve and still land one… The fishing is god damn bananas.

Check out our Tips and Tricks post to see some tricks to taking advantage of the Chum Fry hatch!

We started early, and stayed late, jumping from one spot to another hunting chum fry. The spots we didn’t find them we could tell the fish were pushed into the creek mouths.  In some instances up in the flats of the estuary that we couldn’t get to with the tide, we could see fish hammering chum fry in the deep pools.

If I were to describe the fishing in one word…

Spring has started and we are stoked!  Lets Get some fishing in!

Weather Report

The weather report has some clouds and light rain in the next 10 days, however the temps will stay in the 50s and be pretty typical early spring weather.  Spring has started!  I can’t imagine starting the spring off any other way!

Spring Has Started

Dates! We have some Dates!

Come on out tomorrow March 6th, I am open to a half day! From there we have Friday March 9th, 11th, 13th, 16th, and 18th open.  We look forward to sharing the water with you! Chum fry traditionally last  till May, however the most exciting time to find them is as they are first dumping out of the creeks!  It’s like a treasure hunt, and you can potentially strike it rich!

Spring Has Started

 

Good Clean Livin’

Good Clean Livin’

I have been talking back and forth with The Flood Tide Co. the last few days! Great guys, and amazing company! Not to mention Paul Pucket’s artwork is awesome.  I was telling them that one of the big reasons I love their company is their slogan; “Good Clean Livin'”.  They asked me to write up what “Good Clean Livin'” meant to me on a short little form.  I was using my phone to fill it out, and felt I didn’t quite do it justice.  However, if truth be told, their slogan was sort of the inspiration for how I run All-Waters Fly Fishing.

Good Clean Livin'

All-Waters Fly Fishing – Good Clean Livin’

I have been working on All-Waters Fly Fishing in one fashion or another for many years. It started out as just a blog with inspiration to get my name out there as a guide. That just never took off,  epic failure.  Then I was selling flies so people would buy them, hear about my guiding, then hire me to take them fishing.  I still sell the flies, and people hear about me through that for guide trips… However, I didn’t need a website for that.  I was stuck, and had this dream, that I couldn’t quite figure out.

Good Clean Livin'

Then I saw this little company from the Low Country, just doing what they want to do.  Making cool artwork, having fun, working, and supporting their local conservation groups… With this cool slogan  “Good Clean Livin'”  I was immediately drawn to their rad hats and shirts, however, I was taken back by how powerful that slogan paired with the general attitude of the company…

Boom! It hit me! “Just do what you do best!”  So All-Waters started by picking up all the things we were passionate about, Having fun, fishing, conservation, fly tying, and teaching, plus we got to start that blog back up!  It only made since to hit up this awesome company and say “Thanks!”  Turns out, they are as awesome as they appear!

So What Does “Good Clean Livin” Mean To Me?

Good Clean Livin’ to me means a lot of things. Like most good things in life, it’s not simple to pin down.

Good Clean Livin'

It for one thing means giving back to the resources we work with. It’s why we try to hard to continuously promote Coastal Cutthroat Coaltion and the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group.  If you love something, the way we love our fishery here, you have an obligation to bring some positivity to it.  It’s one of the things we love most about our career, we get to spend it in one of the most beautiful places in America.  If we do our job the way we feel it should be done, it will bring a positive message to our clients and customers.

Good Clean Livin'

Good Clean Livin’ undoubtedly also means enjoying life! Our saying every day we are on the water is; No matter what, we have more fun than anyone!  Whether on the water, or hanging out at the resort with a cold beverage.  We are always having a great time!  We have some party’s coming up that support that claim as well! More on that later though!

Good Clean Livin'

Furthermore, Good Clean Livin’ has to involve community.  What good is a good thing if you can’t share it with your friends?  We would be nothing without the community we surround ourselves with.  Our friends at Sage, Alderbrook, Fly Men Fishing Company, Flood Tide Co, our other guides we surround ourselves with, and our awesome clients and friends we share the water with! Not to mention the community of fishermen and conservationist on the Hood Canal and Puget Sound.

