Yakima River Report // Hoppers - August 7th, 2020
August 7, 2020
At this point in the year TROUT HAVE SEEN SOME FLIES! Try fishing hoppers that are very realistic rather than just big attractors like Chubby Chernobyls, PMX's, Stimulators, and misc. foam creations.
We are sort of at a turning point in the summer where most of the aquatic hatches for the season have come and gone. While trout will still eat a nymph pattern, there isn't enough aquatic biomass to satisfy their appetite. Right now they are foraging on hoppers and other terrestrials near the shoreline to fill their bellies.
The river is high, tough to wade, and the trout are living primarily up under the cutbanks along the shoreline. This makes casting from a moving boat the hot strategy and our guides are covering 10-19 miles per day asking their anglers to push flies up agains the banks tight to the salad. Many trout are living under the grassy edges foraging for hoppers. It seems to be a good year so far! The trout are smart however so plan to work hard and earn your bites. It's fun, rewarding, and will be a memorable day of action.
Hopper Tip for Fishing TIGHT to the Grass
Flows and Weather Links:
- Current River Flows at Umtanum
- Flow Forecast at Umtanum (this is one step above fortune telling, often not accurate!)
- Weather in Selah, WA
Suggested Flies for This Week:
Hoppers:
Nymphs:
- RIO's GumDropper Tungsten Soft Hackle
- Rainy's Bent Stone
- Duracell Jighead Tungsten Soft Hackle
- Roza's Red and Violet Tag Nymphs (GREAT droppers off a Chubby)
- Rainy's Flexi Stone
- Pat's Stonefly Nymph (various sizes and colors)
- Rainbow Warrior Nymph
- Tungsten DART Soft Hackle
- Double Bead Stonefly Nymph
Dry Flies:
- Dry Humper
- Missing Link Caddis (great in the evenings on the Yakima, or all day on the small streams)
- CFO Chernobyl Ant
- Crowd Surfer Stone (Golden)
- McKnight's Fat Boy
- Chubby Chernobyls (various sizes and colors work off an on)
- Rainy's Everything Dry
Streamers:
- Sculp 'n Crossbones
- Sculpzilla #4 (had good success on white yesterday in the morning)
- Skiddish Smolt (there are a fair amount of Salmon Smolt migrating right now!)
- Make it Rainbow Articulated Streamer