Seattle Area Trout Spots

[pahnoor]

Hi. I'm pretty new to fly fishing. Trying to find a decent spot around Seattle to catch some trout. So far I've tried a few spots in the Middle Snoqualmie Fork and caught one small rainbow. Problem is, I feel like a lot of the places I find are too deep and wide and difficult to traverse.

Anybody know of any good spots?

 

[flybill]

This is not wrong.

Except he'll need multiple boats, a float tube, a raft and a driftboat!! Haha! Plus a jet boat of course...

 

[Josh]

Except he'll need multiple boats, a float tube, a raft and a driftboat!! Haha! Plus a jet boat of course...

Happens to the best of us.

But a float tube is the fastest/cheapest/easiest way to unlock a lot of fish if you aren't solely focused on moving water.

 

[dirty dog]

I can't help ya with western WA.
This is what I know about finding new water to fish.
I moved from East Wenatchee, WA four years ago to Glide, OR.
I live less than one mile from the North Umpqua river, known for it's steelhead fishery.
The first season was a eye opener as far as catching.
The second year I caught more fish, fishing the same waters, and the next year also.
I learned what flies to use, where the fish were holding, etc.
This last season I fished some new to me water and caught more nice fish because I have learned what to use and where to fish in these waters of Southern OR.
OMJ's advice is true. Get a map, google map and explore.
It's not the catching that is the most important, it's being one with nature.
The catching will come.

 

[Divad]

If you start fishing the sound catalogue your outings in a journal, digital or hard copy. Beach, time of day, tide, weather, fly used etc. all will help you find consistency in the vast body of water. It along with lakes, tend to not blow out like rivers and creeks do this time of year which is a nice bonus.

 

[Brian Miller]

Hi. I'm pretty new to fly fishing. Trying to find a decent spot around Seattle to catch some trout. So far I've tried a few spots in the Middle Snoqualmie Fork and caught one small rainbow. Problem is, I feel like a lot of the places I find are too deep and wide and difficult to traverse.

First of all, welcome to the forum congratulations on catching the rainbow on a fly rod! More will surely come. I echo what @Tom Butler and others have mentioned earlier about fly shops, clubs, and a Gazetteer (local maps - Google maps with offline maps works pretty well. I have a subscription to Gaia and keep offline maps on my phone).

You haven't mentioned here whether you are brand new to fishing streams or are experienced using gear or bait.

In case you are new to fishing altogether, fish have instinctive behavior patterns to satisfy their needs to take in more calories than they expend to eat, and protection from predators. That causes them to seek out specific places in a stretch of water. Once you learn about where those places would be under various circumstances, the surface of the water on many-most streams will "tell" you where those places are, and as a result there's a high likelihood the fish are there. So learning to "read the water" is important. It's kinda like reading a map. But you need to know how to interpret what you see; the legend if you will. This book helped me a lot...
Amazon product ASIN 0811722635Also a video like this...


Besides the issues you mentioned, one of the problems I've found with larger streams like the MF or the Yakima is the amount of information the stream provides within your field of view that you have to interpret. Smaller streams provide all the same information, but there is less of it I have to digest in one field of view, so they are a good place to learn the craft. That said, the MF and Yakima have been good to me after I learned how to focus on smaller sections and read them like small streams. But I have to admit, I love the intimacy of smaller streams. *adding And it doesn't require the casting expertise that larger streams (and saltwater) often require.*

Fish in lakes have the same needs as fish in streams and use the "bathymetry" - structure of the lake in a similar fashion. But the "legend" for reading the surface of a lake is obviously different than moving water in streams. The forum's esteemed @Tim L wrote the book "Stillwaters Simplified". It has been a great resource for me to get back into stillwater fishing after a several year hiatus. He will even answer a PM with an additional question or few.
Amazon product ASIN 0811719642As the conversation turned to saltwater, right or wrong this is my observation - in the salt the fish aren't confined to the small area within two streambanks. They have regular migration patterns near their home (natal) streams. It's learning what beaches they hunt for food, when - what they eat is at that beach, and the structure and tides where they find the food. So when I catch fish in the salt it gives me a nice sense of accomplishment. A book that I don't want to downplay or say is a "beginner's" book, but helped me a lot as a beginner to learn about fishing for SRC in Puget Sound after he spoke at a club meeting is Chester Allen's Book, "Fly Fishing for Sea-Run Cutthroat"
Amazon product ASIN 0811701867I also picked up a used newer edition of the classic Les Johnson book mentioned above by @flybill ; "Fly-Fishing for Coastal Cutthroat Trout: Flies, Techniques, Conservation (2004), at a Fly Fisher's International club (FFI) silent auction or raffle for just a few bucks and it has provided me ton of knowledge including a couple of my goto saltwater fly patterns.
Amazon product ASIN 1571883339

 

[Pink Nighty]

First of all, welcome to the forum congratulations on catching the rainbow on a fly rod! More will surely come. I echo what @Tom Butler and others have mentioned earlier about fly shops, clubs, a Gazetteer (local maps - Google maps and offline maps works pretty well. I have a subscription to Gaia and keep offline maps on my phone.
You haven't mentioned here whether you are brand new to fishing streams or are experienced using gear or bait.

In case you are new to fishing altogether, fish have instinctive behavior patterns to satisfy their needs to take in more calories than they expend to eat, and protection from predators. That causes them to seek out specific places in a stretch of water. Once you learn about where those places would be under various circumstances, the surface of the water on many-most streams will "tell" you where those places are, and as a result where there's a high likelihood the fish are there. So learning to "read the water" is important. It's kinda like reading a map. But you need to know how to interpret what you see; the legend if you will. This book helped me a lot...
View attachment 85627Amazon product ASIN 0811722635Also a video like this...


Besides the issues you mentioned, one of the problems I've found with larger streams like the MF or the Yakima is the amount of information the stream provides within your field of view that you have to interpret. Smaller streams provide all the same information, but there is less of it I have to digest in one field of view, so they are a good place to learn the craft. That said, the MF and Yakima have been good to me after I learned how to focus on smaller sections and read them like small streams. But I have to admit, I love the intimacy of smaller streams. *adding And it doesn't require the casting expertise that larger streams (and saltwater) often require.*

Fish in lakes have the same needs as fish in streams and use the "bathymetry" - structure of the lake in a similar fashion. But the "legend" for reading the surface of a lake is obviously different than moving water in streams. The forum's esteemed @Tim L wrote the book "Stillwaters Simplified". It has been a great resource for me to get back into stillwater fishing after a several year hiatus. He will even answer a PM with an additional question or few.
View attachment 85625 Amazon product ASIN 0811719642As the conversation turned to saltwater, right or wrong this is my observation - in the salt the fish aren't confined to the small area within two streambanks. They have regular migration patterns near their home (natal) streams. It's learning what beaches they hunt for food, when - what they eat is at that beach, and the structure and tides where they find the food. So when I catch fish in the salt it gives me a nice sense of accomplishment. A book that I don't want to downplay or say is a "beginner's" book, but helped me a lot as a beginner to learn about fishing for SRC in Puget Sound after he spoke at a club meeting is Chester Allen's Book, "Fly Fishing for Sea-Run Cutthroat"
View attachment 85624 Amazon product ASIN 0811701867I also picked up a used newer edition of the classic Les Johnson book mentioned above by @flybill ; "Fly-Fishing for Coastal Cutthroat Trout: Flies, Techniques, Conservation (2004), at a Fly Fisher's International club (FFI) silent auction or raffle for just a few bucks and it has provided me ton of knowledge including a couple of my goto saltwater fly patterns.
View attachment 85623 Amazon product ASIN 1571883339

Shhhhhh brian dont hotspot the books!!!

Awesome reply

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

Wait, Les Johnson's book is going for $300 on Amazon!?
I think I have two of them. Might have to sell them and run to Costco to grab me a new Winston.

 

[Scott Salzer]

Brian:

Just spent a few days with Tim Lockhart. We hit a lake that had plenty of more than willing 16-18" bows. It was a fish on EVERY cast. I haven't ever seen it like that for me.

 

[Scott Salzer]

Tim is different matter, usually. I generally go the other way so I am not embarrassed.

 

[Tim L]

First of all, welcome to the forum congratulations on catching the rainbow on a fly rod! More will surely come. I echo what @Tom Butler and others have mentioned earlier about fly shops, clubs, and a Gazetteer (local maps - Google maps with offline maps works pretty well. I have a subscription to Gaia and keep offline maps on my phone).

You haven't mentioned here whether you are brand new to fishing streams or are experienced using gear or bait.

In case you are new to fishing altogether, fish have instinctive behavior patterns to satisfy their needs to take in more calories than they expend to eat, and protection from predators. That causes them to seek out specific places in a stretch of water. Once you learn about where those places would be under various circumstances, the surface of the water on many-most streams will "tell" you where those places are, and as a result there's a high likelihood the fish are there. So learning to "read the water" is important. It's kinda like reading a map. But you need to know how to interpret what you see; the legend if you will. This book helped me a lot...
View attachment 85627Amazon product ASIN 0811722635Also a video like this...


Besides the issues you mentioned, one of the problems I've found with larger streams like the MF or the Yakima is the amount of information the stream provides within your field of view that you have to interpret. Smaller streams provide all the same information, but there is less of it I have to digest in one field of view, so they are a good place to learn the craft. That said, the MF and Yakima have been good to me after I learned how to focus on smaller sections and read them like small streams. But I have to admit, I love the intimacy of smaller streams. *adding And it doesn't require the casting expertise that larger streams (and saltwater) often require.*

