Fishing Bamboo

1st day fishing bamboo. Rat King in hand.

I just started fishing Bamboo flyrods in the last few years. I have been fly fishing for nearly 40 years at this point, but I am still new to Bamboo, and its great getting into it now, after what seems like a pretty complete fly fishing career using graphite. Now I feel that I get to retrace steps and take new journeys with these new, and somehow more soulful fly rods.

I feel like the fibers of a bamboo fly rods can absorb an essence from a river or experience and then carry that memory energy forward, to the next outing to the next year, to the next angler. Stories exist beneath the hardware, wraps, and vanish; Within the glues and fibers even. Some tails are obvious, like a shortened rod tip, or dirty cork, or maybe its an extra sett of wraps that remind me why you should never yank on a snagged fly. I think the grains recall more than that though. They remember being grown and then made, heated, and glued. And fish too, not all fish, but the big ones that strain and work the fiber. for them a memory a record is made. 

I like fishing bamboo rods. The way Bamboo casts is alittle different and that helps make it fun to fish, but do I catch more and bigger fish on Bamboo rods?...

Yes. 

No good explanation, maybe they are better at protecting light tippets, maybe they are better for throwing a fly under a try. I don't know why, but I do.

I hadn't really considered fishing bamboo until the day I first visited Nelson's Spring Creek near Livingston, Montana. They had a Sweetgrass fly rod available in the shop. I didn't buy it that day as it was way out of my perceived price range at the time. however in the following days and weeks I learned something, and that is that perceptions can change.

after some thinking and soul searching I decided I could bite the bullet, so I called to buy it, but never was able to get it. so a few days later I called sweetgrass direct and found that they had a less stomach churning option for bamboo rods with their Mantra (single tip) collection. I bought the 7' 3 wt for around $1500.00 and have been thrilled with it, The Rat King, ever since.

I now bought a few more and getting more familiar with them. so here is a quick run down of some thoughts on gear so far...

My Bamboo Fly Rods (Summer 2025):

Sweetgrass - Mantra - 7' 3wt 2/1 pent - "The Rat King"

Sweetgrass - 7'9" 5wt 2/2 quad - "Polaris Lance"

Sweetgrass - 6'6" 3/4wt 2/2 pent - "Hawkmoon"

Orvis - Nymph - 8'0" 4wt 2/2 hex

Fly Lines for Bamboo Fly Rods:

Cortland Lines: The Sylk & Peach are way cheaper than most lines and fish really well. these are my first choice for lines. You can find them at the Redshed fly shop.

Cortland Sylk: Glenn Brackett likes the Sylk DTs

Cortland Peach: My friends all use these and like them

406 Flyline: I have the WF5F and really like it on my Quad (which is pretty stiff) 7'9" 5wt 2pc

other lines also work fine too just match the line weight to the rod and you'll be fine.

Note: I love the SA WF3f Infinity (w/ bamboo/buckskin coloration) on both the Hawkmoon and R.K. it is 10grains heavier than the standard WF3F.

Reels for Bamboo Fly Rods:

anything works, but you may want a little extra weight to offset the extra weight of the bamboo. its all about balance.

Right now I am using a Hardy Sovereign 2000 2/3/4 reel and a Ross Gunnison G1 on both the Rat King and the Hawkmoon. neither reel is made any longer but still available on the used market. Really just pick a reel that suites you. I've really been liking the basic Battenkill reel on the Hawkmoon. The reel is the cheapy from Orvis, but its a good reel and sits great on such a petit fly rod.

I use a Ross San Miguel 4/5 on the Polaris lance. Rod and reel match perfectly. Both are magnificent.

I also occasionally fish a heavier Battenkill on the Polaris lance as well.

1st fish on the Polaris Lance

Pointless - Fly Fishing Zen

A solitary tune by a fisherman, though, can be an invaluable treasure.

Dusk rain on the river, the moon peeking in and out of the clouds;

Elegant beyond words, he chants his songs night after night.

Ikkyu Sojun

A near solstice sunset on Henry's Fork (lots of bugs, not a single rise)

What is the point of fishing with hand tied dry flies cast with bamboo fly rods. I like doing it but, all around us is proof that there are simpler more effective ways to fish for trout, and not just ways to fish, but more effective ways to fly-fish. This is accepting that Euro-nympher's are fly fishers, which people do and that is cool with me. These nympher's often head to the river with expectations that they will hook and land numbers that astound me, 50 or more fish in a day. They have seemed to require far less effort to catch these fish, than I seem to use to catch far less, but they use equipment and techniques that are more closely related to a tournament walleye fisherman's set-up than to the rig I am using to cast a size 14 caddis to a rising trout. 

