# River fishing
Fly Fishing for Chum Salmon in Washington State
The very first salmon I ever caught on a fly was a gnarly old fourteen pound Chum Salmon on the Green River just inside Flaming Geyser Park near Black Diamond, Washington. I was still very new to river fishing in those days. I had only moved back to the Seattle area from Northern California a few months before where I had spent several years fly fishing for warm water species in the California delta.
Hiking and Fly Fishing the Pratt River Connector Trail Washington
A really good six mile day hike close to Seattle is the Pratt River Connector Hike. This hike, near North Bend gives you a chance to not only do a fairly easy hike and some fly fishing on the Pratt River or the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. Of course, check the regulations carefully to make sure when and where either river is open for fishing. Another option, if it you want a more challenging hike is to trek into Rainy Lake which is at twenty-nine hundred feet. Supposedly it has trout (Rainbows or Cutthroats, I assume) and is popular with fly fishers.
Fly Fishing for Summer Run Steelhead in Washington State
Winter Steelhead have been called the fish of a thousand casts when it comes to fly fishing for them. Summer Run Steelhead are probably more like the fish of eight hundred and ninety nine casts. They are slightly more likely to take a fly, but not by much. Though Summer Run Steelhead will take a dry fly. Which is about as rare as a hole in one in golf in the for Winter Run Steelhead.
Related Contributors
Searching for Wild TROPHY TROUT in a Mountain River! (New PB)
Ventured to a river I have never fished before in search of trophy brown and rainbow trout! The truckee river in CA is an amazing wild trout fishery that I usually never get to fish.
Fly Fishing the Hoh River Washington State
I wish I had a really great story about how me and my friends drove several hours to the Hoh River in Olympic National Park on December and had an amazing time catch really big Steelhead on our fly rods. Unfortunately, that’s not how my trip went down.
Fly Fishing the Cowlitz River Washington State
If you have ever heard the term combat fishing then you may have also heard the Cowlitz River and its famously large Steelhead mentioned as well. In the late Fall and early Winter the Steelhead at Barrier Dam can be stacked up very thick. And with the North side of the river near the dam being one of the only easily accessible spots the crowds can be dense and sometimes down right hostile.
Fly Fishing the Snoqualmie River Washington State
Snoqualmie Falls are probably far more famous than Snoqualmie River is for fly fishing, but it is nice little river with some truly good stretches of water to cast a fly. Me and my wife used to like make the thirty or so minute hike to the bottom of the falls. Often times I would bring my fly rod with me. Though all I ever caught were eight to ten inch Rainbow trout I have seen what I assumed to be very large Coho Salmon jumping in the massive pool below the falls. This was in early November so they might have been Steelhead as well. All my frantic casts to them were fruitless, so I’ll never know for sure.
Fly Fishing Whatcom County Washington
Ponds, streams, rivers, lakes, a massive salt water inlet? Whatcom County has it all. It also has Rainbow, Brown, Cutthroat (searun and land locked), Kokanee, Dolly Varden trout, Steelhead, King, Coho, Chum, Pink, Sockeye Salmon, Large Mouth and Small Mouth Bass, Carp, Walleye, Tiger Muskie (yep, you read that correctly Fazon Lake!!!), Blue Gil, Crappie, Flounder, Cod, Ling Cod, Rock Fish and a whole host of other salt water species that I’m probably forgetting.
Fly Fishing the White River Washington State
I can’t say I really have a home water exactly. I’ve never really lived in one spot long enough to claim one. But I did live just behind the White River in Auburn, Washington for about five years. Though at the time as a kid and a teen I spent more time swimming in the river than I did fishing there.
Fly Fishing the Green River in Auburn, Washington
I mentioned in a previous article that I didn’t really feel like I had what you would call a home water. Though I lived on the White River for five years, I never fished it much compared with other bodies of water in Washington State or even the California Delta.
Rainbow Trout Fishing Fail in Tiny Creek
This is what happens a lot of the time when you are trying to keep big fish out of structure in tiny creeks