Red's Power Hour Fishing Report
The
Power Hour Fishing Report is brought to you exclusively by Red's.
The content of this report is not the generic "fishing has
been good in the morning, and afternoons, and later in the evenings,
too." Rather, when we go fishing, we will analyze one session and
report the day, time, location, fly, number of fish caught, species,
and size (if
we caught any). We'll also write up the method we used. Keep in mind
that the fishing report is based on a prior day's fishing and
weather conditions.
6/15/2009 -
Big Dry Flies, Droppers,
and some trout with a few laughs.
If this was your fishing partner it wouldn't hurt. Unless....
...she catches the biggest fish!
Summer Hours:
8 am - 4 pm, Sunday - Thursday, 8 am - 5 pm Friday - Saturday JULY, 2009 -
NEW!!!
6/29/2009
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies: Some ideas: Chubby Chernobyl Ants, Orange Parachute PMX, Peacock
Stacker Caddis (CDC Caddis that rocks the last 2 hours of daylight in
the LC), Tupac Stone #10, Bugmeister #8, Gypsy King (all colors great)
#10-6, Bloody Mary #16, CDC Prince 14,16, X Caddis (evenings), PMD
emergers, cripples, and parachutes (mid day), Pat's and other big stones
(mid day), Streamers (early in the morning), Green Winged Thing #10/8
Time: Early or Late is better for dry fly fishing, mid day is still ok
but you likely have to nymph for numbers.
Results: --
The last 10 days have been like Nirvana. Wet wading, dry flies,
clean water, and pretty good trout fishing all make for a great start to
summer fishing. All sections are producing well, especially the
one where your dry fly is perfectly drag free and there happens to be a
hungry trout. That section is the most productive, we hate to
overcrowd it but we bring it to you straight. No BS here, go for
it. Hit that section again and again even it means you have to put
your boat in the water and refloat it. Where is that section you
ask? Usually at about a 45 degree angle downstream from you. Sometimes
it is the left side of the Ringer to Red's float or sometimes it is on
the right. Every now and then it might be in the Farmlands, or
EVEN from Red's to the Slab. Once in a while... the Upper Yakima
near Cle Elum. BUT if you cannot find this section, there is a
place that drag fee does not matter. That is right, we said it.
Drag free is against the rules and the fish will chase your fly and
tackle it like Howie Long before he got glasses, a $200 haircut, and a
laser pointer. The fish are up to 5-6 pounds and fight like
trucks! This place is.... drum roll please.... the Lower Yakima
where smallmouth are pounding Buggers like that Asian guy from Koney
Island eats hot dogs. How they fit that much in their stomach is
beyond me, but that guy might be part smallmouth. They are like a
pair of spandex, you can shove an awful lot inside, usually too much.
Now reach for the phone, dial 509.929.1802 and ask to go to this special
place with one of our Bassin' professionals. And
now for a
philosophical question... if we get paid to take people bass fishing,
does that make us "Pro Bass Fisherman"? I say it does.
Better get about 150 patches to sew on the ol' guide shirt.
6/25/2009
Anglers: Erik, Brandy, and Bill
Location: Red's to Slab
Flies: sz. 6-12 P Stone and K Stone (brown and black), sz. 14, 16 PT, some Stone dries and Caddis
Time: 7:30 am - 1:00 pm
Results: 23 trout landed and 2 NPM's!
All sections of the Yakima are currently fishing well. The nymph fishing is the mainstay for daylight hours, while big dry flies and Caddis are the focus for the evening period. If you can fish late, do it - it's worthwhile! If you need to be off the river early, it's still worth getting over. The report above was from some of our regular customers who did just that yesterday, and had a great day then took the time to send us a detailed report! The Smallmouth fishing on the Lower Yak is ON right now. We had 2 great days down there last week. We are seeing good dry fly fishing at still floatable levels on the Naches, and I swung the Klickitat for Steelhead with guests yesterday. The Klick is in prime shape and felt perfect, but no "fishy grabs." The best swinging option in WA right now is Smallmouth on the Lower Yakima! Steve S. found a bunch, and they pulled HARD! So many places to be, so little time to do it all. There's only one solution - overnighter!
6/23/2009
Anglers: Giles and Derek
Location: MM20 - Red's
Flies: Brown Plan B #8, Black Plan B #8, Turk's Tarantula #8/6,
Orange/Yellow Parachute Stimulator #8/6/10, Stacker Caddis Peacock
#16,18, X Caddis Peacock #16, Tan Pat's Stone #8, Lime Green Wire Caddis
#16 (can't remember the real name - it has a black beadhead on it), Gold
Scud Hook Lightning Bug, CDC Caddis emerger
Time: 2 pm - 9:30 pm
Results: 10+ trout landed, up to 17" - great evening float!
The guys took
off after work and jumped on the river last night and had a good evening
of dry fly fishing once the sun went down and the hatch began!
There were some stoneflies on the water, but the Caddis triggered the
action and there were fish rising aggressively the last couple hours of
light. Nothing like working at a place where you can be from the
cash register to the river in a matter of seconds. Fishing overall
is good on the Yakima right now with perfect flows and hungry fish.
We are finally starting to get some consistent dry fly fishing and it
should only get better as the season goes on. Look for a PMD hatch
mid day, but the real action is at dusk. Using a big dry fly
combined with Caddis trailer is a great way to go and if you find
consistently rising fish then ditch the big fly and run solo.
6/16/2009
Anglers: 4 boatloads of Bassmasters
Location: Lower Yak West Richland
Flies: sz. 2,4 Zonkers (olive, black, yellow),sz. 4 Chartreuse poppers, sz. 4 Sculpzilla
Time: 9 am - 7 pm
Results: 8 Smallies and 3 catfish landed!
The report specs above are from the Smallmouth Bass clinic on Saturday the 13th. While conditions were not great (6500 cfs and 12" visibility), they were the best we've seen so far this season down there. No that's not a typo - 3 catfish were landed on fly tackle including the bruiser Ted caught, which inhaled a Black Bass Buster deep into its' throat. The clinic accomplished introducing everyone to a new piece of water on the Lower Yak. It's a completely different fishery than the headwaters, and requires a different skill set. Casting a 300 grain Teeny line with a heavy fly is not for the feint of heart, but the reward is worth the effort. Two of the three anglers in my boat suffered second degree line burns on our fingers from line being peeled out at a rapid rate! Even though you won't admit it at the time it happens (especially if you lose the fish because of it) - man does it hurt! Thanks to all who participated and welcome to a new fishery. On another note - the trout waters of the Yak are in great shape and we are starting to see improved dry fly fishing throughout the system. We are looking forward to the next couple of weeks. We hope you can make it over to see us soon!
6/15/2009 pm
Anglers: Arne, Blair, and Joe
Location: South Cle Elum Bridge to Thorp Bridge
Flies: Red Winged Thing #8, CDC Prince #12, Tan Pat's #8, Red Copper
John #16, Golden K Stone with Yellow Rubber Legs $10/8, Gypsy King w/
Peach Foam #8, Marathon Bug (Orange Parachute Stimulator) #6/8, Gold
Lightning Bug on Scud hook
Time: 9 am - 7 pm
Results: 10++ trout landed, and only 3 flies lost all day!
Oohhhhhhhh
man... we have been longing for some decent dry fly fishing!
We got it yesterday too finally. Summer has begun with clear water
and wet wading. Golden Stones upriver and a PMD hatch in the Lower
Canyon = fun x 2bent rods. We used nymphs, dries, and dry droppers
with equal success on each. The water is very clear and the fish
are willing to chase a dry fly. The next week should be very
good with still dropping flows. It is like a dream, flows are
back in check finally after the biggest, longest period of high runoff
that anyone in our company has ever seen. In the long run, it will
result in good fishing down the road but it was a bumpy ride. If
someone had asked us 2 years ago if we ever thought we would be
consistently guiding the Yakima River at 6,000 cfs plus we would have
tried to punch them in the stomach for asking such a senseless question.
If you happened to ask that, now you get one free shot punching our
guide service manager in the stomach for being so naive. Doubtful
anybody asked, you guys are smarter than we are. Plus it was just
a joke so no cheap shots.
Strategy wise,
PMD's are the game in the lower canyon mid day and Caddis in the
evening. For PMD nymphs use #16 CDC PT's during the hatch, Copper
Johns, original recipe, #16 for general prospecting, and the BEST fly
(while supplies last) is a Gold Lightning Bug tied on a Scud hook.
It is in one of the back rows trying to stay concealed. Go for it,
grab a bunch, don't feel bad. It is a great fly. For dries,
there are plenty of PMD cripple and emerger type patterns in stock, each
seems to have a cute catchy name that escapes me in my current state of
guide euphoria. As the water clears think about ditching the
stonefly nymph and going for 1 or 2 small bugs and a chunk of shot for
ballast. The fish are almost done eating a Pat's stone forever,
well not quite but almost. If you are a die hard try staying out
till dark and fishing Caddis, and we mean DARK. The last 20
minutes are absurd right now for rising trout on Caddis.
6/11/2009
Anglers: Gary and JB, Joe, Jesus, and PJ, Steve, Walt, and Sam
Location: We covered most of the river yesterday from Cle Elum to Red's
with a handful of guides.
Flies: Golden K-Stonefly
nymphs sz. 6-10, Double Beaded Golden K Stone w/ rubber legs, Bloody
Mary #14, Tan Pat's Stone #10, Orange San Juan Worms, Brown Pearl Worm,
Red Pearl Worm, Little Green Machine #16 (green Mayfly Nymph),
Holographic Prince Nymph #14, VD's Caddis Crack #16
Time: --
Results: About 6-10+ trout landed per boat.
Now we're
talking, rowing this river feels like nothing at 4,000 cfs compared to
what it was. Either that or our arms are just getting stronger.
The guide's payscale doesn't afford us to buy Andro so we have to do it
the old fashioned way. Red meat for protein mixed with liquid malt
carb loading in the afternoon and evening. Fishing has picked up
and we are starting to see the old Yakima coming back around with
manageable flows and hungry fish. The lack of good dry fly
fishing, which has been a mystery, should go away as the PMD's, Caddis,
Golden Stones, and Summer Stones (3 weeks out) start to tempt the trout
up top. There is so much food available underneath when the river
is big that they don't need to spend anytime near the surface.
Make sure to have some good light colored Stones as the Goldens are very
active both in and out of the water. A Tan Pat's Stone is very
tough to beat and won "Best Bug" award yesterday in an informal trout
taste test performed between MM18 and MM17. Inconclusive evidence
that it was the best bug we tried. We tied one on each line and
they both hooked fish. Kind of like the Pepsi challenge, rigged.
Also, wanted to
say thanks to the wade fisherman just above Umtanum that invited us to
fish through after we started to row around him to give plenty of
pedestrian space, that was a class move on his part and great etiquette.
We always row around the waders with plenty of space and being invited
to fish through once in a while is pretty cool. Thanks man.
And now.... an
entertaining aside from a former undercover agent of the Maker's Mark
Brotherhood of Red's Fly Shop Hatred. As sent to Red's a few days
ago. This is the funniest thing we have ever been sent, literally.
We are trying to hate you guys since you moved into our river
,in our, canyon, in our county, of our state(even though I live in
Seattle) we ( my pals and I ), fish about 70 days
A year and we heard you were coming and we grabbed a bottle of makers
mark and prepared a plan to hate you forever. Well I have failed. The
shop is great and everyone near seems to not care if I am spending money
or not,they are really nice and helpfull
The guides that are working for you, the ones that are too old to row,or
the ones that are too young to have a clue, both seem to be
awsome,forthrite with info and enthusiasm and that makes me stoked to be
on the river even though my arch nemisi are on my river too. The shuttle
, the upcoming events and past that I secretly attended, only in an
effort to infiltrate your ranks to speed the demise of the new reds fly
shop.Were great as well!!! All the services are awsome and that is
coming from someone who with every fiber of my soul has resisted falling
into your clever dottrap.well the final straw has been the power hour
reports! I have called off my trout gihadists and have now joined the
purple juice drinking (crown royal) reds fan partially due to the great
and interesting info on the power hour. It causes me to bounce all
around the web site for more current and interesting stuff sales,
events,river flows. I thought my I-phone was for watching porn , but no,
it's brought into my life by god, to end the bad feelings I had twords
Reds fly shop, for making my river a better place to be in some ways. I
am sure that.a lot of my fear is that you guys would turn this into a
Patagonia safari outfit with zip off leg pant wearing waste land, but
even though I spot those people from time to time they are not so bad
when they are wrageled by your skilled handelers.(do those bug off
shirts really work).so thanks for renting me a boat when mine was down,
for a short repair , and thanks for being a good group of people who
love fishing as much as I do, and not being pricks because that was my
biggest fear...............feel free to forward this to the world I am a
changed man, but could I have my quail hot spot back , my dog is getting
fat.
Anonymous
P.S. I know two things. I love to fish and I can't spell
Sent from my iPhone
6/9/2009
Anglers: Blair, Samantha, and Johnny
Location: Farmlands
Flies: Stonefly
nymphs sz. 6-12, mayfly nymphs (pt's, cj's, and prince's) sz. 14-18, SJ
Worm sz. 8-12,sz. 8 Winged Thing, sz. 6 Plan B
Time: 10 am - 3 pm
Results: 10+ trout landed (12"-19"). It's on like Donkey Kong!.
The river has dropped to fishable levels and the clarity is great
throughout the system. We're seeing PMD and Caddis hatches in the
farmlands and canyon, and Golden Stones throughout the system. At this
point, the entire system is looking good for what should be the rest of
the season! A lot has changed on the Yakima from the high water this
year, so give yourself a few extra days to get familiar with it!
5/31/2009
Anglers: Bill, Paul, and Joe
Location: Farmlands
Flies: SJ Worms - all colors, Brown #6 K Stones, Sculpzilla (baby
sized), Prince Nymphs, Red CJ
Time: 8 am - 5 pm
Results: 8 landed - 6 trout and 2 Ytfish.
7,000
Plus Club! (sorry to steal your Thunder 6,000+ club'ers) 7K
was officially conquered yesterday, Bill and Paul decided to entrust
life, limb, and $405 in their guide's wisdom and we made a successful
day out of it and one they won't soon forget. We had a great time
fishing mixed with a wild boat ride and a fat lunch. Not a bad way
to spend a Saturday eh? We were headed out this morning to ride
the river but opted it out with flows over 9,000 cfs! There is now
water coming over the road at Ringer. Oh my, this has been quite a
ride this spring. Instead of floating the river we decided to lake
fish and it was great. Call for advice or direction if you are
heading east and need some lake info. We'll see if the river
clears and drops a bit, we have found a few sloughs and springs that are
holding clear water and a few fish so if it stabilizes for a few days
we'll give it another go. For all intents and purposes consider it
blown, we will probably still keep fishing and guiding some but wait for
the drop because when it does... hang on. The flow conditions have
essentially given most of the trout a "closed season" so far this year.
These fish will be aggressive and healthy.
5/30/2009
Anglers: Forest, Ron, and Joe
Location: Farmlands
Flies: Prince Nymph #14, Copper John #16, Orange San Juan Worm #14, Brown Pearl SJ Worm, Red Pearl SJ Worm, Brown K-Stone #8/6, Black
K Stone #8, BH PT #14, Bloody Mary #14, Holographic Prince #14 - (same
fly patterns daily right now)
Time: 10 am - 3 pm
Results: 11 landed - 7 trout, 3 Ytfish, and 1 Pike Minnow. (one angler -
first time fly fishing, other angler had fished once or twice ever -
good work guys!)
We managed to pull it off again yesterday, good fishing and 2 Bows that
stretched to 18" and nice Cutt in the 15-16" range. It looks like
we are going to be starting a new club today, get ready for the 7,000
Plus Club! This is uncharted territory for us right now on the
Yakima - been fishing here for 11 seasons and have never seen sustained
flows of 5,000 plus for this long. Well, off to the river and it
is going to be an early lunch - missed breakfast this morning and a
Steak on the river sounds better anyway. :)
5/29/2009
Anglers: Bob, Todd, and Joe
Location: KOA to Ringer
Flies: Prince Nymph #14, Copper John #16, Orange San Juan Worm #14, Brown Pearl SJ Worm, Red Pearl SJ Worm, Brown K-Stone #8/6, Black
K Stone #8, BH PT #14, Bloody Mary #14, Holographic Prince #14
Time: 10 am - 6 pm
Results: 10+++ trout landed, not really counting anymore.
We are starting to get this big beast figured out. We'll have to
admit though, this river is foreign right now. As a guide you feel
like Frodo in Lord of the Rings trying to not give up hope while the big
muddy beast of a river tries to break your will and faith with poor
clarity, giant random logs floating by, flooding, and pure intimidation
by force. Short of having Gollum chase you down river it is pretty
spooky and intimidating. Your "precious" becomes that very last
San Juan worm that you have been desperately climbing tree after tree to
retrieve on 1 out of every 5 backcasts. Not to mention, the
size of the river makes you feel like a little short-armed Hobbit
helplessly flailing around on the oars trying to control the boat in
fast water. All this while the river is carving new channels
randomly running through forests and Alder patches. It resembles
the way I think the Yakima River would look if it were in the Shire.
Right now
it is like no stream
we have ever fished before. But like that persistent little band
of Hobbits and Elves, we are forging ahead and keeping up hope that the
conditions will improve soon! Today was great, no promises about
tomorrow but maybe it is on the mend. See the current video for
the fishing tips. Grab you Lembas bread, San Juan worms, Sun
Block, and lets go fishing!
5/27/2009
Anglers: Tom and Joe
Location: KOA to Ringer
Flies: Brown Pearl SJ Worm, Red Pearl SJ Worm, Brown K-Stone #8/6, Black
K Stone #8, BH PT #14, Bloody Mary #14, Holographic Prince #14
(shockingly similar to a few days ago)
Time: 10 am - 3 pm
Results: 7-8 trout landed, 1 Ytfish, 1 Pike Minnow (still counting
everything!) Congratulations Tom Randal - Yakima River 6,000 plus
club inductee.
6,835 cfs and fish being caught! - new in house record at Red's!
There is literally water within 12" of coming over the gravel portion of
Ringer Road. Same fishing program, fish are being caught in very
select zones and the flows are wicked high. In fact, we don't
recommend that anyone except very experienced rowers tackle the
Farmlands at these flows. Unless you strap on 7 life jackets, arm
floaties, a whistle, and two flare guns. Even the Canyon is pretty
fast water. We are currently running most of our guide trips in
honor of the nice weather and enjoyment of tackling a big lonely river.
We were the only anglers on the whole lower river today (that we know
of). Pretty cool when you can go to a Blue Ribbon stream on a
sunny day, catch a few trout, and not see another person. We'll take it.
Is that a desperate positive spin on rough conditions? Why yes it
is. Oh well, we are just being optimistic and enthusiastic.
Who can blame us? We have the greatest job on earth. Wake up, go
fishing, eat a steak lunch on the river, catch fish, have a cold drink,
and then when you are done just simply talk about it a whole bunch and
tell people what flies you used. Sorry, but that is what we do
almost everyday. I know it sounds bad, so maybe come join us for a day
on the river to remind yourself just how good you have it at your job.
We'll take it easy on you and not make you eat the whole steak and a
cookie. :)
5/25/2009
Anglers: Jim, Hank, and Joe
Location: Farmlands
Flies: Brown Pearl SJ Worm, Red Pearl SJ Worm, Brown K-Stone #8/6, Black
K Stone #8, BH PT #14, Bloody Mary #14
Time: 10 am - 6 pm
Results: 7+ Trout Landed - about 7-10 more hooked up including a break off
on 3X Flouroflex Plus. 2 more anglers joined the Red's Fly Shop
6,000+ Club yesterday! Congratulations Jim and Hank. You
are in a very select club, in fact, you are some of the first members.
Great day considering flows yesterday but... Being dialed in on
very select spots takes on a whole new meaning right now. 6300 cfs
on the Yakima is rolling. Heck, 4,000 is pretty fast.
Right now you have to be ON with your boat work and water selection to
even be in the game. Fly selection is a natural - worms and stones
will do it for you. The hard part is getting the boat lined up for
one perfect drift and making your one shot count.
Prospecting along the banks won't do it. You need to be out
scouting and looking for water that "makes sense" - when you find it -
either make one perfect shot while the rower holds the boat slow.
Or try to get the boat pulled over so you can get out and walk back up
on it. Locals have the advantage of scouting a section multiple
times and will often float by a good spot (which can often be a tiny
bucket or ledge roughly the size of a hot tub) and making a mental note
to fish that one the next day. Sometimes the water will look
stable enough, but when you toss the fly down the lane it just doesn't
look quite right. Knowing a handful of hot zones where trout are
huddled up is key. The "Guide Factor" is at an all time high.
Also, the takes are soft as the fish are "taste testing" some of our
offerings. When following your indicator, make sure to live by the
saying "every takedown is a fish". If you think they are rocks,
you don't stand a chance. In these conditions you can't afford not
to be confident. We'll fish a few days this week but we won't try
to convince you conditions are ok. The river is a monster right
now, but it can be tamed by the right rod. If you do fish though, then
you could join our exclusive 6,000 club. It is a new club and we
are still working on a secret handshake and codeword. It is not
currently recognized by the FFF either but our first meeting will likely
be held at the Tav in a week or so if the river doesn't settle down.
5/22/2009
Anglers: Mike and Joe
Location: Farmlands
Flies: Black BH K-Stone #6, Black Biot Double Beaded Stone #6/4/8, Pat's
#4, Red Pearl Worm #12, Red BH San Juan Worm #12, BH CDC PT #14, Brown
BH SJ Worm.
Time: 11 am - 4 pm
Results: 5 Trout landed (4-5 more hooked) - 11-17", 1 Ytfish, 1 Sucker, 1
Pike Minnow. We're counting it all today.
She was big, mean and ugly but we rode her hard today anyway!
5-6,000 CFS on the Yakima is one fast ride but we gave it a go with 18"
visibility and caught a few fish. It was pretty nice day and
we hooked enough to keep us edgy and confident each time the indicator
hit mid drift. The fishing conditions are far less than ideal for
the weekend so we cancelled today's guided trips and are teetering on
the edge for tomorrow - but "if we can do it... so can you" Our
day was good enough for us AND we were the only anglers dumb enough to
be on the river. We'll take it. We also saw 2 Spring Chinook
hovering in 2' of water just 10' off the bank. We floated almost
over them - and Mike yelled "did you see that huge fish"?!
We pulled into the bank just so I could prove he was full of it, and low
and behold..... 2 Kings working there way up a gravel bar holding in
FAST water. Supercool. Can't wait to hook one of those on a
Stone nymph or a Bugger. Hang on. That is a good reason to
buy Flouroflex Plus.
The Caddis were much stronger near Ringer than the Farmlands this
afternoon and we did see a handful of fish rise to them but were never
in a position that we could get a drift. If dry fly Caddis is your
goal the Lower Canyon offers the best prospecting. Be careful
floating and anchoring right now though - this river is fast and pretty
wild. Don't be afraid to wear a life jacket - they call them that
for a reason. Keep a River Knife handy and don't use a knot in
your anchor rope. You may find yourself wanting to get rid of it
in a hurry. :)
5/20/2009
Anglers: --
Location: Yakima River
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: --
Looking ok for Saturday - not sure but we might be fishing again on
Friday depending on the ambition of our guests - some may want to roll
the dice and go for it if the weather is good, some may postpone.
The river will be in rough shape still but much better than it currently
is and with the pure volume of Caddis hatching it might be a wise move
to go ahead as planned if you are thinking about coming out. Be
prepared for visibility in the 12-18" range at best and proceed with a
"509 State of Mind" and don't worry about the catching as long as you
are fishing. :-)
5/16/2009
PM
Anglers: --
Location: Yakima River
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: --
UNCLE!!! uncle!!! enough already, we give up! The river is gonzo
for a couple of days and OF COURSE the blizzard hatch erupted today in
the Canyon. There was a haze of Caddis in flight across the whole
river at times. Good luck to those that manned up and fished
anyway we really hope you found some feeding fish. At least you
got to see a hatch of epic proportion. Give the river a few days
to clean up and the fishing will turn on.
5/16/2009
Anglers: --
Location: Yakima River
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: --
The
Caddis are starting to gain momentum but unfortunately the water is too.
It is coming up still and the whole river is down to about 12-18" of
visibility (Upper River is not much better than the LC). There are
a few fish up on the surface eating dries but truthfully the conditions
are pretty rough. We are going to do a little fishing and shut the
shop down early today and see if we can find some risers on Caddis.
If it goes well, we will give you another update tonight. The
temperatures and bugs are there so the "bite" is what we are waiting
for. These fish typically don't let the cloudy water get in their
way of a meal, if they want food they will find it.
5/15/2009
Anglers: Jerry, Jim, and Joe
Location: Farmlands area
Flies: BH K-Stone Black #8, Pearl Worm - Red #10, BH Pheasant Tail #14,
RCJ #16, Pat's Stone #6 Brown, BH CDC Prince #12/14/16
Time: 10 am - 5:30 pm
Results: 7 Trout landed - 2 Pike Minnows
We
forged ahead yesterday despite less than ideal conditions and we beat
the odds and landed enough trout to keep us satisfied. The 45+ mph
gusts of wind that were called for barely reached a light breeze of
35-40 mph and were able to fish right through it without too much
trouble. We are on the river again today and it is still coming up
a bit, however the good news is that it can't get much higher and can
only improve from here... knock on wood. Look for Caddis on
Saturday evening in the Canyon. 76 degrees should spring some
loose and it will be nice to get some hot weather.
5/14/2009
Anglers: Jim, Dan, and Joe
Location: MM20 to Red's
Flies: BH Prince #10, BH Pheasant Tail #14, Black K Stone #8/6, Peacock X Caddis #14,
Pat's Stone Brown/Olive 6/8/10, Brown 6/4/8, Brown Black 4/6/8, Bloody Mary #14, CDC PT #14, Lime Green Caddis Larvae #16, CDC Prince #16/14,
Red Pearl Worm #12
Time: 11 am - 4:30 pm
Results: 3 Trout landed (smaller fish), 2 Ytfish
Rough conditions right now and slow fishing. The reservoirs are
spilling off and on - combine that with cold weather and you have a high
off-color river with no Caddis. Make sure to bring a nice lunch.
However, it looks like this weekend might be our big Caddis hatch.
Saturday is going to be 77 degrees, Sunday at 78 degrees. It is
very unlikely that we will have any impact from the snow melt at all.
We are primarily concerned with the reservoir release from this point
on.
5/10/2009
Anglers: Bill, Steve, and Joe
Location: Ringer to Slab
Flies: Black K Stone #8/6, Peacock X Caddis #14,
Pat's Stone Brown/Olive 6/8/10, Brown 6/4/8, Brown Black 4/6/8, Bloody Mary #14, CDC PT #14, JJ Buggers #4,
Sculpzilla #4 Black, Black Buggers
#8, Lime Green Caddis Larvae #16, CDC Prince #16/14
A good turnaround in the fish count today which is great, but the
fishing is still very tough with the water high and cold the trout are
tough to bring to the fly. The Caddis hatches were fairly sparse
with very few fish rising but it sounded like the ones that people could
find ate the first drift. Problem is, if you only fine one or two
that is not much of an opportunity. The river will continue to
stabilize and improve of the next couple of days and that should help
the bite. The seams and eddies are really harsh and upset right
now with the constantly changing hydrology which makes it really tough
to get a good drift - and even tougher for the trout to grab a fly.
They don't like chasing their food up or down or around in circles
(which is what they have to do when the seams are boiling and rumbling
like they are right now. Predictions - we likely wont' see our
true Mother's Day Caddis Blizzard for at least 7 days. The first
few days that hit 80 degrees it will explode. In the meantime,
just keep fishing hard and take everything the river will give you.
The formula to success right now lies in having a rower willing to
work extremely hard on the oars and keep that boat hovered on the
spots just long enough to give the angler a chance at the soft spots
along the bank. Fly selection is not too relevant - just make sure
to be an aggressive rower and keep that boat slowed down and as an
angler - high stick and move on a quick rhythm searching with your
peripheral vision for the next spot. If you hesitate - it is too
late. The water is too fast and high for second attempts.
