Hi Dan,
I noticed you didn't mention the ongoing kegger and rock & roll tent
camp just up the road along the Taylor.
I was up that way one sunny Sunday in late March. There were people
everywhere and must have been 50 cars parked along the road, under
the trees and in the brush from the bridge up to the turnoff for the
road up to Goldmeyer hot springs. I could still hear the music a
couple miles further up the Middle Fork.
Wonder if the Sheriff has finally had enough?
Kent Lufkin
>Good day fellow fly fishers.
>
>On Sunday, my friends Wendy and Chris joined my wife, Ellen, and I for a
>short trip to the confluence of the Taylor River with the Middle Fork of
>the Snoqualmie River.
>
>While Ellen and Wendy took our dog Rowdy, a six month old Airedale terrier,
>to explore the trail along the Middle Fork, Chris and I set about fishing.
>
>Chris has just started fly-fishing; so it was time to catch his first fish
>on a fly, if we could. I showed him how I kick at the rocks in the river
>and scoop up the nymphs with my little aquarium net. There wasn't much to
>show: just some #16 to #22 mayfly nymphs. The water temperature was 49
>degrees.
>
> We started out fishing nymphs with an indicator. I showed him how to high
>stick through a series of pools. I had a #12 Copper John (which I'd just
>tied up the night before; got the pattern from the Orvis webpage) with a
>#14 Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear as a dropper and some added split shot to get
>the whole rig down. We had a couple of nibbles but were unable to get the
>fish in.
>
>We then waded up the Taylor River from its confluence with the Snoqualmie.
>Having no luck with the nymphs, and seeing some big mayflies popping off
>(#10 or 12's), I switched to my #10 Easy Rider (ER) foam body dry fly with
>a #14 Parachute Adams dropper. Almost immediately, I started to get hits on
>the ER; so I removed the Adams.
>
>I called Chris over and had him try my rod with the ER. In just a few
>minutes he hooked his first fish , a scrappy, jumping 9-inch cutthroat
>trout! It was sure fun sharing that with him. We got him set up with an ER
>on his rod and kept on fishing.
>
>I caught a couple of cutts on the ER and missed many more. There are some
>nice pools on the Taylor. It was my first time fishing it.
>
>As I was fishing up-stream, I snagged my ER across the river in some bushes
>and lost it. I thought I might be able to wade the swiftly running river to
>get it; so I marked the location and figured I would give it a shot on the
>way back.
>
>I was able to retrieve the fly. Back at the car, Chris asked if he could
>have the fly that caught his first fish: it was the fly I'd just retrieved!
>It was a pleasure to give him the fly.
>
>There were lots of flyfishers up and down the Middle Fork as we drove out.
>A good day to be on the river.
>
>Rock and reel,
>Danny McMillin
