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Fly rod in hand first time in 8 years

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Fly rod in hand first time in 8 years

Postby 7mmfan » 03 05, 2020 •  [Post 1]

In a past life, I was a fishing guide. I captained a charter boat in SE AK for 5 years, an then guided fly fishing trips for another 6ish years in WA while going to college and post college. It would have been 2012 when I did my last guided trip. I got married, bought a house, and started a new career shortly after and promptly hung up my fly rods. This year, our local steelhead rivers were closed again due to low returns. With nothing to fish for locally, I dug out my fly rods, sorted some flies, conditioned my lines and hit Washington's only Blue Ribbon trout stream, the mighty Yakima River. I last fished this particular river in 2010.

Last Saturday, I trailered my drift boat, picked up my Dad, and we hit the road. It's only a 2 hour drive from my house to the river, so we were on the river at 9:00. It had been cold, so the water temp wouldn't reach optimum level until about noon. Slid the boat in, and floated down to the first run. It felt good to pull on the oars again, and start reading the water for trout instead of steelhead. 3 good runs down, hadn't found any fish yet. Was starting to think I had forgotten how to catch fish. I remembered a sneaky little pocket that we were about to float down to, so I parked the boat and got out. Walked down, made one short cast out to fish the drop off and bam fish on! A nice 16" fat rainbow. 2 casts later, another! From that point on it was pretty consistent to even hot fishing at times. When we got off the river at 5:00 that evening, we had landed 20 or more and lost half as many, with a couple of exceptional specimens to show for our efforts.

It felt really good to pick up a fly rod again and pursue trout. It was even better to put my Dad in the front of the boat and row him down the river. He's the one that taught me how to fish, how to read water, and instilled the excitement and passion for the sport. In all the years I guided, I only got to fish with him a handful of times because I was always busy making money. It's nice to be able to spend time with him now and just enjoy the act of fishing again.

Here's a few photos from the day.
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Re: Fly rod in hand first time in 8 years

Postby 7mmfan » 03 05, 2020 •  [Post 2]

Couple more.
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Re: Fly rod in hand first time in 8 years

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 03 05, 2020 •  [Post 3]

Excellent! What a great day on the water, on the oars, with your pop, with a flyrod in hand for hungry rainbows! Thanks, I needed that ;)
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Re: Fly rod in hand first time in 8 years

Postby wawhitey » 03 05, 2020 •  [Post 4]

Nice lookin bows, looks like a good time. I need to do some fishing next month.
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Re: Fly rod in hand first time in 8 years

Postby 7mmfan » 03 05, 2020 •  [Post 5]

You've got excellent fishing up your way. The biggest wild rainbows in the state...
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Re: Fly rod in hand first time in 8 years

Postby Deanmac » 03 06, 2020 •  [Post 6]

Great day for sure, beautiful fish.
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Re: Fly rod in hand first time in 8 years

Postby Lefty » 03 08, 2020 •  [Post 7]

Sounds like a great little trip!! and More picture to beat IS in photo of the month ;)


Flyfishing is something I would love to pick up.
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Re: Fly rod in hand first time in 8 years

Postby 7mmfan » 03 09, 2020 •  [Post 8]

Lefty wrote:Sounds like a great little trip!! and More picture to beat IS in photo of the month ;)


Flyfishing is something I would love to pick up.


The main reason I take pictures now.
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