Good, quick, accurate, and aggressive casting is a must. Do your
best but be critical of where the fly lands and how you manipulate the
fly line and indicator during the cast. Tuck casts with some
presentation English will make the difference, especially when
multiplied over 17 miles of fishing. These skills may not be
required to catch every fish, but they are for some and often those are
the bigger fish.
5/8/2009
Anglers: Mark, Jim, and Joe
Location: Cle Clum River to East Cle Elum
Flies:
Pat's Stone Brown/Olive 6/8/10, Brown 6/4/8, Brown Black 4/6/8, SJ Worms
Pearl Brown, Pink, Red, Bloody Mary #14, CDC PT #14, JJ Buggers #4,
Sculpzilla #4 Black, Olive, Cream, White Wooly Buggers #8, Black Buggers
#8, Lime Green Caddis Larvae #16, and more - still trying to forget
about today.
Time: 9-7 pm
Results: -- Scratched, no trout landed.
"Keep in mind that when the whole system is off color, the canyon
will sometimes fish the best. Upriver and dirty can be a cold and
lonely place." Should have taken our own advice!
Rough day upriver. It happens. As much as we would like to
just forget about this report we vowed to bring it to you uncensored.
We fished our brains out for 10 hours today and didn't land a trout.
We threw every nymph and streamer in the box (within reason). This
morning on the upper river it would have been a stretch to claim vis was
much over 18" but by the end of the day it was roughly 2-3' so clarity
was good but apparently the fish are not too impressed with the
lake water that was released and the bite was off, big time. No
matter your what skill or experience there are days that you just flat
out can't get it done, or maybe we just weren't holding our mouths
right. Either way, these days build character and you have to fish
through the whole day hard without letting up to prove it is the bit and
not a lack of skill nor effort. On these types of days, polish
those skills because..... vengeance against the trout is ours tomorrow
in the Lower Canyon! The Caddis were rippin' down there
today with some fish feeding up top gulping them down, with almost NO
anglers willing to brave the muddy water! In retrospect we should
have "manned up" and taken the Lower Canyon head on and not criticized
the clarity so much. It should be up to 2' in the LC tomorrow and
as guides we call that "good enough to eat".
It will be Delta Force like full frontal
assault led by a bitter guide, 2 skilled anglers, double nymphs, 4
cans of Red Bull, and dry fly rods on standby tomorrow. I almost
feel bad for the trout already. There shall be no mercy ever
again.
5/7/2009
Anglers: --
Location: South Cle Clum to East Cle Elum
Flies:
Double Beaded Peacock Stone #8, Double Beaded Black Stone #6/8, Rubber
Leg Brown K Stone #6/8, Holo Prince #14, Pearl SJ Worms - all colors
#12, Power Worm - Brown/Red #12, Pat's Stone #8 Brown/Olive
Time: 9-4:30 pm
Results: 5 Trout Landed!
Despite finicky hydrology and imperfect clarity Steve guided a good day
on the Upper Yakima and caught exactly 5 more trout than they would have
if they decided to stay home. Hopefully the latest influx of water
originating from the reservoirs doesn't upset the clarity and the fish
settle into a feeding rhythm. As the runoff from our recent rains
is subsiding, the Bureau of Rec. is beginning to release a bit of water
to meet local irrigation demand. The orchards, vineyards, and row crops
of the lower valley (Yakima and Prosser area) won't call for water until
the heat gets turned up for good, but the local hay fields in the
Kittitas Valley need some water to get things rolling and charge the
canals. It shouldn't come up too much and we are hoping that the
Farmlands and Upper Yakima stay fishable tomorrow but quite honestly we
aren't certain. Only one thing is for sure - you won't catch any trout
if you don't go! A prediction for the LC, don't bank on it
tomorrow but we are willing to bet that by Saturday it is fishing ok
again. Keep in mind that when the whole system is off color, the
canyon will sometimes fish the best. Upriver and dirty can be a
cold and lonely place. Don't forget about other options too.
Lake Lenice, Nunally, Dry Falls, Lake Lenore, or even Rocky Ford are
fantastic fisheries. Just give us a call if you need some advice
or a stillwater guide.
5/4/2009
- late pm
Anglers: Leiland, Nathan, Steve, Giles, Stephanie, and Joe
Location: Red's to MM10
Flies:
Split Wing March Brown #12, Orange Paranobyl #4, Pat's Stone #6, Brown K
Stone #6, Double Beaded Black Stone #8/6, Holo Prince #16/14, Soft
Hackle March Brown #12, March Brown Cripple #12, Parachute Tilt Wing BWO,
BWO Sprout Style Para-emerger #16, Royal Wulf #14
Time: 1-4:30 pm
Results: 4-5 Trout Landed - mostly on nymphs - enough risers to keep you
busy though.
We ran a quick friends float this afternoon with Leiland from the
Bellevue Orvis shop and Nathan from Avid Angler and had a great time.
Our video got cut short and ruined because the wind fouled the mic and
the rain wasn't very conducive to using electronics. A
spring squall came through after a BEAUTIFUL morning and mid-day.
We found enough fish feeding to keep us busy but we were reminded of a
few valuable lessons. During hatch time and especially on a rising
river you need to keep your floats short and give yourself ample time to
work each rising fish that you encounter and the nymphing should be done
primarily in the "primo" zones - don't try to fish on the go as much as
anchoring and wading - OR just gearing up and hitting the zones and
seams perfect with a one shot drift and then reeling in and running
downstream onto the next spot for another high pressure 2-3 cast rally.
Guides call this the "Run and Shoot Offense". It is a great tactic
when you are falling behind on your float time, just make sure to hit
your shots perfect of it won't work at all! We saw NO Caddis, not
a single one. Seriously, you couldn't have found one if you tried.
We saw one Salmon Fly Adult on the water laying eggs, and the feeders
were on March Browns with some on BWO's.
Also, the river is on a steep rise and we think it should still fish
tomorrow - 5/5 but we were very shocked by the evening rain - it
is 10 pm now and still raining. It is hard to say what it will do,
it should stay fishable and who - knows - it might be great?
Likely though - it will be tough fishing for the next 2 days and then
light up for the weekend! How convenient.
4/30/2009
- post game interview
Anglers: Bob, Dick, and Joe - Arne, Blair, and Johnny.
Location: Ringer to Red's
Flies:
Pat's, Holo Prince #16 and #14 - rocked (best bug - it is redish prince
on a scud hook), March Brown Split Wing Para #12, Parachute X Caddis
#16, VD's Caddis Crack #16 (lime green Caddis Pupae with flash and
flair), CDC PT #16, CDC Prince #16, Black Conehead 20"er Stone w/ legs
#6
Time: 9 - 6:30
Results: 10+ trout landed, throw in a few Ytfish for amusement.
Post game interview with Red's guide Johnny Boitano:
Q: Johnny, what was the key to your victory today?
A: Well, the boat handled really great, I have a good crew working
behind me and they just put the pieces together so that I could do some
driving out there and win. I want to thank the shop, Steve, mom,
dad, my wife for being so patient, and Uncle Scott for teaching me how
to fly cast all those years ago. I love you man!
Q: Does winning... I mean... catching trout ever get old or
routine?
A: Are you kidding? What kind of question is that?
This interview is over!
Q: Wait, I'm sorry. Let me just ask a few more question? When you row
that boat it looks like you are very concentrated, almost in a dream
world. Does it take a lot of skill to keep the boat handling tight
through the hard curves?
A: It does, this isn't Talladega out here with a simple circle
track to drive around. There are some left turns, but there are
some right turns too, then there are right turns, followed by right
turn, followed by a right turn. It blows my mind. It doesn't
make any sense sometimes but I just listen to my gut and row the side of
the river that it suggests.
Q: Some rowers row like they aren't trying to make any friends out
there, how do you constantly come out on top and still maintain such
respect from all the other boats out there?
A: Simple. I live by one rule out there, I ALWAYS pass on
the outside.
Q: With the water at just over 2000 cfs it looks like your boat
might hit a few rocks if you are fishing the banks and trying to hit the
good water. How do you feel about bumping the rocks?
A: Rubbing is part of racing. Plain and simple this Hyde
racing machine is built to win and that is exactly what I plan to do out
there everyday.
Q: Anything surprising happen out there today?
A: Oh yea, Salmon flies - LOTS, but Rotter never told me there
were tons of hatching near Bighorn. That is just bad
sportsmanship, he should be black flagged for that. We're supposed
to be a team.
Q: Is it true that you fish a Pearl San Juan Worm 99% of the time?
A: ...... i can neither confirm nor deny that accusation. Who told
you that?
Q: You were guiding with Joe R today and it looks like it can be
slightly competitive between you two. Who is the better guide?
A: Simple, I'm the best there is. When I wake up in the
morning I wreak of excellence.
Q: Ok ok..... easy big dog. We know you are the best guide.
Now time for a more serious question that involves some logic.
This is an IQ test for fishing guides. A red drift boat and a blue
drift boat are racing towards the takeout and the red boat arrives at
the takeout first....... which boat got Second place? Take
your time Johnny, think about this.
A: That is a trick question! - there is no Second place, in a two
boat race if you are not first.... you are last!
Q: That is right... I guess. Thanks for your time.
Would you mind giving a shout out to all the anglers out there that want
some real advice from the Red's Powerhour report.
A: Sure, why not. I wouldn't be here without them.
Those fellas out there are why I do this job and get up every morning.
We fished a Pat's with Holo Prince Droppers most of the day - fishing a
#8 about 4-5 ft. deep in the big seems with a small tick of split shot
below a 1/2" Thmbobr. We changed flies in spots where we were
anchored and hit a fish or two, took a break, switched up and hooked
another fish. At lunch, we fooled around with a spey rod, and 2
minutes after we backed out 3 fish started working Caddis and March
Browns right by the boat. We caught one and missed about 4 other
takes. We then threw small dry flies for about 2 hours with 6 fish
caught on dries (biggest 12" but that is ok) and after 2:30 pm the dry
fly fishing died off so we nymphed on the move and had pretty good
fishing. This weekend should be pretty solid an it looks like
flows will stay in check. The water was in great condition and the boat
handled great. There are March Browns, BWO's, Caddis, and Salmon
Flies on the river right now.
4/30/2009
Anglers: George Cook and guests 4/26/2009
Location: Isaak's Ranch - Upper and Lower Lakes
Flies:
Carey Buggers, Orange Crush, Damsel Nymphs, After Dinner Mint (all
#8/10) Fished on a Rio Aqualux Intermediate Line.
Time: 9 - 5
Results:
High rod on the upper lake hooked 42 and the high rod on the Lower
lake hooked 31 - Best 2 fish were 27" x 16", and a 31.75" fish - both
lower Lake. Most fish were the Tubby 17-21" crowd.
Isaak's is rockin' - Sorry but we had to do it. Pics like
that and gross tonage like that is too sick not to share. We had
to pass along the George report from the ranch. We are hosting a
date on May 5th and it should be awesome. If you haven't fished Isaak's you will wonder why after your first time! It can be
incredible and these will be some of the strongest stillwater fish you will
ever care to fight. Bring your 2X Flouro - you are gonna need it!
The Yakima fished well on nymphs in the Farmlands yesterday, we don't have an
official guide
report for the Canyon but a couple of our regular customers did send us
some pics of a big fish they caught on a Skwala Dry and said that it was
the best fishing they have seen in quite a while. Mike and his guests
yesterday fished Pat's stones,
Double Beaded Stones, Red Prince Nymphs and Prince Harry's all day.
There was a short March Brown hatch and they landed 2 Cutts mixed in
with about 8-10 Rainbows! Not bad.
4/29/2009
Anglers: Shan
Location: Upper Red's Launch to Lower Red's Takeout
Flies:
Split Wing March Brown #12, Crystal Wing March Brown #12, Split Wing
Parachute BWO #16, BWO Cripple #16
Time: late afternoon
Results: 6 Trout Landed - ALL on dry flies!
Shan did quick float last night and found some fish feeding on dry flies
across from Red's. They haven't had much pressure and ate the
first drift or two that ran by them. Today looks good too so maybe
the hatches will respond to the cloudy damp weather, Mayflies love it.
Great conditions right now for some hatches and the Canyon is in perfect
shape!
4/26/2009
- pm
Anglers: Norm, John, and Mike
Location: South Cle Elum to Bristol Flat
Flies:
Orange/Brown Pat's Stone 6/8/10, Choco Nymph #16/18 (its like a cross
between a Red Copper John and Pheasant Tail), Holo Prince #16/14, CDC
Prince Beadhead #16/14, Red Copper John #18, Pearl Worm (Pink/Red, Red,
Brown (was the best)), Parachute Split Wing Adams #12
Time: 9:30 am - 5:30 pm
Results: 10+ Trout landed (some VERY nice fish too!)
The drop is fishing great as we hoped it would (but you never know)!
The fish were holding right where they were supposed to be and it was
great being able to put some anglers that came all the way from
Washington DC onto some great trout fishing on our home water.
There is almost nothing that feels better than showing people outside of
the area just how great the Yakima River can be. (you regulars
already know all about it). The fish were holding in the upper
half of the traditional green choppy ledges and were definitely in "feed
me" mode. Hopefully the bite will hold for a week or so but as the
river gets clear they will likely get a little more picky. The
spring-time tinge to the water right now is ideal - the trout can
see the fly, but not the tippet or the angler thankfully! Fish the
standard flies and think March Brown dropper. A Soft Hackle PT or
a Soft Hackle Hare's Ear #12 can be trump card. When the hatch is
really going they even eat it on the swing. Try to find some soft edges
that you can spend some time in. Adjust your indicator and weight
accordingly and make sure that you are in "Quality Water" - most of the
fish are being hooked in the fairly obvious spots. Hit bottom
every now and then. There was a pretty good March Brown hatch too
yesterday upriver, and the day before in the LC, so keep your eyes
peeled about 1 pm - 3 pm for a big brown Mayfly and try to spot feeders
on dries. There were a few up on dries yesterday just make sure
that you approach with some stealth because the fish were easily put
down. If the fish continue to feed but won't take a dry - fish a
Soft Hackle PT or Hare's Ear just inches under the surface and that
might do them in. Good luck and we expect the river to hold steady
through the weekend.
4/26/2009
Anglers: --
Location: The Whole River
Flies:
--
Time: --
Results: Back in Action!
The river is back in great shape and our guides turned in a good day
yesterday upriver, but we are sure glad to have the Canyon back in
shape. With the current weather pattern we should have a steady
river that is fishing good all week and hopefully it will hold through
the weekend and give us great fishing for the
FFF Fly Fishing
Fair coming up on May 1,2. Also, there is still room in our
Drift Boat Class so sign up for that if
you would like to see a basic 2 hour course on rowing river boats.
A very special thanks to everyone that came out for the Advanced Fly
Casting Course yesterday. That was a lot of fun and enjoyable to
see that crew start to take their casting and fishing to the next level.
We will host another advanced course within the next month or two.
Additionally, we had trout feeding on March Browns during the course
yesterday in front of Red's! Time to go fish, bye.
4/24/2009
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies:
--
Time: --
Results: --
The Yakima is dropping fast and will likely be fishable on Saturday in
the Lower Canyon, but definitely by Sunday. Each time the river
has risen and then dropped we have seen good fishing and this last
freshet of water should be no different. The Upper Yakima will be
in good shape by Saturday and was "fishable... (a very loose
descriptor)" yesterday. We really encourage you to sign up for the
Advanced
Fly Casting and Fishing class tomorrow - there is still plenty of
room and you will definitely improve your game as you will be able to
focus on skills that you can't takle the time to work on while you are
actually fishing. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Payton Manning,
Steve Rajeff, Simon Gawesorth, Jason Borger, and so on.... These guys
practice off the field too just like a good fly fisherman should.
If you want to fish like a pro - take this class. Plus it just
flat out feels good to cast a fly with power and control! We'll
have a BBQ lunch and the afternoon part of the class is Independent
Study ( 1 on 1 coaching ) so if you decide to stay for the 1st half and
then head out fishing in the afternoon or evening you are welcome to.
The river might even come back into shape while we are having class!
Perfect for a Red's to Slab float in the afternoon.
4/22/2009
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies:
--
Time: --
Results:
The Upper River
didn't hold out through yesterday as we had hoped so we are on break
time for a few days. The river might clean up by this weekend but
it is hard to say. Take a break to sort out those messy old vests
and kit bags that have been cramping your fishing the last few trips.
At least throw away the McDonalds wrappers and empty chew cans! In
honor of the river blowing and no Guide work scheduled out we are going
to host our first
Advanced
Fly Casting and Fishing Tactics class at Red's on Saturday. It
will be a lot of fun and a great class for advanced and intermediate
anglers to up their game a few notches. It is $59 and the fee is
refundable if you spend $200 on regularly priced items in the shop on
the day of the class. We'll have a BBQ lunch and cool malt
beverage in the afternoon. Click the hyperlink above to see what
will be covered in the class. Hope to see you there on Saturday!
4/21/2009
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies:
--
Time: --
Results: Teanaway downstream is out of shape and unfishable, the Upper
Yakima is hanging on by a thread and might not make it through today.
Lake fishing is about to get popular again.
We guided the Upper Yakima above the Tway yesterday with good results
but it looks like we are in for some major runoff thanks to the 80+
degree weather. One quick push of snowmelt will be good to get out
of the way before the MDC (Mother's Day Caddis) hatch begins. We
also want to get some runoff out of the way to clean the water up for
Bassin' on the lower Yakima too. It is still a little early for the
Bass, we fished it yesterday and only hooked one Bass. The big
Spawners are on their way in from the Columbia so get ready! Any
day now.
4/19/2009
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies:
Nymphs, SLOW dry fly fishing.
Time: 3 pm
Results: Scratching our heads..?????
Great fishing for the last few days, EXCEPT yesterday which all reports
were slow. It has us scratching our heads a bit because the water
is in great shape and the fishing slowed for no apparent reason other
than it was a weekend. Maybe in the next leap year the trout will
have their calendar one day off and we'll start hammering them on
Saturdays and Sundays.
4/15/2009
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies:
1040, 1099, and 1098T
Time: --
Results: Your taxes are done, the conditions are PERFECT so let's do it.
The river conditions right now on the Yakima could not be better!
No hype, no BS, just flat out awesome conditions. The Yakima is
dropping like a rock and the Lower Canyon has good visibility finally.
The Teanaway and others are finally showing some mercy and the flows are
dropping almost as fast as we have ever seen. There has been
virtually no pressure on these fish for the past 2 weeks so they
should be willing to take the fly. The trout have a mind of their
own but the prediction is for a few days of great fishing on the lower
Yak. We can't promise you will catch a bunch of big fish, but
somebody will! Have a good weekend, we'll be fishin' hard
till she blows out again.
Results: 3 trout hooked - all of them got away! No trout to hand.
One Pike Minnow landed that regurgitated a large Sculpin upon release.
Kind of weird.
Ah... the luxury of living 6 minutes from a boat ramp on the Yakima
River.
We brought back the old school Powerhour today. We were tired of
not fishing over the past couple days so we jumped in the boat for an
hour and a half and went at it for some therapy. We only fished 2
flies, we hooked 3 nice Rainbows that we field judged at 12-15" upon
jumping off the end of our line in mid-air. One was a legit LDR,
if there is such a thing. The fishing wasn't bad considering we
only had one rod going and didn't stop much to "work spots". The
water has pretty good clarity of about 2' in the Farmlands so the
biggest adjustment is the boat positioning. Finding soft water to
cast at is the key and fishing the weaker seems and getting out of the
big flow is the ticket. This typically means fishing insides and
the edges of eddies. The ol' "drift the boat downstream casting at
the bank on the run" probably won't cut it. You need the rower
really slowing the boat down to nearly a stop to pull the fish off the
edges. If there isn't a bead of sweat on his brow then hire a
guide! Bigger flow and cold water is tough. There wasn't much of a
hatch to speak of but what can you expect? We woke up to a skiff
of snow on the ground. Oh well, it beats work. Unless of
course your work is fishing but what would we know about that anyway.
Moral of the story, just go fishing and let the result take care of
itself. You never know, it could be great! We had a couple
of trips last week we almost cancelled that were total Cinderella
stories. Maybe you can be part of that too!
The LC will take a few more days to clean up because there are a lot
of small "no-name" creeks that spill into the river in the lower FL
(Farmlands) that are dirtying it up. Probably on Friday the LC
will be fishing, in fact, we will predict that it will be fishable but
not pretty. But then again, if you read our newsletter you will
remember that the trout's appetite doesn't necessarily reflect the
angler's convenience! Unfortunately. Look for weak water and
work hard on your boat positioning and consider wade fishing more than
you normally would. Good luck.
4/13/2009
Anglers: --
Location: Yakima River Status Report
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: Getting there...
We have had an EKG on the Yakima River's pulse and blood pressure over
the last few days and things are looking pretty good. The LC is
dirty but fishable with about 18" of vis and the Farmlands is about the
same. The river above the Taneum, Swauk, Manastash, etc. and BELOW
the Teanaway is about 2' of vis and fishable. The Upper Yakima is
4-5' and fishing tough with about the same report as before.
You never know though, book a trip for a big fish and some good memories
mixed with some great fishing lessons. It could be great!
Also, it seems like the biggest fish are caught during adverse
conditions - call us crazy but sometimes it takes a little help from
Mother Nature to fool the big ones.
If you plan to fish below the Teanaway bring plenty of
San Juan Worms!
4/10/2009 - late pm
Anglers: --
Location: Yakima River - above the Teanaway
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: Tough fishing, but it can be VERY rewarding.
The last couple of days have been pretty tough fishing overall as the
trout have gotten a lot of pressure with the lower river being out of
shape. However, the more advanced anglers have scratched out some
pretty good days and boated some absolutely exceptional trout.
Some of the biggest of the year in fact. Be prepared to risk
throwing up the skunk flag though, these fish are big, smart, and they
have seen quite a few flies as of late. Skunked?... don't feel
bad. Even the best anglers can't always turn in fish. Not a
big deal, its part of this game we call fishing. Especially on the
Upper Yak, it is Double Black Diamond Blue Ribbon Water - beginners can
make it down the hill in one piece but its not always pretty!
The Teanaway went bonkers
two days ago and we are now paying the price for our 70 degree weather, it
is like some sort of eye-for-an-eye with Mother Nature. The river
is out from there down currently, but by Saturday (tomorrow) mid-day it
is likely going to be fishable. The main drainage for the Upper Yakima
comes off of the south side of I-90 (the north side is caught by Kachess
and Lake Cle Elum) and the low lying snow is on predominantly north
facing heavily timbered slopes which traditionally holds it snow pack
much longer than open ground, fresh clear-cuts, and southern exposures. This is part of the reason that Cabin Creek,
Big Creek, and some others hold out the longest before breaking loose.
Versus Swauk Creek, the Teanaway, and Taneum Creek which are lower
elevation and have open ground that allows for snow melt to come off at
a faster rate. It finally caught up with us though and the high country
on the south side of Easton finally let loose because the river came up
quite a bit but fortunately it hasn't blown out. We were appalled
that it handled the volume increase that it did without turning brown.
It seems like due to the January flood, much of the loose sediment has been scoured out of the small
creeks and we will have a cleaner run-off. We will try to get
some more Powerhour TV for you to watch online so that you don't get
bored having to stay home with the Canyon being blown out. Or you could
just shop online and get some
retail therapy and cope with your "river blown blues".
4/9/2009
Anglers: --
Location: Upper Yakima River
Flies: --
Time: 11:00 am
Results: River Update!
Despite a huge increase on the graph, the Upper river is fishable at present time. Visibility above the Teanaway is 3'+, and we're going for it! We'll post a report tomorrow!
4/7/2009
Anglers: --
Location: Yakima River - all stretches
Flies:
Yarn Wing Skwalas, Bitteroot Skwalas, Peacock Parachute PMX, Anato
Mayfly Nymphs, SAN JUAN WORMS, Double Beaded 20 incher stone, K Stone,
Pat's Stones, Red Headed Prince Nymph (can't remember the real name),
Little Green Machine (Mayfly Nymph), CDC PT #14 (March Brown Emerger.
Time: 7 am
Results: The warm weather is catching up with us!
The
last couple days have been paradise, but the snow melt is catching up
fast and by the end of the day today the only section fishing good, or
fishable, will be above the Teanaway. Fishing has been all over
the board with some anglers giving us reports of epic proportion while
others have been on sections high and low with mediocre results.
Overall, the fishing is just average without any major hatches to spring
loose a feeding frenzy. The March Browns and the BWO's have been
light so the trout are continuing to prospect the aquatics which makes
them hard to single-out. Give us a call to check clarity if you
are coming out this week to the Canyon. Likely what will happen is
it will be out tomorrow and then start coming back in by Friday.
4/5/2009
Anglers: --
Location: Yakima River - all stretches
Flies:
Skwalas,
March Browns, and BWO's - maybe even a few Golden Stones!
Time: --
Results: Forecast looks awesome!
The
next few days on the Yakima will be the first consistently warm stable
weather pattern we have had all spring. Fishing is almost
impossible to predict, BUT it stands to reason the fishing will be very
good over the next 3-4 days before the river takes on too much of a
rise. The hatches should fire off, and the trout's metabolism
should boost with the rise in temp. PLUS, it is just nice to fish
in 70 degree weather! If you can make it out in the next
few days we say go for it! March showed us some tough
fishing with lots of nasty weather and wind, this is what we have all
been waiting for. Make sure to pack some San Juan worms of various
colors because this river will go out of shape within a week.
Thanks and fish on!
4/3/2009
Anglers: --
Location: Yakima Canyon Marathon
Flies:
--
Time: 8 am Start
Results: Lots of runners in the road.
The
Yakima River Canyon Marathon is tomorrow so we advise that you give
yourself a few extra minutes to stop by Flying J (truck stop at Exit
109) to pick up a recreation pass. Also, you may phone your
shuttles in tomorrow due to the runner traffic IF you download our
shuttle form and sign it and leave it inside your vehicle.
Download Red's Shuttle Form: Acrobat PDF or Word DOC
(you may bring this into the
shop with you to save time)
That way you can put in at Ringer and avoid some of the runner traffic.
MM20 should be clear by about 10 am.
Thanks for reading
and we will see you tomorrow!
4/2/2009
Anglers: Greg and Joe
Location: Irene to Ringer - (a few pushes around log jams still
required.)
Slow fishing yesterday. The snow, wind, and rise in flows put the
fishing off again but it seemed to rebound today with T-shirt weather
and sunny skies. Hopefully the trout feel the same way. We
landed a few Ytfish but only 4 trout and we'll confess that 1 was an LDR
but since it was within about 18" of the boat we will count it. All
were very nice fish and we hooked one big one that took us to the
Woodshed (guide talk for having a fish run out some line and hook you up
in the brush). The Streamer fishing was nill, the trout did not
want to move. Almost all of our fish were hooked after 3 pm and the
rally started right as we were nearing the takeout. On the colder
days, plan on fishing till dark. That has been the trend lately.
Also, we want to congratulate one of our guides Mike Canady and
his new wife Jamie! They were married in Ellensburg this last
weekend and we are certain they will lead a very happy life together.
4/1/2009
Anglers: Brandy, Eric, and Johnny
Location: Irene to Ringer - (a few pushes around log jams still
required.)
Results: 10+ Trout landed - (& a bonified 18" TANK for Brandy!)
We had some of our regular guests out yesterday and they had their best
day ever on the Yakima River! What a turnaround, the fishing had
been very tough but it looks like we are back in action with good nymph
fishing. They said they were in a good fish-catchin-groove
yesterday and didn't want to disrupt the mo-jo by fishing dries so they
fished nymphs all day and put some very nice fish in the net.
There was a sporadic March Brown hatch so things are looking good for
this week if you are trying to hit a March Brown hatch. Still a
little on the cold side for a "hatch - prediction" but look for the next
warm cloudy day and chances are there will be good dry fly fishing at
hatch time from 1-3 pm.
3/31/2009
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: Get your new fishing license!
Time to get your new license for the 2009-2010 season. Here is a
link to make it easy. http://www.greatlodge.com/
The water conditions are great on the Yakima Right now with good
clarity and Skwalas out daily. It has been a little windy though,
we will admit it. The upside is that fishing pressure has been
light so the next week or so should be good fishing without the wind and
unpressured trout. That is the idea anyway, we'll let you know if
it works!
Also, this is the last day to take advantage of our
Early Booking Bonus and get $50 OFF a product just for booking a
guide trip that you would normally sign up for anyway! What a
deal, take a look and if you have any questions regarding how it works
just give us a buzz at the shop. Last day.... just fair warning.
3/28/2009
Anglers: Bill, Doug, and Joe
Location: Ringer to Lmuma
Flies: Midge Pupae #18/20, Mayfly Soft Hackle #16, Peacock MX #10,
Buoyant Skwala #10, Calf Wing Bitteroot #12, Pat Stones #10 (ALL colors
tried), Electric San Juan Worms, Anato May #16/14
Time: 9:30 am - 6 pm
Results: 5-6 Trout landed 10-16", about 10-12 takes on dries.
The fishing was pretty slow yesterday despite sharp anglers and a hard
rowing guide. We fished it well but the trout were fairly
non-responsive to the dry fly fishing (which is our goal this time of
year.... not the non-responsiveness just the dry fly part!). We
fished dries for about 4-5 hours hoping to hit a good rally but the
trout were tight to the bottom and even the nymphing was not all that
profitable. Maybe it heated up in the afternoon while we were
fishing dry flies but I guess we'll never know. At least until the
other guides decide to brag about how good it was! Just kidding,
we are all pretty good about that around here. Conditions are good
despite the bite being a little sluggish but there is a good chance that
by the time this is posted the 30 mph wind will have subsided and the
trout will be crushing Skwalas again! Let's hope for some stable
skies, yesterday was a freakin' Regatta out there.
3/27/2009
Anglers: Arne, Ken, and Joe
Location: Cle Elum to Thorp
Flies: Bitteroot Skwala (brown wing) #10, Parachute Flat Wing Skwala
#10, Anatomically Correct Mayfly Nymph #16, Olive K Stone #8/10, 20
Incher Double Beaded #10, 20 Incher Black Conehead, Pat Stones
#8/10, 20 Incher #16 w/ Black Beadhead, San Juan Electric Worm #10 Red,
Brown, Pink, Sculpzilla #4 Olive, Sculpzilla #4 Tan, Sheila's Sculpin
#6, Mayfly Soft Hackle #16, SKWALAMEISTER #10
Time: 9 - 7 pm
Results: 4 Trout landed 14-18", about 12 hookups, 5 takes on dries.
The upper river was pretty stingy yesterday and we had to work very
hard. The water conditions were great other than the fact it was
cold. We'll be fishing the Lower Canyon today and the color looks
pretty good thanks to the cold weather. There were Skwalas
yesterday and we caught a few nice ones on dry flies, and even snapped
off a Skwala and left it with the fish. The "hydro-forecast" looks
good for the whole river this weekend and we actually caught more fish
below the Teanaway where the color came in and negatively impacted
clarity. Can't explain why, maybe the Tway was warmer? Or
the boat was masked better? I guess it doesn't matter it just is
the way it is. Glad to be in the Lower Canyon today.....
3/23/2009
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies: --
Time: 5 pm
Results: It's holding in there.
The river held in there today and actually looked better than it did
last night at dusk. Flows are leveling out and we are glad to have
a little boost to move the fish around and get them out of the deep
holes and up into the "fly water" along the edges and isolated small
slots where we can get at them. The Skwala hatch should keep
rolling along and we expect to be fishing dries every afternoon this
week. In fact, on Saturday our tally was that most fish were being
caught on dry flies. Not sure if that is because all the reporting
guides fished, but who cares as long as there are some trout coming to
the surface. Also, a big high five for all the anglers that stayed
out late on Friday and challenged that big wind. Way to man-up and
take it head on! Hopefully we'll see a few people this week, be
psychologically prepared for green water and keep in mind that it is
spring-time and the river is supposed to look like that. It makes
the fish easier to approach and there is a smorgasbord going on under
the surface.
3/22/2009
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies: --
Time: 7 am
Results: Good fishing yesterday, but the river is on a steep rise.
The flows are on a steep rise which overall should be a good thing for
our fishing as long as it doesn't get too far. Fishing should be
fine today and likely tomorrow but stay tuned and it might be a good
idea to give us a call before coming out for an up to the minute water
clarity check this week. The rising river should spread the fish
around instead of isolating them to the big deep holes and with the
warmer weather that created the freshet comes more insect and trout
activity so don't be scared by the rise, just make sure to have some San
Juan Worms. :)
3/17/2009
Anglers: Kevin, Tony, and Steve
Location: Red's to Slab
Flies: Stonefly Nymphs (sz. 8-12), Anatomically Correct Mayfly sz. 16, RCJ sz. 16, Power worms (red/ brn/ pink), sz. 8 - 12 Skwala dries (inlcuding the Bugmeister, Buoyant Skwala, and Water Street)
Time: 11 - 5:30 pm
Results: 6 trout landed(12"-18") and a few Whitefish".
Happy St. Patrick's Day! We enjoyed a beautiful day on the water. While the nymphing was quite a bit slower than what we'd experienced over the past week or so, we did land 4 nice trout on Skwala dry fly patterns. We had the entire river to ourselves today. After bringing in a nice cutthroat, Tony made the comment, "it feels great to drive through a snow storm and catch fish on dry flies!" The weather forecast looks great through the weekend. With highs over 50 degrees, we may see some GREAT dry fly fishing! We have a Red's Fly Fishing Lesson coming up on Saturday. The cost is 59.00 and includes a full day of focused instruction with lunch. Now it is go time.
Pick up the phone, drop us an email, or
Book Online for the Yakima River March Special or the Methow River
Steelhead Special.
3/15/2009
Anglers: Natasha, Matt, and Joe
Location: Ringer to Umtanum
Flies: Anatomically Correct Mayfly Nymph #16 (ROCKED again!!!), Olive K Stone
#8/10, 20 Incher Double Beaded #10, 20 Incher Black Conehead, Pat Stones
#8/10, 20 Incher #16 w/ Black Beadhead, San Juan Electric Worm #10 Red,
Brown, Pink, Mayfly Soft Hackle #16, SKWALAMEISTER #10, Bitterroot
Skwala (white calf hair wing, egg sack, and flashy belly) #10, CDC
Prince #16, CDC PT #16/14
Time: 11 - 6:30 pm
Results: About 10 trout landed, up to 17". 9 good dry fly takes,
solid nymphing all day.
Good day yesterday. The nymphing was great, make sure to see the
videos for some visual info. There is not much we can tell you in
text that you can see or hear on the videos but be we will say that the
next week to 2 weeks is going to have a handful of days mixed in that
will be GOOD dry fly fishing on Skwalas and BWO's. March is a
tricky month because the weather can be all over the place, i.e. snow on
the ground today! The upside is that it will be some of the best fishing
for mature trout all season and there is nothing better than seeing a
big trout inhale a
Skwala Stonefly after a long winter of having to watch fly fishing
on tv and settle for dreaming about it. Well, now it is go time.
Pick up the phone, drop us an email, or
Book Online for the Yakima River March Special or the Methow River
Steelhead Special.
3/14/2009
Anglers: Jon, Teran, and Joe
Location: Ringer to Umtanum
Flies: Anatomically Correct Mayfly Nymph #16 (ROCKED!!!), Olive K Stone
#8/10, 20 Incher Double Beaded #10, 20 Incher Black Conehead, Pat Stones
#8/10, 20 Incher #16 w/ Black Beadhead, San Juan Electric Worm #10 Red,
Brown, Pink, Sculpzilla #4 Olive, Sculpzilla #4 Tan, Sheila's Sculpin
#6, Mayfly Soft Hackle #16, SKWALAMEISTER #10
Time: 10 - 6 pm
Results: 10+ trout landed, up to 17-18" - plenty of ytfish too!
Great day yesterday, slow start but the fishing picked up in the
afternoon. We only caught fish on nymphs - threw Streamers for
over an hour and did not throw dries hardly at all (the nymphing was
GREAT!) However, today looks better for dries because it is 15 degrees
warmer today at 9 am than yesterday. Johnny Boitano did manage 6
trout on dry flies yesterday afternoon and we hope that today is even
better... we'll see. There were a few BWO's on the water and that
hatch should pick up some steam over the next 2 weeks. Look for the
warmest, cloudiest day to break it loose.
3/13/2009
Anglers: Slick, Hap, and Joe
Location: Ringer to Umtanum
Flies: --
Time: 10 - 6 pm
Results: Good fishing!
Short report (litterally racing to the river!) Good fishing
despite cold temps, streamers, nymphs, and dry flies. They all
worked and the bite was best from 12-4 pm. Videos to follow this
evening! No Skwalas yet bet there are a few fish taking dry flies,
nymphs are the mainstay but if you are courageous with a dry dropper you
may be rewarded. btw - Ringer is open!
3/10/2009
Anglers: --
Location: Red's
Flies: --
Time: 8 am
Results: River Update
Perfect conditions again and the river is fishing good with some decent
dry fly fishing reported yesterday afternoon by one of our regular
customers. This is the traditional week for the Skwala hatch to
start rockin' - no promises but as we look at years past this seems to
be the week! We also spent a lot of time this winter rebuilding
our inventory of great new flies. Many were tied by our guides and
duplicated commercially, some were hot tips from other industry pro's,
and some are simply the latest, greatest, and highest quality available.
Come see for yourself, these flies will be greeting the lip of Yakima
River Trout for the first time in 2009!
3/5/2009
Anglers: --
Location: Red's
Flies: --
Time: 3:30 pm
Results: River Update
The river is on a steep drop and was already looking good by the end of today. With cold evening temps we expect to see some good clarity and water levels by the weekend!
3/4/2009
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: --
The heavy rain put the river out for a day or two, we'll keep you
updated. Didn't see this coming!
3/1/2009
Anglers: John, Lorne, and Joe
Location: Lower Farmlands to Umtanum
Flies: Prince #14, Black/Brown Pat's 8/10, Pink Lightning Bugs, Brown
Wing Bitteroot Skwala, Orange/Brown Pat's 8/10, Lime Green Caddis Larvae
#16, Flash Back Phesant Tail #16/14, San Juan Worms - various
pinks/browns/reds, Skwala Meister
Time: 9:30 am - 5:30 pm
Results: 3 Trout landed 13-17", About 7-8 Ytfish.
The dry fly fishing is showing signs of sparking up and although the
fishing was a little tough for us the past couple of days we are
optimistic that the Skwala hatch will ignite some dry fly opportunity
over the next 2 weeks or so. It is a good idea to time your trips
a little on the early side with Swkala hatches because often by the time
we are able to post a report that it is good.... the best can
often be over! The first few days are usually the best.
Johnny, Tim, and Steve reported good fishing yesterday from Irene
Rhinehart Park to MM20. The landed about 10 trout and didn't
register their Ytfish count, which was probably even more than that.
Sounds like fun!
We saw a fish feed last night, our first cast it picked it up on a
Skwala so don't be afraid to throw a big dry fly - even at the fish
feeding in flat water (normally too spooky for a big bug). We
honestly did not think that the fish would take as it was in a pretty
spooky water, almost Frog water to be honest, but it pounded the fly as
though it knew exactly what it was. Overall, the fish are still
being hooked in the deep slots - Green water only should be on the radar
screen. We fished dry droppers and short line nymph rigs for too long
yesterday hoping to find some big bows in the shallows but in retrospect
should have stayed on the deep water game all day. Good luck and
we'll see you at the fly shop!
2/25/2009
Anglers: --
Location: Yakima River - Methow River
Flies: Some Dry fly fishing starting to happen, slow but gaining
momentum on the Yakima!
Time: --
Results: --
We had a big influx of rain over the past 2 days but it didn't disrupt
the fishing too much and the river has held a nice color so don't worry
about the river being up or out. In fact, the rain may have helped
warm the water up with temps hitting 42 in the LC yesterday at Umtanum.
Ditto from the last report, big deep troughs seem to be holding the
majority of the trout right now so stationary nymphing in the deep runs
is a good "body count" strategy. A variety of small nymphs are
working well, but pay special attention to the Lime Green Caddis Larvae
in a #16. Maybe a lot of these Caddis lost their shucks during the
big water because it has been an especially productive fly. Note,
you only have a few more days to take advantage of our February Guide
Trip Special!
The Methow River has been warming up and we encourage you to take
advantage of our
Methow Special going on right now. Our clients have been
having multiple steelhead every single guide day. No guarantee!,
but that is our recent track record. We also strongly encourage
anglers on the Methow to retain their daily limit of 2 hatchery fish
and that it is not ecologically beneficial to release any
hatchery fish. The season on the Methow is a true privilege and in
order for WDFW to maintain openings on the Methow River, anglers must
participate in the "catch-and-keep" program.
The sole mission of this fishery is reduce the spawning ratio of
hatchery fish to wild fish. It is very important that we parallel
the goals of WDFW, NOAA, and others. They work VERY hard so that
fisherman may have a season on the Methow and release of hatchery fish
undermines their hard work and biological management goals. The
best part? You can feel GOOD about enjoying some smoked steelhead!
2/19/2009
Anglers: Pat, Joe, and Brandon
Location: MM20 to Red's
Flies: Lime Green Caddis Larvae #16, Gary's PT #16, Bitteroot Skwala
(flashy body), Winged Thing Olive #10, Fly FKA Prince #14, Pat's Stone
Olive #10, Olive K Stone #8/10, Black K Stone (thin body) #10,
Beautiful day, wow. Overall the fishing was good with lots of fish
hooked up and even though most were Ytfish it keeps things interesting
between the Rainbows and helps keep your gaze away from the hillsides
and on your strike indicator. Working deeper slots and running
indicators up to 6' deep above our flies helped produce a lot of hookups
today. The shallow water was not as productive and it seems as
though the fish are still feeling their way out of the deep holes into
the "new" shallow structure that the river offers following the big
flood. Pat was on one of his first fly fishing trips ever today
and did a great job, the "gung ho" spirit goes a long ways in producing
success in fly fishing, and in other facets of life too of course.
We broke off one very nice rainbow and lost another big one on a dry
dropper (ate the dropper), so our "fish to the boat" ratio could have
been better but it certainly doesn't detract from the experience.
We did hook a few fish on a dropper hanging below a big dry fly but the
nymphing was silly in comparison, so in the evening we switched back to
an indicator and a stone. Think about "stationary" nymphing this
week and putting the focus on isolated spots offering a shelf adjacent
to the Abyss. ALSO - Here is a link to the February
Newsletter in case you did receive it by email!
http://www.redsflyshop.com/2009febnews.jpg
2/18/2009
Anglers: Gary and Johnny
Location: Irene to MM20
Flies: Pat's Stone Brown #8, Olive K Stone #8/10, Black K Stone (thin body) #10, Black Sculpzilla #4, Olive Sculpzilla #10, Worms (yes, fake ones!), Skwalameister #10, Water Street Skwala #10
Time: 10 am - 5:30 pm
Results: 10+ fish landed, 3 rainbows on dry flies!
Well, the nice weather is back and the fishing is warming up with a few fish starting to each dry flies! It will only get better and the Skwala hatch has hardly begun so get your dates picked out soon. The end of February will fill up fast so jump on the Guide Trip Special or get your own trips planned. Clean or replace your fly line, dust off the waders, tie some flies, and go fishing! Nymph or swing streamers in the morning and mid day, but about 1 pm think about searching with a good Skwala
Dry Fly pattern. The river is in PRIME shape with clear water, stable flows, and healthy trout. Enojoy...
2/12/2009
Anglers: Johnny, Joe, and Derek (for the last 45 minutes)
Location: Irene to MM20
Flies: Black K Stone #8, Fly Formerly Known as Prince #14, San Juan Worms - Pink Beadhead w/ Red, plain Red, Pat's Stone Brown #8, Black Sculpzilla #4, Olive Sculpzilla #10
Time: 10 am - 4:45 pm
Results: 5-6 Whitefish, 7-8 Rainbows 12-29"!
A little colder today than expected, but this looks like the worst of it from here on out! A skiff of snow over the past couple of days reminded us that
it isn't early April like it felt like last week, still winter time. Oh well, we could stand for a little more February fishing if it is anything we like we had today. Not to say that it was easy, the water is cold and the fish need perfect drifts but you have the
opportunity to land some beautiful trout at a time when a little chill keeps the crowds at bay. Johnny landed his biggest trout in a couple of seasons, a DEEP 21" Rainbow that saw the measuring tape and didn't flinch. We don't see very many like that. A few other nice bows came to the net and Joe landed a RARE
Steelhead at 28-29", a fish of a lifetime for sure. See the Video,
these fish are towards the end and there is some good footage. The streamer fishing was dead today and although we gave it a good effort we did not hook a single fish on a streamer. The fishing should continue to get better and better as the spring progresses and we encourage you to take advantage of our great
February
Special going on right now. Maybe you typically do shuttles with us or even rent boats. This is a great time to take advantage of a guide and enjoy some good company and local knowledge. The last few days of February can have
good Skwala fishing so book now to take advantage.
2/4/2009
Anglers: Mark, Nick, and Steve
Location: MM 19 to Red's
Flies: sz. 6-10 stone Nymphs, sz. 14, 16 RCJ, sz. 16, 18 Lightening Bug, sz. 4 Sculpzilla (Olive), sz. 6 J& J Special, sz. 6 Root Beer Bugger
Time: 11:30 am - 4:00 pm
Results: 4-5 solid trout landed (14"-19") and a couple of Whitefish!
We alternated between nymphs and streamers on the go. The nymph fishing was the most productive, but Mark did get a nice Bow on a streamer just upriver of the Red's takeout fishing a sink tip. We caught fish on each of the nymph patterns we tried. We also spent a lot of time turning over rocks at the end. We saw a lot of Crawdads under the rocks, but the Skwala nymph migration has not yet begun. It's amazing how different the river is after the high water this winter. We'll enjoy reaquainting ourselves with it! I must say, it was hard getting back on the river after a week of Bonefishing in the Bahamas. The 35 degree weather felt awfully cold....BRRRRR!
2/2/2009
Anglers: --
Location: The Lower Canyon
Flies: Suggestions: Brown K-Stone, 20"er Peacock Stone with Black Cone, Brassie #20 (beadhead),
SJ Worms (pink/red), Black Sculpzilla #4, Cream/Olive Sculpzilla #8/10,
Copper John #16, Pat Stone's 10,8 -Brown/Black & Olive, PT #20, WD-40
Black #20
Time: --
Results: Good Fishing!
An indirect fishing report told us exactly what we were expecting today.
With air temperatures warmed up to a consistent mid 40 degree mark
across the board, the bite has picked back up and the nymphing is
predictably good in the afternoons. With temps in the mid
to upper 20's at night and most of the low lying snow gone, the river is
in a very stable condition with water temperatures becoming predictable
for the trout offering the right conditions to feed. The water
temperatures are ranging 35-37, but the key is that they are consistent
and the trout are accustomed to it and can time their feeding for the
most ideal window. Also, the length of day is growing fast and the
trout can sense that Spring is coming on fast. One might also
speculate that the trout know the spawn is coming up and they need to
feed heavily to prepare themselves for it. Whatever it is, there
are some nice trout on the take right now despite it still being chilly.
We also would like to announce that Joe and Kelly Rotter had their third
baby over the weekend, a beautiful baby boy at 7 lbs. 4 oz. named Jacob.
Congratulations to them!
1/30/2009
Anglers:
Johnny and Joe
Location: Red's to Lmuma Creek
Flies: Brown K-Stone, 20"er Peacock Stone with Black Cone, Brassie #20 (beadhead),
SJ Worms (pink/red), Black Sculpzilla #4, Cream/Olive Sculpzilla #8/10,
Copper John #16
Time: 11:30 am - 3:30 pm
Results: 2 Nice trout landed, 4-5 LDR'd, and 2 W Fish.
It was a great day to be on the water, temperatures were in the 40's
most of the day and it was very comfortable in the Canyon. Not as
comfortable as Andros Island in the Bahamas' where Ted just got back
from and Steve is currently fishing, anybody else jealous? I'll
bet, oh well there is always next year hosted by Joe Rotter - same week
in 2010. Just don't get a sunburn watching Ted's Slide Show....
Back to the Yak a.k.a. "reality" - overall the fishing
today was a little slow, but that's ok - if it was easy there would be too
many people out for the winter time. It is pretty cool having the
Lower Canyon almost all to yourself. Quality of the fish was
great, we landed one about 17" and broke another one off during the
fight on 2X Fluoroflex Plus. Slow nymphing, decent streamer
fishing is the overall gist. Everyday is different however, amazing what
24 hours will do as yesterday the trout were happy to eat nymphs and
refused to chase a streamer, today - different story. There were
absolutely NO Midge on the water which is surprising for a warmer cloudy
day this time of year. As a general rule, the water in the Yakima
is still "sorting itself out" so make sure to choose ledges that offer
good, clean, and manageable drifts. Some of the boils and eddies
are still kind of upset as the water attempts to find it's natural
course. If the water were warmer this wouldn't be an issue, but
with water temps under 40 degrees the flow has got to be smoooooth.
1/26/2009
Anglers: None
Location: Canyon
Flies: --
Time: 4:30 pm
Results: Ice flow this morning.
If there has been one thing consistent this winter it has been that the
weatherman has been wrong. That isn't very profound nor unique,
but consistently the low temperatures have been colder than predicted.
Last night called for a low of 15 degrees, this morning at 8 am it was
7. Of course to most folks that doesn't mean much but to a
fisherman trying squeeze in a day of fishing that is 8 whole degrees!
It pushed the river a bit too far and we had pretty good ice flow in the
Lower Canyon this morning. If you find yourself heading out
fishing and the Canyon has ice just migrate upstream a ways and you can
usually get ice free conditions as the river is "preheated" coming out
of the reservoirs and doesn't usually ice up until it his the frigid
inversion of the lower valley (Ellensburg).
1/20/2009
Anglers: Troy and Joe
Location: KOA to Irene Rhinehart
Flies:
Brown Kaufman's Stone #6, Olive Pat Stone #10, Gary's PT #16, Black
Sculpzilla #4, Pink/red SJ Worm
Time: 12-2:30 pm
Results: 3 nice trout landed 13-17", couple others hooked and some cold
hands!
It was actually a very nice day to hit the water despite it being a little colder than we prefer.
Even for winter fishing it was chilly. A good jacket and some fingerless gloves go a long way to combat the cold.
Just layer up and bring 2 pairs of gloves so that if one gets wet you have a pinch hitter.
Unless you are like Troy and decide not to bring a jacket or gloves,
that kid is tough! The fishing wasn't too bad overall, the flows are still a bit high for January.
We were very pleased to see the trout in AWESOME condition after the high water that
plagued our valley just a short time ago. One of the trout was incredibly deep, proof that these trout were eating big during the high water. It is amazing,
nearly 30,000 cfs and the trout didn't just survive, they thrived! The
resilience of nature is incredible. The next month should be good fishing so try to make it out for a float trip as the weather begins to warm and the days lengthen. The trout know that it is almost time to bulk
for the pre-spawn. Also, come down and see our gang at the Puyallup Show this week. It is a great time and we will be doing presentations on the indoor Steelhead River in the main building. Wednesday at 6 pm is our first show,
see you there!
1/19/2009
Anglers: Allen
Location: Down to Red's
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: A couple of whitefish, and a couple of nice bows hooked and lost.
A few anglers braved the big water and the green color over the weekend
and hooked a few fish just as the river came back into fishable shape.
Conditions are still tough but they are improving and there are some
hungry trout out there. Some fish were spotted rising to Midge
Pupae and in the right situation this can be great fishing, but with the
water so high most of these fish were in back eddies where drag free
drifts with size 20 Griffith's Gnats are all but impossible. As
the river drops, you will find more of these fish feeding in the open
flats where you can "go old school on 'em" and get a good drift.
Sink tips and streamers are a great idea, stay with it and fish it for
an hour straight before you make judgment on whether it is going to
produce or not. It is a game of quality right now so don't give
up. Good luck and you should have the river to yourself this week!
1/17/2009
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies: --
Time: --
Results:
Almost there...
With cool nighttime temps keeping the runoff at bay
and relatively warm day time temperatures, the Yakima is coming back
into fishing shape and should be "fishable" today and definitely by
tomorrow. It will no doubt be higher that you might typically find it
during January but give it a shot and fish the edges. A lot of fun new
structure has been put in place by the recent high water event.
There are lost of new gravel bars and boulder piles to explore. So
much has moved around in the canyon! The first Rock Slide near
Mile Marker 20 has been reduced by 40% and the boulders that use to
compose it have been pushed downstream. The famous "dead tree"
near Mile Marker 17 is gone, it was a long time companion to many
fisherman on the river. It weathered through most of the flood but
finally gave way in the final hours. There is lots to
explore out here, get your trips for February planned now, the Skwala
hatch is waiting!
We really
don't have much to report other than we are some of the more fortunate
people right now as the flood event of 2009 that will no doubt be talked
about for generations has left Red's relatively unscathed. We all
know people that have lost homes, cars, possessions, family photos, and
more. Make sure to lend a hand if you can to someone you know, and
put your thoughts and prayers towards those who need it most right now.
This has been by far the highest water any of us have ever witnessed and
estimates of well over 30,000 cfs are what we have heard through the
grapevine. It is impossible to gauge a flow like this with an
automatic station as it does not take into account all of the water
flooding around and behind the unit as the river has developed new and
unexpected routes. Fortunately the river has crested, is dropping,
and soon the cleanup and damage assessment for many families will begin.
Here is a
Slide Show taken yesterday from Ringer to Red's.
1/3/2009
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: Still under ice flow conditions.
We realized today that many fisherman have never witnessed the Yakima
River under ice flow conditions so we decided to post some pictures of
what we are trying to describe. It is rare to witness it quite
like this unless you are just passing through or going for a wildlife
drive in the Canyon. A bit too cold for fishing
.
Temperatures this morning were below zero in Ellensburg, but it was a
beautiful sunlit day with rich sun angles pouring off of the canyon
walls. A few fisherman did brave the ice for a few minutes though and
tried to fish. 5 minutes later they were back in the shop warming
up their hands and toes. We also sold a drift boat at the shop
today, so you can welcome one more member to the Clackacraft family!
Congrats to the new owners. Also, don't miss the killer deals on
clearance
flies online. They won't last forever, so order a few dozen soon!
Also, something that might keep you entertained is a our new
Klickitat Video that we posted
recently.
12/26/2008
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: We wish you the best this holiday season and thank you for all
the support this past year!
What a commute to work this morning! The icy roads kept the
truck just slow enough to gaze around and admire just how amazing the
Yakima Canyon is during the winter time. Bighorn Rams, Mule Deer
Bucks, Bald Eagles, Otters, and Birds are out and about foraging for
food in order to fuel an increased winter metabolism. Try to plan
a day of wildlife watching in the canyon when the road is dry and the
weather is nice, you won't regret it. Bring some good binoculars
and your best camera because the animals will be fairly high on the
ridges.
The Yakima River is still under ice flow in the Lower Canyon and the
Farmlands. The Upper River around Cle Elum is running relatively
ice free (shelf ice only) and is fishable for the true die hard.
Fish known water with deep soft ledges that are moving about a walking
speed. We will update the report when the Farmlands and Lower
Canyon comes back into fishing shape. For the time being, tie some
flies and get your gear ready for the late February Skwala hatch.
12/20/2008
Anglers: Frosty the snowman?
Location: --
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: --
Needless to say with temperatures dipping below Zero into the negative realm of bitter coldness we are not doing any fishing right now, nor for a while it looks like. The Yakima is in a state of SEVERE ice up with lots of freezing coming from the bottom up and near solid ice flow coming downstream. It is a great time to stay indoors, enjoy the holiday spirits, and dream about the spring time. We'll post a report if the ice flow subsides and the bite turns on. Happy Holidays, Red's.
For a last minute Gift idea consider sending an angling pal of yours a
Gift Certificate via Email, it is super fast and a great gesture.
12/06/2008
Anglers: Carig, Mike, and Mike
Location: MM 19 to Red's
Flies: sz. 8-12 Stone nymphs, sz. 16-20 Lightening Bugs, sz. 16, 18 Copper John's, and sz. 18, 20 Brassies
Time: 10:30 am until 4:00 pm
Results: Lots of trout landed (one NICE 19"er), and some Whitefish!
