Luke and I sneaked away from the shop yesterday to see if we could chase down some bass on the Okanogan River. We launched the boat north of Tonasket and ran up river about 5 miles. The first bad omen of the day was when Luke made his first false cast on his Sage rod and the top section, at about the eight inch make, snapped off. No problems, he broke out his new Winston 6wt and got to work. We noticed that the water seemed a bit dirtier then normal, but it was the Okanogan River and it does that sometimes. We started working in close to shore and under trees where the smallies normally hold. About an hour into our efforts, the second bad omen happened. Luke hooked up with what seemed to be a nice fish, but then we got a look at it. It was a northern pike minnow. Not exactly what we were looking for. We continued to work down river with...

Aeneas Lake is still producing nice catches of fish. You'll need to go deep for them, so bring at least a type six full sinking line. Rob from the sporting goods department had a chance to go out the other day and did okay. He got a couple of rainbows in the 16" size category. Boobie flies and leeches seem to be go to bugs. Also, Jack from the fishing department was out a couple of days ago and besides the standard size fish being caught, he got into one brute that would go about 5lbs. Sadly, it LDR's before he go it to the net. With warmer days a head, keep it deep. Also, as a side note, try and keep the fish in the water and don’t over play them. Heading out to Aeneas Lake? Stock up first at your local North40 or Online.

The weather has started to warm up again with these bright, sunny days. The angler activity at the lake has been some of the heaviest I have seen in a lot of years; at times there was 40 to 50 various styles of one person water crafts on the water. It appears to has slowed down a little now. The callibaetis hatch was a good one this year with a lot of anglers having great days with fish eagerly taking surface dries. Of course, the chironomid fishing was as good as it always is. The direction now is the damsel flies that have been coming out for a while now. Both nymphs and dries have been the bug of choice for most angles, as evident by the number of times I've had to restock the fly bins in the shop. I noticed a little hopper activity along the shoreline so it wouldn’t hurt to have a few in your box. Then you have those of us who are ...

For the better part of my hunting career, I have owned bows with 70 pound limbs. However, shooting this heavy draw weight has really started to affect my shoulders, which also affects how often I can shoot and for how long. So, with that in mind, I decided to put my current setup up for sale and begin the search for a new hunting bow. I shot quite a few different models, all with 60 pound limbs, and despite the fact that my shoulders were more comfortable, I really felt like this draw weight was just too light for what I wanted to do. Weight Configurations in the Mathews Z2 Bow As I was wrestling with this thought and trying to decide what to do, I happened to be browsing through Mathews' annual sales catalog and noticed that they offered their Z2 model in several different draw weight configurations. Among these was the option to order...

If you buy a NEW glass fly rod rod, you’ll probably be able to replace it or at least the pieces you break... so there’s the plus side for new glass, but there are definitely reasons to look for "old glass" rods, the chiefest of those being the actual feel of the rod. So what does old glass feel like versus the "new" glass fly rods for today? Check out the video below for some in depth break downs on the differences in old glass action versus new glass action and what both rods actually feel like... Old Fiberglass Rods Vs New Fiberglass Rods: Do Blanks Matter? Fiberglass fly rods- in the 70’s they were a big deal, but with innovations in rod design (read: Winston, G-Loomis, etc.), there was about a two decades where glass rods became few and far between. However, check any fly rod catalog today, and you’ll usually see a few glas...

With the occasional good report of trout fishing on the Clark Fork River, I thought I would make a quick run up to our local trout stream to see what was going on. As I prepared to launch the boat, a local fisherman with his spinning rod and tackle box asked me, "Going to fish the dead sea?" To which I couldn't help but smile and reply with a simple, "Yep". No doubt this fisherman had a slow day on big river. As for me, fishing was only average. I probably fished for 3 hours and landed 3 beautiful trout with the occasional grab and lost fish. Right around 7:30, I noticed a distinct solid brown scum line across the river. It didn't take long for me to realize I wasn't looking at a scum line. Thousands of #14 brown caddis were fluttering inches above the swift current. Oddly enough, trout weren't keyed in on these caddis, not yet anyway. T...

The Spokane River has been fishing well with several solid fishing reports and fish pics to prove it. Caddis have been the go to bug over the course of the last few weeks. Most of the trout reports are coming from the lower river. Solid smallmouth bass fishing from the upper river. Smallmouth have been enjoying top water poppers and streamers. Trout are also sampling streamers as well as most caddis patterns. The recommended patterns include goddard caddis, elk hair caddis brown/olive, x- caddis in brown/olive, soft hackle emergers, and Swink's core caddis. For streamers: JJ's big horn bugger, Space Invader, and Cheech Leech in olive have all produced fish this last week. Stop into the North 40 fly shop for any additional information or questions. Looking to try out some of these flies? Check them out here. Check Out The Current River Flo...

I felt like, and I'm sure I looked like, Elmer Fudd as I tip toed behind this elk as he worked his way across a sagebrush flat. I thought no way was I going to get close enough for a shot, not to mention actually kill him. But, here I was, full draw and 10 yards away listening to him stomp around in the mud, raking his antlers on the shrub between him and me. All the Difference in the World 15 years of preparation had gone into this moment. Hours of annoying my mother, driving my friends mad and getting weird looks as I made turkey noises with my mouth call on campus. I thought everything weird was accepted in Missoula, MT? I hear it all the time from hunters across the spectrum, "I just can't get use to that thing" or, "I'll never really need it". In this situation, one sound was all the difference in the world and if you can call in a ...

Summer solstice has long been a special day for me. I spent my first summer solstice in Alaska fishing all night with some new friends, waiting for it to get dark. It didn’t. Around midnight, we went to the local establishment for some refreshment between fishing spots. We were there just long enough for me to meet my future wife. Astrologically speaking, we had an interesting event last night. The full moon was rising at sunset on the longest day of the year. I don’t think I will be here 70 years hence when it happens again. I figured I better be fishing during the occurrence. I enjoyed an all too brief 45 minute evening rise period on caddis and then I skated up a brown under the full "Strawberry Moon". A fleeting window of opportunity, but worth the effort of being there. I was on the river a couple days last week. On Thursday, we...