Last week Scotty and I made the trek to Northport, WA to fish the Upper Columbia. We had a great morning fishing with Doug Lochner of Northport. Doug is a tournament bass fisherman who knows his stuff. He showed us some beautiful runs along the East side of the river. The Upper Columbia was flowing at half the volume of the normal summer flows. Nevertheless, I opted not to launch my boat. Even at winter flows, I was nervous about going out there with my little motor. Part of me wished I had tried while another part of me reminds me that I'm usually right when I'm in doubt about something that might not be safe.
That morning on the Columbia I managed to land a healthy 4-pound rainbow on a cone-head Bow River bugger and Doug got a 17" cutthroat. At the end of the morning, Scotty and I decided to head to our old favorite, Coffeepot Lake. The forecast for the desert was considerably warmer and we were looking for hatches and sunshine.
We had a wonderful evening camping at Steve Bird's place up near the border. Steve is still down in California for the winter, but he will be guiding the UC again this summer. Meanwhile, check out his blog at http://columbiatrout.blogspot.com/. If you like what you see, order his book: Upper Columbia Flyfisher. Steve's approach to fishing, writing, and guiding is as unique as any I have seen. Moreover, he is invested in the future of the Upper Columbia rainbow fishery.
Nice redband, James. Too bad the weather was so crappy. Hope you'll post some pics from Coffeepot. I posted my favorite C-mid tie with you and Scotty in mind. Follow the sun.
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