Fly fishing diaries | Middle Fork Snoqualmie River

We took my sister and brother-in-law on a little road trip today, starting with breakfast in North Bend and ending with wine tasting in Woodinville. In between, we drove up the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River, taking our time, enjoying the beautiful day and equally beautiful river.

There are three forks that merge to make the Snoqualmie River, and the north and middle forks are best rated for fly fishing. We explored the north fork a few weeks ago, and today wanted to see what the middle fork was all about. Out of North Bend, the road quickly turns to gravel, where it follows the river pretty closely, all the way to the source. Most of the river is catch and release, my favorite kind of river.

At a wide S-bend of the river, we spotted a guy fishing from the rocks, and stopped to take a look. When I walked over to the edge, I saw that there were actually four guys fishing here, each on an isolated boulder or hump of land, with no easy path along the shore. To get down to this spot, this fly fisherman had to climb down a steep boulder field between road and river. then scramble out to the edge. He sure found a beautiful place to fish.

For this budding fly fisherman, it was the perfect summertime view. That's why I chose this photo for my August header.