Chester Allen's Watery Planet

Book Signing this Saturday at Orvis Bellevue

 

Fly fishing for sea-run cutthroat is clearly not a fashion statement -- for me, anyway. This fish ate one of Doug Rose's Keta Rose patterns in a South Sound inlet a couple of weeks ago.

 

My friend Leland Miyawaki is famous for his terrific Miyawaki Popper, his fly fishing skill and his willingness to travel long distances to cast a fly rod. But Leland is also famous for throwing great events at the Orvis Bellevue store.

Leland's planning a great party for the Spring Orvis Days at the Bellevue Orvis store this Saturday and Sunday (April 28 and 29). Here's what's on tap for Saturday:

Fly fishing antique appraisals all day.

At noon, Preston Singletary will talk about Yakima River spring and summer hatches.

At 1:30, Guide Derek Young will talk about rigging up and presenting the fly on the Yakima, which is one of my favorite rivers.

Speyburn Scotch tasting and tasty snacks will start at noon and go on through 3 pm.

At 3 pm, I will join Leland for a seminar on fly fishing for sea-run cutthroat trout. I'll also be in the shop much of the day to talk and sign copies of my book, Fly Fishing for Sea-Run Cutthroat.

On Sunday, Reggis Harris will lead a 1 pm seminar on fishing the easy-to-reach forks of the underrated Snoqualmie River.

At 2:30 pm, Leland will talk about fishing crippled midges for the big, greedy trout of Washington's famous desert lakes, such as Nunnally, Merry and Lenice. Don't miss this seminar!

For more information, visit here.

I hope to see many of you in Bellevue this weekend! And don't forget that this Saturday is also opening day of Washington's lowland lake trout season.

 

Chum Madness on the Way Home from Gig Harbor

 
This nice sea-run cutthroat couldn't resist one of Bob Triggs' Chum Baby flies during Sunday's evening ebb tide. 

 

Well, Chum Fry Madness is happening at many of my favorite Puget Sound and Hood Canal beaches right now, and I just can't stay away from a good tide.

I was on the way home from signing copies of my book, Fly Fishing for Sea-Run Cutthroat, at the Gig Harbor Fly Shop when I decided to stop by a new beach -- and then a beach that is an old friend. Truth is, I knew I would probably stop at one beach or another well before I got into the Subaru.

Blake Merwin and company were terrific hosts, and it was great to see old friends, such as Ned Krilich, and make new friends during my visit to this headquarters of sea-run cutt fly fishing. Years ago, it was hard to find a fly shop that carried sea-run cutthroat flies or materials to tie sea-run flies. Now, many shops --especially in the Puget Sound area -- carry scads of the right stuff. And, even better, these shops are now creative hotbeds of new sea-run cutt flies.

Local fly shops and guides have always led the way when it comes to creative tying -- after all, these anglers live close to their local waters and fish almost every day. I remember when I first started visiting Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone, Montana. I was stunned at the number of creative flies that Craig Mathews and company were tying to match specific hatches for the Yellowstone National Park and nearby rivers. Blue Ribbon Flies is still a very creative shop, and I stop by several times each summer to find new flies, tying instructions and materiels.

The fly bins at Gig Harbor Fly Shop were full of interesting, creative sea-run cutt patterns, and I learned a lot. It's important to support your local fly shop, as those places offer more knowledge -- and, often, a friendly hangout -- than can be found at a big-box store or a discount online store. 

Anyway, I checked the Puget Sound tide tables at saltwatertides.com earlier that morning, and a nice falling tide dovetailed into the evening hours. The sky was clouding up a bit, and baby chum are pouringinto Puget Sound from many creeks, streams and river, so conditions were perfect for Trout-O-Rama.

I didn't find Trout-O-Rama at the two beaches I fished -- I suspect it happened at both of them while I was driving between the two spots. That's how it goes. I suspect wading anglers are usually better off picking one beach for each tide -- which is exactly what I said in my seminar earlier that afternoon -- but I couldn't resist zipping over to a beach that I've been slowly learning for the past couple of years.

The water looked pretty flat and featureless when I got to the second spot, but the water level was dropping fast and the tidal current flowed at a brisk pace. By the time I got rigged up, the water level dropped low enough to get a small rip flowing off a point. Baby chum salmon dimpled in the quiet water between the bank and the rip. My heat bumped up a notch when I saw those little fish darting around.

I expected bites right away, but that didn't happen.

I cast the Chum Baby into the rip for about 10 minutes before a nice cutt whacked the fly. I suspect that it took the cutts that long to find the rip and move in.

That first fish was handsome and fat, and it gleamed in the low light of dusk. The day felt full, and I was tempted to lope back to the car and call it good. I was tired and hungry for a good sandwich. But a nice cutt boiled in the rip, and I started casting again. Call it Chum Madness....

A few notes:

My friend Doug Rose has a bunch of great blog posts about the recent Cutts and Chum seminar in Port Townsend. Check them out, as they're a great read and full of good information for sea-run cutthroat junkies.

I'm going to join my friend Leland Miyawaki for one of his famous events at the Orvis Bellevue store during the afternoon of April 28. We'll talk sea-run cutthroat fishing, and I'll happily sign my book. Leland will talk about tying and fishing his famous popper. Fishing the Miyawaki Popper to aggressive cutts is about as fun as all this gets -- which is a lot of fun.

