Get Your Pass to Western Washington Brown Trout.

I consider myself blessed to live in western Washington with all it’s nature and beauty. The one thing that is missing is great Trout Rivers. You know what I am talking about, Rivers like The Madison, The Beaverhead, or The Henrys Fork  places were a guy can catch large browns and rainbows with consistency. Most of Western Washington’s River fishing is seasonal fishing for steelhead and salmon. There is a place however where the local fly fisherman has a shot at that 28in to 30in brown trout and a plethora of rainbows. The lake is bordered on three sides by state park and on one side by SR20 it is common to see deer, otter and birds of prey on any given day at Pass Lake.
Example of a quality Pass Lake Brown.

Pass can be a little finicky. I was out a couple weeks months ago and there was a large hatch coming off. I pulled one of the bugs of the side of my boat and was very excited about the opportunity to match the hatch. There were 16 to 20 inch bows rising all around me. I tried every fly that was close to the hatch in my boxes and was denied. After what seemed like hours of frustration I decided to go back to my mainstay of streamer fishing and managed to keep the skunk off.
Quality Pass lake Bow stripping streamers.

On another day we could do nothing wrong and no matter what we threw we had great fishing including a 22 inch brown on a caddis. I will let the pictures tell this part of story.

  My Friend Hank with his Brown on a caddis.

Another great Brown on the same day on a streamer.

Fly Fishing a cigar and a PBR outstanding combo.
So if you’re looking for your trout fix on the western side of the state give Pass Lake a try. My favorite way to fish the Pass is banging the beach with streamers. Although the Chronomid fishing can be productive as well as dragging leaches and woolly buggers low and slow The lake is not accessible to fish from shore it is a float tube or drift boat show and don’t bring your motor, gas or electric they are not allowed and Pass Lake is fly fish only and C&R. Take quick pictures and get those fish back in the water so we can catch them next time. Have a great time and let FLY LIFE know how you did. I will leave you with a pic of one of my go to fly on Pass Lake.

Zane Wyll

By: Zane Wyll, fly fishing, Washington,drift,brown trout,rainbow,searun cutthroat,steelhead,skiff,flies,fly wallet, swing,nymph,Skagit,Stilly,Sauk,Pass lake,Washington fly fishing,catch and release,fishing with friends,fishing report,fishing trips,free fishing, military fish free,premier fly fishing, west,Idaho,Montana,Mexico,Pesca,bonefish,Snook,driftboat,oars,flyrod,reel.

Day on the River

I left the house this morning around 7am still stuffed from a huge Thanksgiving dinner at Mom’s house. The weather was great around 36 degrees on the river with some snow on the ground and the rain holding off for the better part of the day.

I started out nymphing with no results so I switched to a sink tip and it was game on. I lost two Steelhead one at the beach and one that I LDR after a great jump, also hooked and broke off two Chums and hooked and landed two Dollys.


One of the things that really stuck in my mind today was watching two Spey casters work down the run I was fishing. What an amazing art form to watch. I might have to try that. Thanks for looking.

By: Zane Wyll, fly fishing, Washington,drift,brown trout,rainbow,searun cutthroat,steelhead,skiff,flies,fly wallet, swing,nymph,Skagit,Stilly,Sauk,Pass lake,Washington fly fishing,catch and release,fishing with friends,fishing report,fishing trips,free fishing, military fish free,premier fly fishing, west,Idaho,Montana,Mexico,Pesca,bonefish,Snook,driftboat,oars,flyrod,reel.

The Bosie experience!!

