Doug Rose Flyfishing

After thinking about how to go about making this public for several weeks now, I have decided to just be blunt: I have been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor. After a battery of tests, the doctors determined that it has spread to a couple areas. I just came home from a week at Swedish, where they dealt with a severe infection that I developed, and I had minor surgery in preparation for chemo and other treatments. They will begin as soon as all trace of the infection is gone. If things go well, I will then have radiation and, ultimately, surgery.

I have a great doctor and team at Swedish, and they are optimistic. I also have a great local doctor in Port Townsend, who found the Swedish team for me.

Of course, all of this will take a while. I probably won’t realistically be guiding again until late spring or summer, and I definitely won’t make the Fly Fishing Show this year, which I really was looking forward to. After consulting with Jeff and Ron, I have decided to postpone Cutts and Chum, which was scheduled for March 23/24. If things go well and I have the energy, I may try to hold it in early or mid-April. But that’s as much in my doctors’ hands as my own, at this point. I’ll let you know.

I am going to keep the blog up and will post pieces my friends send me or little things I see, but I am not expecting to do much original work. And I won’t be answering any emails.

Finally, I really want to acknowledge the truly wonderful responses I have received from my close friends when I gave them the news. To a person, they have been incredibly generous–with offers of rides and help and, well, anything. Having friends like Ron and Jeff and Joe Uhlman, Dave Steinbaugh, Les Johnson and Carol Ferrera, Leland Miyawaki, Jack Devlin, Preston Singletary, Jerry Bamburg, David Christian, Chester Allen and Bob Triggs is as important at times like this as good doctors and medicines.

Most of all, my wife, Eliana, has been a tower of strength and love and compassion.

I am a lucky guy.

WINTER SOLSTICE CUTTHROAT

There aren’t many places on this lovely planet where you can catch wild cutthroat trout in saltwater on flies on the Winter Solstice. Fortunately, I live near some of the best, and yesterday a couple good fly fishermen I was guiding hooked about eight and landed four or five. They were from nine to 14 inches and they hit everything from Leland’s Miyawaki Beach Popper to Delia’s Conehead Squid to worm and small orange amphipod patterns.

I don’t want to step on the Christmas Newsletter until people get a chance to read it, so my posts will brief, like the one above, until the New Year.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Mr. Glasso’s Moment by Jack Datisman

This has been an exciting year on the Olympic Peninsula, for both fish and wildlife generally and, more personally, for me and my family.

The dam removal on the Elwha River that began last fall is ongoing and ahead of schedule. Already, wild steelhead have been observed in tributaries above the site of the Elwha Dam. It has been fascinating and, as someone who wrote articles and columns about restoring the Elwha for 20 years, at times an emotional experience watching this lovely river reclaim its true nature.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife did not renew the permit for the Snider Creek hatchery program on the Sol Duc. The entire Sol Duc River will now be managed as a wild fish gene preserve. That’s also great news and long overdue. (more…)

Here’s an essay my fishing partner, Ron Hirschi, wrote about a mutual friend who passed away earlier this fall. It will be included in the essays in my Christmas Newsletter, which I hope to post tomorrow.

Remembering Marty Peckman

Marty Peckman was kind. You could see that immediately in his twinkling eyes that always held a warm smile. He was quick to laugh too, especially at himself, as when his generous nature was called into question. That generosity could be seen pretty much every day at Creek Printing, his business in Hadlock.

He had this gift, or maybe it was his greater sense of community, that allowed him to assess each customer’s ability to pay for services rendered. I saw him charge one dollar many times for what should have been a five, or maybe ten dollar order. I can imagine if he had been a grocer instead of artist and printer, no one in East Jefferson County would have ever gone hungry. He would have divided loaves for sure, even in these recent times when his own income from the business made life a struggle.

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Light Blogging Next Week

I am currently working on my Christmas Newsletter and finishing editing a book, so blogging will be sporadic for a while. I hope to post the newsletter on 12/15. In addition to the usual newsletter rundown on wintertime fly fishing opportunities on the Olympic Peninsul and my clinic and guiding schedule, it will feature the recipe and photo of Jerry Banburg’s Jetty Sand Lance, one of last summer’s best cutthroat and coho flies. I am posting two separate essays with the newsletter–a remembrance of Richard and Beth Chesmore and Brightwater, their wonderful Sol Duc River getaway, and a photo-essay on “The Big Cutthroat of 2012.” As in past years, the Christmas Newsletter will also have contributions from some of my friends, including Preston Singletary, Chester Allen, Leland Miyawaki, Ron Hirschi, Jeffrey Delia and many others. I think you will enjoy it.

