A couple of my favorite places

This stretch of river is the place where I've spent most of my time learning the do's and the "dang-it I lost another fly in that same bush again" of fly fishing. This river is actually really nice for learning on because the majority of it is wide open. The first few times up there I felt like I spent more time retying my leaders and tying on flies than actually getting my line wet. Like most things having to do with the art of fishing or hunting, I can learn fairly fast, so I've only had a few dry runs on the river.On the first visit to this particular river, a good friend of mine was taking me out after spring steelies. He caught several. I caught two or three small brookies and one small - six to eight incher - steely or rainbow.

The next chance I had to get up to the river was in the fall for salmon. The salmon were a little easier to hook up on since they run in thicker groups. They were fun and I was able to pull a few out. I had more fun going after salmon here than I have had in the past on other rivers. Like I said, this river is wide open and there is plenty of room for a handful of fishermen.

Another river I have found is good to fish for winter steelhead. The river stays warm enough that it doesn't get very much shelf ice and has several deep pools of slow moving water where the steelies like to hide. My first real steelhead came from here on a warm afternoon in late December last year. She put up a really nice fight, although she didn't give a good show like most steelies with their top water dances. It was still a good day after having landed this beauty.