This last weekend I had the pleasure of driving to Boise Idaho with my brother Jason to pick up or buddy Jeff for a weekend camping and fishing. I awoke early Thursday morning and my wife Kelli gave me a lift to meet my bro. After stowing all my gear in Jason’s truck and having a swisher we hit the road at 6am. The drive was uneventful although very beautiful. We drove through the Yakama valley and across the Columbia into Oregon past the Blue Mountains, and into Idaho. We got are fishing licenses and grabed Jeff and his pile of gear and headed to the South fork of the Boise River. We arrived after dark stumbling around trying to put up tents and start a fire with our headlamps on, and managed to get it done. The Wal-Mart hotdogs were cooked and the Montana beers medley case was opened and the fun had started so I thought. Jason, Jeff and I made it a fairly early first night as we were excited the prospects of fishing the river in the morning. Sleep HA HA HA froze my ass of and found out later that I had pitched my tent on top of a rock and a hole. Got out of the tent early and stoked the fire and started breakfast, maple links and scrambled eggs the best meal of the trip. We saw this sign in the camping area in the morning but no Bull Trout this trip.

our camp next to the river.
With the breakfast mess cleaned up it was off to the river to rope some hogs or so we thought. Boy were we wrong the South fork of the Boise was not kind to us this trip. I was mister whitey Jason hooked a few nice bows but lost them and Jeff was the star with 5 bows to hand the biggest just shy of twenty inches.

Jeff fighting his bow

these rainbows do eat!

the canyon that the river runs through is amazing.
By the end of 12 hours of fishing we were all disappointed in our results and ready for some hotdogs and cup of noodles and beer as we ate and drank we decided to bail on the South fork and head for the Owyhee river some 2.5 hours away in the morning. We had bigger problems right now we were low on beer and smokes so Jeff and Jason headed to Mountain Home while I manned the fire to restock . I am intentionally leaving out the part where I almost fell in the fire and did burn my pants, don’t ask.
The drive to the Owyhee River was over before we knew it and we were setting up a new camp in a desert canyon along a small river that was running slow and low and the fish were skittish and stealth was the word of the day crawl to the river fish from you knees in some places and sneak around everywhere else.

The Owyhee would not disappoint us but instead would thrill us with huge Browns in large numbers. The canyon that the river is situated in is full of a large and diverse population of wildlife, from the coyotes singing to us at night to the muskrats, raccoons and deer and a plethora of birds

     The food supply in the river must be outstanding because the fish are monsters



 what a mouth



 Jeff with a gorgeous Brown.

                                My Brother Jason and another of his many fish.

                               Me in hog heaven.



 Some of the scenery.


 I love this shot.

                                          That is my size 11 boot under that Brown.

This trip is ranked in my top ten not just for the fishing but also the company and the country. Some of the places that we are blessed with in this country leave me breathless.
Thanks for reading and I will see you on the river. Please leave a comment.
Zane Wyll

By: Zane Wyll, fly fishing, Washington,drift,brown trout,rainbow,searun cutthroat,steelhead,skiff,flies,fly wallet, swing,nymph,Skagit,Stilly,Sauk,Pass lake,Washington fly fishing,catch and release,fishing with friends,fishing report,fishing trips,free fishing, military fish free,premier fly fishing, west,Idaho,Montana,Mexico,Pesca,bonefish,Snook,driftboat,oars,flyrod,reel.

The Ultimate Christmas Gift

Thanks for reading and I will see you on the river. Please leave a comment.
I don’t know about you but I am not much of a shopper and I never know what to get people. If you have a fly fisher on your Christmas list,this gift is sure to make you a hero with family or friends. If you want to give a gift that will take a great moment and make it last a lifetime then check this out.

The Artist at work

YOUR PICTURE

THE FINISHED PRODUCT FROM THE PICTURE

THE INSIDE OF THE FLY WALLETS

ANOTHER PICTURE

FINISHED ART FROM THE PICTURE

There is no limit to the art.
So when you don’t know what to buy give them the gift that keeps on giving the whole year and we are not talking about the jelly of the month club here. We are talking about a Fly Wallet from Marc Crapo at http://www.flywallets.com/

By: Zane Wyll, fly fishing, Washington,drift,brown trout,rainbow,searun cutthroat,steelhead,skiff,flies,fly wallet, swing,nymph,Skagit,Stilly,Sauk,Pass lake,Washington fly fishing,catch and release,fishing with friends,fishing report,fishing trips,free fishing, military fish free,premier fly fishing, west,Idaho,Montana,Mexico,Pesca,bonefish,Snook,driftboat,oars,flyrod,reel.