With some incredibly mild December weather, the nymph fishing on the Yakima has been very good over the past week. The fish are concentrated along the ledges and have been on the feed! When you catch one keep working the same zone, because there are likely to be more to come. We have also fished some streamers on sink tips with pretty good results. We expect this technique to produce some big fish over the next month. Even though the subsurface game has been the "go to", don't leave your 3 weight at home as some Midge are starting to show in the canyon. One last minute gift idea - the
DVD THE DRIFT. We've got them in stock,
and will ship it out immediately!
12/05/2008
Anglers: --
Location: The Office
Flies:
Time: --
Results: --
Alright, so we haven't been fishing enough lately.... we know.
We're finally catching up with all that work that was piling up while we
were out having fun fishing all summer and fall!
Results: We are very proud to announce the grand opening of our new Online Fly Shop @
www.redsflyfishing.com This has been a big project and we hope that you take the opportunity to make a few orders from us online this holiday season.
We are proud to have customers like you we hope that you enjoy being
able to purchase online from the same guys that you see on the river! The Lower Canyon is a long way from everywhere this time of year, so sit back in the comfort of your own home and do some shopping
with Red's online! There are many great products available, or you can order a Gift Certificate to give away at Christmas time!
11/21/2008
Anglers: Mike and Giles
Location: Irene to Ringer
Flies: sz. 6-10 Stonefly Nymphs, sz. 14-18 Lightening Bug, sz. 18 Wd-40 (chocolate, black, olive), sz. 16, 18 Brassie, sz. 16 RCJ, sz. 6 Sheila's Sculpin, sz. 6 Sculpzilla
Time: 10:00 am -2:00 pm
Results: 8-10 trout and 2 Whitefish to the net
While the river being back in shape and fishing well is good news, the best news is that the log jam that has restricted this section since Spring was pushed aside by the high flows we experienced last week. There are a couple of new spots that require an experienced rower on the oars, but you don't have to portage the boat anywhere on this section at the current flow levels. The fishing today was good. Most of the fish came to the smaller nymphs, but the bigger trout ate streamers and stonefly nymphs. We did see some BWO's flying, but only a couple of sporadic feeders showing interest in them. For you die hard dry fly enthusiasts out there - try MP 17 (Frustration Flats) in the early morning or late evening!
11/18/2008
Anglers: --
Location: Red's
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: --
It looks like we are back on, that was a pretty quick 'freshet' of water. Like many rivers in the Northwest this past week the Yakima showed us her ugly side in a hurry with flows nearing 8000 cfs. The flow is leveling off
now at around 2000 cfs and has great color. I will bet these fish are going to be hungry. Chuckin' and duckin' from the boat with a JJ Bugger or a Sculpzilla being towed by a Type 3 Sink Tip could be silly right now. The big trout will have some ground to make up before winter.
After the blowout they are going to be fairly aggressive as they try to
reestablish good holding lies. Utilize the SJ worm under an indicator and life will be good. While the Yakima and the Klickitat were throwing tantrums the Methow (amazing watershed!) stayed in great shape and we ran up there for the weekend and hooked a few steelhead. Overall it was fairly slow but 1 steelhead
per angler is worth the trip. Everything is back on track now so go get 'em, fuel is cheap so there is nothing holding you back!
11/12/2008
Anglers: --
Location: Red's
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: --
Is there a better time to fish? This month has been awesome on all of the watersheds that we guide. The Methow is out of it's slump, the Klickitat is kicking out some "big" Steelhead. Many of which are unlandable and
act like a raging bull when you hook into them. They usually leave your set up in a tangled heap, reel backlashed, knuckles bleeding, heart broken, and no fly left on the end of your line.
If you can get through the first 30 seconds you might have a chance. The average size fish has been very impressive this year and we have been getting into some fairly bright Silver Salmon as well.
The Yakima, our local water, has been spoiling us with good fishing and abnormally warm, wet weather. It feels more like Western Washington here today with lots of drizzle and
a temperate feel to the air. Use streamers on a 15' Rio Density Compensated Sinking Tip line, you can use a Type 3 with a heavily weighted fly or a Type 6 if you want to run unweighted flies. Use a traditional wet fly swing with snap jigs mixed in throughout the swing and let every swing finish because they will often follow all the way to the hang down before taking. The water is rising due to all of this rain so if you have trips planned for the next couple of days think about postponing them because we are in for some water.
Give the shop a call and they will let you know what the river looks
like real time. Regarding the Methow and Klickitat, as soon as these rivers recover from the current swell up it will be GOOOOD fishing. There is still some time left to get trips planned, up until about the first week of December is typically pretty good fishing. Especially if you can get a Steelhead date shortly after the rivers rebound from the current influx of rain water. Good luck out there, Red's.
11/5/2008
Anglers: Chris, Doug, and Mike
Location: Red's to Slab
Flies: sz. 8, 10 Stonefly Nymphs, sz. 16-20 PT's, sz. 18, 20 WD 40 (Black, Olive, Chocolate), sz. 18 RCJ, sz. 16, 18 SW BWO, sz. 18 CDC BWO Emerger, sz. 18 Rusty Sparkle Dun.
Time: noon until 4:00 pm
Results: 13 trout landed (8"-17") and a few Whitefish.
More good weather and fishing on the Yakima. We did have a night of hard rain on Sunday, but the river remains in great shape and the storm has moved through. We have caught most of our fish on a shallow nymph rig along the color change, but the dry fly rise is consistent in certain pieces of water. If you can sneak out for a 3-4 hour period from about noon until 3:00, you will catch the best window of the day. The Klick flows bumped up a bit, but even by yesterday afternoon the clarity was back and flows were on the drop. We are still running trips on both the Klick and the Methow and have guides available next week. Give us a call for information or to schedule a trip!
11/8/2008
Anglers: Steve
Location: Red's
Flies: --
Time: 11:00 am until 4:00 pm
Results: River Update.
Despite a huge increase in volume yesterday and last night due to heavy rains and some low snow melt off, the river did not go completely out of shape and is already on the drop. If things continue at the pace we are seeing now, we could be seeing favorable conditions by tomorrow. The fishing has been productive throughout the day, and the weather has been much nicer than what we're accustomed to for this time of year! Don't be afraid to fish some streamers on sink tips - both from the boat on the go and wading inside corners. We have some new streamer lines in stock and we are now into the season when some of the larger trout in the river are caught using streamers! The Klickitat also saw a spike in flows and decrease in clarity yesterday. We expect it to come back into shape fairly quickly with the weather forecast, and think we may see some great fishing down there as the flows drop and conditions clear. The methow never did go out, and that's where we are fishing guests today. Flows picked up on the Methow last week, which helped the fishing and floating. How about those gas prices? My fillup this morning was 30.00 cheaper than a month ago - that's enough to buy a Windstopper Simms hat! The above photos pretty much sum things up - birds, trout, and Steelhead are all feasible options right now! Pick your game and give us a call!
11/5/2008
Anglers: Chris, Doug, and Mike
Location: Red's to Slab
Flies: sz. 8, 10 Stonefly Nymphs, sz. 16-20 PT's, sz. 18, 20 WD 40 (Black, Olive, Chocolate), sz. 18 RCJ, sz. 16, 18 SW BWO, sz. 18 CDC BWO Emerger, sz. 18 Rusty Sparkle Dun.
Time: noon until 4:00 pm
Results: 13 trout landed (8"-17") and a few Whitefish.
More good weather and fishing on the Yakima. We did have a night of hard rain on Sunday, but the river remains in great shape and the storm has moved through. We have caught most of our fish on a shallow nymph rig along the color change, but the dry fly rise is consistent in certain pieces of water. If you can sneak out for a 3-4 hour period from about noon until 3:00, you will catch the best window of the day. The Klick flows bumped up a bit, but even by yesterday afternoon the clarity was back and flows were on the drop. We are still running trips on both the Klick and the Methow and have guides available next week. Give us a call for information or to schedule a trip!
10/29/2008
Anglers: Curtis, Scott, and Mike
Location: Red's to Slab
Flies: sz. 8, 10 Stonefly Nymphs, sz. 16-20 PT's, sz. 18, 20 WD 40 (Black, Olive, Chocolate), sz. 18 RCJ, sz. 16, 18 SW BWO, sz. 18 CDC BWO Emerger, sz. 18 Rusty Sparkle Dun.
Time: 11:30 until 4:30 pm
Results: Good fishing - both trout and Whitefish were active!
This afternoon trip was the Cast portion of the Cast-N-Blast. After the morning hike, we jumped into the driftboat for an afternoon float and had good fishing the entire trip. The Fall season continues on the East side of the Cascades... While we've had cool night time temps in the 20's, the middle part of the day has been beautiful with sunny skies and highs near 60 degrees. The leaves are still on the trees and we're using sun block on a daily basis! The fishing has been consistent in the canyon. Our gameplan has been to run nymphs in the morning until we find some fish eating BWO's, Cahills, or Mahogany Duns. Some days have been better than others, and we're still waiting for some cloudy weather... The Klickitat and Methow have been our focus for Steelhead fishing and we're catching fish on both systems. Give us a call if catching a Steelhead on a fly perks your interest!
10/21/2008
Anglers: --
Location: Yak upper and lower, Methow, Klickitat.
Flies: For the Yak: Streamers!, and suggested patterns are Prince Harry #16, Black, Olive, and Chocolate WD-40 #16-#20, Pat's Stones #8/10, October Caddis Pupae #8, BH CDC Soft Hackle PT#16, BWO & Rusty Sparkle Dun #16, 18, CDC BWO Emerger #18, and in the evening throw big Orange October Caddis Patterns with a twitch and shake.
Time: --
Results: --
The Yakima is fishing good in the afternoons with nymphs, but the cloudy weather is on the way in and may enhance the BWO hatch a notch or two. It has been pretty good but we are going to see better rises before
this fall is done. Try streamer fishing in the morning to wake 'em up and finish with nymphs and dries once the bite begins. Think smaller if you are fishing good water with no grabs, downsize tippet and flies until you get some action. #16-20's are the answer if you are fishing pressured water, like the Rock Garden for example. A #20 with no bead is almost essential.
STEELHEAD REPORT:
We've had about 6 anglers land their very first steelhead on a fly with
our company this past week and it feels good. If you haven't
landed a steelhead before, don't be afraid to give it a shot. The Methow has been average fishing, with some days
yielding 6 confirmed hookups a day but there have been a few days that we haven't touched a fish reminding us that steelheading is just that.... steelheading. If a hookup or two with a big metalhead doesn't satisfy your
appetite then stick to trout. The Klickitat has been fishing AWESOME. Some of the best days that we have ever had Steelheading have been over the past week on the Klick, but it is the kind of river that can love you one day and leave you the next. No
guarantees that it can produce for extended periods what it showed us over the past few days. The Wenatchee is still hopeful and we have been hearing a few
rumors about an opening within the next 10 days or so. Keep your fingers and toes crossed and let's go Steelheading. We still have some room in our
Klickitat Camp (which is the BEST), and plenty of guides looking for some work on the
Methow.
10/14/2008
Anglers: Chuck, Sam, and Steve
Location: Red's to Mahre's.
Flies: Prince Harry #16, Black, Olive, and Chocolate WD-40 #16-#20, Pat's Stones #8/10, October Caddis Pupae #8, BH CDC Soft Hackle PT#16, BWO & Rusty Sparkle Dun #16, 18, CDC BWO Emerger #18
Time: 9:30 am - 6 pm
Results: 12+ trout landed (8"-16") and 5 or 6 Whitefish
Another slow start in the morning, but things picked up midday and we had our best fishing in the shade between 3:00 and 5:00 pm. Despite the bright sunshine we had - which we will never complain about - we did have a BWO hatch window at 1:00 and caught a number of trout on dry flies in several different zones. Between risers we ran a shallow nymph rig and had fairly steady action after about 11:00. We did manage to hook into a number of larger trout in the 16"+ range, which have been scarce on the surface of late. Don't discount running a big October Caddis dry in the morning, as we had 2 nice fish come up and eat our Orange strike indicators in the first 20 minutes of our drift!
10/14/2008
Anglers: Joe
Location: Methow River.
Flies: Stoneflies and egg patterns (nymphing) and Muddler type skaters on the swing
Time: 9:00 am until 5:00 pm
Results: Fish counts are still going up!
The Methow is open for Steelhead. Retain all hatchery fish, and keep all wild fish in the water while releasing them! Get a guide or go alone its up to you. Here is all the info:
Methow Regulations:
10/09/2008
Anglers: Pierce, Larry, and Johnny
Location: Irene to Bighorn (logjam requires effort from 2 able bodied guys to get over).
Flies: Prince Harry #16, Black, Olive, and Chocolate WD-40 #16-#20, Pat's Stones #8/10, October Caddis Pupae w/ Black Conehead, 10/12 20"er Stone (no cone, used with split shot), BH CDC Soft Hackle PT #16, RCJ #16, Mayfly Soft Hackle #18, BWO Sparkle Dun #16, 18, CDC BWO Emerger #18, October Caddis Adult #8
Time: 9:30 am - 6 pm
Results: Good numbers of 8"-14" fish with a couple over 16", including a NICE 17" Cutthroat
A slow morning right out of the gate, but things picked up around noon. We did see the first decent BWO activity of the Fall season with a few nice fish eating BWO's and Cahills in the early afternoon. The first nice cloudy day we see ahead of us should bring a good hatch to the canyon. Fishing the same shallow nymph rig we've been running all Fall was our "bread and butter" yesterday. With these Mayfly hatches starting up, don't be afraid to nymph some of that slow, smooth water in the tailouts of runs. Our favorite time of the year has finally arrived. We're fishing trout on the Yak, steelhead on the Methow and Klickitat, and running dogs on birds. Pick your game and give us a call!
10/07/2008
Anglers: Ted, Scott, and Troy
Location: Methow River.
Flies: Stoneflies and egg patterns (nymphing) and Muddler type skaters on the swing
Time: 9:00 am until 5:00 pm
Results: Fish counts are STRONG!
The Methow is open for Steelhead. Retain all hatchery fish, and keep all wild fish in the water while releasing them! Get a guide or go alone its up to you. Here is all the info:
Methow Regulations:
10/06/2008
Anglers: Chad, Emmet, and Steve
Location: Irene to Bighorn (logjam is
passable but requires a big push from a few guys).
Flies: Prince Harry #16, Beadhead Black WD-40 #20, Olive WD-40 - various sizes both beaded and nonbeaded, Pat's Stones #8/10, October Caddis Pupae w/ Black Conhead, 10/12 20"er Stone (no cone, used with split shot), BH CDC Soft Hackle PT #16, RCJ #16, Mayfly Soft Hackle #18, October Caddis Adult #8
Time: 9 am - 6 pm
Results: 12+ trout landed, 8-17"
Good fishing in the Farmlands and top end of the Lower Canyon yesterday. There wasn't much of a hatch to speak of but it didn't seem to matter because the trout are in their annual feeding frenzy before fall really begins to set in and condenses their activity to merely a few hours per day in the afternoon. Right now however, the fish are feeding well pretty much all day and even in the
absence of a hatch the catching is still productive. In a few weeks the fishing will be most productive from 11 am - 4 pm. If you find yourself out on a 'slow' morning though, make sure to fish some streamers on a swinging presentation with an Intermediate sinking line. Something in the 3-4 ips rate will work great with a lightly weighted streamer or bugger pattern. The fish will begin chasing streamers aggressively as the first few frosts of the year approach. Also note that the Methow River opened for Steelhead this past weekend and reports were great! See last night's report for a link to see all the regulations.
10/05/2008
Anglers: ?
Location: Methow River.
Flies: Bombers, Skunks, Freight Train, Goblin, Stone nymph even?
Time: --
Results: Hoooray!
The Methow is open for Steelhead, get a guide or go alone its up to you. Here is all the info:
Methow Regulations:
09/30/2008
Anglers: Gary, Jeremy, and Joe.
Location: Ringer to Umtanum.
Flies: Gary's PT 20/18/16, Olive/Silver Lightning Bug #20, Puyon PT (curved shank hook, bead in body, read head) AWESOME fly!, Pat's Stones #8 Brown, Black WD-40 (non bead) #20, Buoyant Skwala #10 (looks just like a male summer stonefly), Quigley BWO Cripple #18, Mogogany Dun Cripple #16
Time: 9 am - 5 pm
Results: 10+ trout to hand.
The day started off with nice cloud cover and we picked up 3 fish on dries in the first hour, but it slowed down pretty fast as the 85 degree heat drove out the clouds and turned a September day in Ellensburg into an Arizona like afternoon. The dry fly
fishing slowed down but the nymphing was AUTOMATIC from about 11 am - 1 pm. As the evening shadows emerged we decided to mix it up a bit and start picking on a few risers with BWO Cripples and MD Cripples. Every time we got it close they ate it, the Cripple is a trump card this time of year but play it wisely. A few bad drifts will put them down even if you have the perfect fly. We fished a Summer Stone pattern on the go and found a Skwala pattern that has an almost perfect likeness to the male Summer Stonefly.
The trout are becoming more selective and finding just the right
attractor is the key. There were also plenty of October Caddis
ovapositing so if you are out for an evening run make sure to twitch something big and
orange. Preferably an Orange Stimulator type fly, just make sure it has
stiff enough hackle to stand up and skate. A true October Caddis pattern
should skate VERY well and not take any nose dives when skittered across
the top. Also, in case you didn't notice the gluttony of steelhead
photos it is time to get your Klickitat Steelhead camp trip nailed down.
We still have a few weekend dates open so get signed up, it will be one
of the best trips you have ever been on. And if it isn't that just means
that you have been on some insanely great fishing trips. Outside of AK, BC, and the USSR it is a pretty awesome place to hook
and fight some cold metal. Red's.
09/26/2008
Anglers: The whole staff.
Location: The whole river.
Flies: WD-40 Olive BH 18, (try a non beaded WD-40 on the bright days), BCJ #16/18, Brassie #20, Prince Harry #16, Gary's PT 18/16, October Caddis Pupae #8, Parachute BWO #20, CDC BWO Emerger #20, Para Adams #12 (? don't know why but it works), Orange Sofa Pillow #8, Orange Phat Fly #8, Parachute Yellow Orange Stimulator #8/6, Sculpzilla #8
Time: 9 am - 5 pm
Results: Good trout fishing.
Well if this is your favorite time of year on the Yakima we don't blame you. The fishing and conditions are as close to perfect as you can get right now and the bite has been steady throughout the entire river system. Our guide staff has spanned out and been fishing a large variety of sections over the past few days with great results. The afternoon and evenings have yielded some good dry fly fishing on October Caddis patterns (big orange Stimulator type) and don't be afraid to twitch and skate the fly. October Caddis are shakers and movers out there. The BWO hatch has started to give us some hints, but
it is still just around the corner. It is good to keep this hatch in limbo with warmer weather so that we still have some
big hatches come mid-late October. Some years we will even have our best
BWO dry fly fishing in early November if the hatch is late. There are
still a lot of Summer Stoneflies and the devout dry fly angler can get
some nice fish in the afternoon - evening hours on a big dry fly. Plan
to nymph or dry dropper in the morning, eat lunch, wait for a Mayfly
hatch, catch a few risers, then throw October Caddis on the go for the
remainder of the day. Sound like a plan? Ready.... break!
09/22/2008
Anglers: Eric, Mark, and Joe.
Location: Ringer to Umtanum Day 1, Red's to Mahres Day 2
Flies: Red Humpy #12, Adams #10, Tan Parahopper #10 (with legs removed), Para Adams #10, Fly Formerly Known as Prince, WD-40 Olive BH 18, Prince Harry #16, Gary's PT 18, Black CJ #16
Time: 9 am - 5 pm
Results: About 10 trout landed each day.
Well the cool weather arrived on Saturday and so did the great dry fly fishing. It was nice to have some cloud cover and even a few sprinkles after a number of consecutive days that topped the 90 degree mark. The game has moved towards mid-river with so many sexy riffles becoming slightly exposed you will want to focus your efforts away from the banks and more towards the midriver ledges and rockpiles. You can still work some of the bank water if there is good flow tight to the salad, but if the water is stale think about pulling out and dry fly fishing over the 'nymph' water. Also, a thought on fishing dry flies in the wind... A guest fished dry flies all weekend, all day, with an 8'6" 2 weight RPL + (today's equivalent would be a Z Axis). This little rod fought the wind like few other rods do, it was amazing. The small cross section of the fly line being that it is a 2 weight sliced through the wind beautifully and the
small diameter combined with the extreme fast action of the rod allowed
the caster to power through the wind. The HUGE upside was that the line never "splatted" down spooking fish
like a 5 or 6 weight does. A 2 weight line lands so soft even when you hammer it that the fish weren't spooked by an aggressive lay down. Most 2-3 weight rods that we fish are shorter which makes them tough to fish on big water, and they are slower actions which renders them useless in a head wind. The 390 Z Axis might be a go to rod when fishing small dry flies in the wind. The ol' 2 weight RPL sliced through the wind and it was really amazing
no joke. Most of us usually put those rods away when the wind comes up, next time you have the chance give it a shot with a lighter
line and see if you find it to be an advantage like we did this past weekend.
The bug report is a mixture of light hatches, BWO's, Cahills, micro
Caddis, October Caddis (in the evening), Summer Stones (lots!), and a
few hoppers but they are getting pretty lean. By the end of this
week we should see our first GOOD BWO hatch with the drop in
temperature. Even though it was cool this weekend our water
temperatures are still a bit warm for springing loose the typical
torrent of fall hatches.
Also, the Klickitat was on fire yesterday. Anybody want to go
catch a steelhead?
09/18/2008
Anglers: Tom, Terry, and Joe.
Location: Farmlands
Flies: Yellow Black Humpy #12 (Bee), WD-40 Olive BH 18, Prince Harry #16, Kingfisher #8, Dave's Hopper #12, Gladiator Tan #10, Gary's PT 18, Prince #12/10, Black CJ #16
Time: 10 am - 4 pm
Results: About 10 trout landed and a few Whitefish
The Dry Fly fishing has
definitely slowed down over the past few days with the abnormally high air and water temperatures.
Nymphing in the fast riffles has been productive, but the average size fish in this water seems to be a bit on the small side. We caught one big boy yesterday with a few middleweights mixed in but most of the fish were in the 8-11" range. The lunkers are patiently waiting it out and will go on the attack when the water and weather come back into check. There is a forecast for cloudy weather over the weekend and that could spice things up a bit. The fishing has been good, but this time of year we are always looking for it to be "great!". Please take really good care of the fish out there. At this point in the year these fish have been exposed to several months of 60+ degree water and can get a little "squishy". As the temperature drops they will firm up again but this is probably their most vulnerable time of year. Good luck out there and fish the color changes.
Also, NOTE: The Methow River has been closed due to the
'incidental take' on wild steelhead being reached by trout anglers and
today is the last day of the trout season up there. Cross your
fingers for a steelhead opener in October!
09/15/2008
Anglers: Kathy, Vickie, Ben, Mark, and Joe.
Location: Cle Elum to Thorp
Flies: Orange Phat Fly (October Caddis) #8, Yellow Black Humpy #12 (Bee), Royal Wulf #12, WD-40 Olive BH 18, Prince Harry #16, Orange Stimulator (Sofa Pillow style) #8, Leopard Hopper #10
Time: 10 am - 7:30 pm
Results: About 6 trout landed per boat, the biggest was 16"
Yesterday seemed to be a bit slower on the Yakima.
We are not sure if it is related to the heat, weekend pressure, or maybe it is just our incredibly relaxed demeanor as a result of some gorgeous fall weather. It is a special time out here with cool nights, warm days, and plenty of options to dry fly fish, nymph, streamer, or
even wade fish. As the weather begins to cool this next week it will start to trigger our fall hatches. They are dependant upon the water temperature
decreasing to a particular number and it is different for each
hatch. This is the opposite of what triggers our spring hatches which is a subtle
increase in water temperatures. There are a surplus of BWO's, Mohogany Duns, October Caddis, Cahills, Midge, and various small Caddis that are all waiting for that magic number. In the evening last night, we saw very few October Caddis but there was a good emergence of small grey Caddis in the size 18 range and this
pattern yielded our best fishing. I forgot to mention it on the fly list above,
but make sure to have a few CDC Caddis Emergers in grey or tan #18. The fishing is still steady
just not quite the show we had a week ago. Although the rumor yesterday was that the nymph fishing in the LC was
awesome. We were in the Upper River so we tried not to believe it, but it came from Steve Joyce whom we all know to be a pretty reliable source. If anything he probably downplayed it. The river appears to have stabilized and look
out for a cool cloudy day to spring the BWO hatch loose in the Lower Canyon. Good luck and please don't be afraid to call for advice on wading or floating the river. Thank you, Red's.
09/06/2008
Anglers: Gary, Mike, and Joe.
Location: KOA to Ringer (now almost impassible)
Flies: Dave's Hopper #12, Yellow Para Hopper #8/10, Orange Phat Fly (October Caddis) #8, JR's Peach Stone #10, Yellow Black Humpy #12 (Bee)
Another great fall on the Yakima River. Any time of year can offer
productive fishing but without question "flip-flop" time out here is the most consistent. Day in and day out the dry fly fishing from now through
early October is fairly predictable and the fish appreciate the ample
supply of food, cool nights, and comfortable water temperatures. The
banks and surface of the river will be littered with Stoneflies, Hoppers, October Caddis, small Terrestrials,
small Caddis, Cahills, BWO's, varieties of Caddis, and a few other less abundant Mayflies.
Water volumes welcome the wade fisherman with shallow gravel bars and ample structure approachable on foot.
The Lower Canyon in the fall lends itself to safe wading. Drifting anglers should consider shorter floats and focused efforts
in the 'fishy zones'. Perhaps even utilizing smaller more natural patterns
if the big leggy C-ant/Dave's Hopper program is slow. By this point in the year, these trout have seen a lot of different fly patterns and
far too much 3X tippet. 4,5, and even 6X tippet will help your presentation and once Wilson Creek begins to drop (soon hopefully) the water clarity in the Lower Canyon will become quite clear and the trout's discrimination on tippet size will
definitely be a factor. Enjoy the great fishing, nice weather, and
comfortable wading. This is one of the few times that any section,
almost any fly, on almost any day can yield good results.
NOTE: The Farmlands blockage is almost (is) impassible and until
the water gets a bit lower it is not safe for even attempting to push a
boat over the log piles. Two of our most experienced guides both
had close calls going through yesterday. They rowed through by
themselves (without guests) with each one helping the other through by
standing on the log jam and pushing the boat through by hand before it
got sideways. Not exactly an easy nor safe passage. The
blockage is located between Irene and Ringer.
08/30/2008
Anglers: Bill, Doug, and Joe.
Location: Ringer to MM10
Flies: Dave's Hopper (yarn body) #8, Parachute Hopper w/ rubber legs and hair body, Yellow Parachute Hopper (Schroeder's Style) #10, Zug Bug #12, Fly Formerly Known as Prince #16
Time: 6:30 am - 4 pm
Results: 10+ trout landed, 8"-17"
Great fishing on the Yakima right now, everybody seems to be catching fish and using a variety of tactics. Our guide staff seems to be reporting that any strategy, i.e. big dry fly, small dry fly, dry dropper, or even full blown indicator nymphing is all productive as long as you present it well. Most of us will stick to straight dry flies, but if the dry action slows down don't assume that the fishing is off. We tied droppers on and did quite well fishing a "Hopper Dropper" rig yesterday. Flows are dropping and the best fishing (most consistent) of the year will happen over the next 2 months. Combine that with an opportunity to wade fish the Yakima and that is a good combo. River flows will be down to 2000 cfs soon and many would agree that is the benchmark that defines "wadability" in the Lower Yakima Canyon. Also, we are finally into the time of year the banker's hours are paying off and you can predictably have good fishing during civilized hours. The 8-5 program is working just fine. We hope to see you at the fly shop, and also pick up the new copy of Northwest Fly Fishing because there is a great article on the Wenatcheee River this month. Thanks, Red's.
08/27/2008
Anglers: Shan, Roc, and Joe.
Location: Klickitat River
Flies: Articulated Goblin, Stone Nymphs, Glo Bugs.
Time: 7 am - 2 pm
Results: 5 Confirmed hook ups, 2 on the Swing!
We took a scouting trip to the Klickitat yesterday and had great fishing, hooking fish on a Spey Rod is a special thing. Especially when they are DIME bright! The
Klickitat is in great shape and should hold its clarity unless we get some really hot weather, or get rain in the mountains. Our guide staff is ready and anxious to run some
one or two day trips down there, all of the information you need to plan a guided trip to the
Klickitat is available here,
including lodging. Just give the shop a buzz and make an appointment with your first Steelhead of 2008!
