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Olympic Peninsula August 2025 – Day 3

May 21, 2026
Adventure, Beer, Bucket List, Coldwater, Exploring, Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Food and Drink, Freshwater, Hiking, Outdoors, Scouting, Travel, Wade Fishing
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Lake Crescent

A visit to the Olympic peninsula wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Olympic National Park. Of particular interest to me in the Park, was a form of coastal cutthroat trout that was found only in Lake Crescent and it’s tributaries and distributary. Lake Crescent has an interesting history having been formed by a massive ancient landslide. The coastal cutthroat that found themselves in this new lake were cut off from the surrounding watersheds as the outflow of the lake also sported a sizable waterfall which prevented upstream migration. The trout evolved on their own here and though they haven’t been classified as their own species, research suggests they are a distinct form, sporting the highest number of vertebrae and gill rakers among all coastal cutthroat. The history, the fish, all of this was reason enough for me to want to check out the area while we were on the Olympic peninsula.

The ferns, the moss, the big trees – I really enjoyed the hike in to this creek. My photos were taken so that you wouldn’t see the other Park patrons, but trust me, they were there. We hiked far enough to where we figured we were beyond where most people would venture and hit the creek there.

I happened to pop into the creek just upstream of a sharp bend where a large amount of woody debris was stacked up. This was purely by accident, but it worked out in my favor, as everything I know about trout tells me that there were some tucked under this timber pile. It didn’t take long to entice a couple of willing trout out from their hidey hole.

I got a great fight from the second fish, he was probably the largest trout I’d caught on the trip so far. It was a great way to start the day.

We caught a few fish here and there, but the fishing wasn’t stellar, which is usually how it works when you catch fish in the first spot you try. It’s some sort of fisherman’s law that in the moment we refuse to believe in, but as the day progresses you remember. God has a great way of keeping you humble like that. Still, it was an absolutely beautiful creek to have spent a day on. When we met back up with the trail that ran along the creek we were ready to head out.

On our way back to camp we stopped in at Waters West fly shop in Port Angeles and got a little more local intel on the fishing – the guy working the front desk was super nice and helpful, it sounded like another angler in the shop at the time had himself a day on another river not far from where we were at. It was another positive fly shop experience, definitely check them out if you’re up that way. We then headed over to Barhop Brewing where, both, the pizza and the beer were awesome. I had left us enough time to try once more for a sea-run cutthroat at some beach access on our way back, but we decided the better option was more beer back at the camp.

Northern Idaho – Day 4 – More Big River Action

October 11, 2023
Adventure, Bucket List, Camping, Coldwater, Exploring, Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Freshwater, Outdoors, Travel, Wade Fishing
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What a hiatus, I know. Haven’t made much of an effort to sit down and write in quite a while and it honestly hasn’t bothered me one bit. I can promise to do better, but I know better than that, anyway, here’s some more from our trip to Idaho back in 2022.

The next day was spent fishing with Marcus back on the big river. I don’t remember much from the day, but I do remember the fishing being so-so (compared to other days) for me, Marcus doing a good bit of Euro nymphing, and we actually ran into another fisherman later that morning (we were fishing behind someone). Apparently the day was completely overcast too according to the pics. My memory fails me at times and this is certainly one of those times. I should probably do a better job of documenting these trips shortly after they’re completed.

I also remember the arduous hike from the river to get back to the road when we were ready to make a move; which is from where the above perspective was shot. We fished a section of river in the morning that curved away from the road, parking at one end where it was relatively easy to enter the river at and hiking back when the road and the river met back up a good bit upstream – the only issue with that was the elevation was quite a bit different, as you can see. Probably not an issue for folks who are in shape and are use to elevation change, but I don’t resemble that remark.

We made another move up river and if I remember right the fishing improved a bit, to the point where I quit taking pictures of every fish. It’s hard for me to get to that point when I travel far to fish, but it does happen.

Here’s your sign! It was another great day spent on a river in Northern Idaho. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to experience catching a bull trout in bull trout country on this day. We had one more morning to go before it was time for us make our way back to Spokane.

Northern Idaho – Day 2 – Backcountry Sun

September 28, 2022
Adventure, Beer, Bucket List, Camping, Coldwater, Exploring, Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Food and Drink, Freshwater, Hiking, Outdoors, Scouting, Travel, Wade Fishing
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Good fishing continued into the afternoon and for me average fish size went up, which was awesome. I still caught smaller ones, so numbers didn’t drop, but larger ones were sprinkled in more frequently. I captured a story in three pictures below of Dad setting the hook on a fish, lifting it out of the water, and then a long distance show off.

Not all the water was fishy though. There were some long, flat riffle stretches that didn’t yield many fish. The fish we did catch in those places tended to be smaller. Just like the rivers I fish in Louisiana for spotted bass, you really wanted to target anywhere there was deeper water. Around boulders, around timber, undercut banks, where tributaries dumped in, and definitely in deeper runs and seams. Places you typically find fish, it wasn’t too hard to find them. There weren’t any long, deep, slow pools in this section of river either.

We fished our way up to a crossing trail and then took it back to the main trail along the river to make our way back to our campsite. I was sufficiently worn out when I made it back to the campsite. Absolutely whooped. The long, upriver wading mixed with the hike back took a lot out of me. It was so worth it though. It made the Sky Kraken from Fremont extra delicious that night. It may have been my favorite beer from the trip.