Puget Sound, Washington
48° water temp. @ Southworth
Current Seattle Tide
Current Puget Sound Winds
3-21-10
The Sound is about to go absolutely nuts. We have seen more, large cutts than in years past and there is already a ton of bait in form of salmon fry on the beaches. Look for these to be with a few feet of shore so if at the beach near first light, careful stepping in, might be prudent to cast from land into the shallows as cutts could be in a foot of water or less. Keep your eyes open while fishing as well so you don't miss rising fish around you and play with your retrieve, lately a short fast one has worked well in estuaries.
Favorite flies for this season: Titanic Baitfish, West's Smelt, West's Herring, Southworth Special, Herring Popper, Reverse Spiders, Morrish's Small Fry, Rolled Muddler, Silly Leg Spider and Euphasid patterns, Saltwater deer hair dry flies, Chernobyl ants/hoppers, Miyawaki's Popper, Shock and Awe, small Surf Darts, Strawbucks Shrimp.
Learn more about fly fishing Puget Sound:
Amphipods, Krill, Candy Striped Shrimp, Copepods, Euphasids, Bull Kelp, 5 Ribbed Kelp, Isopods, Sand Lance, Surf Smelt, Shiner Perch, Eel Grass

Skykomish River, Washington
3320 cfs @ Goldbar 37° water temp.
3-21-10
Puget Sound steelhead have been named to the NOAA Endangered Species List. Closed until first Saturday in June.
Favorite flies for this season: Small speys, Coal Car's as opposed to Cop Cars, Purple Perils, Olive Egg Sucking Bunny Leeches, Starlight Leach, Flatwing General Practitioners, Metal Detector, Skykomish Sunrises, Mega Moal, Morrish's Trailer Trash, River Rats, Fergus Rock Star, Wally Wakers, Bombers, and flesh flies and eggs for Dollies.
Shuttle Service: Matt Burke 206-660-7555

Sauk River, Washington
3050 cfs @ near Darrington
12,200 cfs @ near Sauk, WA
3-21-10
Puget Sound steelhead have been named to the NOAA Endangered Species List. Closed until first Saturday in June.
Favorite flies for this season: Bunny Leeches, Egg Sucking Leeches, Flatwing General Practitioners, Mega Moal, Intruders, Skagit Mist, Sauk River Shrimp, Prawns, Morrish's Trailer Trash, River Rats, Fergus Rock Star, Metal Detector, Skagit Minnows, Marabous all in various colors and flesh flies and egg patterns for Dollies.

North Fork Stillaguamish River, Washington
3500 cfs @ Arlington
3-21-10
Puget Sound steelhead have been named to the NOAA Endangered Species List. Closed until first Saturday in June.
Favorite flies for this season: Small Egg Sucking Leeches, Flatwing General Practitioners, Skunks, Bombers, Waller Wakers, Skykomish Sunrises, Purple Perils and purple/orange/black spey flies.

Olympic Peninsula, Washington
Sol Duc River, Bogachiel River
Hoh 702 cfs @ Highway 101
Queets 342 cfs @ Clearwater
Bogachiel @ La Push
Sol Duc Live Cam - Still images updated every 5 minutes
3-21-10
Well most of the western US has been here lately and fortunately there have been plenty of fish to go around. Nymphing will of course find you some fish but is that really steelheading, NO! Slow down and swing, enjoy the process and the scenery, fish will still come to hand and you will become a better angler because of it. Every river has been providing fish but the Hoh has had the most traffic so if crowds are not your cup o' tea, head to the Queets or the Bogi.
Favorite flies for this season: Bunny Leeches, Starlight Leeches, Egg Sucking Leeches, Flash Fly, Flatwing General Practitioners, Skagit Minnows, Mega Moal, Metal Detector, Morrish's Trailer Trash, River Rats, Fergus Rock Star, Marabous all in various colors. Mickey Finns, spiders, reverse spiders, rolled muddlers, woolly buggers for SRC's and flesh flies for Dollies.
Shuttle Service: Ted Miller 360-374-5195

Deschutes River, Oregon
9-5-09
4860 cfs @ Moody
Fish Counts Over Bonneville Dam
Lots of fish headed over Bonneville and a very solid number going over the John Day at the same time. This means many of the fish people think are headed up the Deschutes are cruising right past it. There have been some very good days but the water has remained quite warm and is just now cooling with some mountain rain. That said the White River has also been puking pretty bad so the lower river has been pretty well shot but that also is changing a bit. Good news is that for some reason, the bulk of steelhead being caught have been Natives rather than hatchery. Look for a strong fall here as the water cools, many fish sitting around waiting are going to make their move soon. Report provided by Brian Silvey, Mike McCoy and The Caddis Fly Angling Shop.
Favorite flies for this season: Stoneflies, leaches, Brads Brat, Boss, heavy wire skunks, and Purple Perils.