The nympher's flies are/have become essentially jigs, with heavy weighted heads, and often using multiple flies at a time. The fly line has been removed from the equation all together in favor of some straight heavy mono. I wont go into the cast and presentation, both take skill, but lack in art. With this approach the trout seems reduced to dumb feeding machine mindlessly chowing along the river's bottom. That approach isn't my approach, but why not? How am I different? What am I looking for out here?

Well, a few weeks back I was in Montana. I was traveling for work, visiting companies that are make concrete products and talking with them about other methods and equipment to use in making such concrete. This work takes me all over the country, and I mostly love it. Some trips take me to cities like Chicago and Detroit, but also others to places such Portland, Bozeman, Missoula, Escanaba, and until recently Montreal and Quebec.

Anyway, since I was already in Montana for work, I figured it only made sense to pack a rod or two and a bring a few flies along... and as luck would have it, I got to do a little fishing. Here and there. At the end of the day... if i could find time... and to be honest, to start with it was hard to actually even get a couple hours in.

On this trip I fished after working each day and the my travels had brought me to such rivers as Idaho's Henry's Fork and the North Fork of the Coeur D'Alene, along with several famous Montana rivers including the Madison, the Gallatin, Clarks Fork, the Flat Head, and to the Big Hole, but as with most sales/fishing trips, I was always on the move from plant to plant and town to town. an this trip started with meetings and evening plans for the first few days. Though the trip covered over 4 thousand miles and states, it seemed to center itself around the town of Butte, Montana

Butte is the location of the Sweetgrass Bamboo Flyrod Shop. Right downtown too, which is a bit unexpected after seeing where Glenn used to keep shop in Twin Bridges. Glenn has been building fly rods out of Tonkin Cane since the 1950s. Working at and eventually running the Winston Bamboo rod shop. Eventually leaving Winston to start his own shop, Sweetgrass, with a crew of great partners (including Jerry Kustich).

Today, Butte is where Glenn Brackett and crew build both classic and inventive bamboo fly rods.  I made two stops at Sweetgrass on my trip out west. The first was to drop off a tip section that needed some repair, and meet Glenn Brackett face to face. I've known his name for 30 years, since I was a teenager. 

In my twenties I met Jerry Kustich while I was working at a fly shop in Green Bay. He came through on a book tour about he and his brother's, Rick, new book (at the time) on Great Lakes Steelhead Fly Fishing.  Jerry is a major part of Sweet Grass along with Glenn. Which really doesn't playout as Jerry was not there nor expected to be. Anyway, for those reasons I stopped in to see Glenn on my second day in Montana.

Glenn Bracket - Butte, MT

It was great to meet Glenn and see his shop. He kept up the work of building rods while I poked about the place. I brought in a rod that I wanted some minor repairs on, and after looking it over glen gave me a tour and an education on working with bamboo (Tonkin Cane). we also talked a little fishing and of dry fly prospects. Glenn offer some key advice on technique, specifically always trying to get directly below (in the same current seem), he also spoke about how the water temperatures in the mid-fifties which we were experiencing at the moment, is the key to good fishing and would last for maybe only a little more than a week. Simple and clear observations but also thought worthy, while still pretty self explanatory.

On my next stop at the shop nearly a week later Glenn hit me with a real mind blower. I was in to pick up my new fly rod, a 6'6" pent 3/4 wt 2 pc 2 tips with the name "Hawkmoon" on it. I think Glenn liked the name, and he was curious about its origins. so was I... but histories are hard to come by. he showed me the rod and it was just a beautiful as I could have hoped. A honey Blonde Blank and ruby red wraps the color of a cherry. The hardware is bright and silver. The reel seat...Alder. It is a finely made fly rod and it functions very well.

Glenn and I stepped out to cast to rod on the street in front of the shop. we were testing whether a Cortland Sylk DT4 or DT3 was the better line for this rod. we went with the DT4 but now I'm looking to get the DT3 Peach for it too. Any way, it was while we we throwing the lines that Glenn mentioned that he really didn't like using hooks that much any more, so he was cutting the points off of his flies so that the fish could eat the fly and maybe feel a poke and a tug, but would in all likelihood never have to endure a long fight or being landed, all you need to give up is the epic fight and proof of your fine accomplishment.

