by Waters West | Apr 28, 2017 | Classes and Clinics, New Products |
The Art of Spey Casting
30 years experience, Jedi Master Dave Steinbaugh (owner of waters west) showing us how its done
SEE DATES AND AVAILABILITY
Always feel free to call us @ (360) 417 – 0937 to book a date / Store hours: 9:30am-6:30pm Mon-Sat / closed Sundays during the summer
Details
Cost: $95.00
Time: 9am-3pm
Dates: see our Calendar
Place: We will meet either at the Elwha River under the Pedestrian Bridge off of Crown Z Road in Port Angeles, or at the Puffin Bar and Grill in Forks. Location varies depending on weather, class size, and time of year. You can generally expect to be in Forks in Winter and on the Elwha in Summer.
This full day class takes place on the water where you will learn the essential concepts of spey casting, as well as of the major casts from both sides of the river.
What to expect: Our classes focus on the fishing during the season the class is held. Our focus in our summer classes is on dry line techniques for summer steelhead and the focus in our winter and spring classes is on casting and fishing sink tips and heavy flies for winter steelhead. Even though the focus in on the techniques used in the season of the class, we also go over sink tip fishing in the summer classes and dry line techniques and lines in our winter classes. We will discuss and have available the many different Scandi and Skagit heads that make learning to spey cast so much easier than it used to be. Additional topics include reading water, run timing, fly selection and more.
(Head Guide/instructor Curt Reed, Spey Class-Fall 2015) We’ve been on the spey scene since 1980 developing tried and true methods for teaching spey. All of the instructors at Waters West have many years experience fishing, guiding and providing instructional classes to the sportsman community of the Olympic Peninsula.
click “MORE” for Spey details
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by Waters West | Jan 2, 2017 | Classes and Clinics, Fly Fishing Education, New Products, Uncategorized |
It’s that time of the year again where you get all pysched up, buy your plane tickets, hotels, etc to go stand in the cold rain praying that this year you’ll finally hook up with a steelhead.
Some things that can seriously increase those odds:
Guided Trips. This is the fastest way to learn a river, learn what you’ve been doing wrong all these years, and maybe even get your first glimpse at hooking up. If nothing else you can spend the next week fishing hard and with confidence becuase at least your doing the right thing.
Cant swing a guided trip?
Take a spey casting class or even better the fishing class if you’ve got the basics down. At a fraction of the price you get a crash course of how to be more effective, and again, that confidence thing can be a game changer.
You dont need a new rod to catch a fish. The benefits of new rods are that they are generally lighter and more powerful which means more water time with out getting as tired. If you’ve only got a week to fish and want to fish every legal second, it can be a nice investment.
Best bargain spey rod: Redington Chromer
Top of the line spey rod: Burkheimer or Sage X
For reels, you need something with a good drag that wont freeze up in cold temps, won’t backspin on you, and absorbs the shock of a fast take.
Best bang for the buck: Lamson Guru HD
Top of the line spey reel: Einnarsson Invictus
We’re generally fishing skagit heads with T8 to T14 sink tips (10ft-12.5ft) and 2-4 feet of 10-15lbs maxima as tippet.
Skagit heads: Rio Skagit Heads or Airflo FIST Head
Flies: John Aleveras Suskwa poacher if you can only buy one.
It’s an especially cold winter so far, so make sure to layer up. The best layering for socks, long undies and under shirts we’ve found is Woolpower. Puts Patagonia, Simms, Smartwool, etc to shame. 
by Waters West | May 20, 2016 | Classes and Clinics, Fly Tying, Shop News and Sales |
Jeffrey Delia at Waters West for a free BEACH AND LAKE fly tying demo!
FREE
Saturday May 21st @ 1pm!
Jeffrey is a well known fly tyer, developing flies that are not just pretty but EFFECTIVE. Our personal go to for beach fishing is almost always the conehead squid created by Mr. Delia himself.
With the possibility of closures looming, beach and lake fishing may be a safe bet this summer, and
this is a great demo to attend for those who don’t even tie. The man has tons of info on not only beach fishing, but lake fishing as well, AND HE WANTS TO SHARE.
It’s hard to come by a genuinely well informed person who is willing to divulge info that took him a lifetime to cultivate, you wont want to miss it.
It’s FREE! Hit the farmers market before hand, wonder around downtown and swing on by 1pm for some quality information and tying demo.
by Waters West | Apr 25, 2016 | Classes and Clinics, Fly Tying |
This was such a blast last time that we had to do it again. Trevor is stopping back by the shop on Tuesday May 10th @ 5:30 to put on another tying demo. Hope to see you there!
by Waters West | Apr 18, 2016 | Classes and Clinics, Fly Fishing Education, Fly Tying |
Jeffrey Delia is our local beach fishing expert, whether it’s sea-run cutts or returning salmon he knows the flies, the tides, and the attitude it takes to become a proficient catcher. However, around here he is probably most widely known for his extremely effective pattern “Delia’s Cone-head Squid.”
Delia has agreed to put on a series of classes here at Waters West that you won’t want to miss. First, on May 21st he will do a demo at our weekly FREE Fly tying demo that occurs every Saturday here at the shop @ 1pm. It’ll be a teaser for his upcoming tying class the next week.
After you get a taste of how much knowledge this guy has, AND IS WILLING TO SHARE, you’ll want to sign up for his “Estuary and Saltwater Fly Tying Class for Sea-run Cutthroat Trout and returning Pacific Salmon.” on May 28th.
THEN! Yes, there is more. Delia is putting on a BEACH FISHING class right in front of Waters West on June 11th at the new beach area across street from us.
If you’ve been wanting to expand your fishing opportunites, this is a great way to do it. Beach fishing for cutthroat is open year-round, and largely untapped in our area. So swing on by on the 21st and get a preview of what all the hype is about.
Check out Delias Beach Fishing Class details here
Check out Delias Fly Tying Class details here
Sign up online or in the shop!
by Waters West | Dec 23, 2015 | Classes and Clinics, Shop News and Sales, Uncategorized |
Spey Classes!
We’ve got some more Spey Class dates! These classes fill up quick, so jump on it.
Dates:
- Sunday Jan 10th 2016
- Saturday Jan 30th 2016
- Saturday Feb 13th 2016
Time: 9-3ish
Place: Either the Elwha under the Pedestrian Bridge or on a West End river.
Cost: $95
Fly Tying Courses!
Our Steelhead Fly Tying Course is getting full fast, but we’ve still got spots open for both the 3-530pm and 6-830pm class time
These are 3 class courses that cover a wide variety of techniques and flies to provide a foundation for future tying endeavors. We offer a Beginners Course and a Steelhead Course, and both will leave you with effective flies for the OP and beyond.
Get more info by clicking here!
We’ve also got some free stuff happening!
We’re putting on free tying demos every Saturday starting Jan 9th, 2016 at 10am. It’ll mostly be Waters West staff with a few special guests sprinkled in here and there.
We are also doing Open Tie Nights every Tuesday starting Jan 5th, 2016 from 6-8. This is a BYOStuff event. Whatever you want to tie, no instruction, just hanging out and tying after hours with good people and probably some beverages. Note that the shop closes at 6:30 for ordinary folk, but we’ll keep the cash register open for those tying 😉
