Turnout in Twisp

October 22

I’ve got a pretty good feel for geography and I’ve been across Washington State numerous times, but somewhere west of Spokane, I started to wonder where the heck we were going. We were supposedly heading to the enchanted village of Twisp, Washington, but there was not a towering pine or spruce tree in sight. The Columbia was big and flat and the country was low and dry. When we finally crossed the mouth of the Okanogan River, I was wondering if I had been misled.  Then we turned up the Methow. After a couple river bends I was thinking, oh yeah. Please let me out.  I’d like to swing now. The rest of the trip to Twisp gave me a sore neck. I kept looking out the window at steelhead water.

We checked into the Twisp River suites. What a nice place, though I could hardly enjoy it. I needed to get a Washington fishing license stat. Can’t do it online. Paul and I dashed around Twisp and managed to find licenses at the hardware store. Cash only. Paul took off with directions to an ATM and I stayed put to make sure the store did not close before he got some cash.

With licenses in hand, I was ready to meet the crew and enjoy some dinner. Nick Slomski and Chris Bergman were new faces from Coeur D’Alene. In fact Nick had just been hired to manage the CDA fly shop. I’m pretty sure Nick learned lots over the Summit, especially our meaning of the word "Buffalo."

Rounding out the fly shop crew, we had Joe O’Brien from Lewiston, Calvin Fuller from Ponderay and Keith Roe as the local from Omak. Then we had Sam Wike, Paul Considine, Jesse Ova, Jerrin Uecker and Jake England. They work out of Great Falls and see to buying and marketing. Also on hand were special guests Nick English from Blue Ribbon Sales and Brandon Prince of Prince Outdoors. Nick and Brandon represent some of the leading brands in our industry.

Sam and his crew rolled out a fine dinner while fishy discussions ranged around the room. Most of the talk involved the retelling of recent fishing exploits and the prospects for steelhead on the Methow. The discussions carried on over to the Twisp River Pub.

October 23: Darkness

Keith took us down the highway for a while and then down a dirt road for a while and then on a long walk. When we finally found the river it was still dark. We quickly made final prep to our rods while Jerrin did stuff with his cameras. Time was limited, so we got right at it.

Being the newbie on the Methow, I was given first rod privilege on the run.  Of course I could not even see the other bank and it was hard to judge my cast. By the time visibility was good enough to see the bank clearly, I had worked down into the deeper water. Sam stepped in above me and immediately hooked a feisty hen. Keith followed Sam and I followed Keith for a second pass. I felt a pluck, but that was it. Game over. Time to head back and get to work. Sam was not messing around. It was North 40 Fly Shop Summit time. Steelhead mode on pause. Fly Shop business hustle mode on.

Throughout the day, we had a good talk with Sam Wike, a good talk with Nick English and a good talk with Brandon Prince. We discussed sales units, top vendors, key brands and taking care of our awesome customers.  It was hard core fly shop business material. Then we reviewed some new products, fondled some new fly patterns and wrangled with some difficult buying decisions. We also met Brad Owens from Fly Tribe Fishing and talked steelhead and the fly fishing business. It was with a strong sense of motivation and accomplishment that we put the fly shop hustle mode on pause and cranked up Steelhead Mode.

Keith took me to several juicy looking runs.  Brad had set me up with a killer fly, so it was pretty much a lock. Unfortunately, I promptly launched it into an irretrievable location. Keith and I each had several plucks on various flies. When I finally sank a hook, it was a Jr. Mykiss with aspirations of being a steelhead someday. I really wanted to catch an adult steelhead. It was a beautiful evening, but we ran out of light. We ended up back at the Twisp River Pub.  It was starting to feel like home.

Oct 24: Darkness

I jumped in Calvin’s truck with Sam and we tore off into the darkness to meet a dude named Leaf.  He’s a local guide.  He knows stuff.  His clients for the day were late showing up. He agreed to take us to some steelhead. We met him at a clandestine spot and pursued him down the road to a stealthy pull out. We fumbled around with gear and then blazed a trail to the chosen run. While charging through the murk, we got tangled up in a bush and accosted by barb wire, but we made it. It was still dark.