The Hawkmoon with a Southern Colorado Brown

I now remember that I had been telling him about a big rainbow I had hooked on the Big hole a few days earlier. One of many fish I had hooked, but truly memorable all the same. when the fish rose just off the bank to an Elk Hair Caddis it was a sizable eat, a subtle boil that moved a lot of water. On the first jump I saw the red flash of a rainbow, and rainbows love to jump. My brain thought this might be a 20" fish, so maybe it was 18". this the fish took off down stream and we were into a long hard fight. I had the fish to my feet a few times but could get it in the net before the hook came loose and the fish swam free.

Glenn Brackett fishing some water he likes.

I told Glenn this story and he said "That's the perfect release, that the way to do it", which is what a lot of people say but he then began to explain that this was where he was at in his fishing. Just clipping off the points and enjoying the experience without needing the endgame. I was and am really impressed.

1st night Fishing the Hawkmoon

Maybe Lee Wulff made a statement about allowing the fish the sanctuary of the water beneath the surface by fishing a dry fly, or something like that. I'm not sure it was actually Lee Wulff who said that but you get the jist. I have been moving in that direction more and more over the last few years. I prefer fishing dry flies to streamers, or nymphs. I don't love nymphs, and I despise hopper-dropper rigs. 

No... I am a one fly guy and that fly should float.

Sure, I will sometime salvage an otherwise busted day by swinging a wet-fly or stripping a streamer, but it leaves something left to be desired in the aesthetics and in the playing of the game. Fishing a dry fly is often a one-on-one or mano a pescar game. you are presenting your fly to a fish, it is not a chuck-it and chance-it situation. This is dialing in on an individual, not a situation, often you will be watching the individual fish and you will have to adapt to its individual idiosyncrasies (personality). I love this, and to give it up in the name of more or bigger fish is not that appealing. If dry fly fishing is not happening, why bother going fishing. Or maybe Go fishing and fish dryflies whether they work or not. I have done alot of this. However, Fishermen are also famous for our patience, and I can spend a day or two tying stimulator, or Sparkle duns until things are looking good again.

To be honest, part of the joy of the whole game is timing. You gotta get there at the right time.

Don't be late. Don't leave too early. What's the moon phase? When is a green drake spinner fall actually supposed happen? Do Tricos seriously exist? What about Salmon flies? I haven't really slept in days. Does the sun ever actually set around here? Timing really is everything. 

On a big western trip, time is usually slipping by so fast and there is never enough, but mining out the precious moments is a fun and crazy dance that is preserved in a collage of your memory of the trip.

Nice Brown from small creek with a 7'9" Sweetgrass 5wt quad

But back to the point I was angling at, if I can fore go the pleasure of catching fish in favor of waiting until I can catch them on my terms, I wonder if I could give up the actual catching in favor of a more harmonious experience. But, I wonder how important is the end game to me? How critical is it to fight, land and photograph a fish. 

Maybe I, like Glenn, can learn to cherish the things I love most about the sport, like a trout noses sticking up out of the water, and casting away those things that limit my enjoyment, such as hurting fish. However even as I right this, I know I haven't reached the point of pointless fishing, but I think I will be very happy when I reach that day.

Into the Driftless

I caught my last Steelhead before covid. I've had some great adventures steelheading since, but I haven't landed another steelhead. After that trip I had been burned out and had a lot going on in life so I took a year off from any steelhead trips, and then covid came and went and I didn't quite have the same steelhead bug. I went on a bunch of trips out to the the Clearwater, the lake Superior Tribs, a bit around home. I helped my son land his first steelhead on the Brule (swinging a fly on a two hander). I was with a really good friend as he landed his first steelhead on the Clearwater. I hooked and lost some epic fish on long casts, but I wasn't the same fisherman that I had been.

Also, I was having a difficult time getting friends and relatives to fish with me, because I am so demanding on fishing trips. This means waking up predawn, fishing all day and grabbing something convenient once it is too dark to fish. I think I was burning myself out too, but was too driven to hook another steelhead, I couldn't see when it stopped being fun. 

Anyway, through the usual seasonal course of events, in 2023 I got back into trout fishing in a big way (which is how I generally do anything). It started small and innocently enough; I was visit some customers near Minneapolis and I realized I was close to pretty decent trout stream. 

It was early April and the Mississippi was way over its banks. I remember crossing the river at Redwing and seeing a tavern along the river bank that was flooded nearly up to its windows. It was an old Victorian building, I was sure that it was seeing its last flood, but I was wrong and it does a steady  business serving drinks to boaters all summer long. However, even with the Mississippi raging the trout streams of the driftless are known to run clear all year long. 