The Yakima continues to fish great, but it looks like we are in for some
wind today. Other than that conditions couldn't be more perfect
and are becoming more beginner friendly every day as the water drops.
08/24/2008
Anglers: Karen and Joe.
Location: KOA to Ringer
Flies: Yellow Paranobyl #10, Dave's #8, Plan B Brown #8, Gypsy King #8/6
Time: 7 am - 2 pm
Results: About 10 trout landed. Flip Flop has begun!
We have waited all year for this time, the Yak is on the drop and should unveil some of the best dry fly fishing of the year over the next couple of weeks. The trout living tight to the fast water against the brushy banks are finally breathing a sigh of relief and are getting comfortable drifting out away from the bank to grab the
occasional Hopper, Summer Stone, Ant, are anything that looks tasty and leggy! The workload of having to return to their holding lie after pursuing a dry has been practically cut in half by this initial drop of water. Although there is still plenty of depth against the bank for these trout to hold the
"water pressure" in their holding lies has been greatly diminished which makes the tasty morsels
formerly floating by just out of reach a bit more feasible for them. The 'strike zone' has grown tremendously. There will still be plenty of stubborn trout, especially the big ones, but we would strongly
recommend letting your fly fish the seams and peel away from the bank if the water tends to push it there. In addition to the
water drop our weather is going to begin favoring the mid day hours much
more with cooler nights and what tends to be slightly overcast weather.
The hay cutting season coupled with surrounding forest fires tend to
give us just enough haze to build a light cloud cover most days,
anything to take the edge off sure helps. By the way, the
Klickitat is fishing. Summer Steelhead anyone?
08/21/2008
Anglers: Tony, Gary, Steve, and Joe. Riding Lina, Cinammon, Splash, and Paint in that order.
Location: A High Mountain Lake
Flies: Royal Parachute, Parachute Ant, Black Bugger #10, and Damsel Nymph
Time: 10 am - 6 pm (including riding on horseback, we fished about 3 hours)
Results: 4 trout landed, about 10 hookups.
We took a spectacular trip this past Monday and rode horseback into a high mountain lake to do some fly fishing for Cutthroat with our friends at Pacific Crest Outfitters. The experience was second to none, with great horses and awesome wranglers to help make the riding and mountian experience smooth, safe, and fun. It was a great ride covering nearly 15 miles and taking us by many lakes and we fished one of them for 3 hours. The unexpeceted rain put a damper on the rise but we did manage a few fish and got some good sight casting action to risers with a small dry fly. The beauty and overall experience is hard to even explain, this is a trip that we will be offering various packages for. A great trip for the whole family or maybe just some old pals. There will be multi-day overnight trips, day trips, and perhaps even a ride in trip to fish a high mountain stream for Cutthroat!
On the Yakima River, fishing continues to be good. Yesterday we had pretty good dry fly fishing in the Lower Canyon with about 6 trout landed in the 10-16" range all on dry flies. Certainly the nymphs will likely yield better numbers but it is hard to put down the dry fly rod while there are so many hoppers and stoneflies lining the banks!
08/17/2008
Anglers: Steve, Jerry, and Joe
Location:
Irene to Red's (the logjam is tight but passable - experts only!)
Flies: Dave's Hopper #8, Plan B #8, Tan Paranobyl w/ white legs #8/6, Yellow Paranobyl #10, LB #16, Conehead 20" er, the NEW K Stone Black and Gold #8
Time: 8 am - 5 pm
Results: 10 + trout landed.
Fishing has been great this past week, the dries are good enough to be in the game all day long. Nymph if you like but I would say that it is optional... Flows are pretty steady and all sections are fishing great with each guide working multiple sections of river and spreading out. Be very careful out there with the high flows because more than one boat has been tipped over this year, the log jam below East Cle Elum is tight but passable, same with the jam below Irene Rhinehart). Good luck out there, not much for advice other than get out there and get wet!
08/12/2008
Anglers: Steve, Steve, and Joe
Location:
Red's to Slab
Flies: Gypsy King #8/10, Para Hopper Yellow #8, Yellow Paranobyl #8/10, Dave's Hopper #8, Pat's Stones, Conehead 20"er Stone, Double Beaded Peacock Stone #10, Pearl LB #14, FB CDC PT BH #14
Time: 8 am - 12 pm
Results: 6 + trout landed.
We took one of the local News stations out, KIMA TV out of Yakima on Sunday and filmed a nice special about the lodge, the river, and what its like to do one of the best jobs on earth all while helping out the local tourism economy of Ellensburg and Yakima. It was a fun day and we hooked enough fish, we're always amazed how a
News team can take hours of great video and condense it several minutes! I think we should get a half hour segment next time. Overall it was a fun time, but it seems like
every time the camera is on us the fish get a little camera shy themselves and we didn't put any "big" trout in the boat. Plenty of smaller fish, but the true 18"er eluded us. All in all the fishing is still pretty good and it seems like most boats coming through the store are turning enough fish
on dries to justify fishing them all day long, the guides are doing well and it really
helps to have a great rower when the river is high. Early mornings and late evenings have slowed a bit and thankfully the trout have been biting pretty well mid-day. There are plenty of hoppers so stick with the basics and make sure to get that fly as tight to the bank as possible.
Click here to see the Video!
Fishing is rockin' right now, "no guarantees about tomorrow", but I'll bet 5 out of next 7 days will be GREAT dry fly fishing. The Lower Canyon was absurd yesterday on dry flies, and since we had the same anglers 2 days in a row on a guided trip we hit the Upper Canyon today and it was
superb too. We landed a fish that taped 13.5" AROUND yesterday.
A milestone for the angler, fattest fish ever landed by a seasoned vet.
There were not as many big fish in the Upper River, but the quantity of Cutts was outstanding and it was all on dry flies. Also, we would like to add that a boat got tipped over in the big log jam just below the East Cle Elum access. It sounded like everybody got out ok, we picked up some of the loose items floating downstream but were told the boat was a complete loss by some other floaters that tried to tie up and
corral it. We sincerely hope everybody is all right and there were no injuries. We'll consider the East Cle Elum downstream
section all but closed to anyone but very advanced rowers, it's pretty
tight and fast.
08/03/2008
Anglers: Phillip, Matt, and Joe
Location:
Umtanum to Roza
Flies: Winged Thing Silver #8, Kingfisher - Any size!, Dave's Hopper #10, Orange Parachute Stimultor #8, Tan Chernobyl Ant #6, Parachute Summer Stone #8
Time: 7 am - 1 pm
Results: 10+ trout landed, up to 15".
Great Dry Fly Fishing! Finally the fishing has turned the corner in the Lower Canyon and the Hopper fishing is fairly consistent. Try to get out while there is some shade on the water, this might mean staying out late or even getting up early and hitting the water while a shadow is being cast by one of the big hillsides of the Lower Canyon. We hosted one of our RFS 2 Day Schools this weekend and had a couple of father/son combos join our group and it was a great weekend. We spent most of the day Saturday learning all of the basic fly casting skills like tight loops, shooting line, double haul, steeple casts, and more. We had an entomology lesson (on the river!), knot
tying class, fly selection class, and more. In the afternoon we wade fished many of the side channels of the Ellensburg Farmlands and learned dry fly fishing skills including reading water, upstream dry fly presentations, downstream approaches, mending (of course), and some advanced roll casting techniques for keeping your fly out of the brush. On Sunday we got the boys on the water by 7 am (sometimes a feat with teenagers!) and had a
wonderful morning of dry fly fishing in the Lower Canyon. Overall it was a good weekend and fun to take a step back from guiding and actually slow down to teach some of the skills that will help make anglers
independent without a guide. Great weekend and fun to see some kids taking off with the sport.
07/27/2008
Anglers: Jim, JJ, and Joe
Location: South Cle Elum to Thorp Bridge
Flies: Orange Parachute Stimulator, Plan B (Brown #8), Yellow Paranobyl #10, Pat's Stones, Hare's Ear Stone #8 (Double Beaded w/ black legs), Dave's Hopper #8, Lime Green PMX #10, Scupzilla 8,4
Time: 11 am - 8 pm
Results: 10+ trout landed, up to 14".
Overall the fishing is pretty good, naturally some days are better than others but if you like throwing dry flies against the bank this is the time to fish. Yesterday we couldn't seem to find the big fish but we sure had a good time turning good numbers of smaller fish on Hoppers and other various dry flies. We threw nymphs and streamers too in an attempt to locate some of the big fish that live in the Upper Yakima but it was to no avail. The big fish we did see ate a dry fly but unfortunately we were unable to connect, typical fish story... the big one got away! Imagine that. Nothing real new to report other than the Klickitat River is fishing decent for early summer steelhead and the Naches River is in good wade fishing shape finally. Good luck and maybe we'll see you at the shop.
07/24/2008
Anglers: Jim, John, and Joe
Location: Bighorn to Roza
Flies: Dave's Hopper #8/10/6, Tan Parachute Hopper #8/10, Lime Green PMX #10, Yellow Paranobyl #10, Plan B #8, Grey Triple Decker #8
Time: 5 am - 2 pm
Results: About 6 trout landed, with a nice Cutt at 14".
Joke of the week.... what is the difference between a Pizza and a Fly
Fishing Guide?...........................a Pizza can feed a family of
4!........One of our guests told us that the other day. Pretty
funny.
We went D.F.O. all day yesterday, that translates to Dry Fly Only in guide grammar. It was pretty decent fishing and to land 6 means we rose
+/- 30 trout to our fly which isn't a bad day of fishing. It certainly gets better than this at times, in fact it was one of the slower days we have had but that is still good fishing. Out of the all of the trout we rose, 80% were within 6 inches of the bank. Make sure to bring extra flies and punch them in tight to the salad. With flows at 4000 cfs there is not a lot of wiggle room for the trout to come out away from the bank for a fly. Good casting technique will set you apart from the crowd right now, it is all about slipping that fly in very tight to the bank and also doing it in a manner that promotes a 'drag free drift' even if it is only for a few feet. Learning how to reach cast on both sides of the river, while delivering the fly at high speed with controlled slack is the ultimate cast.
Ask your guide to show you a few tricks. Other ideas are fresh
tapered leaders, they seem to turn over better and float more naturally
along the bank. Leaders peaced together with Maxima work great for
very good casters but for intermediate anglers a clean 7.5' - 9' leader
tends to drift really well in comparison to hand tied leaders.
They are softer and flex better. Also, lighter tippets help the
fly hold its position along the bank. This is a double edged sword
but 4X helps it hang in the soft water along the bank for a second or 2
longer than 2X. You might lose a few more flies but it is worth
consideration. Good luck!
07/21/2008
Anglers: Arne, Pete, and Joe
Location: South Cle Elum to Thorp Bridge
Flies: Orange Parachute Stimulator, Plan B (Brown #8), Yellow Paranobyl #10, Pat's Stones, Hare's Ear Stone #8 (Double Beaded w/ black legs), Dave's Hopper #8, Lime Green PMX #10, Scupzilla 8,4
Time: 8 am - 4 pm
Results: 10+ trout landed, up to 14".
We had a pretty good day upriver on Saturday, lots of small fish up to the dry fly but the larger fish seemed to hibernating during the daytime. Overall, everything is fishing pretty good and conditions are perfect. We did have a very tough day in the LC on Friday, but other than that one day the Lower Canyon has been pretty good and kicking out some BIG fish as you can see by the picture of Jim up above! The Naches is in perfect shape for wading right now and fishing good. It is finally low enough to step out and get your legs wet in the 90 degree heat and catch some Cutthroat. Focus on Terrestrial patterns on the Naches, think Stoneflies on the Yakima. Good luck!
07/17/2008
Anglers: Buck, Ernie, and Joe
Location: Ringer to Roza
Flies: Almost everything, Black Plan B #6/8, Tan Paranobyl #8, Red Turk's #8, Yellow Turks #8/10, Dave's Hopper #8, Orange PMX #8, Caddis CDC Emerger #16/18, 20"er Stone Nymph #6, Pat's Stones #8/10, Sculpzilla Olive #6/10, JJ Bugger #6, Fly Formerly Known as Prince #16, CDC Prince #16, CDC PT #16
Time: 5 am - 5 pm
Results: 10 + Trout Landed!
Good fishing yesterday, it started out very slow in the early morning but we were pleasantly surprised to have good fishing most all day once the sun hit the water. It made us wonder what in the heck we were doing up at 4 am to get on the water! Banker's hours would have worked just fine yesterday. As you probably read, we threw everything at the trout yesterday and had success on each strategy. Early in the morning the dry fly fishing was slow and the few fish that we could bring up were quite small so we shifted gears and threw streamers on floating lines against the cut banks and underneath the trees and managed to hang a few nice ones doing that. After we got tired of streamer fishing and a few close calls involving the guide's ears and a new piercing, we switched up to indicators and nymphs and did pretty well nymphing. The flow is perfect right now for summertime fishing and you don't need to run too much weight until the flow gets up near 4000 cfs.
Most Stone Nymphs will have enough weight to pull down a dropper just fine. When the flow bumps up though start thinking about a #4 Dinzmore above your nymphs. Well after we got tired of nymphing and losing a few flies on the bottom we decided to give the dry fly fishing a shot again even though it was mid day. We tied them on and didn't go 200 yards before we found fish feeding on Caddis, it took quite a few casts and one fly change to find the right pattern and we stuck a nice 15"er that was feeding against a shady cut-bank. After that it was a Big Dry Fly in the front of the boat and a nymph rig out of the back and we had a pretty decent day. We also may have hooked the first Chinook reported of the season as well, we were nymphing the shallow side of a fast deep ledge and hooked up on a #6 20" er Stone that was being fished solo. The fish took, we both thought it was bottom for a few seconds and then it started to take off hard toward the shallows peeling line, I dropped anchor because it was going upstream and then it made a direction change but kept peeling line into the middle of the river in big flow
with the reel screaming (3300 cfs!). By the time it got close to the backing it was time to try and slow him down, even a 6 weight Z-Axis couldn't get his head turned and finally it broke off on 2X Flouroflex! Unbelievable fish, we hook a few like that a year and we'll never know what it was. Kind of makes me think of a King, but Summer Steelhead and jumbo Trout will do that too. It is pretty cool to see fish that give you goosebumps once in a while. The Yakima is a big river and you never know what you are going to hook into out there. On other river reports, the Naches and Methow are both in PRIME shape finally after a long runoff and the Methow has been kicking out some really nice Cutt Bows. The Naches has been great on numbers of trout, with a few bigger fish being caught but plenty of scrappy little Cutts and Bows that will come up to a dry fly. Great for 3 or 4 weight you have been wanting to use!
07/12/2008
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies: Suggestions... Plan B # 8/6, Red Turk's # 8, Dave's Hopper # 10, Triple Decker # 10/8, Marathon Bug # 8/6, 20"er Stone Nymph # 8/6, Prince Harry # 16, CDC Caddis Emerger, X Caddis Olive # 16
Time: --
Results: Overall... good fishing on dry flies and nymphs.
With so many anglers and guides out fishing over the past 2 days, it was hard to audit a single report and accurately demonstrate the conditions.
Some advanced anglers have put up grotesque body count on fish, while a
few others have had to work pretty hard for even just a few. It depends a lot on the time of day and if you are "dialed in"
and making the "kill shots" on the feeders in the evening time or the bank dwellers looking to suck in a few Grasshopper during the mid day hours. Overall,
conditions are near perfect regarding water flows. The Yakima is in beautiful
color condition and relatively stable at around 3200 cfs. While it is a bit high for wading, the float program with a cooler full of cold drinks is a pretty sweet way to go. If you are a wade fisherman, think about the Naches or Little Naches as a pedestrian opportunity. Our most consistent dry fly fishing will happen over the next 3 months
on all rivers, i.e. the Yak (Upper and Lower), the Naches, and the
Methow River. GET your trips on the calendar now because you will regret
it when we post some more pics of 18"ers choking on Hopper patterns. It looks like a good Hopper year already and if we could pick one fly to fish all summer long on the Yakima, it would float
high, have a yellow belly, and have some big ol' drumsticks hanging off the sides! Trout love 'em. They are meaty and good, even some people eat grasshoppers,
try one. Anybody ever watch Man vs. Wild? You know what I'm talking about. Good luck out there, keep fighting the good fight.
07/10/2008
Anglers: Joe and Steve
Location: Big Horn To Lmuma
Flies: sz. 6-12 Winged Thing, Plan B, Hoppers, and Stimis; sz. 14, 16 Bloom's Caddis, EH Caddis, and CDC Emergers
Time: 7:00 AM until 3:00 PM
Results: Good dry fly fishing
We started the day throwing big dries tight to the banks, but only found a few volunteers, so we changed gears to Caddis. Once we did that, we started picking fish up consistently on both the adult and emerger patterns. You do see a lot of dinks come up on small dries, but don't give up too easy. We also hit a couple of very nice trout in zones where only dinks were coming up. The flows are well below the seasonal average, so the big dry fly water (deep slots tight to the bank with a good straight current) is not as abundant as it could be. We expect the big dry fly fishing to improve as flows come up. The Caddis hatch yesterday was heavy, and there were a fair number of fish feeding up and down the foam lines. The nymphing has been the most productive in the faster moving, more oxygenated zones. For the time being, come out and take advantage of some great summertime water conditions and beautiful weather!
07/05/2008
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: Awesome Conditions
The Yakima is finally in near perfect summertime condition with flows that are stable and green the fun of summer can finally begin. Think about using primarily dry flies in the low-light hours and nymphs during the heat of the day. There are a few Hoppers roaming the shore and in the next couple of weeks we will see the trout begin responding to them during the mid-day hours. Right now however, we are at the onset of the annual Summer Stonefly Hatch on the Yakima River and it can be some of the
best dry fly fishing of the year. Big Stimulators, Parachute MX's, Chernobyl Ants, Turk's Tarntulas, or a fly called a Plan B are all good ideas. Just fish them really tight to the trees and grass where the Stoneflies are likely to crawl in or out of the water.
The volume is a bit high for wade fishing, but the floating is great.
Longer floats and fishing 'on the go' is the best strategy. The Naches is in good condition color wise but still a bit high for ideal floating, but over the next few weeks it should be absolutely perfect for a float trip combined with wet wading during the day. We hope you had a great 4th of July and we hope to see you soon on the Yakima!
With flows at 4500 cfs, the Yakima continues to stabilize and drop. Clarity is favorable and the nymph fishing yesterday was good all day long. We saw the first Summer Stonefly adults of the season on one of the rock walls.The Hoppers are about a size 12 and growing daily. The big dry fly fishing that we've waited for is just around the corner. The Caddis rise in the evening, especially between the shop and Roza, has been good if you can stay out until dark. HAPPY 4th of July from all of us at Reds!
07/02/2008
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies: --
Time: 1 pm - 10 pm
Results: Back in Action
The Yakima is dropping and clearing and we are back in action starting today. There is a bout 12-18" of vis in the Lower Canyon, slightly better in the Farmlands Section but make sure to steer clear of the Irene to Ringer section as there is a was a bad log jam in there before the push of water and we haven't been in there yet to evaluate it. The Summer Stonefly hatch is beginning to get rolling and the Caddis at dark should be exceptional on the "HOT" days. We should be done with any major water fluctuations for the year and in good shape for summertime. We'll update the report again in the next couple of days but the river should be fishing again starting today. Thanks and good luck!
06/29/2008
Anglers: Arne, Peter, and Joe
Location: Ringer to Slab
Flies: Black K Stones #6, Prince Harry #16, Fly Formerly Known as Prince #16, CDC PT FB BH #16, CDC Caddis Emerger #16 (grey), X Caddis Olive #16, Tan Paranobyl #8, Gypsy King #8, Red Turk's Tarantula #8
Time: 1 pm - 10 pm
Results: About 10 trout landed, good average size.
The fishing yesterday and last night was actually pretty good despite river levels shooting upward, the caddis hatch during the last hour of daylight was spectacular with quite a few rising fish. You definately had to stay out late though to experience it. We couldn't even see our flies or a splash on a couple of the fish we hooked at the end of the day. It was fishing by brail! Fishing today however is pretty poor so far as we have had a few reports already of bad fishing, one of our guides put a nice trout in the boat this morning but overall the river is pretty much out of shape with unstable water and a lot of turbidity. It should settle down over the next few days, clear up, and stabilize at around 4000-4500 cfs hopefully. There are still a few hearty anglers out there giving it a go, best of luck to them and hopefully a few trout get caught today and tommorow. Hit it later this week or over the weekend of the 4th. Good luck!
06/26/2008
Anglers: Mark, Clay, and Steve
Location: Lower Yak (Tri Cities)
Flies: sz. 6-10 Stone Nymphs, sz. 12-16 Prince Harry, sz. 12-16 Lightening Bugs, sz. 14, 16 FBPT, sz. 8 Bugmeister, sz. 6 Electric Blue Stimi, sz. 16 CDC Caddis Emerger
Time: 9:00 am until 5:30 pm
Results: 10-12 Rainbows landed(10"-19"), a NPM, and a Whitefish
With unseasonably low river levels and great clarity, the fishing has been pretty good in the canyon. We did throw some big dries the past 2 evenings and had lots of action. We landed a couple of nice fish on big dries in the shadows, but most of our interest to them came from smaller trout. The nymphing has been very good during the day, with much of the action coming in the zones of faster, more oxygenated water. We expect the flows to be bumping up soon with 90 plus degree weather in the forecast; however, for the time being, we're happy to make the most of the great conditions and weather!
06/24/2008
Anglers: Stacy and Steve
Location: Lower Yak (Tri Cities)
Flies: sz. 4 Black and Yellow Bass Buster
Time: 10:30 am until 6:30 pm
Results: 5 or 6 Smallmouth Bass to hand (one pushing 5 pounds!)
We spent a beautiful day on the Lower Yakima near Tri Cities swinging for Bass on a sink tip. We had caught some smaller fish recently down there, and figured the bigger bass may have headed back out to the Columbia, but all of the fish Stacy landed except for one were in the 2+ pound range, including one behemoth! We began the day fishing the mid river riffles with little success. We switched to the tight to the bank program in the afternoon and started hitting fish immediately. The largest fish of the day came after Stacy's fly bumped a grass pile and then released into the current. Once hooked, the Bass put up a great fight yesterday, with most of them going aerial. The trout section of the Yakima is currently in beautiful condition in terms of both flow level and clarity. Tonight might be the night we get back on track with some Caddis, and hopefully the big dries of Summertime!
06/23/2008
Anglers: Rob, Rick, and TJ
Location: Red's to Mahre's
Flies: sz. 6,8 Stone Nymphs, sz. 14 PMD nymph, sz. 16 FBPT, sz. 14,16 Prince, sz. 14 Caddis Pupae, a few Caddis dries in the evening.
Time: 9:30 am until 7:00 pm
Results: 3 nice Rainbows, quite a few dinks, a couple Whities, and a NPM!
The summertime irrigation flows have begun to ramp up in the Yakima system. With releases from Lake Cle Elum, flows bumped up over 1000 cfs this weekend and should begin to taper out this week. The fishing definitely slowed down, especially the dry fly fishing; however, with lots of focus and a rally late in the day, we manageed to land some nice trout and have a great time. We only saw 3 or 4 fish feeding on the surface all day, which we hope gets back on track as flows stabilize this week. We are now entering the Hopper and Summer stone season which will make the twilight hours of early morning and late evening prime times to be on the water. Overall, clarity is not bad right now, as the water that is released from the reservoirs is settled and generally clean. We've also been spending time on the Lower Yak in pursuit of Bass and the Naches chasing wild Cutthroat through the whitewater. The weather forecast for this week looks great, and we're hoping to find some gamers lined up in the Hopper lanes SOON!
06/18/2008
Anglers: --
Location: --
--
Flies: PMD's during mid-day, Caddis and Stoneflies at dusk.
Time: 7 am
Results: The Yakima River is in perfect condition!
All the high water and nasty weather of spring time is long gone and we are cashing in on Mother Nature's generosity right now with PERFECT flows and conditions on the Yakima River. The river is low and clear with great PMD hatches mid day and the nymphing has been excellent both before and after the PMD hatch. If you are out until dusk the Caddis hatch during the last hour of the day can
be spectacular, especially on the really hot days. If it is cooler during the day then typically the Caddis will be light. Try to take advantage of the current conditions if possible, it looks like we have another week or so before the summer water will have much of an effect
on fishing. Even if they started to release it now there would be
several days before the bite turned sour. There are a few Golden Stones
around mid day still and it looks like there are a few Summer Stoneflies
out and about as well, water temps hit 61 degrees yesterday so the
shorts/sandals program is fine for wading. You can all but leave the
waders at home, especially if they are neoprene. If you want to get the right shoe for summertime wading, pick up a set of
Simms River Sandals.
They have a closed toe and a felt bottom with similar construction to
Keen Sandals which you probably already have 2 pairs of. If you
prefer a boot for wet wading, try a set of Simms Guard Socks underneath.
It is nice to shed the waders this time of year if you can. Regarding other reports, the Naches River is fishing pretty good and we are in the middle of prime float season down there. As you can see by today's pics, it is a fast and fun ride.
06/16/2008
Anglers: Bruce, Diane, and Troy
Location: Ringer - Red's
--
Flies: Pearl LB 16, Green Sparkle Pupae, CDC FB PT, EHC 16, Olive X Caddis 16, Parachute X Caddis, P Stone, RCJ 16, Double Beaded Peacock Stone #8, Black Double Beaded Stone #8/10
Time: 10 am - 9 pm
Results: 2 bigger trout, many smaller fish, and some Whitefish.
Great day on the river, finally it feels like summertime in the canyon. It has been a long spring and it is finally starting to turn. The water is low and clear and the fishing is pretty good on PMD's mid day and Caddis at Dusk. Try to take advantage of the low water this next week because the flows will ramp up here soon and there will be a few days where the fishing is going to be really tough once the water climbs too much. Although at times, the initial rise upon summer release can make for some incredible nymph fishing as a lot of bugs are knocked free into a mid column drift. The release water coming out of the Cle Elum River will be quite clear throughout most of the release and the first few days can be awesome. Once it gets to 4000 cfs though, it will take a few more days for the fish to completely adjust to their new setting. Regarding other reports, the Naches River is running very high and is tough to wade but the floating is a good time right now and the fishing is quite good. It is very technical whitewater trip and provides some supplemental adrenaline with your guided fly fishing trip!
06/13/2008
Anglers: --
Location:
--
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: RIVER BLOCKAGE
There is a complete river blockage between Irene Rhinehart Park and Ringer Road. It is kind of like the old days in there when it was blocked for a couple of years and you had to push the boat over a log and go through the side channel. Our guides made it through because there were 6 total between the 2 boats that were working together and helped a couple of other boats too, but it could have been a bad situation for a boat by themselves. There isn't any AAA out there so make sure and stay out of the Farmlands until you here otherwise. On another note, GOOD fishing throughout the entire river.
Results: Good nymphing, 7 Trout landed, and 1 Whitefish.
The fishing has improved! Even though we got a late start in our day of
fishing we had a very productive afternoon. We found that nymphing was
the most effective technique, a peasant tail followed by a caddis pupae
seemed to work the best. We had the dry rods set up and ready to roll
but the only fish we saw rising were 6-10 inches, nothing of substantial
size. The little guys are still fun to catch on a three weight, but we
were looking for the bigger trout, and they seemed to be mostly
sub-surface. We caught a couple throughout the miracle mile right above
The Slab. Although nymphing was good yesterday, the PMD and Caddis
hatches will continue to get better once this cooler weather passes. Be
sure to have some Golden and Summer Stones tied up in your fly box ready
for some late afternoon big dry fly action! Hope to see you on the water
soon, Red's
06/08/2008
Anglers: Arne, Blair, and Joe
Location: Bighorn to Red's
Flies: CDC PT - Flashback #18/16, Hare's Ear Prince #16, Fly Formerly Known as Prince #18, Doube Beaded Peacock stone #10, Lime Green Caddis Pupae #16, Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear #16, Sculpizilla - Olive and Black #4, Sheila's Sculpin #6, JJ Special #6, Black Zuddler #4
Time: 9 - 5 pm
Results: 6 trout landed (none over 12") and a ton of whitefish, no fish on dry flies.
The 50 mph wind was too much yesterday. Between the rough wind and the big pressure change the trout fishing was quite a challenge. We battled hard but the whitefish were on the attack and that is all it seemed like we could catch all day. To mitigate the wind and whitefish We threw streamers for a couple of miles with only a single grab. Even when we would anchor up in the good trout buckets and riffles the whitefish would beat the Rainbows to the fly. We felt good though after taking on conditions like that and still managing to land some fish. It was a tough day to be fishing despite perfect river conditions. Good job to all those guys out there rowing boats, it was a tough day to even land a single fish whether it was a whitey or a trout. The forecast looks like it is going to calm down today a bit and Monday will be a little better too. We really want that dark cloudy weather back. It gave us such good dry fly fishing a few days ago. The PMD hatch was spectacular again yesterday with bugs everywhere for at least 2-3 hours, but unfortunately the big pressure change and suddenly sunny skies kept them down on the bottom and not feeding much. Look for the next dark cloudy day to bring the dry fly fishing back, especially if it rains. Until then, plan on nymphing with some extra split shot to neutralize the wind-caused drag on the indicator. Nymphing in the wind is tough because the mends get knocked down and it causes a ton of drag. The extra weight combined with steep downstream casting angles (when in a drifter) will really help the floats. Lateral casting is fine in calm conditions when combined with a high stick, but in the wind highsticking turns into a kite flying episode. Downstream approaches keep more fly line on the waterand the wind can blow the indicator over the top of the fly allowing for a few seconds of perfect drift. - Just a couple of ideas to better your success in a tornado. Red's
It's ON. No need for any more foreplay just go fishing. Conditions don't get any better than this, the PMD hatches in the lower canyon have been spectacular and the nymphing is semi-automatic and could go full-auto at any time.
06/03/2008
Anglers: Jim, Ken, and Steve.
Location: Lower Yakima River
Flies: Yellow and Black BASS BUSTERS Size 4.
Time: 10 am - 5 pm
Results: 8 Smallmouth to hand (2-4 pounds).
We got some Bass fishing in yesterday and landed some nice ones throwing Bass Busters on heavy sink tips. The water was fairly muddy but the Bass were aggressive and fought absolutely awesome, especially since they are working with a lot of current right now. Smallmouth are amazing fighters. No matter how many you see hooked the way they fight is always impressive. The best smallmouth fishing of the year should be in the next 3 weeks as the lower Yakima clears up and drops a little bit more. If you haven't ever tried it just give us a call and we'll get you out on the river with one of our guides. If you want to try it in your own boat, stop by the shop or email and we'll give you the info on flies and where to launch. It is awesome.
06/01/2008
Anglers: Arne, Garth, and Joe.
Location: Irene to Ringer
Flies: About the same as the day before... CDC Flashback PT 16, Golden Stone (Dry - Clark Style) #8, Golden Stone Nymph #6/8, Green Sparkle Pupae #16, Pearl LB #16, Fly FKA Prince #16, CDC PT #16, Trout MRE #16, Elk Hair Caddis #14, CDC Caddis Emerger #16.
Time: 9:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Results: About 10 trout landed 10-17" and many more Whitefish
The momentum finally shifted in favor of the angler yesterday with great nymph fishing. Still not much in the way of feeding fish on the surface although there were a few. We hooked one nice fish on an adult Golden, LOTS of Golden Stones in the Lower Canyon right now. We probably saw 20 adults which is a great showing for this hatch. Overall the fishing is pretty good in the Lower Canyon. Stay out till dark for the best shot at feeding fish.
5/31/2008 pm
Anglers: Mark, Dan, and Joe.
Location: Irene to Ringer
Flies: Green Sparkle Pupae #16, Pearl LB #16, Fly FKA Prince #16, CDC PT #16, Trout MRE #16, Elk Hair Caddis #14, CDC Caddis Emerger #16.
Time: 9:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Results: About 6 trout landed 10-16"
The trout continue to impress us with their discipline of appetite. If only the human kind had that much willpower we could put down the bacon cheeseburgers, cigarettes, and beer so that we could be wade fishing into our 90's! The catching is still a bit slow and conditions are no longer an excuse with good clarity throughout the system and stable flows. Today we are expecting 79 degrees and cloudy, that feels like PMD weather so today could be our gamebreaker. When the fishing gets slow like it has been over the past week make sure to patiently and methodically work over the water that you know there to be trout holding. Typically they will grab the first drift past them but right now it seems like it has to be just perfect. In addition, the glacial tinge to the water is allowing the fish to feel secure and they are not very spooky. Short floats and detail wading is a good idea. Last night there was a good evening Caddis hatch and we did raise some fish on dries and hooked one very nice trout on a CDC emerger behind an EHC. If you can stick it out till dark you'll see some good feeding action on the surface but the 3 pm - 7 pm window was pretty much dead. It is starting to feel like summer! Stones are about 2 weeks out, once that happens the evening fishing can be truly spectacular.
5/28/2008 pm
Anglers: TJ, Troy, and Joe.
Location: Irene to Ringer
Flies: Green Sparkle Pupae #16, San Juan Worms, Pearl LB #16, LaFontaine Pupae #16, Pat's Stones, Black K Stone #8, Golden Stone #8, Sculpzilla Black #4, PMD Parachute #16, Elk Hair Caddis.
Time: 12:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Results: 6 Whitefish landed 10-16", and about 8-10 other fish hooked (trout/whitefish).
We found some Whitefish today, not many trout were on the take. The clarity is still fairly low but it seemed to improve throughout the afternoon. It is about 2' in the Farmlands and about 12-18" down in the Lower Canyon section. We hooked a couple of very nice trout today, but unfortunately they didn't make the net or the official tally. The bite is very slow right now, it seems as though the fish are still trying to get adjusted to the new water volume. It isn't likely to drop much from here on through the summer, it is pretty likely that we will stay above 3000 cfs all the way through. By the time the runoff ends the irrigation demand will be high and offset the dropping tributary streams. The clarity doesn't seem to be a real problem as the catch today was all on #16 nymphs.
Our biggest tip is that every single fish hooked was on a small flashy nymph. We can't seem to buy a fish on a Stone Nymph right now - ? Kind of weird. You would think with the big flow that the S. Nymph would be rockin'. Especially since there are both Salmon Flies and Golden Stones on the move. The Caddis were thick as usual today and we did see a few nice trout rise, but were unable to convert as they were in some pretty tough spots and were unable to get position on them. The Canyon is a little more amenable to anchoring down
on feeders right now. There was a light PMD hatch that brought up a few sporadic rises, but they didn't respond to our dry flies. Finicky. Overall, fishing was pretty slow for 3 guides taking a day off but we got a few yanks and
opportunities, plus you KNOW we got in some good laughs. Hopping in the
drift boat with a couple of buddies is always fun even if the fishing is
slow. Good times. Oh yea, has anybody here ever thrown a golf club after
a bad shot? Try not to do it with a fly rod because they aren't nearly
as durable. :-) You guys rock, thanks for reading. Red's.
5/28/2008 am
Anglers: Not many.
Location: Lower Canyon
Flies: Some suggestions.... Fly Formerly Known as Prince #16, CDC Prince #16, Green Sparkle Pupae #16, Black Stones, San Juan Worms, Parachute X Caddis, Elk Hair Caddis, Parachute PMD, CDC PT.
Time: --
Results: Still pretty dirty.
The river is still pretty dirty throughout the system with about 12-18" of vis in the Farmlands and about 12" in the Lower Canyon. Most anglers are able to hook a few fish but overall the catching is pretty slow despite blizzard Caddis hatches and a daily emergence of PMD's. The Upper Yakima has finally stabilized and so has the Teanaway River indicating that most of our tributary streams are coming back into check. We have had some rain over the past couple of days that has inhibited the river's ability to clear up, but that just comes with the territory in the springtime. There have been some anglers out here giving it a shot and willing to 'roll-the-dice' and fish despite low visibility. We admire the spirit, you guys define passionate
and keep up the good work. Expect the river to clear up a little over the next few days but don't hold your breath. 2' of vis is what we are hoping for and that shouldn't take long.
5/25/2008
Anglers: Bob, Maria, and Joe
Location: Ringer to Red's
Flies: Elk Hair Caddis #16, Parachute Olive X Caddis #16, Black K Stone #8, Fly FKA Prince #16, Prince #16, Bright Green Caddis Pupae #16
Time: 9 am - 5 pm
Results: 4 landed, about 8-10 trout hooked.
The time-bomb is ticking in the lower canyon, the dry fly fishing will blow up any day now. The Caddis hatches are amazing and near blizzard like most of the day, it will almost without a doubt be one of the best hatches you have ever seen if you come out to fish in the next few days. The water clarity is still pretty poor, about 12 inches in the LC and about 18" - 2 ' in the Farmlands on up. The clarity does not really seem to be much of a factor when it comes to the bite. Almost every fish that we saw rise ate the first drift that went over them and all of our fish were hooked on #16's. We did not hook a single fish on a Stone Nymph, only a #16 Prince or a dry fly. Overall, the fishing is pretty slow but we did get a few on dry flies and any day now the fish will decide it is go time and start feeding heavily. They are still getting adjusted after the big water and trying to find a good place to live. Maybe the next few days the bite will improve, but it was a lot of fun getting to sight cast to some rising trout! More of that is on the way soon.
5/22/2008
Anglers: --
Location: The Yakima
Flies: Nymphs
Time: --
Results: Probably by Saturday, you have been very patient.
The Yakima is dropping hard and it looks like we'll be fishing (and hopefully catching) on Saturday but maybe even by Friday afternoon. The clarity is till very poor but since the water is dirty pretty much right out of Lake Easton these fish are not going to wait for clear water. As it begins to drop back down to comfortable levels you can bet these fish
will be anxious to feed and downright hungry! We'll try to get a boat in the water
tomorrow afternoon but these lakes have kept us pretty distracted. One of our clients landed a beautiful 21" Brown Trout yesterday, congrats! Stay tuned and we'll be in the shop by 8 am Saturday morning if you need a "real time" river report. Also, take notice of 2 new programs that we have started at the shop. Check out the
"Rent to Own" page and also see our
"Spey Lesson" page too. Thanks guys.
Also, for the boat renters out there. If you rent a boat and
decide to order through us, we will credit your $169 rental fee towards
the purchase price of the new boat! Also, we are offering a Drift
Boat Consignment program as well. If you are looking to sell a
used drift boat just give us a call and we'll help you move it.
5/20/2008
Anglers: TJ and Mike
Location: Dry Falls Lake and Lake Lenore
Flies: Varieties of Chrironomids, Danzels, Dragons, Leeches, and the Zandoli Zapper
Time: --
Results: Gross Tonage
Sometimes we have to reminded of Central Washington's other great fisheries. The river has been out for a week or so and the boys decided to take off and do some lake fishing.
Well, as you can by the pictures see they broke it open yesterday with some BIG FISH! One of those is a legit 25"-26" Lahontan Cutthroat. We have been running a few guided trips on the lakes out there and have a feeling we will be doing some more with the river conditions subject to change. If you are curious on how to fish these lakes, or you just want to go have a good time and try to bag some big fish give us a buzz anytime. As for the river, we hope the Lower Canyon will be back in on Saturday but we're not holding our breath. The Upper is still quite muddy which is somewhat surprising because it is not all that high. For now it is still a waiting game and it is time to go lake fishing. Grab your pontoon boat, get a guide, or you can buy or rent a pontoon boat down at the shop. If you rent a pontoon boat from us you can apply the full rental cost towards the purchase of a new boat, just make sure to ask for a "rental credit" when you get rung up. We have lots of great lake flies and Gary Thompson is usually behind the counter and can give you expert advice on any of the lakes out in Eastern Washington. We also have a couple of good books that are complete with maps and hatch charts. Good luck!
5/16/2008
Anglers: Joe, Tony, and Steve
Location: Snively to Hyde (Lower Yak - Tri Cities)
Flies: sz. 4,6 Bass Buster (Black, yellow), sz. 4 Yak Attack Brown
Time: 10:30 am until 5:30 pm
Results: 6 Smallmouth landed (2 pounds to 4 pounds).
We took one last opportunity yesterday to outrun the deluge of Spring runoff water coming down the Yakima and Naches Rivers, and hit the Lower Yakima for Smallmouth. It doesn't get much better than catching fish on swung flies while wearing shorts and sandals in 90 plus degree weather! The visibility was about 12", which is fine for Spring Smallies, and we found enough fish with that snappy demeanor to keep us focused the entire float - inlcuding 2 huge Carp that came unbuttoned before we got them to the boat. That was OK with us, because there was just no way they would have fit in the net! It's difficult to imagine how hard these Smallmouth pull until you experience it. Even a 2 pounder will bend your 8 weight into the butt section! The Yakima River is currently out throughout the entire system, and it looks like we're going to get the majority of our runoff out of the way in one big shot here. It's probably a good weekend to go see an M's game!
5/14/2008
Anglers: Joe and Steve
Location: Irene to Big Horn
Flies: sz. 6-10 Pat's Stone, sz. 6,8 20"er Stone, sz. 8 HE Dbl Beaded Stone, sz. 8 Peacock Dbl Beaded Stone, sz. 14 Trout MRE, sz. 14-18 Lightening Bugs, sz. 12 - 16 PT's, sz. 14, 16 Caddis Pupaes (Green and Tan), sz. 14 GRHE, sz. 14 EHC, sz. 16 CDC Caddis Emerger, Para March Brown
Time: 9:30 am until 5:30 pm
Results: 10+ trout landed (10"-14").
More nice weather yesterday and good nymph fishing. Flows have continued to come down, and the river is in beautiful shape. We caught more fish on softer seam lines in the morning, and then the quicker moving riffles towards the middle of the day. Not much of a hatch yesterday - Caddis or March Browns, but we did hook some fish around 3:00 drifting a March Brown down a likely looking foam line. Things are supposed to start warming up this afternoon and into tomorrow. We're hoping the river hangs on, but the only thing predictable about the weather and fishing this Spring has been that it's unpredicatable!
5/13/2008
Anglers: Kevin, David, and Steve
Location: Irene to Big Horn
Flies: sz. 6-10 Pat's Stone, sz. 6,8 20"er Stone, sz. 8 HE Dbl Beaded Stone, sz. 8 Peacock Dbl Beaded Stone, sz. 14 Trout MRE, sz. 14-18 Lightening Bugs, sz. 12 - 16 PT's, sz. 14, 16 Caddis Pupaes (Green and Tan), sz. 14 GRHE, sz. 14 EHC, sz. 16 CDC Caddis Emerger
Time: 9:30 am until 6:30 pm
Results: 8+ trout landed (10"-16"), 2 Whitefish, and a BIG, beautiful Yakima River fluvial Sucker.
Talk about a beautiful day on the water... calm, sunny skies, and better fishing than what we experienced over the weekend. It seems like the Upper reaches are fishing better right now. We had lots of Caddis and March Browns flying during the day, but no fish up on them. The nymphing was a mixed bag, with each fly getting a little action, but nothing being a "go to" bug. The river remains in great shape throughout the system. It looks like we're going to see some HOT weather by the weekend - watch the flow graph. We had some excitement yesterday when David's indicator took a dive and he picked up on a heavy fish that took off upriver. We managed to get the boat back up in pursuit, but by the time we got there, the fish quit taking line and was holding - in the middle of a big snag! We jumped out and managed to unwind the line and keep the fish on, which took another big run only to come right back into the same snag again. At this point, we had seen the flash of a BIG fish. We finally got it up and into the net, and found ourselves looking at the prettiest Yakima Sucker David had ever laid eyes on! That's what we call getting taken to the woodshed! That fish was a gamer!
5/11/2008
Anglers: Chuck, Bruce, and Steve
Location: Red's to Roza
Flies: sz. 6-10 Pat's Stone, sz. 6,8 20"er Stone, sz. 8 HE Dbl Beaded Stone, sz. 8 Peacock Dbl Beaded Stone, sz. 14-18 Lightening Bugs, sz. 12 - 16 PT's, sz. 14, 16 Caddis Pupaes (Green and Tan), sz. 14 GRHE
Time: 9:30 am until 6:30 pm
Results: 3 trout landed, a Whitefish, and a few smolt.
Happy Mother's Day! Things looked promising for a Caddis hatch yesterday - bugs flying at 9:00 am, water temps up a full 6 degrees, and blue skies on the horizon; however, clouds, cool weather, and some wind rolled in, and it never materialized. We did see some PMD's mid day, but no fish eating. Water levels have dropped slowly, and visibility is decent at 2'+. I floated Irene to Big Horn on Friday, and we had our best fishing, including the 3 nicest trout of the day, below Wilson Creek. Any day now is going to be the first day that the fish key in on Caddis! Conditions will be changing frequently depending on weather - mostly snow melt and rain, so keep an eye on flows and the forecast! Rod's guest, Steve, landed that nice fish 100 feet below the Red's launch yesterday. At that point, they calculated how many miles they had ahead and how many fish they could land if the formula held. We fishermen - always the eternal optimists! We often tell guests at the end of a tough day - "days like this are what make you appreciate the good days you'll have ahead." It seems like we've said that a lot this Spring... Bring on the Caddis! Steve
5/8/2008
Anglers: --
Location: Teanaway upstream
Flies: --
Time: 8 am
Results: Update.
The cold nights are bringing the Lower Canyon back into shape much faster than expected and we have about 12-18" of visibility right now at the shop, by the end of today we will have at least 2 feet and expect to see some fish feeding on Caddis against the banks. It will
definitely be fishing this weekend, PERFECT timing for the the Mother's Day Caddis Hatch! There have been some good hatches and hopefully we will see some great dry fly fishing, as you know it can be one of the best weeks of the year on the Yakima River. The Mother's Day Caddis Hatch is our favorite, nymph fish with Green Sparkle Pupae prior to the hatch and use a Parachute X Caddis, or a standard X Caddis as the hatch begins. After the hatch is complete, think about using a traditional EHC (Elk Hair Caddis) or a Hot Butt Caddis under the trees and stick piles. Good luck!
5/7/2008
Anglers: --
Location: Teanaway upstream
Flies: --
Time: 8 pm
Results: Slow fishing and a fair amount of pressure.
Pretty tough fishing right now on the Upper Yak, the water is relatively stable but
overall the bite is slow. Don't let this prevent you from taking
on the river though, an Old Timer once said that, "the difference between
a great, good, and poor fishing day is separated by a mere six casts".
Some other guy once said that tough fishing is like a good soccer game
because there is not much actual scoring but the entire game is tense,
fast paced, and exciting. That is good advice but really the
biggest similarity between soccer and fly fishing is that they both suck
to watch on TV versus actually getting out and doing it for yourself.
Unless it is the World Cup and there is a good head butt involved.
The Lower Yakima should come into shape relatively soon with cooler weather helping things, although the Teanaway hasn't dropped much it has cleared a little bit and should continue to do so
even if it does not come down a whole lot. Once there is about 18" of vis in the Canyon we should be rockin' on Caddis. There have been some episodes of 'blizzard' like hatches so get ready to hit it when things clear up. It should be very good, the fish will be post spawn and looking to build their weight back up again.
Predictions are that it should clear up enough by this weekend to get
some dry fly fishing in. No promises but after looking at the
hydrograph and the extended weather forecast it appears that by about
2:45 - 3 pm on Saturday the LC should have enough vis to fish an Elk
Hair Caddis and catch a trout or two. Again, NO PROMISES but it
looks like it will happen for us by Saturday afternoon in the LC on dry
flies.
5/6/2008
Anglers: --
Location: Teanaway downstream
Flies: --
Time: 7 am
Results: Big water
The Teanaway downstream is running big and muddy so it will be a couple of days at least before the Lower becomes fishable again. Hopefully this will be just in time for the the MDC hatch to get rolling. The Upper Yak remains in great shape and is fishing, but is pretty slow overall with a lot of pressure working that area due to the Teanaway swelling up. Even if it doesn't drop a lot we should see it start to clear up due to prolonged high flow. Last year it ran at 1000 cfs and relatively clear for extended periods so hopefully the clarity will improve even if the volume stays high. Stay tuned, cooler weather on the way.
5/5/2008
Anglers: John, Jamie, and Joe
Location: MM19 to Red's
Flies: Green Sparkle Pupae #16, Green Rockworm, CDC Phesant Tail #14, Pearl LB #16, Brown Kaufman's Stone #8, 20" er Stone #6, Pat's Stone Olive #8
Time: 9:30 am - 3 :30 pm
Results: 5-6 Trout landed, and 1 Whitefish
Not a bad day yesterday in the Lower Canyon, although the fisher weren't on top hunting Caddis they were
definitely onto the Pupae and willing to eat. Some advice from yesterday's experience... work the spots in detail that you know there to be fish. We didn't hook a single fish that wasn't in the 'primo buffet' water. We fished all the pocket water and ledges quite hard, but the edges of the big runs seemed to be the hot spots. Also, most of the larger fish we landed were pretty skinny and looked to be fresh off the spawn so get those big boys back in the water quick. Regarding river conditions, the Tway is rising hard and so is the Upper Yakima and the fishing should be fine today, and maybe
tomorrow in the LC, but if you are planning a trip later in the week start thinking about fishing the Upper River or
contingency plans at Rocky Ford, Lake Lenore, Lenice, etc. If you need any help with advice or gear let us know and we'll send you in the right direction to try some new water. Red's.
5/2/2008
Anglers: --
Location: Yakima River and the Ellensburg Fairgrounds
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: Great Conditions!
The conditions are near perfect out here on the Yakima, the river is low again and quite clear. That doesn't necessarily mean great fishing but the elements are certainly in our favor right now. We also wanted to remind everybody that
tomorrow there is a Fly Fishing Enclave put on by the Washington State FFF at the Ellensburg Fairgrounds. It should be the best fly fishing event of the year, lots of casting, tying, and plenty to see and learn. Combine this with some fishing on the Yakima and that is a fun weekend. Hopefully we will see you there, also we are also excited to report that the Smallmouth fishing on the lower
Yak is about to get rockin' and it is a fun trip. We have guides waiting to take you down there and show you the Bass fishing program, or simply call the shop and we'll help set you up with equipment, flies, and access information. See you at fly fishing show! Red's.
4/29/08 LATE p.m.
Anglers: Dave, Frank, and Joe
Location: Ringer to Red's
Flies: Conehead 20"er #6, Double Beaded Peacock Stone #8/10, Hare's Ear Double Beaded Stone #8 (NEW
FLY located over by the small nymphs, next the CDC PT's), Pink/Red San Juan Worm #10, Bright Green Caddis Pupae
with Krystal Flash #16, Pearl LB #16, Bright Green Rockworm with Black Bead #16
Time: 9 am until 6:00 pm
Results: 10 fish landed, 8 trout (11-16") and 2 whitefish.
We earned each and everyone of those fish today, it feels good to fish a rising river in some big wind and come out of there victorious. Tough
games are sometimes the best kind, of course we wouldn't be saying that if it were a 30 fish day on dry flies!
It really does feel good though, we fished our tails off today. The river is coming back down and we even noticed that it was dropping a little bit in the afternoon,
tomorrow it should be looking pretty good as the Teanaway begins to plummet.
The LC has about 2' of vis and it looks like it will be the place to be
in preparation and anticipation of the Caddis Blizzard. If you are going to get here sometime soon it looks like the first week of May should provide some pretty decent river
conditions and be alright into the front half of Mother's Day Weekend. The 15 day forecast looks like we should be solid till about May 9th, just a guess
though. This upcoming week looks absolutely awesome for water conditions, no promise of a big hatch but the water should be clear and a shot at some big fish certainly exists, its been a good spring thus far. Today's fishing was tougher than our numbers let on, we got blown around a little bit but the next
few days look better for water volume, clarity, and atmospheric stability. We had a high pressure system move in this afternoon that was sunny, but kind of gusty. We got
enough action though and broke off an enormous fish on a SJ worm wading an inside corner. It seems like when the water bumps around some of the giants wind up sitting in places they shouldn't, not sure exactly how big it was but it would have probably made the
Super Top Secret Red's Fly Shop Unofficial Boone & Crockett Rainbow Trout Record Book.
Please note: To make it in this elite book the fish needs to be photographed in an
actual Measure Net and verified by 2 witness (that are not guides!).
Also note, that we don't actually have any entries yet but with the way a few of us measure fish we should start. Enthusiasm is never a bad thing,
spread it around a bit while you are on the river!
4/28/08
Anglers: General Report
Location: The Whole Yakima River
Flies: Get the San Jaun Worms ready, and the bright Green Caddis Pupae, CDC Prince Nymphs, and Lafontaine Sparkle Pupae
Time: 6 am
Results: The river is starting to swell up, but it won't go too far.
We are starting to see some initial runoff from the high country, we have been fortunate thus far to have gotten rid of all the low lying snow without any major speed bumps in our fishing and also without any rain. Last year at this time we were subject to several different weather patterns that brought heavy rains over the top of a deep
snow pack, that is when you get some serious blowouts. Last spring we
were fishing (with good success) at flows exceeding 4000 cfs at this time, to have had the river below 2000 for so long was really quite surprising. A bump in flows will be good for the fish, it helps them safely regenerate their body mass after the spawn by giving them some protection for the Ospreys, Herons, and Pelicans. Just the other day, an Osprey swooped down no more than 50 feet from us and latched into a nice fat 16" plus Rainbow, it couldn't even take off. It had to do the 'bunny hop' all the way over to dry land before it could get
airborne. It was in about 12" of water, that fish was most certainly on the spawn. Increased volume will help the big fish remain safe and send those Ospreys out to the local lakes where they can find some hatchery trout and sunfish leaving our big spawners alone.
The river will swell up a bit, due in part to a very small release from the reservoirs, but it is primarily coming from the Teanaway River. The forecast looks as though it will keep the Tway in check over the next couple days, this might be a bold prediction but I don't think any section of river will become unfishable. The LC cleaned up a lot over the past few days and yesterday morning it was about the same clarity as the Farmlands.
During a water spike like this, the trout in the LC seem to handle the volume/clarity change the best. As a general rule, focus on the Lower Canyon and the Upper Yak above the Tway. Cle Elum to Thorp can be pretty tough if the water is unstable as can the Farmlands, not a rule, just some general advice
we have collected by getting our butts kicked on a rising river many many times.
Also, get those Caddis Pupae ready now. The bright greens are good, we have a new rockworm in the shop that officially 'rocks' no pun intended. The CDC Prince is killer during the Caddis hatch, as is the Trout M.R.E. (which is very similar to the G Lafontaine pupae), with some minor upgrades. The Caddis hatch should be big, lots of water 3 years running brings plenty of organic biomass into the stream and as we all know, the Caddis is an herbivore and feasts on this tiny plankton like matter. ALSO, there have been a few adult Salmon Flies spotted so let's start thinking about the following patterns. #6/#4 Brown/Black K Stones, #6 Double Beaded Black Stone, #4 Pat's Stone, #6/4 Orange Paranobyl (which will carry a dropper nicely), Banks Parachute Biot Legged Salmon Fly #6. The Salmon Fly nymph generally works better than the adult for us, especially during times of instability. Big meal, little effort for the trout. Good luck, we'll see you on the flipside. Red's.
4/26/08
Anglers: Troy, Dean, Linda
Location: KOA - Ringer
Flies: Double Beaded Black Stone # 10/8, Lime green Copper John # 14/16, CDC Prince Nymph # 14/16, CDC PT # 14/16, Para March Brown # 14/16 and San Jaun Worms
Time: 9 am - 5 pm
Results: Yesterday was a busy day down here in the canyon, lots of people anxious to get out and wet there lines in one of the nicer days we have seen down here in a while. We had multiple group/company trips yesterday and had guide boats fishing from Cle Elum to Roza. Reports seemed pretty consistant throughout (3 or 4 fish landed per boat, with a lot of hook ups). Although the weather was sunny and starting to get warm, I noticed that the fish were not feeding on top as much as I hoped, but we did see some. This will hopfully change as the weather becomes a little more consistant. The water clairty above Wilson Creek is in great shape with a green hue to it flowing roughly around 2000 CFS. Make sure and Get those dry fly rods ready because the Mother's Day Caddis Hatch is going to happen in the next couple weeks. The Upper River still continues to be consistent with quite the boat traffic as well. I have been noticing that the drift boat traffic down in the canyon has been minimul, with this nice weather rolling in it would be a great time to take the kids or wife down the river in 70 degree sunny weather before the river dirties up a bit due to the massive amounts of snow still left in the mountains. The most consistant bugs for me this past week have been size 14 and 16 CDC pheasant tail, size 10 rubber leg Pat's Stone, 16 green Sparkle Pupa, 14 lime green copper john, 14-16 CDC Prince Nymph, and 14 parashoot March Brown. Just this week the shop recieved about a dozen new fly patterns that we are all anxious to try, and we well let you now how they fish as the reports continue. Our group had a great time on the water yesterday and I will never forget Dean in the front of my boat fighting a nice 16 inch rainbow that seemed like it would never give up. It was a hard earned fish and there was nothing but a big grin on his face for the rest of the day, it was great. I hope to see you all out here this weekend to soak up some rays and catch some fish.
