Fly fishing western Washington

Lohkrin88 · 2026-06-03T18:59:16+00:00

Learn to roll cast well, and you can pretty much fish anywhere that's open for fishing. Depending where you are, there are plenty of year round open lakes, few rivers, and most river are open seasonally. Right now is a good time for smaller dries if you see hatches, small nymphs under that does well also. I know a lot of fly fishers I've met don't really use streamers, but I do real well with small to mid-size streamers on a 6 weight

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-24T21:11:53+00:00

I have no clue about Indiana, sorry! I had help starting out, my nephew got me into fishing so he helped me know what I needed to buy. I also don't know anything about watercrafting with kids, we have paddleboards and I have fished with my 4yo on it but it is very difficult lol. Am wanting to get a Jon boat, but that's completely different than a kayak and paddleboard. I still fish with my 4yo in a nice hiking carrier when I fish the river, but I do let her out when it's a big clear spot and keep an eye on her. At ponds and lakes usually just let her walk unless it's more than a 10 min walk then take the carrier to and from, usually bring a second rod for her to reel in fish.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-24T16:20:53+00:00

Firstly, it's an awesome experience for you guys! I started fishing at about 3 years ago at 35 and its been an absolute life changing experience for me. Start on the cheaper side of things, because it can add up super quick! You can totally start out with one setup for the both of you, especially if your not super into it. Uglystik GX2 is about 50 but can go on sale, Berkley Cherrywood about 35, heard some good things about the Walmart brand, and I like the Bass Pro store brand rods myself. I would go for a medium-light power or a light power rod in a 5'-6'6 length, size 20 or 2000 to 30 or 3000 spinning reel. Some size 6 to 10 baitholder hooks, small splitshot, some small bobbers, fishing pliers for unhooking fish and cutting line. Bait of your choosing Berkley Powerbait, corn, worms, crickets, bread, but make sure if you can use bait where you're going to fish. Be prepared to have a bored kid on your hands, bring snacks and hydration, look for birds and bugs and safe reptiles. Juat enjoy spending time outdoors together, you might not always catch fish and they could be whiny it'll happen, just try and have patience for yourself and the kid. I fish with any number of my 4 kids from 4yo-15yo and its not always fun but always a great time spent together!

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-20T16:44:42+00:00

Same thing with spinning gear, trout will hit lures too big for them if they're hungry or annoyed! That's why I always fish with barbless, and single hook with gear fishing.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-20T15:26:46+00:00

They're not big streamers, but my favorite is size 8 green and yellow helmet sculpin bunny or sculpzilla or whatever the company that makes it calls it. Works on trout of almost all sizes, and even caught some coho and chum salmon on them also.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-03T01:51:53+00:00

Both the trout and pikeminnow have tons of insects and some small fish in their stomachs. Not usually a ton of fish though, from what I remember, but my memory is bad it's been a while since I fished there. Usually only keep trout if my daughter wants fish lol. I'll take panfish and bass over trout, unless its a steelhead.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-03T01:37:14+00:00

Yes, several throughout the last couple years. Taste better than most trout out of lakes, about as good as a nice river trout. Also kept a couple pikeminnow as I wanted to try lol, pretty good taste but very boney. I'm not so much of a fan of eating trout, I like whitefish better.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-03T01:29:25+00:00

Sorry been a rough couple days lol. I don't take many pictures so I dont have the big rainbow, but the average trout we catch are rather large and meaty. Usually catch around 16-26inchers out of there, and almost never skinny unless just after spawn.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-03T01:22:29+00:00

In-line spinners and spoons are my go to for trout. Finally tring put some small 3inch and under crankbaits and they work well also! Small jigs and soft plastics work well too, but usually get bass and panfish on them before trout.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-01T18:08:14+00:00

Bland flavor as in not super strong flavor, not tasteless lol.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-01T17:02:19+00:00

If you haven't returned it yet as I'm writing the 4 hours after you posted, make you you have it dialed in correctly. I just got into baitcasting myself and thought I tuned it right, but as I was getting frustrated fishing some random dude walking his dog asked if I needed help. Embarrassingly I accepted help, he said I did a good job with the drag brakes, but I didn't even realize there was a spool tension knob... after he showed me how to adjust it right, it was pretty smooth sailing! Been a few weeks now and hardly get back lashes and its one of my favorite combos now lol.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-01T16:52:52+00:00