With this in mind I headed inland from the big river for several miles, to a spot where I hade had a good evening of fishing several years earlier, on one of the two previous times I had fished this stream. Really it was the only spot I knew. The water wasn't exactly clear but it was clear enough. I pieced my rod together, tied on a nymph. walk to the edge of the bank on my Khakis, and quickly hooked and landed a decent, 12' Brown. It was rainy and windy, so a bit of the joy was quickly diminished by the general foulness, and that was the only fish, but it was enough.

That night at the hotel I listened to a John Gierach audio book and  started planning a sales trip to Montana, and would be back on the same creek within several weeks, dialing in on caddis and Mayfly hatches, for several nights. If I had known a bit more that first day back in April, I probably could have had a pretty great day of fishing if I had gone a few more miles upstream, but given how the last few years have gone, it really was a great day of fishing even if it only lasted about 15 minutes. 

Yakima River - Washington

 

Yakima River—Washington

March 2nd, 2024

(Excerpt from a letter to Glenn Bracket)

Hello Glenn,

I hope all is well with you today. I got the 7’9” 2/2 5wt quad shipped off to you.

I want to let you know that I have really enjoyed using your fly rods. This has been my first foray into bamboo and I really am enjoying it. I now find my self disappointed when having to fish my graphite rods and fish caught on them don’t seem to have the same gravitas.

I first saw a Sweetgrass last spring at Nelson’s Spring Creek. Jacqui had one in the shop and I was instantly taken with it. Though Jacqui offered to let me try it out on the creek, I was afraid of the temptation, so chose to decline. The seed was planted and in under a month I got the mantra 7’ 3wt pent from you (after first reaching out to Nelson’s about the one in shop), and had a great summer of fishing with it. From Michigan, to New Mexico, and many states in between. I also fished it many days on my own home waters of Wisconsin. I fish almost exclusively dry flies into the end of our trout season in October.

In the end, even though I started sort of late in the year. I fished more days in 2023, than I think I ever have. This was mostly caused by decades of fishing steelhead and salmon to the exclusion of almost all other quarry. Now my rediscovered love of trout fishing and it vast daily rewards.

Any way, I want to tell you about my first days with the quad 7’9” 5wt. I have been very happy with this rod. As you know upon receiving this rod from you I took it out to Washington State with me to explore the trout waters out there.

Of course the beginning of March is not exactly prime time on these western waters. Temperatures are generally dipping below freezing at night and many days never rise above. But there the occasional hatches and I was hoping to find some trout feeding on top.

I headed to the Yakima as the weather in the area looked a lot better for a weekend of fishing. I had originally wanted to fish the Metolius and Crooked Rivers in Oregon, but forecasts for that area lacked promise.

I fished the Yakima on Saturday and enjoyed it. I was able to hook a decent fish on a nymph but lost it after a bit, it was sluggish and may have been a whitefish. I never connected with anything else through the rest of the day.

Continued on the Report for Rocky Ford Creek....

....After Rocky Ford Creek, I came back through and fished the evening before heading back to the Portland area. Didn't touch anything, but what a beautiful river.

 

Rocky Ford Creek - Washington

 

Rocky Ford Creek—Washington

March 3rd, 2024

On the next day I headed for Rocky Ford Creek. This is a spring creek in the high dry country of Central Washington. I came ready with several $5 bills, as that was the needed item to park at the best spots on the Yakima and I didn’t have it, so today I was ready. Unfortunately, on Rocky Ford it is a Discovery Parking Pass that is required and I ended up having to drive into a Walmart to get the discovery pass.

But before I made the trip into town I found a spot that I could get into with out the pass. I was the first angler on the upper creek, it was in the mid 20s. I was able to walk right down and begin fishing. All the water is flat and laminar.

The indicator seemed to dart upstream. I lifted up on the rod and felt the heavy head shakes of a large fish. I’m not exactly sure what happened next. I know the fish jumped a couple time and I thought about the fact that I had 6x tippet on, and I was trying to reel in line to get the fish on the reel when the line suddenly came tight and started peeling off of the reel and all the line I had reeled in was gone. Then the end of the fly line went through the guides.

I was getting pretty worried. I knew that the #22 Scud I was fishing was very barbless, as in it was made barbless, not crimped. Added to that was the light 6x tippet, and that trout was well into the backing and there was now a lot of tall weeds between us, as the fish had gone around the next bend. Wading was not allowed on the stream, so I could not get down to the fish, and I really could not see getting the fish back up stream through the cattails and weeds separating us. In the end However there really wasn’t any other choice.

In the end the leader held through the cattails and weeds, so did the hook. I even had a cattail hanging on the leader as I guided the fish back up into the pool. The fish, however was not yet done. It took to the air again, and I felt and saw that Bamboo bend down to the cork, but the leader held. The trout bull rushed into a bunch of cattail across the stream. It was was a chore to work the fish out, I did and after a battle with guides that suddenly and repeatedly froze-up solid, that was it.

I guided the fish into the near shore and for the first time that day, I got my feet wet, as I guided the fish into the net. It was beautiful, more like a fat steelhead in many was than what I imagine a spring creek trout to look like. Around 22” long and a body as round and as hard as a football.

I got a few Okay pictures and began releasing the trout but I did not want to revive. I rubbed its belly and rocked it in The water but it remained sluggish in the muddy water. I then noticed the mud, and picked up the fish, placed it in clear water, and off it went, with spunk. I guess muddy water is hard on fish

From there on out it was down hill on the creek. The fish was gone and I was feeling great about the whole expedition. I decided to go check out some other water. As I walked down stream to the foot bridge. I saw the first angler. We said a brief “hello” and exchanged the usual pleasantries, but we was b-lining to a spot. I started fishing a deep slot under the bridge when the next angler shot by with out a word also in a hurry.

I finished up under the bridge. Maybe something happened early on but really who can tell with an indicator. I headed up the far bank and saw the two guys who headed in both camped 20’ apart where I had just landed that rainbow.

I kept working up to some water that had a little riffle. It seemed more like one pond dumping into another, but this is a spring creek in these parts. Just as I was working up from the bottom of this bouldery area, two other angler walked in from the other side. Stood on the steep bank and began fishing to fish the were right on top of. I knew this because they would point to the fish and call to each other. I could also see the fish. They were big and beautiful. More fishermen came in from above 3-4 more, maybe a family and a dog.

I drove down stream to the lower section of Rocky Ford. This section was about as slow as the upper, maybe a bit bigger. And it was here where I learned why you don’t wade this creek. I had hopped out to an island to fish a bend pool. Nothing doing so I turned to head out. I was about 3-4’ from shore and the was between me and the shore look to be 2-3” deep, I was sure I could see the bottom in such a shallow puddle, but as I stepped my foot descended into the void. I grabbed the far bank with my hands and pulled myself out. I was now covered in a black stinky mud. This was a spring hole, where the springs seeped in. My foot never touched bottom.

There were springs like this all over the creek and a person trying to wade could quickly end up injured or dead. I was glad to be ok after the brush with disaster. I found a spot to wash out my waders and head back to the rental car and back to the Yakima, and points west.

 

Arkansas River - Colorado - Revisited

 

February 3, 2024: 

Arkansas River- Canon City, CO

In the area for the Precast show in Denver we start setting up on Monday.

Drove in from KC yesterday. Left hotel at 4:30am. Long day of driving. Tumble weed hatch in Western Kansas and into Colorado. Same place as the locust hatch in August. Treading the same ground. Got it late in the day quickly checked out the river which looked clear, at the launch just above the Gorge. Royal Gorge. but rain was starting, so well how tomorrow goes.

The roads this morning have been sketchy. A light rain in Canon City becomes a heavy snow as I drive up to Parkendale. Pre sunrise. I’m waiting on the car for it to get lighter and me to get more motivated. Found a good looking bend in Big horn Canyon. Double Dip iii.

Fished bamboo to begin. Once I got started, the weather wasn’t so bad. I quickly switched to the sage SP 8’6” 5wt. It took a lot of fishing at a lot of spots along the Canyon Road. That fish was a great looking 16-17” Rainbow. I wasn’t able to get any thing else in the canyon. I saw a couple fish rise but nothing that seemed worth rigging for.

I head down to try the water in Canon City but wasn’t real impressed and decided to head to Pueblo where my phone said the weather was better, in the 40s and Sunny. This was very incorrect as between Canon city and Pueblo I hit the worst weather of the trip. A heavy wet snow that became a stiff slush in the sub freezing temps. I almost turned back at about the half way mark but figured that was as dangerous as going on.

Finally I reached the lake Pueblo Dam and the nice little tail water below. This is still the Arkansas river. The water was mostly shallow and flat as glass. Fish ate midges on top. One brown was as long as my leg with an adipose fin a good 2-3” long.

