Fly-fishing is an uncommon sport on Iowa waterways, or at least central Iowa waterways. There are a few of the breed here, myself included. Most are found in the Driftless Area around Decorah. Outside of Iowa, however, there are fly-fishing opportunities abound.

Each summer I travel with my family to western Washington State, to a place called the Olympic Peninsula, where my maternal grandparents live. My grandpa is an avid fly-fisherman, and he is good enough to take me with him to the beautiful mountain rivers whenever I visit.

This summer, we tried four rivers: the Snoquomish River, the Seiku River, the Lyre River and the Dungeness River.

Our primary target for years has been the “resident” rainbow trout present, in varying numbers, in many area streams.

“Resident” is used to describe trout that do not go out to the ocean to live most of their lives. The name of those fish are steelhead, salmon-like fish that are genetically considered rainbow trout, but swim to sea after birth.

Another of our sought-after species is the coastal cutthroat trout. These beautiful fish move as they please between fresh- and saltwater, depending on where the food happens to be.

In the pursuit coastals, my grandpa and I fished an estuary created by the mixing of freshwater from the Seiku River and the saltwater of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

When the tide is just right, swinging a fly called a “cone-head squid” usually produces aggressive bites and acrobatic fights. This time we saw some of that, but the fishing seemed unusually slow. After a few hours, we packed the gear and headed inland to the Lyre River, east of the Seiku.

The Lyre is an excellent place to test a fly-fisherman’s casting ability. The narrow, glacial stream is surrounded by bushes and trees. However, there are plenty of little rainbow as a reward to patient casters.

After a few days, we decided to head to the Dungeness River, very near my grandparents’ town of Sequim. Up in the “high country,” there is a population of rainbows that call the Dungeness home. This was not a familiar stream to me or Grandpa.

We were not disappointed.

The stretch of river we fished was paralleled by a hiking trail. Grandpa and I would walk the trail until we spotted “trouty” water, and would bush-whack to the riverbank.

Not only were we greeted by several impressive rainbows, but we got to see a rare species of fish called Dolly Varden.

While they look like trout, dollies are actually a close biological cousin called char. They belong to the same family as Iowa-native brook trout. Grandpa and I returned to the Dungeness again during my time there, and had similar success.

The Snoquomish River trip was a memorable one. Not because of the fishing, as the weather was oppressively hot and the fish were not biting in numbers. It was because I got to spend time with my uncle, Tesfay Tensae, who was born and raised in the east African country of Eritrea.

Tesfay is a busy man. He works at a Seattle hospital, helping mental health patients. He also volunteers at a local nursing home every other weekend. Tesfay, with my aunt and his wife, Annie, is raising two young girls as well. Therefore, I do not normally see much of him.

He was able to go with Grandpa and I to the Snoquomish that day, though, and I was grateful to spend time with him. He told me about Eritrea, and I felt I learned a lot about a different set of cultures. The fishing came second to that.

I love going to Washington, not only to fish but to visit far-away family members. The Olympic Peninsula provides a perpetually beautiful backdrop to all my experiences in Washington State. My grandpa teaches me so much about fishing and life out there in the mountains and forests, and to me that is the most important part of our fishing trips.

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Contact Adam Sodders at adam.sodds94@gmail.com or (641) 753-6611