4/22/08
Anglers: --
Location: The Yakima
Flies: Nymphs are the staple, very few rising trout right now.
Time: --
Results: Catch numbers were good, but not important.
What a great couple of weeks on the Yakima, if you are a regular to the site you will notice that there have been more than a few pictures of some exceptional trout from the Yakima. We have been pretty fortunate, but luck truly comes to the anglers that put there time in and keep fishing despite adverse weather, water, and expected productivity. The last 2 weeks have really taught us that even the most perfect conditions can yield some of the slowest fishing, and inversely a few of the days that we found it a little difficult to get out of the warm truck during snow, hail, and 40 mph winds turned out to be some of the better days. You just never know what is going to happen out there. I suppose the most rewarding part of a slow fishing day, especially in rough weather is that you can go out and tackle the river head on, fish hard, and conquer the fear of getting skunked and hopefully convert it into a good day. You never know, it could be you holding a 20" plus'er on the Red's page. Or maybe you will be one of the anglers that put in a hard day's fishing and only turn over a few fish when some other anglers may have decided to stay home, at least you rolled the dice. You just never know... As a guide, I was truly impressed and in a way touched by a few of the guide trips that we ran this last week. One in particular... I had "the kid" in my boat on one of the windiest, nastiest days you can imagine and he was fishing his brains out. We hooked a total of 2 fish up until about 3 pm and in the midst of a 40 mph gust he yelled back at his dad if they could come back tommorow. THAT is the definition of a fisherman right there, Karma smiled back at us and we had good late afternoon and evening fishing. It was not the best we have ever seen together, but these guys came off the river more proud and happier than any one of the other 20 float trips they had ever been on. They played a tough game as hard as they could and won in the bottom of the 9th. It wasn't about numbers of fish or size of fish, it was about their angling performance and the laughs along the way. That type of attitude keeps this job worth doing. Don't get me wrong, we love putting up big numbers of trout to the boat, but that is not what it is all about for us. There is so much more that goes into it, being able to fish hard and hook a fish or two, all the while having a good time with good people is a great day on the water. Everyone hopes for 75 degrees, sun, no wind, and lots of trout on dry flies but these days can be rare. Our hats go off to all of the wade fisherman and other anglers out there drifting and fishing hard over the past couple weeks. There have been some tough days so don't feel bad if you haven't hooked a fish or been able to match some of the numbers you have heard about or the photos you have seen. Fly fishing the Yakima in a cold spring is one of the most difficult challenges an angler can face, but it is also the most rewarding as well. Stay the course and enjoy your time on the water, fish the way like to, and good things will happen. We'll make sure to keep giving out the right advice and helping you as best we can, just keep up the good work. Water Conditions are pretty good right now, the weather is cold but there are a few fish waiting for you. The LC is a little off color (about 2' of vis), the Farmlands on up are clear as can be. The fishing is what we will describe as average/slow throughout the system. There were reports of a good March Brown hatch yesterday but very few risers. It will happen sometime though, look for warmer days and cool nights to be the best but as we mentioned earlier... you just never know. Fly suggestions: K Stones 6-12 black/brown/olive, Double Beaded Peacock Stone 10, Double Beaded Black Stone 8, Skwala Cone Stone #8 (makes a great Golden!), San Juan Worms (especially in the LC as Wilson Creek is a chum line right now), SOFT HACKLE PT #12 (capitalized for importance), RCJ #16/18 (great when the water gets brown), CDC PT #14 (makes great March Brown emerger, nymph it during the hatch if there are no risers), Split Wing Adams 12 - for the March Browns, Split Wing BWO 16, Green Caddis Larvae (Mother's Day is only 19 Days out!)
4/20/08
Anglers: Steve, Joe, Joe, Mike, Al, and Ty
Location: Upper River
Flies: Pearl LB #16, PT #18/16, SJ Worm #12, RCJ #16/18, BWO Soft Hackle #16, Double Beaded Black Stone #10/8, Double Beaded Skwala Nymph #10, Olive K Stone #10, Green CJ #14/16, Princes #14
Time: 9 am until 6:00 pm
Results: About 8 trout landed to each boat (12-18")
The whole river is back in nice shape and fishing pretty good, nothing off the charts but good solid average run-of-the-mill regular fly fishing for wild trout. The cool weather has tamed the Teanaway and even the lower canyon is flowing a nice green color, Wilson Creek is still a bit dirty due to the irrigation canals being charged recently. It is clearing slowly and doesn't seem to be affecting the fishing as we had positive reports from the LC yesterday. It looks like the fish are starting get hungry again, gotta love it. Focus on the nymphing and maybe pitch some streamers against the bank as well. If the clouds blow in look for the BWO's and March Browns, but don't get your hopes up as the weather pattern is fairly cold. Look for a warm cloudy day and the lid might just blow off. The water temps are pretty cold but that keeps the clarity in good shape and the fish biting during banker's hours, the afternoon seems to be the most productive. The Lower Canyon has been producing a short hatch of Bwo's and March Browns so be ready to throw a dry and take advantage of the hatch as soon as you start seeing the Swallows spash the surface of the water. If they are up high, keep on nymphing.
4/19/08
Anglers: Joe, Steve, Joe, Ty, Mike, and Al
Location: Upper River
Flies: Pearl LB #16, PT #18/16, SJ Worm #12, RCJ #16/18, BWO Soft Hackle #16, Double Beaded Blace Stone #10/8, Double Beaded Skwala Nymph #10, Olive K Stone #10, Green CJ #14/16, Princes #14
Time: 9 am until 6:00 pm
Results: About 8 trout landed to each boat (12-18")
The whole river is back in nice shape and fishing pretty good, nothing off the charts but good solid average run-of-the-mill regular fly fishing for wild trout. The cool weather has tamed the Teanaway and even the lower canyon is flowing a nice green color, Wilson Creek is still a bit dirty due to the irrigation canals being charged recently. It is clearing slowly and doesn't seem to be affecting the fishing as we had positive reports from the LC yesterday. It looks like the fish are starting get hungry again, gotta love it. Focus on the nymphing and maybe pitch some streamers against the bank as well. If the clouds blow in look for the BWO's and March Browns, but don't get your hopes up as the weather pattern is fairly cold. Look for a warm cloudy day and the lid might just blow off.
4/17/08
Anglers: Sam, Mathew, and Joe
Location: Upper River
Flies: Pheseant Tails #12-18, Dirt Snakes, Brown K Stone #10, Olive K Stone #8/10, P Stone #10, Sculpzilla, Lightning Bugs #16, RCJ #16, Black CJ #18/16, Prince Nymphs #16, Bitteroot Skwala #10, Nightmare Skwala #10
Time: 9 am until 7:00 pm
Results: 6 Cutts and Rainbows landed and a few Whities (not a misprint, same results as last report)
The Lower Canyon is coming back into decent shape today and will continue to clear over the next few days, there is about 2' of vis and things are looking pretty good. Don't expect much in the way of dry fly activity or hatches, the cool weather and water will likely keep that to minimum. Do expect to hook a few fish as they will be hungry for the worms and nymphs after a small blowout like we had over the past few days. We will be fishing the entire river depending on the day, Wilson Creek is dumping a little mud so if water color aesthetics are important to you then the upper river might be a good idea but the LC is in decent fishing shape and the fish are probably going to need some food. We'll be by the phone if you need an up-to-the-minute clarity check. There will be some foul weather over the weekend but it should keep conditions looking good clarity wise. Thanks for listening, AND by the way. We'll be doing a short clinic on fishing the Eastern Washington Lakes on Saturday at 9 am down here at the shop. It is 100% free and you will get some awesome inside information on fishing the great stillwaters, Lenice, Dry Falls, Nunally, Dusty, Lenore... just to name a few. It should be a good class and you will learn some good info. If that isn't enough I'll make sure to have some Free Donuts. See you there.
4/16/08
Anglers: Steve and TJ
Location: Upper River
Flies: sz. 6-10 Stonefly nymphs, sz. 14-18 Lightening Bugs, sz. 18 Midge Pupae, sz. 8 Dirt Snakes, sz. 18 WD-40, sz. 6 Black Zandoli's Zonker, sz. 6 Sculpzilla
Time: 12:00 pm until 5:00 pm
Results: 6 Cutts and Rainbows landed and a few Whities
With the bulk of the system out of shape, we had a couple of boats on the Upper River yesterday between Ensign and East Cle Elum. Once in a while, the big fish are on the feed. Some think it's the barometer, some say the moon phase... Whatever it is, we had one of those days yesterday. Catching a trout like that is rare, and the more time you spend on the water, the more you appreciate it when it happens! There were some March Browns and BWO's that came off in the afternoon during the calm periods between wind gusts, snow flurries and sleet; but we never saw any fish feeding on the surface. We fished nymphs and streamers from the boat on the go and caught fish with both techniques. By the time we took off and headed back towards Ellensburg, the river below the Teanaway had cleaned up immensely, and even the canyon looks good this morning. It's amazing how fast this river came back into shape. The forecast ahead looks good. Cold nights will keep things clean, and cloudy skies should get these BWO's and March Browns on the move.
4/14/08
Anglers: --
Location: Red's
Flies: --
Time: 2:00 pm
Results: River update!
Flows continued to climb throughout the night, and are now showing signs of cresting around 3000 cfs. The river is pretty much unfishable from the Teanaway downstream this morning with only about 6" of visibility. The river above the Teanaway remains clear and low. We will be spending some time on the Upper rreaches over the next few days, and are hoping with the cool weather returning to the immediate forecast, we see things come back around by as soon as Thursday. If the forecast holds true, we could see some great BWO activity later this week with mostly cloudy skies and calm conditions.
4/13/08
Anglers: Mike, DB, and Joe
Location: The Farmlands
Flies: #6 Black K Stones, #6/8/10 Pat's Stones, #16 Bloody Mary, #14/16 Phesant Tails and Prince Nymphs, #16 RCJ, #10 Skwalameister, #10 Bitteroot Skwala, #10 San Juan Worms in various hues, #6 JJ Buggers, #6 Conehead Zuddlers
Time: 9 am - 6:30 pm
Results: 4 Trout landed and one Whitefish.
What a strange week, the fishing has been all over the board. Early in the week we had some good fishing, but starting on Wednesday the fish decided to go on a Hunger Strike and starve themselves. As if that wasn't enough, they decided to start moving out of the way of our flies and swim to other side of the river. As if that wasn't enough, they formed a Union and decided to go on strike until they are done spawning and the river comes up a little bit and brings them some fresh food. Our chief negotiators did mangage to bring a few across the picket lines in trade for a March Brown and a
Skwala. A few others were bribed by Stone Nymphs followed by a #12 Soft Hackle PT (great March Brown Nymph). Friday's fishing was truly tough, but as the river began to rise (thanks to the Teanaway) yesterday's fishing picked up a bit. Our boat only landed 4 trout, but one of our other guides working with some sharp anglers yanked maybe 10 trout out of the water, several of which were exceptional. Even a great Cutthroat came to hand, it must not have gotten out of the way fast enough :) ! The good news is, the snowmelt is actually bringing the water temps up from earlier this week and we are starting today at over 45 degrees, so despite the loss in clarity which is currently at 2' in the LC at 10 am, we have better temps to work with. The hatches are pretty good, the lid could blow off this fishing any day so stay with us. A bit more river to work with will hopefully spread the fish around and put some big trout in the shallows for us to pick on. The LC should stay fishable through today and probably through the early portion of the week. It is supposed to cool off and the freezing level will be at 1800' on Monday. The Upper Yak hasn't even budged so you can always fish the upper reaches above the Teanaway. We are looking forward to guiding on the Upper River a bit more anyway. The river will likely go out of shape bad some time in the next week or two but it is ok to have a blow up once in a while because "make up" fishing can be the best kind. You married guys know what I'm talking about.
4/11/08
Anglers: Scott, Chris, Johnny
Location: Irene to Ringer
Flies: sz. 8, 10 Stonefly Nymphs, sz. 14, 16 FBPT, sz. 16 Red Copper John, sz. 16 Lightening Bugs, sz. 8 Winged Thing Skwala, sz. 10, 12 Gypsy K Skwala, sz. 16 BWO Sparkle Duns
Time: 10 am - 6:00 pm
Results: 4 Small Trout landed and a couple of Whitefish.
After a decent day of fishing on Wednesday in the canyon, we had another tough day yesterday! The bump in flows comes mainly from a water release intended to charge the irrigation canals for the season. This also put a bit of the familiar green color into the water. Things are stable this morning, and we're optimistic about the day. Visibility is good, and we are glad to see the freshet of water hit the system. We expect water conditions to hold at least through Saturday, as evening temps are forecast to dip near freezing in the mountains, despite daytime highs of 70 degrees plus! We're now entering the Spring period when runoff could get to be a factor, so keep an eye on the flows and give us a call if there's any question regarding fishability. Afternoon Blue Wing hatches have been great on cloudy days, and we are still seeing a lot of Skwalas on the water. With a bump in flows and drop in visibility, the dirt snake (aka San Juan Worm) will become a standard part of the nymph rig.
4/07/08
Anglers: Arne, Pete, and Joe
Location: Red's to MM10
Flies: Black K Stone #8, P Stone 8/10/12 brown/black and Olive, Gary's PT 18, Black CJ 18, Red CJ 16/18, Caddis Sparkle Pupae (bright green) #16, Bitteroot Skwala, Flashback PT 14
Time: 9 am - 1:30 pm
Results: 1 or 2 trout landed, and a few whitefish.
Slow fishing in the LC yesterday morning, really slow. The morning started out with sunny skies and was shaping up to be a nice morning, then the storm blew in and dumped rain on us for a couple hours. Strange however, it didn't rain in the upper half of the Canyon. While were strapped down in Goretex in the bottom end, some anglers were sporting T Shirts in the top half. Funny how that works. I think we wrapped up our float too early yesterday, most of the mornings have been pretty slow but without a significant hatch (which is due any day?!) the low clear water is making things relatively slow. The fishing is not bad, the same 2 anglers had a great day on Saturday and put some pretty large fish in the boat. Just make sure to concentrate on the p.m. hours as there is still frost on the ground every morning it seems like. The hatches are going to start popping up any time and the next bump in volume will really help the fishing. A little rise in flow will push the nymphs up into the water column and get the fish feeding aggressively again. As the river is right now, most of the nymphs are able to maintain control and successfully hang on without being pushed downstream or up in the water column. They are a little more secure and hence the fish aren't looking for nymphs anywhere but on the bottom. A good strategy in low, clear, and dropping conditions is to work the edges of deeper pools with light line, small flies, and even some spit shot to grind them out. They are much more apt to take a fly on or near the bottom when the flow is stable. However, when the flow bumps up those nymphs will break loose and free drift allowing us to hook fish on nymphs that are fished up off of the bottom (this can make the fishing soooo good). It would also be nice to have a little color in the water to mellow the fish out, they are awfully spooky. Light lines and long casts are a good idea. There were some fish rising on Midge Clusters and Blue Wing Olives the last 2 days, so think about grabbing a couple of Griffith's Gnats and some Quigley Cripples. We never thought we would be asking for more water in a year that is still giving us snow into April, but I think we are ready for a little push of water. The San Juan worm is ready and waiting, we ordered 3 pallet loads of them and haven't used a single one yet. The March Brown hatch seems to be in a holding pattern, any day it should start going consistently. I'm not sure what they are waiting for because the water temps are looking good and the length of day (also important to Mayflies) is appropriate. Maybe this week sometime it will happen, that is the upside to low/clear conditions. If you do have the hatch, the sight casting to feeders is truly spectacular.
4/05/08
Anglers: Luke, Cory, and Joe
Location: Irene to Bighorn
Flies: Black K Stone #8, P Stone 8/10, Soft Hackle PT #12, Clack CJ #14, San Juan Worm, Gary's PT 18, Bitteroot Skwala #10
Time: 10 am - 6 pm
Results: 10 trout landed, and a few whitefish
Where did the hatch go? The Farmlands and upper end of the LC was devoid of any hatch yesterday other than a few Skwalas. The weather and temperatures seemed very
conducive to a March Brown hatch with rain and very dark sky, the BWO's did not make an appearance either. We did however see a couple of Skwalas and raise a few fish in the late afternoon on a Bitteroot pattern. Overall, the fishing was pretty good. Not 'smokin' but pretty good. And we did land the best fish that I have personally seen so far this spring, it was officially taped at 19.5". We field judged it larger but the taped doesn't exaggerate. The hatches were better in the LC to be certain, we
literally saw 1 fish rise in the entire Irene to Ringer stretch yesterday. The nymphing was decent though, it is worth an effort if you like the Farmlands. We'll have some more info
tomorrow, Red's.
4/04/08
Anglers: Mike and Dick
Location: Umtanum to Mahres
Flies: Skwala Dries, BWO's, and March Browns (primarily dry flies, some nymphing early on)
Time: 11 am - 6 pm
Results: 8+ trout landed, and a few whitefish
That hatches are starting to begin on the Yakima, the LC seems to be the most active for the Mayfly hatches but there are some Skwalas roaming around upriver still. The mainstay is becoming either a Blue Wing Olive pattern (nymph, emerger, or dry) or a MB. Some suggestions are size 18 Pearl Lightning Bugs or FB PT's for the BWO or even an Olive Soft Hackle in the 16-18 range. For the MB, use a #12 Soft Hackle Hare's Ear or a Soft Hackle PT for the emerging nymph. The river is handling the bump in water volume just fine and overall, it is a good thing and should spread some fish around for us. Several of us fished Isaak's Lake on Tuesday. We landed some nice fish in the Upper Lake, but didn't get any action in the Lower. Overall, we felt we were a tad early to experience the quality fishing Isaak's is known for, so we have pushed our April 6th date back a week to April 13th. We do have space open, and allowing another week for temps to warm up should get us into the window when we start to see some surface activity on the lake. Also, the Canyon marathon will be run TOMORROW. Recreational traffic is permitted - passes are available at the Flying J and all of the local fly shops. If you get stopped at the road block and experience problems getting through, please give the shop a call. The speed limit is 25 mph, and you can expect to see runners in both lanes, so please drive carefully coming down!
4/02/08 LATE PM
Anglers: Bruce, Blair, and Joe
Location: --
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: --
Its a good time to fish, I won't mess it up with an attempt to verbally amuse you tonight. True spring fishing is getting underway, March Browns, Blue Wings, Skwalas,
Midge, and a few Cuban Cigars... you want some of that hot action? Call us.
4/02/08
Anglers: Jim, Griffin, and Joe
Location: LC
Flies: P Stones of every make and model, Olive K Stone #10, Gary's PT #18, Flashback PT #20/18, Pearl Lightning Bug #18, Bitteroot Skwala #10, March Brown #10, BWO Parachute #18
Time: 11:30 am - 4 pm
Results: 3-4 Nice Trout (14"-17") and a bunch of Whitefish
Yesterday was a good turnaround in the fishing, we broke a 2 game losing streak and should be climbing back to the top of our division by the end of the weekend. Our
home stand against the Skwala Stoneflies is just about over, but the Blue Wings and March Browns will be in town and I think our pitching staff is well rested enough that we can shut them down. Lots of singles and the
occasional double is the expected outcome. Just keep your eye on the fly. The hatch yesterday was pretty good, the best I have personally seen so far this spring and for about an hour and a half there was more than ample sight casting opportunity. They were a bit resistant to the Skwala, wonder why? I guess they have been hooked on that one a few too many times. They are anxious to eat a MB - one of the
preferred patterns that we use is a Split Wing Adams (it is a parachute with 2 posts and some flash on the underbody), it floats awesome and you can search with it on the go. The river is still super low and clear, yesterday we could actually see fish levitating mid column waiting for MB's to come down the lane. It was awesome, you don't get to see that very often. A couple of tips, think big feeding lanes and bring 'em off the bank a ways. The water is so clear and low that a lot of fish have pulled out to midstream.
Especially if you are working MB and BWO hatches as these bugs don't fall out of the trees into the water, at least not very often.
I don't mean to blow your mind Dude, but they actually come from
underwater and fly away once they hit the surface. I know... that
is crazy but it is true and I have seen it happen.
4/01/08
Anglers: --
Location: LC
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: --
"If you don't like the weather now, just wait 30 minutes..." this old saying could not have been more true this week. We have had snow, sun, wind, hail, sleet, and then usually some more sun afterwards. All in all, the fishing has been so sporadic that it hardly seemed fair to post actual catch numbers, but we will give you a generalization of the current conditions. The water is COLD - it dipped down to 35 degrees yesterday, but the good news is that it has only one direction to go and that is up. When this water temp climbs the fish are going to be hungry and need some food because they have been relatively inactive over the last week with all the mixed weather patterns. A couple of days fished quite good, but overall we'll have to admit it has been slow. Especially the dry fly fishing. The water temps are up a degree or so from yesterday as of 7 am which is a good start and the forecast is for fishing to start rockin' by Friday with
nighttime temps around 35 versus 21 which is how cold it was last night. Daytime temps near 60 is a good thing, the river will stay in perfect shape and the trout will start to feed
heavily. Think about getting some trips planned before temps start getting into the 70's if you like fishing dry flies in clear water. That was a rhetorical statement, we all like fishing dry flies in clear water
but you get the point. Especially Blue Wings, March Browns, and Skwala Stoneflies. By the way, all of which are now hatching on the river. The Skwala hatch has been amazing, even in the LC it is still going. The BWO's are a mid day staple now (nothing super yet, but its coming
up soon), and the March Brown is beginning to show in the upper portion of the LC. The March Brown is one of the Big Mac's of
the Mayfly menu. If you have never hit this hatch right on you are not alone
as it can be kind of sporadic and the hatch is commonly very fast and furious, inversely there are days where it continues for hours and these are the days you will remember forever. It is a size 12 and can be considered a Monster Mayfly, very vulnerable to the fish while it is drying its wings and some of the river's biggest fish key into this hatch. Make sure to have a Hatch Rod ready to go, the
emergence will come on strong and be over before you know it some days.
Especially on the colder, windy days. On the warm cloudy days it
will be more evenly distributed as the water temps are undergoing only
gradual changes rather than an aggressive rise and drop. If your guide parks on a riffle and says it is a good time to 'post up' and wait for the hatch, trust him
and be patient. The MB is worth it. Any questions? Call the shop, we'll be waiting to field them for you.
3/29/08
Anglers: Most of the Yakima River Guides and Stewards
Location: Ellensburg Fairgrounds
Flies: --
Time: 6:00 pm
Results: A free education.
The meeting of the minds last night regarding watershed management in the Yakima River Basin was excellent and I would describe it as an inspiration. Biologists from the WDFW and the Yakima Nation presented (along with others), their current research, findings, and vision for our mother stream. The meeting started out a bit depressing after seeing what has been done to mame this river, it really is a living, breathing, and growing creature that seems to have a heartbeat of its own. The destruction of the flood plain and much of the hydrodynamics of this river and its tributaries have been altered for the worse and it was very enlightening to learn more about it and listen to speakers that have dedicate TWO DECADES of their lives to learning more about this. I learned more in 2 hours last night regarding river morphology as it applies to fisheries habitat than in all 4 years of a Geography/Environmental Studies degree. The meeting brought many of the problems to light, and the positive conclusion was that we have identified the limiting factors to the carrying capacity of our trout stream and executing them is reasonably feasible. Loss of side channel and braided habitat seemed to be the number one problem addressed, the dikes have created a channelization that ultimately results in loss of critical habitat by failing to allow side channelization and woody debris formation. In addition, the natural flood cycle and runoff pattern is very different than it used to (not just reffering to high summer flows, the entire watershed from logging, cattle grazing, suburban sprawl on down the line.) Even the water table's contribution to the river during summer months is altered, this is critical. Natural streams are typically still receiving returns of spring flood water that is still cold through the ground during the hot days of summer. Additionally, the bank habitat (THE MOST IMPORTANT HABITAT FOR RAINBOW TROUT) has diminished over time and needs to be supplemented in order to achieve maximum productivity. Some other factors were ditches, diversions, and pumps need to be screened which will keep juvenille fish from entering intermittent and seasonal waterways. When these dry up, they ultimately die and are lost forever. The beauty of all this, we know what needs to be done and much of it is feasible. Projects as simple as creating small habitat dikes, rockpiles, and anchoring woody debris into areas void of it will greatly increase productivity and habitat. We plan on adopting a habitat restoration project somewhere in the Lower Canyon sometime in 2008, this might be as simple as planting trees or adding boulders to areas that lack them. The biologists explain that any structure that contributes to "fattening up" the banks and increasing bankward habitat will help the fishery. These fish are not limited in size, growth, genetics, or population by the available food source. They are limited by the potential living space and habitat. What is even more interesting, all of the biologists seemed to unanimously agree that there is a massive amount of remaining potential in this river and it can only get better as education and angler participation increase. We will be selling Trout Unlimited Memberships right on the counter of our fly shop for those interested in helping the cause. We have a great local chapter in Ellensburg whose primary focus is helping the Yakima River reach full potential. Please join the fight, join TU. Red's. Oh yea, current conditions.... low, clear, cold, and beeeeautiful out here right now. A great day to be out, enjoy nature, and listen close for the heartbeat of the river. Sometimes it is faint, but it is definately there.
3/28/08
Anglers: Bruce, Lee, and Doug
Location: Big Horn to Red's
Flies: #8 P Stone, #18 droppers of various sorts but the #18 Flashback PT was the BEST! #18 Mogandy Para Dun was used to sleuce 'em during hatch time.
Time: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Results: 10 + Rainbows and some nice Whitefish too.
What great winter fishing we are having over here, the casting pond is frozen in the morning and there is tremendous snow on the pass. WHEN WILL IT END?!!! The upside though is that the river is in pristine shape, we all prayed for a long cool spring and we are getting just that. Even runoff and cold nights and days will do that, we could do without the snow showers but it seems like within minutes of the snow ending the sun is back out. Amazing weather patterns, fairly stable though and the fishing has been good. The nymphing was steady though and the BWO hatch was good enough to put 5 rainbows in the net in 10 minutes!? That sounds like a good time, not to mention the Skwala is still out and about as well. Anyway, we'll see you this weekend. Mention the
road kill pheasant on Saturday and get one free fly for being a loyal listener. I want to see if we have more than
just one.
3/27/08
Anglers: John, Patty, and Joe
Location: Umtanum to MM10
Flies: Size 10 Brown Wing Bitteroot, Gypsy King 10, Flat Wing Skwala 10, P Stone 10 Olive w/ green legs, Olive K Stone, Gary's PT 16, CDC PT 16
Time: 11:00 am - 5:00 pm
Results: About 5 Rainbows (11"-16"), 1 Cutthroat 12", and some Whitefish.
We saw it all yesterday, from closures on 2 passes, snow in Ellensburg, 30 mph winds, sun, and even some fog filling up the high ravines. That is what March can be like when you live between the mountains and the desert. The fishing was pretty decent overall, not extraordinary but it was alright. We threw dries most of the day but did nymph a little when we were feeling down. The Skwala hatch is strong right now, amazing really. There have been Skwala Stoneflies hatching since around March 1st and I would have to say this is the longest and steadiest I have personally ever seen this hatch. The cold weather is keeping water temps and flows very even and if we could make a suggestion, plan your trips now before the weather warms up. If you like to fish clear water, NOW is the time. The river is small and clear, very fishable on foot or in a pontoon boat. In addition the BWO hatch starting Monday has gotten fairly predictable around 2 pm, it will get better as water temps climb but if you are patient and willing to work the risers with light tippets and soft casts it can be a great time right now. For the rest you Neandrathals that don't like 3 weights, 6x, and educated trout the nymphing is pretty good right now. We nymphed for just short intervals yesterday and the fish were pretty snappy. We also want to note a couple of new games that we're playing at the fly shop. The first is guess what is in the back of the guides pickup truck. You are the winner if you guessed... 1 roadkill pheasant, 3 beer bottles, an empty Red Bull can, a hatchet, and an empty bottle of Pepto Bismol. If you are the winner send us an email, we can split the feathers out of the phesant as a prize. The second game.... still working out the details and this one is for real. We have a competition casting pond at the shop now, and as the customer you can challenge the guide, or shop staff running the register to a casting competition and earn free Red's Fly Shop Gear. We'll get the details ironed out soon. All in good fun, plus you can talk smack if you can beat us on the pond. Good luck, stop in and buy a Coke next time you are out fishing.
