​The month of August got underway with hordes of bright chrome chum salmon arriving on the tides daily still with some silver salmon in the mix right on schedule but definitely not a lot of them in our first week. Many rods were broken while fighting these huge chrome Calico salmon on the fly and conditions were setting up to be perfect with very normal or average temperatures for a nice change.

At the end of our 6th week, it was becoming very apparent that we might be on the verge of a great silver salmon run. On the last day of our 6th week, I had a 12 year old and his father down in the lowest portion of the river we fish. Both were novice fly anglers at the start of the week but by weeks end, they were literally doubling up on silvers and just having the time of their lives. With rain and wind in the forecast to start our 7th week, I knew we might experience what we call a “silver tsunami”. Well, yes, we sure did get that tsunami, and with all the silvers that were coming in the river, were even more bright chum salmon, although it was apparent that they were finally starting to slow down. The silvers were everywhere and fishing drift boat style was just a blast! We were having days on the fly for silvers that were as good as this river ever gets!

​Spey fishing has really grown in the past several years to become a much more “normal” way of fishing in the US.  It is even being used anywhere there is a current and swinging flies is a key.  We encourage our guests to take a break from traditional fly fishing and give spey fishing for salmon a try…and one of our fishing guides even targets snook in Florida near bridges and jetties on the spey rod!

Why has Spey fishing grown?  The spey rod has grown so much in the US, well, because it works!  It works with a lot less effort, and if swinging flies is the best method for your targeted species, then spey fishing is just the ticket.  The line technology has evolved a lot in the recent past as well.  This is also a huge contributing factor to the techniques popularity.  The newer “compact Skagit’s” are really making a huge difference in the fly-fishing industry.  These large, short heads attached to the running line make roll casting much easier and more powerful.  Yes, power!  You can actually spey cast and shoot line even further from a roll cast than one can do with a tradition single hand rod utilizing a double haul method.