Single Handers & Skaters from curtis ciszek on Vimeo.


Ok, it's not even June and I am frothing at the mouth for early season Steelhead

I challenge you to watch this video and NOT get fired up.  Sitting in my office watching this for the first time, I just about shouted "HOLY SHIT" when the first fish eats.

No less than 5 co workers came to my office to see if I was o.k.   No, no I am not.  I have to wait another 50 or so days before this is an option in my world.

Bobber Danglers...

There's a simplicity to it.

Tie a couple of these on, guess on location on the lake and have at it.  Find the right depth and they're going to eat it.

Find the answer to the math equation and fishing can be quite silly.

Other times, the fish give you the middle fin.  No sir, we did not order chronomids today.

So it can go from simple to a riddle within minutes.

Change depth, repeat process

Change flies, you had the wrong color on....repeat process

The guy in the pontoon down the lake shore 50 yards is smashing them.  You want to smash him.

Change size of flies, repeat process.....

Go back to original offering, catch fish.

So the simplicity can be the part that drives you the most mad, but the simplicity is also what makes me giggle like a 10 year old when the bobber dives down and set the hook, only to see the fish rocket to the sky in response.

13th Annual Klinks Resort Fishing Derby

The 13th Annual Klink's Resort on Williams Lake Fishing Derby is this Sunday,  here are the top 6 reasons you should be there.

1.  Williams Lake is a mega trout producer, both in size and limit possibility

2.  Every dollar raised goes directly to Spokane's Shriners Hospitals for Children.  They do great work, regardless of a families ability to pay

3.  Klinks Resort and their staff are amazing.  They will make your experience awesome.

4.  We have great sponsors, including The General Store who has ponied up over $600 in gift cards to the winners of adult and children's divisions.  Along with that, we have a substantial amount of prizes to give away at the awards ceremony

5.  This is an extremely family friendly event.   Kids are smiling all day, and in the picture above, the young lady who caught this derby winning fish in 2015 is still smiling to this day and will be returning to defend her title this Sunday

6.  It's a quick event.  Registration begins at 5am, single biggest fish must be weighed by 1 and awards are usually done by 3.  So come have a great day and we'll have you home for dinner

Get more info on this event via the Klink's Web Site

See you this Sunday, bright and early!

In Hot Water On The Deschutes...

In Hot Water from Mike Munro on Vimeo.


The Deschutes River is a place that mentally and physically imprints it's stamp on you from the moment you step your boot into it

Undoubtedly, it's an awesome place but there's trouble brewing.....

The ecology and entomology of the river is changing because of way upstream dams are releasing water

Get more info on what's going on in the canyon via the Deschutes River Alliance, who just recently informed Portland General Electric, owners of the dams in question, of their intent to sue.

Milking the Golden Hour

Every trip has a finite amount of minutes attached to it.  The hourglass is always going to do it's thing and eventually it's time to head for the barn

A post work trip found us on a local lake, fishing for groceries and with luck, impending fish tacos.   The first couple hours was a crapshoot.  A bass here, a crappie there.  We weren't finding many of the target species.

Then the golden hour hit, and I am not talking about it in photography terms.  Just about every cast was met with positive feedback from the schooling crappie and we all reacted like bird dogs with a nose full of sent, on point and hustling to maximize the opportunity within our given limit of time and fish.

To say it was on was an understatement.

You could feel it coming on, the grains of sand slipping away, on the wrong side of the golden hour. We were on the wrong side of the story arc, post crescendo.  The notion of grabbing ahold of that moment and not letting it move along the time continuum started to sound like a solid and sane idea.

We were milked the remaining goodness we could find but the inevitable was happening. A few more fish were added to the tally but the bite tapered off and the sun nipped at the tops of west ridges around the lake.  It was over.

It's that golden hour we cherish the most.  When the light goes on and all goes right.  The bite is on, the hatch pops, the fish arrive and you're ready and in place.  It's what you've came for and everything slows down for that brief moment in time.  That hour you milk on the river or the lake are what stories center on and what minds return to when sitting at a desk or stuck in traffic.

Stopping time is impossible.  Being aware and present in that special time where it all goes right on the water is what it's all about

Prince of Wales Island Traffic Jam...

Prince of Wales Island is so big, and so sparsely populated that this is about the only way to impede your progress from lodge to river.

It had me laughing on a daily basis

Science for Steelhead Anglers, May 11th in Spokane

Interested in getting into the science of steelhead, then join renowned steelhead biologist John McMillin from Trout Unlimited May 11th at the Spark Center in Spokane.

See the full event agenda and RSVP today.  See you there.

Jungle Steelhead...

Looking at the river, looking at the blowdowns, looking at the snags....

The question was obvious.   When and or if we hook one of these jungle steelhead, how the hell are we going to land it?

Prince of Wales Island in Alaska is so different than anywhere I've ever experienced that I am still trying to mentally sort through it all

Slogging through the trails that ended up in a real march through the muskegs...

Seeing pods of fish materialize in the tannic water...

Sharing a laugh at our lack of success, ready for more opportunity..

Like any steelhead, these SE Alaskan fish don't give up the goods easy.  The ones we hooked, regardless of if we landed them or not left a serious imprint on our collective memories.