The last thing we believe about the slogan “Good Clean Livin'” is that it has to mean putting in the work.  We work tirelessly to to provide the best service, the most fun, and give you the best memories possible. We believe in working harder than anyone else and also, working at making sure it stays fun for us!  I believe if we continue to focus on these philosophies we will continue to be the bench mark in the PNW saltwater fishing services. We love the work, and so far, there has been zero backing down from putting in the effort to make sure everyday is more than you could ever ask for.

What’s The Point?

Well, the point is, we are proud to call Flood Tide Co our friends.  We are stoked to share our life with you guys as our customers and friends.  And we are looking forward to some more Good Clean Livin’ this spring.  Looking forward to sharing some more days on the water with all of you, and making some awesome memories!

Make the best of your spring fishing!

Make the best of your spring fishing!

Spring time is the best time of the year for us! It’s a chance to get some sun light back into our lives, we see all of our clients for the first time of the year, and we start seeing other anglers out on the water.  However, for most, it’s a time of year to dust off the rods, and get back out there! So why not make the best of your spring fishing?

Here are some tips that will make your spring, the best one yet!

Study the map!

– Spring is all about chum fry and finding the bait. Look for the places that bait will congregate! Here is 3 things to look for:

  • North of a chum salmon creek. Chum salmon typically don’t migrate deeper into the sound.
  • A obsticle that bait will have to swim around, such as a point.  Chum fry are poor swimmers, and points make slack water that will group the bait all together.
  • Shade from the sunny shorelines.  Chum fry don’t want to be sitting ducks for…ducks, and other birds.  They will go deep when the sun comes up or hide in the gravel, putting down the frenzy of feeding fish. Think high banks and over hanging trees.
Be Prepared!

Hood Canal Views

– It’s spring, the weather might shift and you might need to shift your fishing along with it.  Or your wardrobe. Here’s what we mean:

  • You head out and it’s overcast and cold. However, as the day scoots along the sun comes out and pounds the shorelines.  You might want to make sure you brought more than just your floating line along.  Also you might want to have a few weighted baitfish to plug along those drop offs!
  • The forecast is calling for 68 degrees and sunshine… Who trust the weatherman in Washington’s spring? Bring and extra jacket so you don’t end up at the taco joint drinking beer instead of fishing.
  • It’s the first big push of fishing for you of the year! Make sure you have your fishing license and all of your gear together! Nothing sucks more than thinking you are prepared and your guide telling you that you need to go online and get your license.

Have a Plan B!

-Our success is because we are prepared. Not just that our rods are rigged correctly, our flies are sharp, and we have more fun than everyone else.  We go out to the water with a plan A, B, C, and D.  Here’s some advise for this spring.  We are not saying you will need a back up plan, but often a strong plan for the day will keep you on the water and in the fish!

  • Plan A- Fish the estuary water with chum fry and look for frenzied Cutthroat.
  • Plan B- Head out to the first point and search the edge of the current and slack water for popping bait and frenzied trout.
  • Plan C- Search the shaded shorelines for bait.
  • Plan D- Plug the drop offs and structure with weighted flies for fish searching for bait down deep.
Spring Fishing
Try something new

 I can only speak from my own experience.  For example, for years I had two methods for catching cutthroat, and if those two techniques didn’t work, I would say “well… the fish are off the bite, we are not going to catch them today.” Now, both of those techniques were fairly effective probably worked 85% of the time. 10% of the time they worked poorly and we scratched out a few fish. and 5% of the time, we got blanked because we were just not versatile enough to figure it out.

