Granny and I arrived in White Salmon, WA last night and are staying with our friends Mike and Beata LaSota at their vacation house.  It’s a pretty region right in the Columbia River Scenic Area.  Granny and I squeezed in a quick hike.  It was a cool dreary day with bone chilling wind to go with.

Today was nicer but still cold.  It was a casual day that began with a long hike along Coyote Wall.  After lunch and a rest, Mike organized his boat and he and I headed out on the Columbia River with hopes to nail some walleye so he could make us fish tacos for dinner.

Mike and I go way back.  I mean like around 30 years.  He was once from MI and used to come out for a month every summer and stay with Granny and I in Victor, ID.  We had a swell time then and since have done a number of incredible trips together.  In fact, one of my best trips last year was in April when I came here and fished with Mike on the Columbia River.  We got into a few nice walleye and I slayed some chunky smallmouth bass.

Due to the morning activities we didn’t hit the water until about 3 PM.  It was perfect though because late in the day is actually best for walleye as they feed mostly as the sun sets.  While normally Mike is a hardcore fly fisher, he prefers spin fishing the Columbia.  He tries to convince me to grab a spin rod to jig with a nightcrawler, I stubbornly toss flies.  My walleye rig of choice is my Winston 6-weight with the Scientific Anglers Sonar Titan Sink Int/Sink 3/Sink 5 fly line.  Then I attach two flies to a level piece of 0X Fluorocarbon.  My point fly is a heavy jig type fly or Clouser and my dropper is a flashy Kreelex.

Mike and I fished hard.  I’m here nearly a month earlier than last year and cooler water temperatures appear to have fishing less productive.  We hooked only one fish and saw very few on Mikes fish finder.  But, our one bite happened to be on my heavy streamer and best of all, was a studly walleye.  It only takes one nice fish to make it a day!

We called it as the sun tucked behind the mountains.  The temperature plummeted to the upper 30°s.  We retreated to Mike’s and as planned, he cooked up our walleye and we made fish tacos.  I’m 99% catch and release.  I even put back walleye on occasion.  But not today’s.  Its back on the water tomorrow!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing