Fly Fishing Washington in August

[ROVERT]

We'll be visiting my brother in Bellingham in August and I'm going to try to get a little fishing time in. I'll be travelling with my wife and four young children so I won't have a lot of time available but would like to get out once or twice.

I'd love to hear any suggestions for areas to try within about an hour and a half of Bellingham or possibly farther if in the North Cascades.

Thanks,

Trevor

 

[geebee]

Hi Trevor,

You are pretty much going to be in "Steelhead Central-North" right there - the Skagit is 30 minutes away, although depending on water conditions you might want to fish above Rockport/concrete if the river is coloured below the Sauk.

an hour in the opposite direction (north) you have the fraser river and tribs - Vedder, chilliwack. or towards the coast the Lower squamish and Chekamus.

all have a mix of wild and hatchery summer run steel.

don't overlook the beaches of Puget Sound itself though - coho, sea run cutts, pinks, steel etc will be staging or feeding along the beaches.

based on my trip to WA in march and research i did for an aborted summer trip this year, i'd say your best best is to look at the guides fishing reports, and check out the washington fly fishing forum and fish where the conditions are best.

all the best.

Cheers

Mark.

 

[troutbert]

I'd go to the North Cascades and fish way up in the mountains. The family can hike along and enjoy the scenery and you should be able to catch some trout up there just tossing a Stimulator around.

Or leave the flyfishing gear behind, gather up the whole crew and go catch Dungeness crabs in Puget Sound. They are delicious.

 

[Rollingdog]

FYI - OR and WA shut down a bunch of water yesterday due to high temps.... don't think it will be lifted in the next month

 

[geebee]

yup. the Hoh and Sol Doc outside the ONP are closed til August 1, and all ONP streams are closed until August 31st at least.

they are due for some rain later this week on the OP which might see some improvement in the drought, but streams are at record lows (back to 1954) right now.

further North, nothing is forecast. perhaps BC might be better ?

OR is suffering more than WA.

theres always lake fishing or the salt...

 

[ROVERT]

Thanks for the info.

As much as I'd love to fish for steelhead out there, I don't think this is the summer for it... both in terms of conditions and what I'll be able to do. I'm just not geared up for real steelhead. I can had the PA version but don't have the equipment for WA.

I've scanned the WA fly fishing forums. An outsider asking for info there doesn't seem to stand much chance.

Mountain streams in the North Cascades seem like a good possibility.

I'll keep an eye on closures.

Thanks again, guys.

 

[golferjeff]

Hit the Puget SOund for PInks - there will be millions of them this year (odd numbered years). Every fish is 20-28" and the chromers put up a great fight.

 

[geebee]

OP streams inside the NP are now closed due to the drought.

if you are still going, i know from Little Stonefly's FB Page that the coho and pinks fishing is picking up.

check out the guides FB pages, they are always keen to post pics etc. or call the fly shops.

WFF is good for technical info - how and why, but they're not going to give you spots. The folks on Speypages typically will, because many are from out of state or just a lot more chilled - to be honest, wild steelhead fishing is so bloody hard, even if they carried you to a spot and put you in the river, you still have to put your time in, have good presentation and be fishing at the right speed and depth to have a chance even if you know fish are there.

cheers

mark.