  • Tie a new fly that you know others fish. For example, I NEVER used to fish sculpin patterns or shrimp patterns.  Now when we need a technique change or the fish are coming up deep from the bottom in the winter and not committing. We know how to get them.
  • Stray from your normal sink rate. Fish deeper water or fish the flats.  Become more versatile in the water you can find fish in.  We have seen big fish swim through shallow troughs on the flats when the water temperatures are down. We also have had many days when all of our fish came out of 25′ of water in the summer.
  • Let go of the reigns.  I learn a lot from fishing with my friends.  When I let Brita dictate our day on the water, we fish stuff I normally skip over.  Also when Mike’s running the boat, I gain a new perspective of spots that I fish all the time. Every now and then you have to set your ego aside and say “how would you approach this problem?”
Spring Fishing
Commit To The Plan

-Sometimes you just have to take the beating. Wait out that tide shift or that rising water temp.  Some times you just have to commit to the cause.  I can’t tell you how many times our plan is to fish through a crummy tide waiting on that 9:30 tide shift. We will pick up a few fish, but then it turns on! We might fish water that is not the plan A waiting for that tide to shift before we go to the best place of the day.

  • When planning your day, don’t beat the hell of out water that has not shaped up yet.
  • Pay attention to how your favorite beaches shape up when the tides shift.  Where is the slack water? Where is the fastest current? How does the eddy set up?
  • Fish your way into the best spots.  Watch how your fly line reacts to the current as you approach a rip, sometimes the water is ripping below the surface and you can hardly see it move from the top.

I hope these tips help make your spring fishing the best yet!

#GuideLife

#guidelife

#GuideLife

Mike Lawson recently had to write a similar thing to what I am writing about now, and when I read it, I thought… “Well, that is shame that that even needed to be written.”  I hope my attempt is received in the good nature that it is intended. Full disclosure Mike is much more qualified to write this than myself.  However our fishery is fairly new, and the “elders” are not doing a fair job of explaining what guiding means in Puget Sound.

Quick Background

I am a pretty lucky guy.  Fly Fishing has been my career now for the entirety of my adult life.  For the past quite a few years now I have been guiding for Sea Run Cutthroat Trout in Puget Sound and Hood Canal.  Between that and tying flies this is the only way I make an income.  I have lived in a car, eaten leftover guide lunches, cried, ruined relationships, and perhaps most devastating disappointed my mom to become a professional fly fishing guide.

I met my fiancée Brita, who brought my children into my life, while guiding Puget Sound years ago.  We have spent countless nights tying flies for our guide boxes and filling orders for custom flies ever sense.  To be honest, most days I have to pinch myself at the dream life that I have.  Between Brita and Myself we have 24 years in the fly-fishing industry. Our lives are 100% paid for by fly fishing. Between Guiding, teaching, fishing, speaking, tying, and the business end, most of my day 365 days a year, are spent entrenched in the fly fishing world.  To say we hold it dearly is a massive understatement.

#guidelife

Brita’s a rockstar!

The Big Issue

Recently, I have seen a handful of folks claim that fly fishing guides are overly exploiting the Puget Sound fishery.  Which, really is up to interpretation if I am going to be honest.  However, I think a lot of this comes from a misunderstanding of how guiding in Puget Sound has evolved over the years and who is actually guiding.  I suppose it could also stem from a bad egg acting like an idiot on the water as well, however, thats a completely different issue.

I fully understand how someone could look at a Instagram post or see someone zipping by in a boat and assume they are strictly exploiting a fishery for their own gain… In a nutshell you would be right to say that in that moment.  However, truth be told, we spend a ton of time, money, and effort to give back to the community/fish/ and environment that has supported us. We are very aware and cautious of our impact on the fishery, and environment.

I have seen a lot change over the years in how guiding is viewed in Puget Sound.  I have been fortunate enough to share the water with countless numbers of clients and almost always ask their opinion of Washington Fly Fishing.  Also, I’ve seen the way guiding is handled in Puget Sound change a lot in the last 10 years.  Much of your new guides are coming at the business from a part time standpoint rather than a full time PROFESSIONAL fishing guide. This starts to have an appearance of a lot of pressure on the fish, however these guys are not actually guiding more than a few days a year.