I was able to get a 14” rainbow on a tiny BWO emerger fished on the 7’ 3wt Bamboo.

February 4:

Woke up to a lot of frost outside. It was below freezing but clear and sunny. The day warmed up quick. I started down on the tail water and got there early. I was confident I had beat the crowd on this Sunday morning. So the I started fish a bit above the bridge pool I fished yesterday, and with a few minutes a couple of guys came in from the other side and jumped in the bridge pool. They thrashed it up pretty good. Later I would try the real slow water underneath and below the bridge. I think I had a grab fishing a deep nymph.

Headed down river a ways to the nature center. The river was really nice here and had a heard of deer cross the stream just above me and I got a nice video, but no fish.

And that was the end of the Arkansas adventure.

 

7/12/2025

I stopped by after fishing with my cousin down near the Rio Grande in Del Norte, Colorado. I fished a few spots, but didn't get any thing from the Arkansas. Neither in Bighorn Canyon or in the tail water section the next morning.

I did catch a few brook trout in Grape Creek up above the lake.

The Oregon Coast Revisited

In March of 2014, my usual fishing partner, Rusty, and I were joined by his son, Caleb, and my father. We searched the Oregon Coast for winter steelhead. Starting at the Nestucca we worked our way south checking the various river systems as we went. The Alsea, the Smith, The Elk and the Sixes, and finally the Umpqua. The fishing never materialized, and it maybe that we should have stuck it out, however anglers that I spoke to later who had stayed on the Nestucca did not find any fish and reported a lot of pressure.

For me this trip has grown in importance, because it was my one and only chance to share my passion for steelhead and steelhead rivers with my father, who unexpectedly died a year later. All of our travel from river to river, offered he and I lots of time of sitting and talking. We always enjoyed windshield time, and we often travelled together for deer hunting adventures in the fall, and though I was luke warm on hunting at best, our hours of drive time made me want to go. Now the views and experience of driving the Oregon coast, made for a memorable backdrop for a time together.

On an early day of our trip my dad and I hiked into a pool sitting at the end of a beaver-tail. The clear, blue, green cascading down from upstream, and the white water rolling for hundreds of yards below made the pool look too promising not to hold a fish, but if they were there, we never found them. but cast after cast our hearts beat a little faster as first he and then I worked our way through the short run. feeling like a fish would strike at any moment.

We worked through this run twice. We then hiked back out, so we could meet up with Rusty and Caleb. We stopped on our way to admire the scenery. Coastal rivers have a lot to offer when it comes to natural beauty.

On one beautiful coastal river we caught cutthroat just a few mile from salt. It was on this same river, a ways up a dirt road that we met one of the most unique characters, a memorable man with wild stories to tell. We bought him a beer at the general store/ tavern and listened as he spun tales of his time in this unique land.

He had spent years along this coastal river and much of his story left my, and Caleb's jaw hanging.

 

Our journey brought us eventually to the Umpqua River. I had promised everyone that we would have the most wonderful breakfasts at the Steamboat Inn and wouldn't even have to remove our waders or boots. Unfortunately, the Inn was closed, and my promise was broken. But we had some great camping on the river. My dad was very impressed with Rusty and Caleb's competence in setting a camp, he mentioned it to me several times. My dad grew up camping and always yearned for the opportunity spend nights in the woods.

The Umpqua was high and hardly had any other anglers on it, but we found enjoyment swinging the holy water near the inn, and some other runs on the lower river. We didn't get any thing, but we had a good time. at the end of our second day on the Umpqua, Rusty and Caleb continued their journey south and towards home, while my dad and I headed north to Portland and the Clackamas.

Once we arrived at the Clackamas we fished a few runs. By this time in the trip we were pretty tired and were ready for some down time, we checked into our hotel and ordered a pizza. Then we turned on HBO and watched a Harry Potter movie. I cant explain why that last part was so great, but it was. My dad told me several times how much he had enjoyed the trip despite the lack of fish. I was planning a summer steelhead trip for us in the fall of 2015, but that just didn't work out.

The Snake River - Washington/Idaho

Even though the Snake has been massacred by dams, it is still incredible. In many ways that makes it worse. The Snake was a national treasure, it carried steelhead and salmon so far inland that Nevada once had native fish populations. Those unique populations are now no more, but the Snake still exists and fishing her waters is humbling.

The Snake is a very big river. Only the experience it self can describe what it feels like to cast out from the rivers edge. Many anglers that have fished the Deschutes would agree that it is a big river, and yet the Dechutes is but a quarter of the size of the Snake.

