Meanderings: Following the thalweg from the Willamette to the Seine

CFS crew: Big welcome to the Winter '25 class, 15 curious souls embarking on the next chapter of fly-fishing journey. 👋 🥳

I had a really fun beginner moment this week when my daughter and I sat down and she tied her first flies. It was 100% her idea, so I wanted to try and relax so I wasn't overbearing or weird about it. I think we did OK? And, by that, I think I did OK at not being overbearing and weird, and she did great just by being her.

She had trouble with all the things beginning fly-tiers always have trouble with: bobbin control, thread tension, and those damn pinch wraps.

There was a little bit of frustration, which is natural.

But, she nailed dubbing proportion, and the thing that matters most in fly-tying: "It's how I want it to be."

Meet the thalweg

Reading the river: The Thalweg

Find the fast water for keys on where to row, where to put your flies, and how the river wants to be.

Current Flow StateNick Parish

Have you ever heard of the thalweg before?

It's not a scary creature, though it kind of sounds that way. The thalweg is a little bit complex and a little bit mystical, but learning about it will help you read a river.

Visiting the Braided River Gallery 👩‍🎨

Our main city mall in Portland, the Lloyd Center, cratered during covid. Macy's, the remaining anchor tenant, moved out. But, now it's reborn with a bunch of cool, independent stores and various kinds of experiences. And, it's still got its famous ice skating rink, the first-ever inside a mall. And, as I verify this on Wikipedia, I mean, this is America:

"The Ice Rink has attracted a few notable guests over the years. Actor Jim Backus, the voice of Mr. Magoo, once did a couple's routine with a bear. Robert F. Kennedy and his wife Ethel, circled Lloyd's ice just a month before his assassination in June, 1968. Former Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding, at age 3, first learned to skate at the Lloyd Center rink."

Luckily the Lloyd Center it's still a cultural nexus. Ana, from the Summer '23 class, sent through this report of something you might want to check out if you're there for skating, used LEGO sets, Trackers dropoff, pickleball, bridge, to learn some magic tricks, or just sip an Orange Julius: A cool river-centric exhibit in the old Anne Taylor space.

There is a lot of info on conservation, climate change, and the changes of the Willamette over time. Handmade passion for the river and eco-culture. Turns out it take some 405 years for a plastic tide pod container to decompose. 🤯

Thanks, Ana! Here's more info on the exhibit.

Tuesdays with TU: Better stillwater success

Elsewhere in Portland, Clackamas River TU members will be getting together both IRL and on Zoom on Tuesday night to hear about fishing lakes from Marc Williamson.

I'll be in class, but it should be an interesting program to check out.

Better Stillwater Success with Marc Williamson

Snowpack's looking good ❄️

Across the Rocky Mountain West it looks like snowpack is about where it needs to be. Take a look at Big Sky Anglers' February update to learn about how guides monitor this important metric to see how much water Western rivers will have come summer.

Snowpack Update - February, 2025

Q: Why is February the favorite winter month of all Montana fishing guides? A: There are only 28 days to worry about the snowpack heading into next summer. Dang near the entire state of Montana is under a winter storm warning at the moment, and white gold is piling up from West Yellowstone clear to Scobey. This is bad news if you need to drive somewhere in the next couple of days, but good news for the trout. As of February 4th, snowpack is looking pretty good relative to historic values in our angling area. Relative to Median Snow Water Equivalent (SWE), the Madison is sitting at 91%, the Gallatin is at 101%, the Upper Yellowstone is at 91%, and the Henrys Fork / Teton watershed is at 92%. While these are decreased percentages relative to last month, we’ve got snow in the forecast for the next several days, and I’d expect to see the numbers climb at least slightly. NOAA’s February precipitation forecast isn’t looking quite as exciting as January’s. That said, their models have us at a 30-50% chance of above average precipitation for the next 30 days or so, which is certainly better than the Dry February alternative. For those looking for a bit more, lets take a moment to dig a bit deeper into the separate plots for three of the fishiest watersheds on the planet – The Madison, Henry’s Fork, and Upper Yellowstone. Here’s the Madison and Henry’s Fork, which are on a very similar path. Following that black line, you can see that January started out pretty wet but them mellowed out as the SWE curve flattened out until a couple of days ago. That spike means it’s been dumping, with accumulations cresting over 2 inches of water in many areas of the Madison watershed and even more in the Fork. We are also trending well above last year, thankfully. With about 22 inches of peak SWE as our target in the Madison, we are currently about half way there, with 2.5 months or so to go between now and the usual peak. In the Fork, it looks like we are over half the way there, but the time of the peak is slightly sooner. The Upper Yellowstone is also following a similar path, with big gains recently thanks to this storm. I wanted to single this plot out though because I noticed something when I turned on the 2024 snowpack line to compare to this year. See that orange line (2024) and how it tracks along the bottom edge of the shaded area during the month of February? That means that not only was last year crappy and dry compared to this year, but it was also the worst year in at least the last 30 years! Last year the SWE peaked at 13.6” in the upper Yellowstone (compared to a median peak of 19.1 inches of water), and this year we are already sitting at 10.5 inches of water as of February 4th. If that doesn’t get you fishing friends and snowpack nerds fired up at least a little bit, then I’m afraid I can’t be of much help. Until next time, keep tying flies, doing snow dances, reading books, and being kind to others. Take Care, Matt and the BSA Crew

Big Sky AnglersBig Sky Anglers

Last cast 🧨

I just love that there's a marine biologist out there named Bill François who wears a jaunty blue scarf while catching pike in the newly-abundant Seine as it flows through Paris. Makes me hopeful, ya know?

Fish Are Thriving in the River Seine

For years, the storied French waterway was nearly biologically dead. Now, it’s teeming with marine life once again, as it did centuries ago.

Reasons to be CheerfulPeter Yeung

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