 

#GuideLife

Balding From The #GuideLife

Let’s Break This Down 

In Puget Sound there are MAYBE 22 “fishing guides”… To put that into perspective a outfitter in Montana will typically have that amount of guides on staff… There are typically many outfitters per river in Montana.  The big issue with saying their is only 22 fishing guides in Puget Sound is what constitutes a fishing guide in Washington?  Let’s assume this means legal, licensed guides, mostly working the waters of Puget Sound.

In Washington State a Fishing guide has to pay ~$400 (game fish only), prove (for the day of the issuing) that he/she has liability insurance, and take a first aid class. I am going to estimate that 22 folks have this license and are mostly guiding on Puget Sound.  That’s including a few guides that I know hold a license and hardly work at all.

These numbers are again estimates, however I am pretty well informed on days spent guiding on Puget Sound.  I am going to be generous to the numbers here and be optimistic towards the careers of those calling themselves guides.  There are probably of that estimated 22 fishing guides 11 that work more than 30 days a year,  6 that work more than 60 days a year, and 4 that work 100 or more days a year… and MAYBE 2 that work more than 150 days a year and if that is true, I am one of those two. So, what am I breaking down?  On the average day, there is more “Do it yourself” fishermen down at Purdy Spit than there are fly fishing guides working in the entirety of Puget Sound.

#guidelife

Jacob Is Awesome

The Truth About Guiding

It is almost impossible to luck into being a career fly fishing guide.  This is strictly a career of passion.  Being a passionate angler almost guarantees you are an advocate for the fishery.  Like it or not, our clients use us as the voice of the fishery.  Puget Sound is fortunate to have a lot of caring fishermen willing to put their money, time and effort into protecting it.  However those fishermen need to be able to hear about the issues at hand. How is the average fishermen going to learn about the issues?  The average guy working 40hr/wk is not going to go home and email his customers about whats going on in the world of Puget Sound fishing.  The average fly fishermen gets his information from his guide, or his fly shop.

A guide knows not everyone is going to sign up for a trip.  However,  if you write a working guide an email or give them a call he/she will give you a up to date fishing report.  Most will discuss conservation, fish ID, beach access… Whatever you need.  I write reports for multiple fly fishing clubs in the area and host tying events whenever they ask. Furthermore, I also spend a night every month writing congressmen and WDFW about local issues and concerns about our fishery.  Most guides are advocates of their local fishing community.  Whats good for the masses is usually inline with what’s good for the guide business.

Giving Back 

I can only speak for myself typically, however, I will lump in 3 other guides into this.    For the last few years the Coastal Cutthroat Coalition has been around. I know for a fact David Dietrich, Ben Zander, Brita Fordice, and myself have donated well over $10,000 worth of trips, flies, swag, and time.  We have also informed our clients of their work and the work of Puget Sound Keeper, Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement, Long Live The Kings, and other conservation efforts that they might be interested in participating in. We have also pitched plenty of ideas to Coastal Cutthroat Coalition to help raise more research dollars.

Social Media 

Like it or not, social media has become a big part of our everyday lives as fishermen.

 #KeepEmWet has literally changed the way 1,000s of fishermen handle their fish. Solely because a few fishing guides (Dave McCoy was the first I saw) decided they would lead by example.  Not bad when you consider Tarpon anglers in Florida are doing the same as Steelhead guides in British Columbia now. Guides have a responsibility to protect their lively hood.  Typically this means protecting their respective fishery and environment.

Another program started to protect the environment and spread by guides has been #KickPlastic! We went from a flat of water bottles a week down to 4 a year on our boat.  This was just because of a social media campaign spread by fishing guides. Now almost all of our clients bring reusable water bottles.

The People’s Fish

Running a guide service in Washington has been a dream of mine since I can remember.   We take it very seriously to give back to the communities that support us. We do free casting lessons in the summer at Alderbrook Resort.  Also, we send our clients to the local markets and restaurants in the area to do their shopping. In addition to supporting the local tourism and clubs in raising money to keep a healthy community.  Not to mention we inform people of the gear they might want to buy from their local fly shop… But most of all we fish.

