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The Featured Fly
The Keta Rose is Doug Rose's chum fry imitation. Doug developed this fly over many years of chasing sea-run cutthroat on the northeast side of the Olympic Peninsula.
Sea-run cutthroat finish spawning in the rivers and creeks and re-enter the saltwater in the late-winter, early-spring timeframe. They are hungry after spawning and the migrating chum fry help them recover quickly. There are millions of chum fry migrating along the Puget Sound and Hood Canal beaches towards the ocean every spring. Sea-run cutthroat key in on them and the fishing can be excellent for both wading anglers as well as for fly fishermen fishing from a boat. The Keta Rose can be fished on a floating or intermediate line (we love RIO's OutBound Short and RIO's Outbound lines) along the shallow shoreline. Look for slashing cutthroat and diving birds when searching for the chum fry as well as nervous water in the shallows. Find the fry and the cutthroat won't be far away.
If you read Doug Rose's blog, you know that he is having some health issues. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope he's able to spend some time this spring on the beaches with his 5wt and a Keta Rose.
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Fishing Forecast
The calendar still says winter which means we are focused on the steelhead fishing on the West End. February is about to end so you only have a couple more days to hit the small creeks that close February 28th. Then the entire focus turns to the major rivers.
Spring is a great time to fly fish on the Olympic Peninsula. The primary species and focus in March will still be wild steelhead. The next month is one of the best times of year for winter-runs. The weather should start warming up which increases the chance of sunny days on the coast. Of course there can be plenty of rain so make to remember your waterproof jacket (forgetting will guarantee wet weather).
While most people's focus over the next couple months is steelhead, other fishing opportunities start picking up on the Olympic Peninsula. We will start seeing more sea-run cutthroat keyed in on chum fry along the beaches as the days get longer. We've already been getting a few reports of small pockets of chum fry along the beaches.
The lowland lakes that are open year-round are also an option as the weather starts warming up. Warmer weather equals more bugs and the trout should start getting more active.
Another option in March is the saltwater bottomfishing on the coast. There are often breaks in the weather and calm conditions in the Western Strait. Lingcod is closed until April 16th, but fly fishing for Rockfish can be excellent in the Spring. A Clouser Minnow fished on a sinking line along the kelp is one of the best ways to target these fish.
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Product Showcase
Intermediate Skagit Lines
Skagit lines are a solution for fishing in situations like the one above. Casting large flies and heavy tips with very little room to form a D-Loop has been made much easier with all of the Skagit spey line options now available. In the past couple seasons we have seen both Airflo and RIO come out with Intermediate sinking Skagit Heads.
One of the main benefits to the intermediate Skagit heads is they get your line below the surface. This allows you to swing those spots that have always been tough due to the strange surface currents. They also help get the fly deeper and for casting in strong winds.
We stock the following two Intermediate Skagit Heads.
For sink-tips the RIO iMOW tips were designed to work with the Intermediate Heads and work exceptionally well on Floating Heads too. |
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2013 Questions Answered
We are running a contest in 2013 where you have a chance to win a free fly line. Ask us a question and we might answer it online. All questions will be entered in the contest, whether we answer them online or not. Click Here to learn how to enter.
This weeks question came from John MacDiamid. His query is about the new clear fly lines and if the manufacturers have solved the memory problems that plagued the older versions of these lines. We lucked out in finding an answer. George Cook, the RIO rep, stopped by the shop and was happy to answer John's question.
We hope this video answers your question John.
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