Discover Walla Walla

"... it can take a lifetime's worth of attention to learn even half the secrets of a good river, and in our quieter moments that's all a lot of us want for ourselves: something modest but fine."

John Gierarch
Standing in a River Waving a Stick

Why fly fishing?

When asked this a number of folks simply say it's because of the places it takes them. For others it's respite and therapy from the stress of life. For some it's the "purity" of the sport and the connectedness one has to nature. Still others say it's the aesthetic or the art of it all, the grace of casting or the imitating the natural order of things through tying one's own flies.  And for some, there's the sense of tradition and timelessness conjured up by images and memories of cane rods, silk lines, and wicker creels.

The same can be asked of our area, "Fly fishing and Walla Walla? Why?"

The Walla Walla Valley and the foothills of the "Blues" with their rivers, streams, and pastoral landscapes provide ample opportunity to answer the "why."  For me the answers started coming shortly after moving to Walla Walla. My first year here I spent more time fishing for personal enjoyment than the prior five years combined guiding in Colorado. It was a no-brainer in Colorado, what time was available to fish was spent guiding to make a buck. Don't get me wrong, I loved every minute of it, but guiding is way different than fishing - with one you watch and with the other you catch. With the waters here I learn or discover something new about the area, how to fish it and how to appreciate it, every time I am out. And, it doesn't hurt that I'm catching a lot of fish.

Fishing here has made me a better, more passionate fly fisher. Learning to read a small stream or river always makes one a better over all fly fisher and the rivers and streams here are ideal for such instruction. The water here is healthy allowing for tremendous aquatic insect life and hatch activity. The October Caddis hatch during the early fall is of epic proportions and is anticipated by those who relish the chance to catch a memory maker. Our fish are wild. None of the streams or rivers are stocked. Ten minutes from downtown Walla Walla, if one is lucky, he or she can enjoy two hours of fly fishing on what U.S. Junior National Fly Fishing Team captain Andy Simon describes as "a premier word-class small stream fishery." Thirty minutes from Walla Walla lies the "Town Section" of the Touchet River running through Dayton. Few towns can brag of having an excellent trout and steelhead fishery running through it's back yard. Speaking of Andy, he is one of two U.S. Fly Fishing Team members to come out of Walla Walla over the past 10-15 years. The other, Norman Maktima, one time Whitman college student, is a world champion. Much of their learning took place on local waters. It is here on these waters that I've started my love affair with bamboo rods. I can't think of a better place to learn the joys of casting cane. There is something about bamboo and the grace it requires that draws me deeper into the moment on the water. And the settings... I have found myself sighing gratitude on a regular basis for the gift of solitude and beauty that has greeted me time and again when I'm out casting and drifting a fly around here.

When people think of fly fishing destinations Walla Walla probably isn't going to come up on the radar screen. It probably never will and that's O.K. There's something different about the experience here. It has to be discovered. In discovery one will find the answers to his or her why? Mike Crockett's statement in Flywater articulates well my answer to "why?", "I can say this: fly fishing more than any activity, frees my mind and nourishes my soul. And I know that time spent on the river has often provided a profound sense of well-being - that feeling of being rooted in the present without needs or worries beyond the moment. The rewards that come to the fly fisherman are evident and sufficient."

Wine, wheat, and onions...these things put Walla Walla on the map! But long before these were the rivers and streams, and it's these that in the end will remain. Throw a fly or two here and you'll understand.  Try it and you'll want to come back because it will teach and draw you into what fly fishing around Walla Walla is all about - something modest but fine!