I spent a week on the Snake recently and when I took an afternoon off and drove up to the Red Shed Fly shop on the Clearwater, the river looked absolutely small in comparison to the Snake.

From the town of Asotin up to Hellars Bar, Where the Grande Ronde dumps in, The Snake fishes well with a fly. All though the river will seem crowded, with all of the jet boats and roads anglers around, I have found that an angler looking for classic steelhead runs will often find this water open. Most of the anglers I have come across focus either on the slow, laminar runs of the lower snake or they are fishing Hellar's bar. The boats will mostly avoid the fly runs because of how shallow they are.

I like looking for shallow runs that have some chop on the rivers surface. This is not hard to find on the Snake. On my last trip my friend Rusty and I were able to find several spots that fit the bill perfectly. And once we found a few of these spots it was not long before we started finding Steelhead.As for flies on the Snake, I have caught fish on every thing from a 1/0 black Marabou to a #7 purple green-butt. My go to fly however, I guess, would be a #3 Yellow Jacket. This is a spey fly that uses a dyed yellow pheasant rump for hackle over a black body and uses a black wing, I think it is both buggy and pretty so I fish it, but I have also caught Snake steelhead on Akroyds, purple speys, black speys, Harry Lemire patterns, you name it. it seams like they like flies.There are classic runs and bars, and lots of spots that look like nothing from a distance, but are epic and fishy when you are on them. Alot of these hidden gems fish like classic water allowing for long casts and will often take an hour or more to fish through.
The big runs and relatively small fish that are common on the Snake, left me looking for just the right two handed rod. The river handles a floating line really well in late October. I ended up getting a Loomis 15' 7/8wt Grease Liner and have paired it up with a couple of long belly lines, so now I can launch a long line and enjoy a 5-6lb fish, which is great. On my latest trip I caught several steelhead on this 15' Loomis, they were great. I also fished a Thomas & Thomas DH1409/5 with the same Nextcast 95' 8/9 line and I found that it was even easier to cast and the little bit of extra power was great when it was time to land a fish, and I would say that no enjoyment was lost from the fight. Now, due to the success of the T&T DH1409/5, I have picked up a DH1509/3 for next years trip. (which subsequently sold and replaced with a Greaseline 16' 9/10)

2010: Tough but still got a few fish

In October 2010 Rusty and I headed back the Region of the Nez Perce. Travel was tough this year with cancelled flight and unplanned detours, but we made it to the Salmon only a half day later than expected.

Our first evening was great despite the water being a bit warmer than desirable. the weather was

mild and we got one of our favorite runs, a nice long easy wade with a rip that sits about 80' from knee deep the whole way. I wore a T-shirt since the weather so fine, feeling good to be done traveling and finally fishing. The run we were on produced Rusty's first fish last year... and mine this year.

I fished a Thompson River Caddis down the lower half of the run and, just as day tipped to twilight, the fish took. It was on the strip, but it still took.

I had gotten a 15' TnT from poppy the previous fall and this was my first fish with the rod. I was worried that a 9wt would be too much rod for smaller fish, but this fish I caught our first night was 5-6 lbs and it was a great fight and I, don't think a smaller rod would have made the experience any more fun.

We camped around a bunch of other fly fishers, but apparently what we fish and what they fish is different, as we almost never seemed to see these guys on the water we fished. Although there is more pressure this year than last. The guys at camp were having a tough time with the warm water. Over the next few days we fished some very good water and struggled to find fish. we ran up to the Clearwater a few times but it had alot of people on it.

We did connect with two more fish. Both under pretty bright conditions. Both also came off what was our most productive run last year. I caught a small fish under a bright/partly cloudy midday sky. It ate a yellow/Orange/ Natural Married wing spey, my first married wing fish, and some how that matters.

A day later on the same run, Rusty hooked our best fish of the trip. It was late morning. I am not sure what fly rusty was fishing but I would wager it was 3 or 5 Yellow Jacket (last years magic fly).

Though the conditions were not as perfect as the year before. we found fish when fishing was tough and the Snake continued her kind and generous tradition.

We fished our 2010 trip fishing the Salmon River in Idaho, which is a tributary of the Snake. We had a great time.

  

2011: When Things get rough, We head for the Snake

In 2011 Rusty and I both drove out and met on the Salmon River in Idaho. We had done well there in 2010 and the condition on the river seemed great. there was a little rain but the river looked and fished great. The wildlife was superb, lots of deer came down to the river to drink while we fished runs. I saw a breeding pair of Golden Eagles, but we caught nothing in two-and-a-half days of fishing.