I am trying to finish an article right now and didn’t fish today–the first time in a while–or have time to write a post. Fortunately, my friends Chester Allen and Gary Marston both have cool recent posts on their blogs about autumn cutthroat and coho fishing. I know you will enjoy them.

Chester’s is called  “Autumn Puget Sound Sea-run Cutthroat, Signed Books and Friends” and is available on his website Chester Allen’s Watery Planet at watermagic.typepad.com

Gary’s piece, “Back in Business,” is on his blog Native Trout Fly Fishing at www.nativetroutflyfishing.blogspot.com

I will be back on the water again tomorrow.

Eliana and I just returned from a party at Joe and Jo Marie Uhlman’s house in Olympia yesterday. It was the second of what we plan as annual “Cutthroat Clan” parties. We had a great time, with fine food and we saw lots of beautiful cutthroat and coho flies, and heard lots of great stories. I will post in depth about it tomorrow,

Meanwhile, regarding my previous post, Tim Dion has informed me that he caught the steelhead in the photo during a Jim Kerr steelhead clinic. I can’t imagine a better demonstration of your knowledge of the West End rivers than for a client to catch a winter fish during a clinic.

Speaking of winter steelhead, I am doing a talk about winter steelhead fly fishing on the Olympic Peninsula at Orvis Days next Sunday, October 6, at the Orvis shop in Bellevue. I’ll post more about the other guests and activities tomorrow.

“Let’s Start with the Calawah” Update

Tim Dion with Calawah River winter steelhead

I expected to receive some negative reaction to my essay, “Let’s Start with the Calawah,” and I wasn’t proven wrong. Some was respectful, but much of it was nasty, patronizing and, most hilariously from my perspective, clearly written by people hadn’t bothered to actually read or consider what I had to say.

But, I was pleasantly surprised that a majority of the comments were supportive. They didn’t necessarily agree with my choice of a river to close to boat fishing–and, by the way, I more or less conceded in the piece that I understood that most anglers wouldn’t choose the Calawah–but they agreed that while something needs to be done quickly about the fishing pressure on these rivers, the proposed  regulations were a mistake. (more…)

THE TOURISTS ARE GONE BUT THE COHO ARE STILL ON THE BEACH 

I like to leave my newsletters up for a week or so before beginning to post again, so as many people get to see it as possible. But I guess it’s time to begin posting again.

I’ve been fishing for coho for the last few days. There are plenty of fish around right now and they’re gorging on sandlance and they’re hitting flies. We’re also beginning to see some of the big boys of autumn.

I’ve been fishing my TFO 11-foot 6-weight Deer Creek switch rod with a 425 grain Rio Outbound line and a 10 foot clear intermediate tip. That combination is a joy to fish. I roll cast at the conclusion of the retrieve. That brings the line up and water loads the rod. I then execute a single back cast and shoot line forward. It’s efficient and has a nice rhythm to it and it saves me a ton of false casting.

I have been fishing my bead-chain-eyed sandlance pattern. I use a variety of colors of polar bear to achieve the shade and shimmer of the baitfish.

I briefly hooked a bright 8-pounder the other day. It cleared the water in a writhing luminescent leap the moment it felt the fly. It came off not long after that. The next day my buddy, Jeffrey Delia, hooked two in short order, but they got off, too. This morning, Jerry Bamburg landed a nice fish on his sandlance pattern.

As usual, Jeff’s and my Cutts and Chum co-host and my long-time cutthroat fly fishing clinic partner, Ron Hirschi, who fishes for everything except saltwater coho with flies, has put on a clinic on fishing herring spinners. The two days I fished with him he caught his limit in a little over an hour. He had about a 12-pounder on the other day. It made three runs and finally got off at the beach.

This just might hold up until the rains scatter the fish.

A good friend of mine has a collection of Syd Glasso flies, and he loaned me a few of them earlier this year and gave me permission of have them photographed and displayed here. He specifically selected these flies because he wanted viewers to see the great range of Glasso’s artistry as a fly tyer. There are Atlantic salmon, both full dressed and low water flies here, along with a Dee fly, and several of Glasso’s original patterns for sea-run cutthroat for the West End rivers.

Joe Uhlman took the photos.

The first is a beautiful Atlantic salmon fly.

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