North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine July 2016 | Page 64

Seasonal weather influence can have the greatest effect on the fishing. The last couple of months have found us here at the shop putting in a little more time chasing bass then trout. This year, our biggest obstacle has been the wind. There have been days where no matter how hard you cast, the wind is too much. One day, Luke and I were fishing Washburn pond down by the Columbia River. At first the wind wasn’t too bad, but as the morning wore on, the wind picked up and we found ourselves losing the battle. With only being able to use an electric trolling motor, we were not making much headway getting back to the launch. Luke had the Minn Kota pegged and we should have been making 2.5mph, but at times it seemed we were almost at a dead stop. After a while longer the motor died, and thinking we had drained the charge on the battery or had overheated it, we called it a day. Luke pulled the boat out, and as we were moving things around, he decided to check to see if maybe a power connection had come off. In short: always wire in a circuit breaker button. Most of the best days begin and stay mild and partially overcast, but if the mood is right, catching can be good even at the height of day. The biggest thing is being adaptable in your tactics. Like with steelhead, pulling a surface fly and fishing it in the direct sun might not be the most lucrative use of your time, but don’t overlook the popper when it’s cool and the sun is low. Late afternoon/evening “mousing” can produce brutal takes. Lately, one of my most productive flies has been the “Krafts Kreelex.” I noticed even Luke had wedged a couple between the buggers at the top of his box, and saw one tied on his 8 wt. with a floating line. "A rod with a lot of backbone is a must when you are jerking streamers through structure and pulling poppers over lilly pads and weeds."