Did you catch that with an automatic fly reel? Monster! I have had an automatic reel for about 50 years, snd used it for just a couple. Still have it. I only had one fish take me to the end of the rewind spring and it broke off, so no pictures.
Automatic fly reels are fine if your fish stays within 40 feet of you. After that it's problematic. But who wants to catch big fish, anyway.
There is a special late crabbing season for the San Juans. Normally it would be closed now. It is open seven days a week but closes on December 31. Check the WA State Department of Fish & Wildlife website. As you probably know, you do need a shellfish license and a crab record card. And they are checking.
There is a reason why the US Army established their Artic Warfare Training base on Henry's Lake Flat years ago. When we lived outside of West Yellowstone I remember seeing 50 below on our thermometer. Brrrrrr. Staley's Springs is a great fishing spot but a risky place to go out on the ice.
Come on, guys. Cormorants are native to every continent in the world, and if anyone imported them it could have been the British, the Japanese, or the Swedes, and yes maybe some Russians. But they (the cormorants) were already here. As to the amount of fish they eat in a day, lets check the math. The average amount of fish an average Cormorant eats is 500 grams a day. The average weight of a cormorant is 2.5 kilograms (2500 grams.) Thats one fifth of its weight. If they ate ten times their weight it would be 25000 grams or 55 lbs for a 5.5 lb bird. The biggest one gets up to about 11lbs. If they eat that much fish I want a video of it at the county fair salmon-eating contest and trying to take off. Thats a lot of salmon puke. And for what it is worth, I own ten guns, have fished and hunted for 70+ years, and don't really like Cormorants.
I have caught pelicans, cormorants, and seagulls, and yes they cut into the salmon numbers, but the real killer is what we have done to the habitat with dams, siltation from development , mining, bad logging practices, etc. All these (development , mining, logging,) are necessary, but with real controls as opposed to the "drill, baby, drill" approach we have seen recently.
Oh, and the pelican wins the title, hands down. The last one I caught had eight lines hanging out of its bill. They don't learn, either.
The good thing about this type of tipup is that the reels don't freeze when they are under water. Seeing the flag fly is a real hoot!
If you are a practiced caster, split shot can help you catch fish. While you are learning, ditch the split shot and put a tungsten head nymph if you want to fish deep. if you want to have more fun, go with a dry fly or try a short line nymphing technique. And yes, a good instructor on a river will get you off to a good start. Then just go fishing. I started fly fishing when I was eight because I saw fly fishers were catching more than just about everyone else. That was sixty eight years ago and while it's tough to wade the fast rivers now, it is still my favorite way to fish.
Off Islamorada I watched a guy fight a Blackfin Tuna for about 15 minutes on a hefty spinning outfit. A barracuda came up and chopped that tuna in half with one bite. The half that got reeled in weighed about nine lbs. Impressive!
Emerald shiner seems to be the closest
I've fished fly rods from 2 to 12, and if I had to have just one, it would be a 6. Make your next one a 4, and you'll be just about locked in, unless you decide to go for stripers & blues. An 8 works just fine for those guys and freshwater bass.
Have both. Love both. Can't go wrong with either one. in respect to drag, I have a Charleton whose drag would stop a semi, but my favorite reel is an Abel Trout 2 with just a clic drag. Caught a 27" brown with it. It also fell off my car roof on the highway, and while it got a couple dings, it works perfectly. Yup, dumb on my part. Also have a couple of 30 year old narrow spool Ross Gunnisons, and they still work great and have good drags. They were my go-to reel on Henry's Lake and handled the hybrids like a charm. A new Ross or Abel is even better.
If you use 5x for streamers you might lose a lot of flys, as I have sadly learned. Do what brycejob says.
Shimono mooching rods come in different stiffness for different lines, but they might be too stiff for Kokanees. You might try building one from a stiff four piece fly rod blank, and try finding a soft tip section for the top.