Enjoying our local streams

Since the days are now longer, I've been spending quite a few evenings after work exploring new sections of the Middle and South Forks of the Snoqualmie River and the Taylor River. On a whim, I also took a day-long expedition to the Teanaway forks. With the days long and warm, it is nice to wet-wade, enjoy the beauty of the Cascades, and catch lots of fish, some of which can be surprisingly big (for Cascade standards) or come in large numbers if you are willing to explore a bit. Middle Fork, Snoqualmie River/Taylor River: I've taken a couple trips up the Middle fork recently, specifically targeting higher up stream, but also fishing some of the more common stretches down lower. The typical 6-8" were found consistently, but I've had some pushing 10-12". Until I looked at the map later, I didn't realize that I actually fished a stretch of the Taylor river. The first time on that stretch, I caught about a dozen fish in about 1 hour. The second time I took Jana, and she had a blast. In about an hour, we had a little over a dozen between us. Parachute Adams and small Humpy patterns worked great. Small cutts and bows were the prize. South Fork, Snoqualmie River: I've explored quite a few stretches of the South Fork all the way up the pass. I pretty much just picked a new exit off of I-90, parked, and walked up or downstream looking for likely holding spots. There are some really great holes if you are willing to walk a mile or two and are willing to wade across rivers. I took Noah to one stretch I explored earlier and we ended up finding a nice bend with a deep pool that provided about a dozen or more trout between us. Noah was on fire with the Mustang Sally. I've been having success consistently with red and yellow Humpies of various sizes. Cutts, Bows, and even a few Brookies have been brought to hand. The typical 6-8" inchers with a few pushing 10-12". Again, finding stretches that are out of the beaten path allow larger fish. Each evening outing has brought about a dozen fish to hand. North and Middle fork Teanaway: On a last minute trip, I decided to test the Teanaway again. The weather was a bit on the warm side. I started on the North fork at a random pull-out and worked my way upstream. It took a bit of wading upstream to find decent holding areas. I threw a couple different dries in a bunch of likely holding areas, with little to show for. I had a couple hits from dinkers, but that was about it. I suspect the heat was putting the fish down, so I decide to give nymphing a try. I stuck on a tiny bead-head pheasant tail and fished it through some deeper holes. Not too much longer, I landed a plump 12" bow. I had a couple other hits, but decided to explore a new section after a couple hours there. I decided to check out the Middle fork of the Teanaway for a bit. The water looked pretty skinny, but I decided to walk up the Middle fork trail a bit to see if there were deeper holes. Not really. I probably walked about a mile downstream to where the trail met the river again. I dabbled a dry and nymph in a couple small holes, with only a couple dinkers hitting the dry, but none to hand. The water was a bit too skinny to be productive. After about an hour, I decided to head back to the North fork with the better flows. I fished some of the sections downstream of the bridge that Noah, GJ and I did a while back on the first trip to the Teanaway a couple years back. I decided to stick with the pheasant tail, and, at one point, doubled it up with a lightning bug. At the tail end of a deeper pool, I hooked a decent sized fish, which put a nice bend in the rod. I brought him into the shallows where he thrashed a bit and popped off, but I estimated him at about 12". I proceeded to catch some smaller fish on both the pheasant tail and lightning bug in some of the deeper holes. I had a few hit my orange indicator, but other than that I didn't see much surface activity. I ended up with about a half-dozen to hand on this last stretch in about an hour's fishing. Just a reminder not to forget how fun fishing or local streams can be! Until next time, Josh