Fish in lakes have the same needs as fish in streams and use the "bathymetry" - structure of the lake in a similar fashion. But the "legend" for reading the surface of a lake is obviously different than moving water in streams. The forum's esteemed @Tim L wrote the book "Stillwaters Simplified". It has been a great resource for me to get back into stillwater fishing after a several year hiatus. He will even answer a PM with an additional question or few.
View attachment 85625 Amazon product ASIN 0811719642As the conversation turned to saltwater, right or wrong this is my observation - in the salt the fish aren't confined to the small area within two streambanks. They have regular migration patterns near their home (natal) streams. It's learning what beaches they hunt for food, when - what they eat is at that beach, and the structure and tides where they find the food. So when I catch fish in the salt it gives me a nice sense of accomplishment. A book that I don't want to downplay or say is a "beginner's" book, but helped me a lot as a beginner to learn about fishing for SRC in Puget Sound after he spoke at a club meeting is Chester Allen's Book, "Fly Fishing for Sea-Run Cutthroat"
View attachment 85624 Amazon product ASIN 0811701867I also picked up a used newer edition of the classic Les Johnson book mentioned above by @flybill ; "Fly-Fishing for Coastal Cutthroat Trout: Flies, Techniques, Conservation (2004), at a Fly Fisher's International club (FFI) silent auction or raffle for just a few bucks and it has provided me ton of knowledge including a couple of my goto saltwater fly patterns.
View attachment 85623 Amazon product ASIN 1571883339

Brian, really cool, thank you! I wanted to tell a story about Les and his book. When I was considering doing the same, I did some research by attending events by other authors and of course looking at the other books on the market. The Les Johnson book was one of the first I picked up - I stood in a Fred Meyer looking it over, only to realize his work and content were way more than I could grasp as a writer, and I could certainly never come close to what he did with this book. I figured I was out of the book business before ever getting in. However, given the time I had invested, I thought I'd at least check out some other work to see if everyone else was writing like that. I soon found out that Les had created something special, IMO it still sets the bar today. I believed I could create content consistent with others, just not him, and that was ok.

At a later time, Les was at the sunset of his life and his wife was nice enough to relay notes and good wishes from those in the fly fishing community. I asked her to forward the above to Les and she did, saying he really enjoyed and appreciated hearing it. As an aside, and not news to anyone who knew him, Les was incredibly sweet spirited and always loved to listen to and talk with anyone interested in his favorite subject.

So if you ask me, the Les Johnson book is unique and special, I'd say unequalled.

Brian:

Just spent a few days with Tim Lockhart. We hit a lake that had plenty of more than willing 16-18" bows. It was a fish on EVERY cast. I haven't ever seen it like that for me.

Scotty that was some insane action on that little bay - I loved that we found the good ones, they were hungry, and everything else was smart enough to steer clear. An honor to be next to you on a day like that...we was killin' 'em!!

 

[jaredoconnor]

Hi. I'm pretty new to fly fishing. Trying to find a decent spot around Seattle to catch some trout. So far I've tried a few spots in the Middle Snoqualmie Fork and caught one small rainbow. Problem is, I feel like a lot of the places I find are too deep and wide and difficult to traverse.

Anybody know of any good spots?

In my opinion, when you are still learning, driving over to the Yak is not worth the effort.

Go to Olallie State Park. The fish will be small, but they are plentiful. This is the perfect environment for learning; the water is very accessible and the volume of fish gives you a short feedback loop. Once you are able to catch so many fish that you become bored, start exploring elsewhere on the forks.

When you have some miles under your belt and want to start catching larger fish, revive this thread and I’ll give you some pointers.

 

[Ceviche]

Seriously, a float tube or other watercraft will open up so many options.

And then you can fish Green Lake! Talk about “Seattle Area Trout Spots”! And the Green Monster can be quite generous at times—even despite the pressure it receives.

 

[Michael1227]

Hi. I'm pretty new to fly fishing. Trying to find a decent spot around Seattle to catch some trout. So far I've tried a few spots in the Middle Snoqualmie Fork and caught one small rainbow. Problem is, I feel like a lot of the places I find are too deep and wide and difficult to traverse.

Anybody know of any good spots?

I lived on Bainbridge Island for about 23 years. We did a lot of sailing, and no trout fishing. The sailing years were a hiatus from fly fishing, but when I dusted off the old Fenwick 6wt I found that the Yakima from Cle Elum to Yakima was good. I always felt that anything on the West side of Snoqualmie Pass would be too crowded.

 

[Jake Watrous]

I lived on Bainbridge Island for about 23 years. We did a lot of sailing, and no trout fishing. The sailing years were a hiatus from fly fishing, but when I dusted off the old Fenwick 6wt I found that the Yakima from Cle Elum to Yakima was good. I always felt that anything on the West side of Snoqualmie Pass would be too crowded.

The Sky is a good place to go right now for all manner of trout-shaped fish. As is the Yak--like, crazy good.

 

[Michael1227]

The Sky is a good place to go right now for all manner of trout-shaped fish. As is the Yak--like, crazy good.

Thanks Jake. We moved back to Boise 7 years ago so I'm fishing some different rivers now. No more sailing.

 

[Jake Watrous]

Thanks Jake. We moved back to Boise 7 years ago so I'm fishing some different rivers now. No more sailing.

No worries. Actually didn’t mean to hit reply on your post.