We love fishing Puget Sound. We love sharing it with anyone who will come along or listen to/read our fish stories. I want to know about it if one of our guides are being unprofessional on the water so we can fix the issue.  If it is a guide you don’t know,  I will find out and help mediate the issue.  If there is something you wish guides would consider please email me and we can talk it out. We have a lot to lose living this #GuideLife.

Why We Love Fly Fishing Hood Canal

Why We Love Fly Fishing The Hood Canal:

It’s no secret that we are partial to the Hood Canal portion of Puget Sound.  We love it.  In fact, our life revolves around the seasons of this vastly diverse fishery.  I thought I would share a few of the reasons why we love fly fishing Hood Canal.

The feeling of being remote is unparalleled in Puget Sound.  The Hood Canal is a drainage from the west side of the Kitsap Peninsula to the East slope of the Olympic Mountain Range.  The real beauty of this is that it creates a barrier that makes the eastern Olympic Peninsula  a relatively inconvenient place to do business. Which keeps the population down to a minimum.  So while you are fishing you might hear some eagles, a few splashes, and the occasional sea lion bark.  It’s fairly rare to compete with other anglers or beach goers.  The body of water is vast enough that when we do encounter other anglers, we usually know them on a first name basis.

Fly Fishing Hood Canal

Spring starts on Hood Canal earlier than most of Puget Sound.  Which we appreciate more and more every winter.  The end of February starts the spring chum fry migration that brings out the best of what cutthroat fishing has to offer.  The bait is up high in the water column, the fish are looking up, and we have a fantastic saltwater blitz of feeding fish! This is all happening in the crystal clear water with snow topped mountains towering over you from the Olympics.  I mean, what a way to kick off the fishing season!

The options are endless throughout the year,  making Hood Canal a fly fisherman’s dream. The saltwater fishery varies with the water temperature.  Which means, the fishery is constantly changing with the seasons.  However, if you hit it right, different parts of the Hood Canal will “turn on” as the lower warmer sections will turn off with the rising temperatures.  Likewise, staying with the cold water will keep you in bait rich water year round.  Cutthroat like it cold, and will be more aggressive the colder the water temperatures get.  Fortunately, year round you can always find cold water on Hood Canal.

Tributary fly fishing hood canal

As the summer rolls on and the saltwater heats up, the rivers that feed Hood Canal also “turn on”.  This small stream fishery is unparalleled west of the cascades.  These “blue line” fisheries have fantastic trout fishing that will leave you feeling like you discovered Washington’s best kept secret. Small streams and big rivers flow from Olympic National Park and create a fantastic native trout fishery!

Fantastic hatches of caddis and stone flies keeps the trout looking up. This while an abundant nutrient rich  forrest feeds these streams and keeps the trout fat and happy on baitfish, aquatic insects, and salmon eggs. This is a two fold trip visiting these streams.  You are also amongst some of the most beautiful scenery of any trout fishery in the world. Casting your fly into these trout rich waters  provides an opportunity to reflect on the old growth forest of Washington’s past, while providing a world class opportunity to catch native trout.  These streams flow out of true oldgrowth wilderness and remind you why wilderness should be protected for future generations.

Termite Fly fishing hood canal

While fishing is great in the streams, the saltwater is still fishing fantastic in the Canal’s colder stretches.  However, when it cools back off down in the fall, fantastic doesn’t begin to describe how amazing the fishing gets.  Whether off of our boat or off the beaches, the fishing is great in the fall. Big trout, and hatches of Termites falling from the neighboring hillsides. Dry fly fishing in the salt for big sea trout can leave you speechless! Twitching termites and ant patterns in the tidal current is as exciting as it gets saltwater fishing for our Sea Run Cutthroat.

Winter time on Hood Canal is when we typically see the biggest fish of the season.  The shallow water cools way down and the big deep water cutthroat come up to hunt.  Searching the shallows for sand shrimp and sculpin on the winter high tides.  These big fish are special to the Hood Canal.  Furthermore,  the Hood Canal just has a more of them than anywhere in Puget Sound. If you can brave the cold winter, it is a great time to test your angling skills with some of the best shallow water sight fishing of the year.

