My mom always implored me to make good choices as a teenager, when I'd leave the house. It wasn't the partying and normal high school trouble she was worried about, but rather, "Don't fall in the river and drown." She was worried about bears too. I'd like to think I always made good choices but there were definitely a few sketchy river crossings I shouldn't have made...

Mid-spring leaves us with a plethora of fishing choices, and if the weather would cooperate a little better you could do just about everything in a week. Right now I'm wrapping up steelhead season with a few days on the Skagit/Sauk. After 8 years the river is again open for a spring catch and release season, albeit a very short one. I'll be on the river a few days through the end of the month, no weekends though. It will be good to get reaquainted with an old friend. If you head up there to find yourself a steelfish, consider not fishing from a boat and give these fish a little more of a break. We all need to limit our impact if we want to enjoy this fishery into the future.

I've been on the Yakima a few days so far this spring and fishing is decent to good. The river has been otu of shape off and on lately, which is typical for spring. But when we've hit the conditions right we've been putting fish in the net. Mother's Day caddis are just around the corner. Pray for decent water conditions and lets bust out the X-caddis!

Puget Sound is full of chum babies, and various salmon smolts, along with the typical saltwater fare of ghost shrimp and sand eels and such. The only issue lately has been the wind, which is currently ripping out my window as I write. On the few calm mornings and decent tides I've been out in the last couple onths I've been finding plenty of cutts and coho. Just a matter of conditions.

Lastly, lakes. Eastern and Western Washington lake fishing is prime right now. All the westside, lowland lakes are stocked and ready for a slayfest. The eastside lakes are all open now too. My buddy Wayne at SIlver Bow in Spokane has been putting the wood to 'em this spring. You can too.

And beer. I met the guys from Melvin Brewing in Alpine, WY last week. They brew some tasty beer. They are an IPA heavy brewery, which normally makes me roll my eyes, but the Hubert MPA is quite crisp and tasty. If you're in Bellingham, they have a taproom up there. Just wade through the throng of hippies to the bar.

For some reason I can't get a vertical orientation to th e2nd photo. So, you get a sideways viewing of some old growth.

Feed. Fish. Flies.

Brett

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