Fishing Spots Disappearing

So I got yet another kick in my face today, my fishing face as it were.

Earlier this year a friend of mine told me the Colville Confederated Tribes had decided to close the San Poil River to non-indians.

http://www.spokesman.com/outdoors/stories/2014/may/11/fishing-the-colville-indian-reservation-more-fish/

I had fished here for maybe 35 years and considered this one of my very favorite spots to stream fish, south of the town of Republic, Washington. We had spent hundreds of hours driving around and exploring, discovering access points and figuring out all the tips and tricks to fish this little gem. It was beautiful and full of wildlife, it was unimproved and perfect. Last year a friend had spied a full grown moose standing in the middle of the river feeding. I had already bought a full season tribal license thinking I would be over there in August this year fishing.

 I won’t do that again.

Ever apparently………

So then today I thought I would hit the Snoqualmie River down by Fall City. I was going to an area called Neal Road, one of my standard, basic, close to home fishing spots. As I drive down the road I see huge yellow and orange construction equipment all over the place. The one hole I used to call “Chum City”, the woods around the area were just destroyed, obviously they were putting roads in. It was so ugly I assumed they were putting in a tract housing development. This is the “Fall City Natural Area”, and it appears King County in their ultimate wisdom are spending millions of dollars to tear the hell out of the area and destroy it. They call this “improvements”.  They will put roads all over and asphalt paved parking lots, bathrooms of course and those raised wooden walkways, holy fuck do they ever love those raised wooden walkways with “interpretive signs”. What this means is tons of people parking in there, dog shit all over, litter all over, I have seen this many times, like up at Moss Lake.

 Moss Lake used to be a beautiful little place before King County “improved it”. The horrible part is now if they can’t ram through sky high taxes they will close the park because they can’t maintain it, when the park doesn't need maintenance at all it just need them to stay the hell away from it. Nature is not improved by "better access".

So I leave that dusty nightmare of screaming chainsaws and head back to 203. I was so disgusted I almost went home.

But I decided to give David Powell Road a shot and see what was up,…with trepidation. Sure enough, the issue here was float tubes and rafts coming down the river. I was astonished! They were everywhere I looked, and coming down in groups 50 yards apart. They were parked everywhere on both sides of the river and just sitting in the river like plastic-neon colored islands of noise and litter.

On the weekend sure, I can understand I guess. If it was really hot maybe. But this was Tuesday night after work, cloudy and maybe 79 degrees. I can’t imagine where all these people come from because they don’t live here in the valley. I also can’t imagine where all these people are parking. They are using and blocking up facilities built for fishing and launching fishing boats.

The Snoqualmie Valley is being loved to death. People like me who wanted to retire here now can’t even get from A to B without really thinking traffic strategy and timing.

Now I can’t even go fishing on a Tuesday night after work.

Omak Lake: A twenty year love affair

Check this folder of pics to get an idea of what you have been missing. A beautiful lake in a wilderness area full of fish on the Colville Indian reservation.

Google doesn't want this link to be clickable until I can fix it please cut and paste---thanks



http://500px.com/biter/sets/omak_lake_a_twenty_year_fishing_affair

Omak candy

Don’t you worry my sweet

I will catch you and hold you

I will fondle you and feel you up

I will kiss you on the lips

And then..

I will let you go

My little fin face

I know you better than you know yourself

I have swam a mile in your shoes

I know what you need

I know what you seek

I will give it to you

Fly fishing only

Once upon a way back when, I was making some decisions about my life, my job, and so on and decided to turn to fly-fishing only. I quit one job and told the new place I needed to give two weeks’ notice before I started, because I wanted two weeks to do nothing but fish and relax and think. I wanted less complication in my life.

Believe it or not part of the complication was my fishing. I had a bass boat with a depth sounder and all that crap. I owned all the standard salmon fishing boat gear, the trout spinning rods, plugs for steelheading and I was just all over the place. It actually took considerable time, money and effort just to store the gear and keep it in good working order. When I sold the boat the trailer literally dragged down the driveway because the wheel bearings were shot with salt water, the wheels didn’t even rotate! HA!

So I started methodically re-dedicating myself to fly fishing. I first had started it many years ago as a kid with an Eagle Claw fiberglass rod and a Pfluger medalist reel. One of the first trips was to Martin Creek by the pass. The hike in with my uncle was brutal, but the mountain trout were starving, and darn near ever pool I dapped the fly in I caught an eager, bright trout! This was many years later and I sat down and re-assessed my gear. I picked up an eight foot Fenwick rod and hit the Skykomish first. I remember that sunny day like yesterday, the feeling in my heart of doing the right thing.I had decided I could be so-so at many things or maybe be really good at just one thing, so I decided to try and learn the art of fly fishing. It did help just going with the one method it eliminated many choices, decisions and expenditures. I could concentrate more on what the hell was important. I also learned that guess what? Trout eat bugs and really it isn’t that hard to catch them with flies, often it is the most deadly way to fish.

I was at a fly shop and heard someone talk about “Rocky Ford”. Well I went in and tried it. It blew my mind to be able to look in and see trout that were bigger than any I had ever caught. This was in about 1988 and it was much less well known. You could walk right up and look at the springs out of the ground about 8 to 10” in diameter. The metal bridge down below wasn’t built yet. I tried and tried but the fish were too selective for my crude machinations.Eventually, mostly through dumb luck, using a dragon fly nymph I hooked a nice trout about 18”. The fight was on! Since this time I have caught many more and bigger fish than I ever did before. Mostly though I just have more fun, it is quieter, hence the nick-name “the quiet sport”, and more contemplative. I also like being able to release unharmed almost everything I catch. All-in-all it has been a very good bargain for me. It is a pastime that people can enjoy their entire life and Washington is one of the best states to do it in.