These are just a few of the reasons we love sharing the Hood Canal with you! Not to mention the fantastic community of shops and restaurantsdistilleries and resorts. Hood Canal is a great place to experience a wild and unique and saltwater and small stream fishery.  In addition to having a wonderful family get away. Come join us and let us show you why we love fly fishing Hood Canal.

Contest/Fly Fishing Show Update/Early Chum Fry Dates

UPDATES! UPDATES! AND A FEW DATES!

Our Contest is getting underway and we have seen a few early entries in the last few weeks. Again this is for unique and fishy chum fry.  Some really cool patterns have been sent to us via email and social media! Remember to #AllWatersFlyFishing to show us what you have going on.

We are raffling off a dozen of our traditional Flat-Wings at the show. These flies would typically sell for $120 retail. Come on by and throw in your name, email, and phone number for a chance to win a pretty sweet set! We will post more pictures as the show gets closer!

Fly Tying Class Flat Wing

Also, Chum Fry dates are filling up quick! So get them while you can!

We have February 22nd, and 27th open! Also, March 1st, 4th, and 9th!

We won’t be warm and toasty, However, we will be having more fun than anyone else!

Brita’s Fly Tying Classes

Brita’s Fly Tying Classes:

Brita has a couple of fly tying classes coming up in February!  We don’t do as many of these as we wish we did, so we decided to pick it up a notch.

Fly Tying Class

First, her intermediate saltwater fly tying class will be on February 10th.  This class will cover Chum Fry, Poppers, worms, and baitfish. This will be a 4 hour class from 3-7pm in  the Bremerton/Silverdale area. Call or email for more details.

Fly Tying Class Chum Fry

Also, she will be holding a class on Flat-wing flies on February 24th. This will also be a 4 hour class from 3-7pm in the Bremerton/Silverdale area.  I can not think of anyone more qualified to teach a class on these dynamic, beautiful, and effective flies.  Call or email for more details.

For both of these classes we will supply all materials, instruction, and some refreshments, The cost of the classes will be $150.  Please bring your own vises and basic fly tying tools or let us know so we can supply them. We announced the classes yesterday on social media, and have 3 spots left for Intermediate Fly Tying, and 2 spots left for the Flat Wing Flies.  For all the materials or tools you would like to bring check out The Avid Angler to grab what you need!

Fly Tying Class Flat Wing

Stay tuned for more up coming classes!

 

Fly Fishing Show/ Fly Tying Competition

Alright Folks!  We are headed to the Lynnwood Fly Fishing Show on February 17-18 in Lynnwood Washington.  We have also talked about having a fly tying contest and have been trying to think of the best way to do such a thing. So, What do we do? Combine them!

For the first Fly Tying Competition we are going to do a “Match The Hatch -“Chum Fry”.

Here’s the scoop:  We love fly tying. When we are not chasing kids or fish, we are tying flies here in the fluff factory.

So, We want to see flies that are not “a cone and some squirrel”.   We want to see creativity.  It’s chum fry, it’s iconic in the PNW.  Let’s do these little things some justice and see what you can do at the vise.

Scoring:

  • Creativity
  • Perceived Effectiveness (does it look fishy)
  • Presentation (well tied and well loved)
  • Unique – We understand there are only so many ways to tie a chum fry… However, there were only square rocks before the wheel right?

Bonus Points:

  • Take a photo of your fly in the booth and tag us on social media
  • Leave your best joke with the fly
  • Deliver your fly with coffee in the booth

Chum Fry - Fly Tying Competition

You must drop off your best “Match The Hatch- Chum Fry” at our booth at the Lynnwood Fly Fishing Show.  Or Email us for an address (Justin@all-waters.com).

Winner will get a 1/2 day guided fishing trip on Hood Canal during chum fry season, a New Fly Box with all of the entries,  plus a few bonus flies from us.  Furthermore we will make sure you get off the boat with plenty of good swag from some of the best companies in Fly Fishing/Tying.