…but of course I can’t fish.  I have managed to get out a few times but helping my daughter prepare for her last big tournament as a junior wrestler, U.S.Jr Nationals in Fargo, ND, has pretty much taken priority over all non-work related activities.  6 more weeks and I get my life back as she shifts gears and becomes a college student-athlete and I lose my wrestling coach-dad status.  A bittersweet proposition for sure.

Anyway…

In the lowland streams with some distance from the Cascade crest, the levels are dropping, the water is warming and the trout are feeding.  I got out a couple times over the last two weeks and the fishing was quite good.  The flows are edging into the ‘juuust right’ zone on my favorite spring spots.  Weather permitting, I’ll be fishing a lot more from here on out – a multiday trip to north Idaho is coming up and the prospect of many short runs to the Olympic Peninsula for summer steelhead have me frantically tying small buggy steelhead patterns.

A likely spot…

The payoff!

Bamboo and wild iris.

On a nearly unrelated note…  My new bamboo rod is nearing completion.  I’m planning a long, detailed post including the origin of the taper and photos of the build process but here’s a teaser.  The rod will be an 8′ hollowbuilt 3wt made by master craftsman, Rob Hoffhines off an innovative taper dreamed up by Tom Smithwick.  I’m having a hard time with the wait for this one!

The beginnings:

Not long now!