Couger Lake, WA

My buddy Dalton and I got the idea that we would float the Methow river in some pontoon boats as much of the upper river can be hard to access. The night before we decided to check out Cougar lake as we had heard there are some fish up there. Just stripped some line out and let it troll behing the pontoon as we explored our way around the lake. Fishing for an hour or two we hooked a couple fish but retired soon after to drink some beers by the camp fire before our trip the next day.

Summary:
Location: Cougar Lake near Winthrop,WA
Time: 4pm - 7pm
Rod: 5 wt w/ sinking tip
Tackle: Various wolly bugger patterns black/brown/olive
Fish: 3
Species: Rainbow
Biggest Fish: 13"
Smallest Fish: 12"
Rating: 7/10 

Point No Point, WA (Coho)

Wanted to try something new and had been told this was a good place to try to get a coho on the fly during the changing tides. Ventured up here with my friend Kelly. Saw some fish in the area but didnt get any to take. Good experience.

Summary:
Location: Point No Point
Time: 7am - 11am
Rod: 8wt w/ sinking tip
Tackle: Size 2 and 4 pink or green shrimp or bait fish patterns
Fish: 0
Species: Coho
Biggest Fish: N/A
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 4/10

Grande Ron River, OR/WA

So my brothers and there friends do this annual float trip over the Forth of July weekend typically. This year however my other brother decided he should get married that weekend so we pushed the float to August. Big mistake! I think we walked our raft over rocks more than floated! This is traditionally a guys weekend so the goal of the trip is to float, relax, and drink a lot of beer. I got clever and brought my rod along to see what I couldn't shake up and I was impressed. Fishing here or there I caught a few trout and I think even a bass or two. The float started in Troy and ended at Heller's Bar.

Summary:
Location: Grand Ron River from Troy to Heller's Bar
Time: Off an on all day over the weekend
Rod: 5 wt w/ floating line
Tackle: Different variations of hoppers but had the most luck with a black crystal wolly bugger
Fish: 6
Species: Rainbow
Biggest Fish: 14"
Smallest Fish: 12"
Rating: 8/10

Upper Metolius River, OR

The last leg of my trip was to my stomping grounds and the upper Metolius River where I was joined by three of my good friends, Dalton, Sean, and Chris. Chris had never fly fished before in his life and yet he is another person to have caught his first trout on a fly rod on his first day fishing the Metolius. We fished all over the river but one of the more fun times on this trip was parking up at Blue Hole and wading the whole river all the way to camp at Smiling River. Everyone caught fish from in all shapes and sizes. There isn't many things bad I can say about this river.

Be sure too look through other blogs for tips on this river.

Summary:
Location: Metolius River, Camp Sherman, OR, located about 100 miles (2 hrs) east of Salem, and 20 min from Sisters, OR
Time: 9am - 7pm
Rod: 5 wt w/ floating line, 5 wt w/ sinking tip
Tackle: 8 black stone nymph, 18 rainbow warrior, 18 zebra midge, 18 copper john hybrid, 10 Clark Stone, 10 Rogue Stone, 8 black and brown Pat's Stone, 16 lighting bug, 18 rainbow warrior, etc.
Fish: 20+
Species: White Fish, Rainbow, Red-Band Rainbow
Biggest Fish: 14"
Smallest Fish: 4"
Rating: 9.5/10 (Didn't find a brown or a bull)

Dalton's Fish

One of my fish

Sean's fish on a golden stone

Chris Lee's fish on a small midge