Most often, the surface feeding patterns of winter fish will become present in the afternoons when the river temperatures are the warmest. Back eddies and slow water are often winter hot spots as rainbows will congregate in the deeper pools and runs where they can expend the least amount of energy while acquiring the greatest amount of protein. Fishing from pocket to pocket looking for high concentrations of fish is a productive way to approach the river. It is not uncommon to spend an hour or more in each of the larger holes as the conglomerations of fish can be significant.

Subsurface fishing tends to be the most effective method of trout fishing during the winter months. Many Midge imitations can be effective, such as Brassies in black, copper and red as well as midge pupa patterns in black, grey and red. Nymphing will also result in hookups if using Prince Nymphs, Flashback Pheasant Tails and Copper Johns in red, copper, silver, green and purple in sizes 14-18. Cranefly pupas such as Chamois are also effective along with Philo Betos, Woolly Buggers in green, black and brown and various streamers. Double nymph or nymph/midge pupa combinations in tandem with a strike indicator tend to be the most commonly used tackle selection. Since the trout will be lethargic due to the cold weather, light tippet (6X) is recommended when presenting these tiny insects, even the largest of fish will come to hand fairly quickly albeit on the lightest of line. It is important when playing fish in the depths of winter that great care is given to their release. It is best not to remove them from the water if at all possible and to handle them gently and briefly.

Silver Creek 73 cfs @ Sportsmans Access
The Creek will also offer good Midge fishing and due to its lower elevation, generally will offer slightly warmer air and water temperatures. However, if you drive south to fish, do remember that the Silver Creek Preserve is closed until the end of May. Try fishing the section north of Highway 20 where streamers and Woolly Buggers will be the most effective. Wade down the middle of the river, cast to the banks in a quartering-down fashion and strip your big bugs back toward you with short, quick motions as they swing to the center of the stream. Most large trout (rainbows and browns) will be hunkered down near or under the undercut banks and will be enticed to strike with a splashy presentation and the stripping of the fly. Although less subtle than dry fly presentations, streamer fishing in the abovementioned manner can lead to some remarkably aggressive strikes and massive wild fish!

This report provided by Silver Creek Outfitters.
Favorite flies for this season: Hoppers, Turk's Tarantualas, Stone fly nymphs, pheasant tails, black copper johns, princes, midge pupae, JJ specials, caddis, turks tarantula.

Okavango: As we have come to expect over the past 4 years - tiger fishing over the annual catfish run on the Okavango River in Botswana has to be high on the list for all fly fishermen and women.  With productive catfish runs offering numerous shots at good sized tiger fish, this venue suits both experienced and novice anglers alike.  This season saw some exceptional catches, with early season providing some of the finest tiger fishing experienced on the Okavango River in recent years.  The two month ‘no fishing’ rule enforced by the Botswana Fisheries department over the spawning months, is definitely paying off.  As in most fly fishing disciplines, fly selection when targeting tiger fish has evolved, with natural colours and bait fish profiles out-fishing the clousers and the conventional tiger flies.  This is without a doubt a sign of the evolution in targeting tiger fish on fly. Some trophy nembwe and massive 20lb plus catfish also joined the fray this season, offering the variety needed to make a great fishery world class. This report provided by our partner in Africa, Keith Clover of Tourette Fishing.

Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia
Opala, Pymta, Icha, Tikhaya, Kolpakova Rivers
Good news in some ways not in others for those looking to do Kamchatka this season:
The flight will depart in either direction on Mondays from July 7 to September 15 of 2008 with an additional flight on Thursdays from July 17 to August 21 of 2008 with the following departure and arrival times:
Anchorage - Petropavlovsk dep. 7:45am, arr. 9:45am (the next day)
Petropavlovsk - Anchorage dep. 10:00pm, arr. 5:45am (same day)
Coach class fares start from $1890 round-trip plus taxes and service fees (about $2095 with taxes and service fees included). Business class fares start from $3690 round trip plus taxes and service fees (about $3895 with taxes and service fees included). There are only 8 business class seats on this aircraft, so early reservations are encouraged.
Favorite flies for this season: Rajah, Zonkers, Battle Creek, Pink Sparkler, Flash Fly, Mouse, Bomber, Bitch Creek, Wulff, Black Gnat, Caddis, Wooly Worm, Egg Sucking Leach.