This weekend I am going to embark on my first fly ride. A fly ride is where I strap a fly rod to back of the back of my motorcycle and ride out to a local river and fly fish. I have never done this before and it has always been a dream of mine. This is just one of the small adventures I plan to take on my KLR 650. My plan was to ride out to the Middle Fork River in Washington state. This river is one of three rivers east of Seattle. The other rivers are the North fork and the South fork. All the spring water and snow melt from the north cascades run into the river. The middle fork is full of rainbow and cutthroat trout. It is about a 1.5 hour ride and then another a mile of hiking to get back into the river. It is one of the top fly fishing rivers in Washington. Saturday morning was cool and clear. I knew today was going to be a perfect day to ride. There was a lot of prep of gear to be done and I had some extra stuff to buy. Having a motorcycle is expensive! It seems you always need something. A new piece of gear or some new attachment that cost 100's of dollars. Several weeks ago I purchased some waterproof saddle bags for my bike. I needed a bag that could take a beating and be water tight. I found some bags called Ortlib saddle bags. These bags are great! You don't have to modify your bike. You just strap them on and your ready to go. You can see them in the image below.
So, after getting all the gear together and cramming it into my Saddle bags I needed a new ultralight rod. I have a nice reel my father gave me when I was just a young lad. So I headed over the my local fly shop the Avid Angler.
They set me up with this cool 6 piece rod from Cortland. It even came with this case and a extra reel. It also has a lifetime warranty. Very cool!
Here is another picture of the rod out of its neat little pouch. Its a great fly rod. fast-action and great control for a 6 piece.
I taped my map to my tank for this trip. I would like to get a tank bag but they cost about 100 bucks. hopefully in the near future I will own one but for now duck tape and a good ole' zip lock will do.
So after about a 1 hour ride into the Cascades I arrived at the Middle Fork Road. The road was blocked off due to flooding and road damage but your allowed to hike back into the river. You have to hike about a mile to get back to the river. Here are some images of the hike in.
I asked a mountain biker to shoot a photo of me before I hiked in.
I was amazed I was able to get all my gear into two little bags. KLR bikes have a helmet lock on the side of every bike. So you can lock your helmet and walk away. very cool feature.
I stuffed all my fly gear into my Timbuk2 bag for the hike in. Reel and rod, net, waders, water, and more. It worked out really well.
A lot of the trees in Washington have moss growing on them. Very cool looking!
Ferns growing over the edge of a tree.
I was starting to see the river in this photo. You can see the mountains in the background. They still have snow on them.
This is where I stopped to fish. To the right is a sweet campsite. I hope to camp here some day.
This is a pic of my reel. I think my dad bought in the 70's. It still has the original fly line. The bag was from my good friend Foz. He bruaght this coffee back from el salvador. I loved the bag and found another use for it.
Ready to Fish!
Overall it was a sweet trip. I did not catch any fish but I had a great time. Next time I ride out to middle fork I plan to camp and fish. Cheers, Coleman
Overall it was a sweet trip. I did not catch any fish but I had a great time. Next time I ride out to middle fork I plan to camp and fish. Cheers, Coleman