We did not have as much time to fish as we have the last two years, so we decided to go see what the Snake looked like. I was worried because when I drove over the Snake near Boise, Idaho, it look big and dirty, but when we arrived to Asotin, Washington and the stretch of river upstream of there, I learned that you can't judge the Snake by what you see in Boise. It looked great and the water was cool.

It was 2pm when we arrived. Cloudy with a light to medium rain. We drove up-river to our favorite run. It didn't take long for things to start. On this run, we know the fish usually grab right at the end, just as the body dumps into the tail; and we were suprised by fish sitting up at the top of the run.

I fished through first, the water felt good and cool, a little on the high side of perfect but close. I could see a seem that was out a ways, though I thought I could reach it if I pushed. I was fishing a 13'3" 7wt and a Scandi head, so casting big distances took alot more work than when I was using a 15' and long belly on the same run the year before. I was able to reach-out and fish the seem though, and within 20' of the top of the run I hooked a fish on a #3 Yellow Jacket.

It was a hard fighting fish and a wild one to boot. You can't beat that. I got out of the run and Rusty

fished through. When he was about half way down, I jumped in at the head of the run again to follow him down. I hooked another fish in the same spot. It was another hard fight and I got the leader into the guides, but the fished threw the hook mid-river after a final run, and an epic jump (that I swear was 5'-6' out of the water vertically). It ate a size 6-8 Purple Green-Butt Skunk

That evening Rusty and I fished another of our favorite runs on the Snake. Rusty landed his first Snake river fish on this run and I had gotten our first fish there last year. I followed Rusty down the run. I started at the top of the run. There is an eddy up at the top but the water just out-side of it looks good. So even though we had never even had a grab at the head, I fished it. you never know. And guess what... I got a grab. It came just as my line could swing below the current of the back eddy.

This was another hard fighting fish. Just take a look at it, a good sized fish. I think this is the biggest Steelhead that I have caught on the Snake. It went for the same little Skunk.

We fished the run until dark. Shortly after landing my fish, a family of otters came floating down river and the male chased me out of the river after I teased him by returning his hisses with my own hiss like sound.

Before the day was over, However, Rusty hooked into a good sized fish at the lower end of the run. It was dark and try as we might we could not see the fish even when it was right in front of us. It stayed down as deep as it could.

Finally, we got the fish landed. It was a nice sized wild King Salmon, mean and healthy, and along ways from the ocean.

The next morning was bright and sunny and windy. We didn't touch a fish on our first two runs, so we decided to try a run that had been in the running for being the best two years earlier, but had produced nothing in several try's last year. Its fast waters flow across a wide rocky flat and the heaviest currents in a narrow channel on the far side of the river, this brought fish into a small, bouldery area on the rock bar where the current is bearable to rest in and close enough to cast too. Though depending on the rivers flow rate this spot can be too far out to reach. And I suspect that the fish only sit in this area at certain water levels.

It was bright and sunny. with the sun at my back, and to me that means in the fishes eyes. I was not thinking there was much of a shot. and I wasn't even sure if the run was even fishing that well. Then my line came tight and my tiny little size 8 skunk was sucked up by a ripping fast hatchery hen. Fish can really burn you up on some of the Snakes faster runs and this run is a fast one.

2012: On My Own
My trip to the Snake in 2012 was a solo one and after a couple days I was convinced that the fishing was not what I had been hoping for. I headed for Western Washington and ended up having some fun days on the Cowlitz.

2014: Rusty and I get blanked by the Snake
Rusty and I headed back to the Snake for a few days in 2014. We came up empty, picking one fish up on the Grande Ronde.

2015: Dropping water and a new face
This last season I had my c
ousin James join me to fish the Snake. this was he first introduction to steelhead and spey. I was hoping to show him the magic, but came up short. He did however show a high degree of fortitude, fishing day-in and day-out, never wavering and accepting the beat down.

The river was slowly dropping the whole time we fished. I was able to pick-up a fish, right off the bat on the first run. this fish ate a #5 Yellow Jacket (that old reliable pattern). From that point on, however, fishing got tough. Soon the fish would except nothing over a size 8, I had two #8 Purple green-butts stolen off the line in spectacular fashion on a single run. I rolled soul to see if I could improve fishing mojo, and while I got grabbed on the below married wing, fishing remained tough.