Balls

Notice how the blue line is 1000 fps higher than the little yellow triangle? My fishless summer steelhead season sure has. We had one good stetch of melt-the-mountains sun, and ever since it's been just warm enough to keep the river looking green and soupy, but not quite enough to put a dent in the snow pack.

Luckily I have a few other things to do. Most notably I need to get my arrows closer together on the block before elk season opens.

July is a joker of a month. No hunting opputunities, and fish are few and far between. My empty lines and extra time make me think I'll have enough spare to do everything I want this fall. Talk to me at the end of October when my shoes have holes in the sole and I STILL haven't hit that little creek that has to be full of silvers, or scouted any ponds or sloughs in preperation for duck season, or bought groceries in two months.

The Outdoor Industry and Growth

Read a VERY insightful article over at Chi Wulff today, seems that the Outdoor Recreation Industry is getting pretty large and profitable these days.

As far as I'm concerned, the growth over environmental preservation argument is pretty much dead.

Action Needed

“The plain truth is that boats on these relatively small rivers leave a fish no place to hide, no sanctuary. Every square yard of good water is covered, if not by one boat then by the next, and the fish are harried and chased from one end of the river to the other.” -- Syd Glasso

The wild steelhead coalition has released some VERY intriguing rule proposals concerning our steelhead rivers. Particularly the rule proposing to ban drift boats on certain parts of the Qullayute and Hoh systems. You can view them HERE

Although I am a tad concerned with the displaced drift boatmen ending up on the Queets and Quinault and making life more crowded for me, I think this is a VERY important first step. Especially for rivers designated Wild and Scenic, I'm not sure how WIld and Scenic a river can be when a parade of drift boats is in constant procession.

Our part in this is to communicate our support. We need to get to emailing department officials and Senators and whoever has an email and some power in this. 

I never knew Syd Glasso, but I think he would be proud.

Why I'm Here

I have a very appropriate schedule for a fisherman. I work nights at the Lake Quinault lodge, starting at 10, getting off at 6. On a day free of other entanglements I will wake up around 6 pm, go fishing, go to work, and then fish again after work until 9 or so.

The Queets and Clearwater Live Up to thier Names

I apologize for the lack of postings as of late. I recently moved into a new place and then went through a bout with a nasty summer flu that has been going around Quinault recently. I’m well now and almost fully relocated, so expect the posts to pick up.

I got out today for the first time in a week or so. Shayna and I drove north to escape the tourist nightmare that is the Upper Quinault right now, I planned to fish several spots on the Queets. When we pulled over the Salmon River Bridge it looked low and very clear. For some reason It didn’t click in my head that the recent sunny weather would put the Glacier into overdrive, and I didn’t give any though to the Queets being silty. That’s almost always a fatal mistake on the Queets, and it was today. There was maybe three feet of visibility, and the color was the sickly grey that often makes itself present on the Queets this time of year. This is not water for a floating line, and seeing how that’s all I brought, I decided to head fro greener, er, clearer pastures.

 I don’t know how much truth there is to it, but a common tale in my community is that the word Queets means “Dirty Water”. I can’t think of a more appropriate name, and to keep irony going I decided to alleviate my disappointment on the Queets largest tributary, the Clearwater.

 I had never fished the Clearwater from the bank or during early summer, so I set my frame of mind to exploratory and we headed down Clearwater road. The view at the confluence with Queets made my stomach lurch with desire for the camera that was stolen a month ago, and the drive through the Clearwater community is always pleasant. We found some good water and I plan to make subsequent trips back here. I had one good pull, but other than that the clear, cool water had just enough green to hide a fly line, and enough pocket water to make me regret heading out so late in the evening.