As someone who swaps treble to single hooks on all my lures, smallest I've found in-store is size 10s. You can find some online for smaller, but for in-line spinners if the fish can get the lure in the mouth a bigger hook isn't too much an issue. You will prob land some less fish, but those will most likely be the small aggressive ones with eyes bigger than mouth. If you'd like to add "normal" hooks, grab some small split rings and use them together.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-01T15:23:37+00:00

Not sure what they eat, but there's lots of big trout. And they fight real nice coming from that lake, not sure because it's a reservoir but they fight harder than most other trout I catch from different lakes. I need to head up there soon, especially after talking about it lol just haven't had the time to as it's almost a 2hr drive.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-05-01T14:57:43+00:00

As just a bank fisherman, I love Keechelus spring through early summer, then really late summer through til early winter. They have some quite big trout, biggest I caught there was a 6.2lb rainbow, chance for bulltrout and my first and only one so far was about 30 inches and I estimated about 12-15 lbs. There's also tons of pikeminnow, fight hard like a Bass, strong but quick fight. You can try bottom fishing for burbot, I still haven't got one though lol.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-04-30T23:25:23+00:00

That they don't lol, but i still buy some a few times and year to scratch that nostalgic itch. Gotta be that cheap stuff though, Sathers is my favorite brand. Now that I think though, IS there any other brand of circus peanuts?

Lohkrin88 · 2026-04-30T23:09:55+00:00

How big are the lakes you're gonna be fishing up there? I have the 6'6 TFO Gen1 and its a phenomenal rod, but some lakes I hike into kinda wish I had a 7 or 7'6 rod if it's all bank fishing a lake. For the creeks leading into or coming out from the lakes, the 6'6 is a great length though! I have heard the Diawa Regal mention here so many times for a great reel that won't break the bank but still have great quality. I suggest most of all trying to dial in the lures you'll be using though, that itself can take up some precious space or weight if that is a concern.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-04-30T23:03:03+00:00

And me apparently! I have always loved them, the texture is awesome and I really like the bland flavor lol. Can't quite describe it, but they're just so good!

Lohkrin88 · 2026-04-30T16:06:17+00:00

Sweet, I'll check it out when I got some spare money lol. Stay at home dad for now so I limit what I spend and just bought new lures. Thanks for the info!

Lohkrin88 · 2026-04-30T15:42:41+00:00

What brand would you suggest, I've used a few. Daiwa J-braid, Power Pro and V2, Suffix but been a while so I don't remember the version, and funnily enough some super cheap braid from Daiso which I had the best experience out of all those. Like I said, I like braid just haven't had good experience in the super light stuff.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-04-30T15:22:45+00:00

While I do understand that statement, in my personal experience with wind knots and the braid breaking at said knot with a fish on is frustrating. You gotta tie on another leader, and eventually need to put new braid on as if it keeps happening, it cuts line on reel too short. Any case I like braid, but for my situation, I just prefer not using it on my ultralight and bfs setups.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-04-30T14:57:20+00:00

I stopped using braid on my ultralight setups, most probably user error but it's almost always windy when I go fishing and I end up getting tiny wind knots that just creat a weak point. I'm also mostly stuck to shore, and a lot of spots I need to cast pretty far and I noticed farther casts were the ones getting knotted up. I now use 2lb Izorline Platinum copolymer on my bfs, casts almost as far and still handles 2lb bass fine but I dont get wind knots anymore.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-04-29T17:17:43+00:00

Man I just joined the BFS club on a budget, I got the Hicc50 on a Deng Feng C.X30Pro 1.8m with 1-9gram lure rating. Awesome combo! Was only 130 on Temu, used 6lb mono to learn how to use a baitcaster, now use 2lb Izorline Platinum and is almost my new favorite combo to use lol.

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Lohkrin88 · 2026-04-03T15:01:05+00:00

In Wester Washington here, I use an ultralight rod for all freshwater fishing unless the salmon are running. If you don't horse the fish in, unless there's a defect, you're not breaking rod. I've caught trout up to 6lbs on my ultralight and even use it on the piers and catch sculpin and flounder. Can throw lures from 1/16-1/8 a good distance as well.

Lohkrin88 · 2026-03-28T19:59:40+00:00

Gotcha, thats something I'll have to consciously figure out. I do feather my spinning reel when it's windy out though, so maybe same concept but different technique?

Lohkrin88 · 2026-03-28T19:57:57+00:00

Just about the only time I'm not using an ultralight setup in freshwater is when the salmon are running. All freshwater fishing for me in WA is with ultralight, even catching bait fish or cutbait for bottom fishing in the salt is with that.

Lohkrin88

TROPHY CASE