3/24/08
Anglers: Steve, Jeff, and Steve
Location: Umtanum to Roza
Flies: sz. 8-12 Stonefly nymphs, sz. 14-18 PT, sz. 16 Copper John, sz. 14-18 Lightening Bugs
Time: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Results: 10+ Rainbows (12"-18") and some Whitefish.
We hope you and your families enjoyed the Easter weekend! We've started each day out recently with blue skies and sunshine, which has given way to periods of clouds, cold, and even some wind in the afternoon. Today is clear and sunny again, and we're optimistic that it will stick around. As for the fishing, BWO's have become more consistent, and we have seen fish eating them in some of the softer currents. We are still fishing Skwala dries in the afternoon. The big dry fly fishing has not been a quantity game, but the fish looking for them have been a notch bigger on the quality end! With sub surface fishing, we have seen the preference switch from Stonefly nymphs to smaller bugs - likely due to the elevated BWO activity. The trout are in great shape and seem to have wintered very well. With another good snow pack season and healthy summer flows ahead of us, there will be some very large trout caught this year.
3/21/08
Anglers: Johnny and Bruce
Location: Ringer to Red's
Flies: Stone nymphs sz. 8-12, sz. 10 Power Worm, sz. 14-18 Copper John, sz. 16 PT, sz. 8 Gypsy King Skwala, sz. 10 Bugmeister
Time: 9:30 am - 5:00 pm
Results: 6-8 nice Rainbows landed on dries and lots of Whitefish on nymphs.
The dry fly fishing was pretty good on this particular day, and it was the nymphing that was tougher. Again, long dry spells followed by a flurry of activity on the dries has been the norm. We have seen several pods of trout eating BWO's in the afternoon, which is great news! This should become a major part of the program, especially on cloudy days. We have seen signs of some spawning acitivity with the Yakima Rainbows. Please be aware of this (fish stacked in shallow gravel with rub marks on tails and fins) and try not to target or distrub the redds. These fish will do their thing and start feeding voraciously when they finish! The highlight of the day with Bruce was not a fish that came to hand - but the infamous "one that got away". The indicator went down and Bruce set the hook on what felt like a solid fish. After staying deep and bulldogging for a long time, Bruce was able to bring the fish up near the boat. What they saw was the bright red stripe on the side of a fish in the 7-8 pound range. Bruce kept the pressure on it, but the line suddenly went slack. They were surprised to find the eye of the hook of the sz. 16 PT still attached to the 5X tippet - with no body on the fly. Johnny has seen enough Steelhead to be confident that's what they were looking at - there are 200-300 that make it over Roza on an annual basis. Lastly, we will be open on Easter Sunday until noon, so if you're planning to spend the day on the river, we'll be able to run a shuttle for you.
3/19/08
Anglers: Carl, Ron, and Mike
Location: Ringer to Red's
Flies: Kaufmann's Stone sz. 8-12, Pat's Stones sz. 8-12, sz. 10 Power Worm, sz. 14-18 Lightning Bug, sz. 14-18 Copper John, sz. 18 WD-40
Time: 10:00 am - 7:00 pm
Results: 8-10 Rainbows landed (12"-19") and lots of Whitefish.
Cool nights have kept the river flows down and clarity up over the past 4 days. The fishing has been a mixed bag, with decent afternoon dry fly fishing one day, and not much of anything on the surface the next. We have started seeing some BWO's coming off for the past 2 days, but no fish actively eating them yet, either. Our basic strategy has been to get on the water around 10:00 am and fish nymphs until after lunch. We've been hooking lots of fish nymphing, with the overall ratio favoring Whitefish; although yesterday we did land a fair number of trout, including several nice ones, on nymphs under an indicator. After lunch, we have been switching to dries and casting at likely spots along the bank. The thing about fishing Skwalas is you may go a long ways without seeing a rise, and then hit 2 or 3 fish all at once. The bugs are out, and the trout know it - it's just a matter of being persistent enough to find that fish with the "snappy demeanor". If you're having slow fishing in the tight to the bank zone, don't be afraid to try running 10 feet out. A lot of that water gets overlooked.
3/17/08
Anglers: Gayle, Arne, and Joe
Location: Farmlands
Flies: Olive K Stone #10/12, Pat Stones Olive, Brown, Tan, #12-8, San Juan Worms, RCJ #16, BCJ #16, PT's #14/16, Sculpzilla #6/4, JJ Buggers #4, Bitteroot Skwala #10/8, Clark's Skwala #8/10, Gypsy King #10
Time: 9 am - 5 pm
Results: 4 Very hard earned trout (13"-17"), only several other hooked.
Very tough fishing in the Farmlands over the weekend, we had a cold snap and a pressure change that kicked the winds up and despite good Skwala activity the fished stayed low and did their best to avoid both nymphs and dry flies. That is how it goes sometimes, we had a really good run with steady dry fly fishing on most days. The water temps took a dive and actually got down below 38, which is semi rare for this time of year. We prefer to have them stay over 40 to keep the fish interested in steady hatches of Skwala Stonefly and BWO's, the midge will continue to hatch at lower temps but they are a less significant food source than the aforementioned BWO. Now for the GOOD NEWS, water temps took a big jump yesterday afternoon and this morning and are up near 40 degrees at 9:30 am already this morning. We had good reports of dry fly fishing in the LC yesterday afternoon, so it looks like we are back on track after a slow Saturday. The extended weather forecast looks like it will keep the river in good shape for at least another week, if you are thinking about a guided trip or Cast n' Blast now is the time. Prerunoff is a great time to fish. Red's.
3/14/08
Anglers: Your name here
Location: Red's
Flies: --
Time: 9 am
Results: Better angling.
Just a reminder that we are having a FREE Spring Wade fishing clinic
tomorrow at 9 am, just bring your rod, reel, and waders and we'll give you a couple of hours learning some of the tricks to wade fishing the Yak during the springtime. No reservation necessary, see you around 9 am and if you are a few minutes late no worries, we'll be down at the river.
3/13/08 late pm
Anglers: Hap, Slick, and Joe
Location: Umtanum to Marhes
Flies: sz. 10 Olive K Stone, #10/12 Olive/Brown P Stone (pat's stone), sz. 16 RCJ, sz. 16 PT, JJ Bugger's #4, Sculpin Zuddler #4, Morrish Sculpin #6, Bitteroot Skwala #10, Winged Thing Olive #10, Single Skwala w/ legs #10
Time: 9:30 am -6:45 pm
Results: ? Trout landed, a couple of fnpigs.
The fishing continues to be steady, flows are up a bit but the water clarity in the LC is really good right now. Just a hint of glacial green to keep things looking "mysterious" under the surface. We completed the trifecta yesterday, fish hooked on streamers, nymphs, and dry flies (yes!). The fishing was average to good for this time of year, our catch numbers would be a bit misleading if posted. I think we were just holding our mouths right. The evening dry fly fishing was pretty good, and almost every fish that ate was 16" or so, very nice. We expect the river to hold through the weekend despite the lite showers we're having in Eburg. There shouldn't be much that changes, the nymphing and dry fly fishing are both productive but don't expect miracles because the water is still very cold and the fly has to be SPOT ON, with very exceptions. Presentation cannot be overated this time of year, fly pattern and strategy matters little in comparison to being able to throw perfect drifts with relatively long delicate casts. Good luck, and the big fish are biting!
3/11/08
Anglers: Jeff, Jeff, and Steve
Location: MM 19 to Lmuma
Flies: sz. 8-12 Stonefly Nymphs, sz. 14-18 RCJ, sz. 16, 18 PT, sz. 14, 16 Lightening Bugs, sz. 8, 10 Winged Thing, sz. 8, 10 Bitteroot Skwala, sz. 8 Para Skwala
Time: 10:30 am -6:30 pm
Results: 6 Trout landed 12"-17", and a bunch of Whities
The past few days have us scratching our heads a little bit, as some of the best fishing we've experienced has been with nymphs in the earlier part of the day. We continue to run a shallow nymph rig (stone with smaller dropper about 3'-4' under an indicator) with success, but the dry fly fishing has been a mixed bag. We've been switching to dries around noon and getting some action, but it's felt like we're still a day or two away from the fish really keying in on the adult Skwalas. The river has climbed about 50 cfs each day over the past 4 days, but visibility is great and we could actually use a bit more volume, as some of the weak side banks are still too shallow to hold fish right now. The best of the Spring is ahead of us - we're expecting to see some BWO's enter the equation soon as water temps continue to climb, as well. We have a free wade fishing clinic at the shop this Saturday at 9:00 am. No reservation necessary - just swing in with your gear and plan to spend a couple of hours in the river discussing wading strategies and techniques. You may as well plan to make a day of it and fish afterwards!
3/07/08
Anglers: Ethan, Steve, and Joe
Location:
LC
Flies: K Stone Olive 12/10/8, P Stone Olive/Brown 8/10, CJ 16, Red CJ 16, Black CJ 16, Bitteroot SKWALA! #10, Parachute SKWALA! #10
Time: 8-5 pm
Results: 10+ Trout landed 13"-18"
Quite a day, the first few days of good dry fly fishing after a long cold winter are the best. The fish were on top looking for dry flies today
and conditions could not have been better. Warm, cloudy, calm, and adult Skwalas on the river. It is still a bit early and the fishing will get better but today would have been hard to beat
any time. The afternoon is prime, the morning will be a slow starter
especially if there is frost on the ground. The dry fly fishing can be
spotty if you don't fish the fly with confidence and hit all the micro seems with a perfect float. Every year Skwala fishing surprises me by the subtle seems that the fish will watch while waiting for a big stonefly, it just doesn't seem right.
You would think they would be watching the main arterials looking for
big bugs but they typically don't. Focus on the little water and fish your dry flies with all the grace and finesse that you would a BWO on 5X
in the fall, there is a lot of touch involved with presenting big dry flies in
thin, clear water. It can be tough to make a #8 Bitteroot look
real in 2' of slick walking speed current. It requires some soft
touch, more of a Winston style presentation. This Skwala thang AIN'T
hopper fishin so cast with class and save the Billy Bob deliveries for
summertime. See you at the shop
tomorrow, Red's.
3/02/08
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies:
--
Time: 7 pm
Results: Dropping, clearing, and looking good!
The river did bounce up a bit over the weekend just as we thought it might, but it did remain fishable through the weekend and the current trend shows that it is dropping and clearing and looking very fishy. This is a tough time of year to predict catch numbers, we not only contend with fluctuations in volume but at the same time it can be quite cold
or warm, which may upset the trout's routine. The UPSIDE of this time of year however, is that when it is good its GREEAAAT! The average size of fish seems to be quite large.
The most mature Rainbows are packing on weight in preparation for the
spawn. One prediction that we GUARANTEE will come true this week..... somebody,
somewhere will be catching fish on Skwala dry flies and if it isn't
you... you will WISH it was. True statement, made in true Red's style.
2/29/08 Late PM
Anglers: Joe, Sam, and David
Location: MM20 to Red's
Flies: Bitteroot Skwala #10, P Stone (olive/brown) #12/10, Flashback PT 14, K Stone Olive #10
Time: 10 till 6 pm
Results: About 8-10 Trout Landed
We fished dry droppers till about 2 pm, then ran straight dry flies for the remainder of the afternoon. We did not turn a lot of fish, but they did eat a dry fly and the average size was really nice. Water clarity was good in the afternoon as the river stabilized, but we might be in for the first big jump in flows by Saturday afternoon. The Upper Yak and Teanaway are both on a big climb, the good news is that at 1600 in the canyon and Wilson Creek running CLEAR we can handle some water and still be OK. It may thwart the dry fly fishing but the water is staying above 40
degrees all day now, so the fish are pretty hungry and willing. Its tough to predict the future, but it should fish pretty good through the weekend. Red's.
2/28/08
Anglers: Joe and Bryan
Location: MM20 to Red's
Flies: Bitteroot Skwala #10, Flashback PT 14, K Stone Olive #10
Time: Noon till 5 pm
Results: 8-10 Trout Landed (all VERY nice trout), one Whitefish.
NOW is the time, fish are eating nymphs aggressively and there are some takers on dries. No reason to mess up a good report with a bunch of small talk, over and out. Red's.
2/25/08
Anglers: Gary, TJ, and Troy
Location: MM19 to Red's
Flies: Olive K Stone #10, Pat's Stone, Braided Cone Stone #8/10, Black CJ 16/18, PT with Black Bead 16, PT Soft Hackle 16 (no beadhead), Black WD40 18, Biot Sparkle Stone 16, Sheila's Sculpin #6, Caddis Lavae #16 (bright green rockworm)
Time: Noon till Dark
Results: 10-12 Trout Landed ( 2 in the 17" range, 1 16" fish), several Whitefish, and a couple of LDR's
Good fishing on the Yakima right now, each day is slightly different but the trout are on the take, the river is holding is size and color very well despite the warm temperatures, the forecast for the week looks great. Thursday it is predicted to hit 54 degrees, still a bit early for dry fly fishing but it won't be long now. Keep the nymph stick in your hands and you if that doesn't keep you satisfied then try tossing streamers on a sink tip if wading, or on a floating line if you are fishing out of a drifter. The big trout are pre spawn and looking to bulk up. TJ, Troy, and Gary found that the fish took a variety of small nymphs as long as you had them on or near the bottom. Parking or working through known holes in detail and running your indicator at a depth near the bottom is the ticket, this water is still pretty cold. Yesterday's high temp was 39.1 F so be patient and don't expect the fish to move very far. They will take willingly as long as you make it easy for them. Good luck, stop in the store to say hi or waive while on the river. Thanks, Red's.
2/23/08
Anglers: NONE
Location: Wenatchee, Methow, UC, OK, and Similkameen Rivers.
Flies: None
Time: --
Results: Closure
Bad news yesterday, the Met and Wenatchee are closing
after tomorrow which is very disappointing and surprising at the same time. We're going to shift some of our Steelhead offerings to the Grande Ronde, but it looks like we'll have to settle for wild trout. Not a bad back up plan. Just wanted to let everyone know, you have
tomorrow and that's it. Bummed out in Eburg, Red's.
2/22/08 - OT
Anglers: Joe and his Dad
Location: Most of
the Eastern Cascades
Flies: Many
Time: --
Results: Multiple Hook Up Days on Steelhead
Two Cell Phone photos on big trout?
We don't typically host amateur grade Fish Porn on this site but these
trout are too big not to post. That fish of Gary's is spectacular,
Gary is big, the kids even call him "Scary Gary" and anyone who can read
a trout knows what he is holding. That is a bonified Yakima "HAWG"!
Congrats to the big man. The good camera is always in the truck when the big one finally gets caught!
Fishing every where is getting good, Steelheading on the Wenatchee and Methow is rolling along, multiple hook ups per day are not uncommon
and in fact, they are about the norm for experienced anglers. Conditions on the Methow are still very cold with about 3 feet of snow through most of the valley, but I personally don't know any fisherman who could be deterred by that.
Bring your snowshoes or your self bailing raft if you have one. The Wenatchee is a little warmer, and a little closer. If you are thinking about steelhead fishing it is an easy day trip from Seattle. Assuming roads are dry, you can be on the river in 2.5 hours.
If you aren't into the steelhead thing, do not miss out on pre-runoff
trout fishing on the Yakima starting now. Some of the best is
right around the corner. Spring fishing is starting rock 'n roll, let's do it.
2/22/08
Anglers: Gary and TJ
Location: Big Horn to Umtanum
Flies: sz. 6-10 Stonefly nymphs, sz. 6-10 Dirt Snakes (aka worms), sz. 14-18 Lightening Bugs, sz. 14-18 Prince Nymphs
Time: 10:30 am until 4:30 pm
Results: 8-10 trout landed including a trophy, several Whitefish
Water temps have warmed several degrees over the past 4-5 days, and the fish have responded favorably. The trout have become more active, and are starting to see a large number of Stonefly nymphs moving towards the banks. Turn over any larger rock along the edge and you'll likely find a number of Skwala nymphs. These Stoenfly nymphs will be the trout's focus over the next 2-3 weeks, and if this weather pattern holds, we should see some dry fly fishing during that timeframe. We're targeting the standard ledges and drop offs, and concentrating more on the middles and tails of runs than the heads. There are large numbers of Midge showing in the middle part of the day, and if you find yourself in the right place, you may have an opportunity there, as well. All in all, it's a great time to be on the river, and it should only get better! Gary and TJ took the day to make a float yesterday which was monumental for Gary, as he landed the largest trout (possibly a Steelhead) that he's caught on the Yakima. TJ attributes it to great rowing effort, although gary claims they were anchored at the time. Their story is about as clear as the photo!
2/18/08
Anglers: --
Location: Lower Canyon
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: --
Quite a day in Ellensburg today, not a cloud in sight and believe it or not.... NO wind. Not even a breeze in the air. There was a pretty good turnout of anglers in the LC today in response to the perfect weather and water
conditions. We even made a few jokes around the shop, asking where guys were 2-3 weeks ago when the weather was cold. Everyone has a little "fair weather" angler in them even if they won't admit it! Overall, the catching seemed to be pretty slow but the fish landed were exceptional. That is the typically the M.O. for the later half of February, not big numbers but there are some big fish. The wise old fish like to put on plenty of weight prior to the spawn and runoff. Conditions look good for fishing over the next week or so, hope to see you out here. PS - most of the access below Red's is still iced in so think about floating somewhere between KOA to Red's if you are bringing a drifter.
2/14/08
Anglers: Bill, Steve, and Joe
Location: Irene to Ringer
Flies: Pat's Stone #10-4 in various colors, Pearl LB 16 and 20, PT 16, JJ Bugger Conehead Style, Sculpzilla (big and baby sized), K Stone black #8/10, Skwala Cone Stone #10, San Juan Worms - pink/red brown/red.
Time: 10 - 4:30 pm
Results: 4 Nice trout landed, 3 whitefish.
The river is back in good shape throughout the system, the canyon is a little off color but not too bad to fish. The Farmlands on up are in perfect shape and fishing should be quite good after the brunt of a new pressure system slammed us in Ellensburg yesterday. Cle Elum saw about 10" of new snow and the winds in Ellensburg yesterday were nearly 20 mph with sunny skies, that makes for very tough fishing conditions. We are happy to have put up the numbers that we did - a big "Cyber High Five" and chest bump goes out to our guests from yesterday for manning up and pulling out a few fish when it would have been easy to
just bag it. Today the conditions are a whole different story altogether, warm, cloudy, and very fishy. More like the February weather we hope for, fishing should be darn good right now
and temps are supposed to hit 50 on Sunday. With nighttime lows in
the upper 20's and a stable weather pattern these trout will find some
routine over the weekend and feed heavily in the afternoon hours.
2/12/08
Anglers: Joe and Troy
Location: Upper River
Flies: --
Time: 10 - 4 pm
Results: 3 Nice trout landed, 2 whitefish.
The Yak is in great shape from Ellensburg on up, but the lower Farmlands and Canyon are in pretty bad shape due to the initial
runoff stirring up the ditches in the Kittitas Valley. That should subside over the next few days and clear up nicely. It is primarily a wade fishing game right now with a lot of boat launches still snowed in, but the hard core anglers that don't mind dragging a raft or pontoon will find the river ALL to themselves. We'll be sliding in and sliding out
tomorrow, hopefully with some more big fish pics to follow. It's not a bad idea to get your first trip of the spring planned now!
PS - Ice is off of the Wenatchee, steelhead fishing is back on.
2/11/08
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies: --
Time: --
Results: --
The Yakima River from Ellensburg down is marginal at the moment, about 12-18" of vis and doesn't look good. This is the first bit of initial runoff and the low lying snow is fading fast,
unbelievably fast. The temperatures are great and spring is in the air. The upper Yakima looks to be in good shape still but you'll find most boat launches snowed in so plan on wade fishing. The river should come back in check, over the next couple of days
and be fishing awesome, the trout are going to be very hungry after a
brutal cold snap followed by a warm (and temporary) blowout.
2/9/08
Anglers: Troy and Eric
Location: Ringer to Big Horn
Flies: sz. 6-10 Stonefly Nymphs, sz. 16, 18 Lightening Bug, sz. 16, 18 RCJ, sz. 18 PT, sz. 6 Sculpin Streamers (Brown and Olive)
Time: noon - 3:30 pm
Results: 2 Rainbows landed (15", 16") and several more lost.
The river from Ringer to Red's is free of all ice and in excellent floating and fishing shape. Below Red's there is a high ice shelf (like 6' high!)along the banks that will impede drift boat trailer access. Johnny reported yesterday that there were also a couple of spots in the Irene section that are frozen across - give it a few more warm days before trying that one. We have actually had very nice weather in the canyon over the past week. The snow is melting daily, and we've seen lots of sunshine. If you can find a window when they'll let you over the pass, it's a good time to be on the water. Target the shallower water areas when you're fishing - and don't be afarid to spend some time in the areas that look "fishy". All it takes is the right drift! We are now in the zone when the Skwala stonefly nymphs will begin migrating towards the banks. if you catch the river on a day when the water temperatures are taking a bump, you're likely to find lots of players.
2/5/08
Anglers: --
Location: Yakima River
Flies: --
Time: 8 am
Results: The Yakima is in perfect shape again.
The ice flow is completely gone other than a bit of shelf ice here and there, and the fishing should be very good over the next few days as the temperatures start to reflect early spring in Ellensburg. We may even hit the 50 degree mark in the next week or so. Grab that nymphing stick and give it a shot because it won't be long and the Skwala Stone Nymphs will be on the move towards the river bank. We did manage to make it the Bellevue Fly Fishing Show this last weekend, despite adverse pass conditions. It was great to see so many familiar faces and thanks for the support again this year. It is without doubt our favorite show because we get to see so many folks we know. We still have plenty of Spring Steelhead Dates left so if landing a steelhead on the fly is on your 'to do' list for 2008, we're happy to help. Sincerely, Red's.
Flies:
Sz. 6 Dbl Beaded Stone, sz. 8 Glo Bug (hooks cut partially off)
Time: 6:00 pm
Results: One Steelhead hooked Friday! and one hooked Saturday!
You know its cold when the owner of the fly shop heads to the Bahamas for the weekend and the Number 2 man has to resort to fishing steelhead indoors!
- Is indoor fishing the wave of the future? I hope not. Pro baseball and football started to go downhill fast as soon as the first "domes" were built. Although steelhead fishing in January wearing jeans and dress shoes isn't bad either. For the record, I did fair hook one steelhead each day in the river, both on a #6 glo-bug
with the tip of the hook cut off. The fish on Saturday jumped about 3 times and splashed me and the
audience, right before it wrapped me around a boulder and broke the line.
Typical. Anywho, the Puyallup show was a lot of fun and thank you to everybody who made it down and for those that didn't we'll see you this upcoming weekend in Bellevue.
Red's will have an entire separate booth strictly dedicated to Simms products, so if you are in the market make sure to find us.
1/25/08
Angler: Joe
Location: Puyallup Fairgrounds - the Steelhead River!
Flies:
Sz. 6 Dbl Beaded Stone, sz. 8 Glo Bug (hooks cut off)
Time: 6:00 pm
Results: No fish to hand!
Major ice flows and near zero temperatures on the Yakima have us all in a pretty ornery mood! We're ready for this arctic front to push through! We do have some guests at Rocky Ford today, and our booth is set up at the Puyallup Sportsman's show. Swing by and say hello if you get a chance, it'd probably make our day! We are doing a daily presentation in the "Steelhead River", which is an indoor casting pond complete with flowing water and big boulders. We are giving a "Nymphing for Steelhead" presentation twice daily. Joe thought he had a bump yesterday, but we're skeptical! (Note to readers: there aren't any fish in the pond!). We will let you know when conditions improve on the Yak. I (Steve) must confess, I am feeling a hint of guilt, as I think of TJ braving the sub 20 degree weather at Rocky Ford, while I sit here packing my Bonefishing gear for a quick trip to the Bahamas. I think it'll pass - along with the snowcrested peaks of the Cascades as we head South!
1/17/08
Anglers: --
Location: --
Flies:
--
Time: Noon
Results: --
Ice flow - you may want to give us a call before you come out, the forecast suggests a chance of getting the river clear on Saturday. Give us a call, but it looks like even if the ice flow clears that water temps will hover around 32-33 anyway which can be pretty tough fishing.
Results: 1 Whitefish to hand, and about 6 hook ups total.
The body count was little low today, but the bite actually wasn't that bad. We were out for a few hours with one youngster that braved the cold and managed to fight a couple of fish only to lose them in heartbreaking fashioned. It was one of the nicer days we have had in a couple of weeks and you can already feel the effect of longer days and a little more direct sun angle. The trip through the 'dark side of the moon' (that is Guide Grammar for floating through sunny sections and getting warmed up only to float around a shady bend and experience a hundred degree temperature drop) seemed to pass more quickly and was not demobilzing as it can be on some winter days. We saw several groups of bald eagles and actually missed a few hookups while gazing up at our National bird. We got a few tugs on a streamer but none seemed to stick, light grabs so make sure to have an "itchy trigger finger" on that streamer. The midge hatch was pretty good and we saw a few fish rise. We weren't in a position to throw dries, but I think the 3 wt. is going to become a sidearm later this week. Watch the forecast, the days above freezing should fish fine. Thanks, Red's. PS - on another note, the fishing looked like it was better for one of our other guides. Troy was netting a nice fish for a client as we were driving up the canyon. Nice work Troy. Also, check out the posting above for our Spring Steelhead Trips. It might be your last shot at steelhead until fall and you may want to secure your dates early. Red's.
1/07/08
Anglers: Mike
Location: Umtanum, wade fishing.
Flies: Suggested Patterns - K-Stone black, olive, or brown in the 8-12 range. Preferably weighted with no bead, PS (Pat's Stone) in any of the wonderful color schemes in the 8-12 range, LB, PT's, and Midge Pupae. Focus on running non beaded flies on your small nymphs larger than size 18, run beads on the small stuff ESPECIALLY the midge pupa. Black in the size 20 range with a bead. Streamers - natural colors with an emphasis on olive. Bigger isn't necessarily better, on the swing think about a Teeny Leech.
Time: 10 am - 2 pm
Results: 9 trout and 5 pea mouths.
Good winter fishing yesterday, this has been one of the more mild winters (temperature wise) that we have had in the last few years. There has been no ice flow yet, and very little shelf ice to speak of. Lots of clear sunny days and the fishing has been very consistent. Every afternoon these fish turn it on and feed for a few hours. Essentially, they are doing an entire days worth of feeding during a fairly short time period. Not to say that they are not feeding during the wee hours of morning, evening, or even at night it is just that the vast majority of their nymphical and baitfish intake happens during the afternoon. Not to mention, that the river at just over 800 cfs it is only 1/5 or even 1/6 the typical volume that we fished it at during the spring/summer of the 2006 - 2007 seasons. The big flow has built up a great fish population and it is is kind of condensed right now into a fairly small space making the likelihood of your fly landing in front of a fish greater. The big holes especially are holding A LOT of fish right now. You'll find some of your best fishing on the fringes of the big holding water, winter fish
definitely like to have an escape route when temperatures take an unfriendly dive. Yesterday, Mike fished a small PS (Pat's Stone) and an LB (Lightning Bug). He didn't even mention sizes, it sounds like the fish are presentation picky and more worried about how the fly gets to them than exactly what it is. Keep your eyes peeled for midging fish though, we have been seeing a lot of feeders in the flats and if they are riding a foam line that makes them especially vulnerable. Avoid the fish in the open slicks if possible and focus your efforts on the seems. Go get 'em.