 

 

 

Book Signing in Gig Harbor this Sunday

 

I'm going to be at the Gig Harbor Fly Shop this Sunday to sign my book, tie flies and jabber about fly fishing for sea-run cutthroat trout.

This luau begins at 3 pm, and I'll stick around as long as they'll have me. I love talking about fishing, and I always learn a lot whenever I meet other nutso anglers, so I'm looking forward to the day.

If you have already bought a copy of my book, feel free to drop by, and I'll happily scrawl away in your copy. The nice people at the shop tell me they have plenty of copies of Fly Fishing for Sea-Run Cutthroat, but I'll bring a few extras -- just in case.

Gig Harbor Fly Shop is located at 3115 Harborview Drive, Gig Harbor, WA, 98335. Gig Harbor is a beautiful town, and there are plenty of sea-run cutthroat beaches nearby.... Hope to see you there!

If you have any questions, fire me an email at [email protected]

 

Cutts and Chum....

 

Notice how the pink salmon fry in the tank gleam in the sunshine. The pale fish at top right is a smelt.

 

There's nothing like a trip to the Olympic Peninsula in spring, especially if you drive up U.S. Highway 101 along the west side of Hood Canal.

The two-lane highway winds along the coastline, and each turn seems to reveal a new sea-run cutthroat trout beach. I drove the highway last weekend during my journey from Portland, OR to Port Townsend, WA, for my friend Doug Rose's Cutts and Chum Seminar near Port Townsend.

I left Portland at 4:45 am for the four-hour drive. I love leaving before sunrise whenever I'm on a road trip. There's a sense of escaping the everyday world and being on an adventure. And this trip was truly an adventure.

First off, I got to make a lot of new friends, such as Joe Jauquet, Steve Rohrbach, Jeffery Delia, Preston Singletary and Jim Getchman -- and shoot the breeze with old friends Leland Miyawaki, Joe Uhlman, Bob Triggs and Doug Rose.

I got to watch Leland tie his famous popper, and Steve Rohrbach whipped up some very jazzy popper/sliders of his own. 

Joe Jauquet shared his study on cutthroat food in Puget Sound, which showed just how important salmon eggs and salmon fry are to cutts. Jeffery Delia, a fishing madman, shared his flies and techniques, and his presentation has inspired me to shamelessly copy his flies at several sessions at the vise. Preston's presentation showed the beauty of sea-run cutt fishing in fresh water -- especially with dry flies.

The amount of sea-run cutt knowledge, passion and addiction blew me away. I'm sure everyone learned a lot -- I certainly did. Actually, my brain was boiling with all the new information when I headed home Sunday afternoon -- but more on that later.

I went to a beach seining seminar, where biologist Ron Hirschi used a small net to collect samples of sea-run cutthroat food -- particularly chum and pink salmon fry. We put the little critters into a small fish tank and took a look at the bait.

"Look at how bright the pinks are!" Leland said. The baby pinks glowed like freshly poured silver ingots.

Back at the seminar, I took a first stab at imitating these tiny, bright fish. I used Bob Triggs' terrific Chum Baby fly as a model and changed materials to the shiniest stuff I had in my fly-tying kit.

 

These Pink fry streamers are modeled after Bob Triggs' Chum Baby fly. I changed materials to make a brighter fly to imitate the slivery pink fry.

Pink salmon returns to Puget Sound are on the upswing -- millions of adults returned to rivers in the fall of 2011, and their young are now wigging out of the gravel redds and drifting downstream to Puget Sound. Pink -- and chum -- fry don't spend much time in freshwater before they head to saltwater, which means they get to avoid all the human-caused perils of spending a year or two in the stream.

Pink salmon adults return to Puget Sound rivers in odd-numbered years, so we're all hoping this year's massive crop of baby pinks turns into a huge run of adult pinks in 2013. Chums return each year, and there's a lot of evidence that their eggs, decayed flesh and fry are top foods for sea-run cutts every fall, winter and spring. The baby chum are coming out of rivers, creeks and streams right now, so look for them if you're fishing Puget Sound from now through June.

Anyway, it was exciting to examine the pink fry at the beach -- and then immediately go to the vise to tie my admittedly clumsy imitation. I used touches of hot pink on several flies, even though I didn't see a speck of pink on the naturals. Why? Well, Puget Sound cutts love the color pink....

I didn't get a chance to fish the new fly until the drive back home, where I stopped at two favorite beaches -- one on Hood Canal and one near Port Townsend. 

Baby pinks and chum were along both beaches, and they whacked the Chum Babies and the pink fry fly.

This nice sea-run cutt ate one of those modified Chum Baby flies.

There is nothing better than talking fishing with friends all weekend -- and then taking what you've learned to catch fish on the way home. I lollygagged along the beaches for several hours, which make the ride home longer and darker, but it is good to leave home in the dark -- and arrive back in darkness, especially when you're on an adventure.

Doug Rose plans another Cutts and Chum seminar next year, and It's a great time. If you didn't go this year, start making plans for next year. I had a great time, learned a LOT and will be there next year.