I don’t post too many reports, but I had a banner day on the urban river south of Seattle yesterday and thought I’d share.
I was grumbling about the rain a bit as I rolled up to my first spot, but it kept all the other anglers off the water - I didn’t see anybody else fishing all day!
Now I do love flyfishing, but fair warning, when I’m meat fishing I’m not above using gear, and I was out to fill the freezer. I packed my fly rod in the tube, but bait was just getting it done so well that by the time I remembered my fly rod, the creel was full.
At the first hole, I rigged the treble up with what I like to call the “Holy Trinity” - one ball of powerbait, one earthworm, and one piece of whole kernel corn, one on each hook point. I pinched on a split shot and clipped on a bobber and started drifting my offering through the run.
The first couple fish were small, maybe juvenile steelhead or salmon smolts, which I kept for bait. I didn’t need them, though, because after that it was game on! I was able to bonk two chunky rainbows and two healthy cutthroat as I worked my way downstream.
Things slowed down for a while, even when I shook some corn out of the can and let it drift downstream to draw some attention. The bite was off. I killed some time building a rock dam, which I heartily recommend as a way to stay warm on a river on a cold day. After a while, I started to see fish rise, so I got back to it. My corn supply was low, but flipping over some rocks revealed stonefly larva to load the treble hook up with instead. Match the hatch! Two more cutthroat and what I think was a steelhead, and my creel was full.
We’re lucky to have this beautiful fishery right in our backyard, and I’d encourage all of you to get out there and steward the resource. I’ve gone so far as to transport local Lake Washington smallmouth up to some of the upriver holes I like to fish - if we as anglers don’t take initiative to replenish fish populations, no one will.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget what day it is - time to buy a new license!
I was grumbling about the rain a bit as I rolled up to my first spot, but it kept all the other anglers off the water - I didn’t see anybody else fishing all day!
Now I do love flyfishing, but fair warning, when I’m meat fishing I’m not above using gear, and I was out to fill the freezer. I packed my fly rod in the tube, but bait was just getting it done so well that by the time I remembered my fly rod, the creel was full.
At the first hole, I rigged the treble up with what I like to call the “Holy Trinity” - one ball of powerbait, one earthworm, and one piece of whole kernel corn, one on each hook point. I pinched on a split shot and clipped on a bobber and started drifting my offering through the run.
The first couple fish were small, maybe juvenile steelhead or salmon smolts, which I kept for bait. I didn’t need them, though, because after that it was game on! I was able to bonk two chunky rainbows and two healthy cutthroat as I worked my way downstream.
Things slowed down for a while, even when I shook some corn out of the can and let it drift downstream to draw some attention. The bite was off. I killed some time building a rock dam, which I heartily recommend as a way to stay warm on a river on a cold day. After a while, I started to see fish rise, so I got back to it. My corn supply was low, but flipping over some rocks revealed stonefly larva to load the treble hook up with instead. Match the hatch! Two more cutthroat and what I think was a steelhead, and my creel was full.
We’re lucky to have this beautiful fishery right in our backyard, and I’d encourage all of you to get out there and steward the resource. I’ve gone so far as to transport local Lake Washington smallmouth up to some of the upriver holes I like to fish - if we as anglers don’t take initiative to replenish fish populations, no one will.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget what day it is - time to buy a new license!
I'll be the tall guy single-hand swingin for shad. 