I ran through first with a sexy little black and blue number tied by Keith. I got two plucks on it.  Calvin followed me down with one of his tasty Clearwater Intruders. I heard him mumble a couple times, so I think he had a couple licks, but neither of us received a solid grab.  For the next pass, I decided to go bigger, so I tied on a Bald Eagle. I promptly got crushed and defeated. After the grab there was no fly on my leader. Maybe the problem was that I’d lost my 0X in the dark and had settled for 2X. Or maybe it was because I tied a poor knot in the pale morning gloom. I should have brought a headlamp. We sell lots of them at North 40.

Leaf talked to his clients and they were leaning toward a later start, so he was eager to take us to a new run. With an hour left and perfect light, we rolled up to a juicy spot that smelled like steelhead. I told Calvin to go for it and I wandered up stream, looking for the next choke point. I did not see anything fishy, so I wandered back down to follow Calvin though the run. I tied on a giant bead headed rubber legged nymph before stepping down. I found a steelhead that liked it. It was a nice wild buck. I love steelhead. Even though I was fishing a Scandi, Calvin called me a "dirty nympher." That’s funny because it was his fly box that I raided. Besides, it was a dirty nymph on the swing. That counts for something, right? We were ready for more, but that was it for steelhead mode. Sam hustled us back to the Twisp Suites.

After shedding waders, we munched some breakfast and discussed more hard core fly shop business. Then we put together a stack of fly rods and rolled down to the town park. We started off testing single hand rods on the grass. Then Sam set up a little casting competition with rings of river rock. I’m pretty sure the rings got smaller when it was my turn. I think Calvin won, but no one else even tried. Well not much anyway. Nick was an old hand from the Simms competition casting circuit, so he looked pretty good.

After the stress of competition, we wadered up and tried out a bunch of two hand rods in the river. That was really fun. I cast some rods I truly liked. I totally fell in love with one of them. I hope it’s in the mail by now. Saturday night was slated to be our Steelhead Kickoff Party at the Twisp Brewpub. We cleaned up and went over to make sure everything was in order. The scene looked good. Calvin and I looked at each other. We looked at the clock. We looked at Sam. Sam rolled his eyes, but gave a little nod. Steelhead Mode was back on for an hour. We pulled on our waders in seconds. Drove through town a little fast and then plunged down a steep hill. We slogged across a fast boulder garden and then fished down two runs at Mach speed. After a couple more plucks and no fish, we reversed course, slogged back and got cleaned up again. I think I was still gasping when we hit the Twisp River Pub for final prep before the Steelhead Kickoff Party.

We started off feeding folks some great BBQ. We offered up some silent auctions and raffles. I got to talk with Brad Owens for a while. He said he’d taken several fish that day on the fly pattern he’d set me up with and asked me how I’d done with it. That figures. Then we rolled out the 2015 Drake Video Awards. The crowd enjoyed the show. After that we kicked back and enjoyed live music with the Druthers and shared the fishing flap with the local fly fishers and guides. Money was raised for Methow River Salmon and Steelhead. I’d say our event was a success. They even want us back.

I want to thank Leaf Seaburg for leading me to a Steelhead. We’d all like to thank the wonderful folks at the Twisp River Pub for making us feel welcome. Thanks to Nick English and Brandon Prince for joining our crew. If you plan to fish the Methow, you can’t go wrong at the Twisp River Suites. Joe has built some fantastic lodging and his staff put on an awesome breakfast.  The Methow River is a few blocks away and you can cross the street to the Twisp River Pub.  Turns out Twisp is an enchanted village after all.

Thank you to Twisp, WA. Our event, supported by the fishing community, allowed us to donate $689 to the Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation.