Red's Fly Shop | Power Hour Fishing Report - Yakima River Fly Fishing Report

Red's Power Hour Fishing Report
July - September 2006

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.

Flies: sz. 18 Lightening Bugs (Assorted), sz. 18 & 20 WD-40s, sz. 20 Brassie, sz. 10 October Caddis Pupae

Once again nymphing both on the go and stopped provided the most productive fishing. We did see a fair number of bugs, and a few fish feeding on the surface; however, the nymphing was just to good to warrant changing over to dries. We are still experiencing daytime temperatures in the 80s and most of us are back to wearing shorts. The next time you are here, you can expect to see a change in the area around the shop. The modular home that once housed Steve and his family will be completely gone as of today. One-half of it has already left. It sure looks different.

9/24/06

Flies: sz. 6 Rubber-legs Stone Nymph, sz. 16 Copper Johns, sz. 16 Lightening Bug, sz. 16, 18 PT, sz. 18, 20 WD40, sz. 6 Root Beer Bugger, sz. 6 Olive Zuddler, sz. 10 Tan Para-Hopper, sz. 8 Tan Chernobyl Stone

We tried a little bit of everything on this trip, with the most effective technique being nymphing under a bobber. We did manage to hook two nice fish on a streamer, but they didn't quite make it to the boat. We saw a fair number of naturals that included BWO's, Mahogany Duns, Caddis, and even 5 or 6 adult Stoneflies, but the fish were not keyed on them. We hooked fish on every nymph pattern that we tried but the Stone took the largest fish and the Copper John resulted in the highest number of fish. However,the best part of the trip was being able to take advantage of this beautiful fall weather. The great dry fly fishing is yet to come.

9/20/06

Flies: sz. 6-10 Stonefly Nymphs, sz. 14-18 Copper Johns, sz. 18 Lightening Bug, sz. 16, 18 PT, sz. 18, 20 WD40, sz. 6 J&J Bugger, sz. 6 Sculpzilla

We had a bit of rain the evening before and noticed just a hint of color in the water this morning. The nymph fishing was slower than it had been the previous day, so we spent the majority of the drift pitching streamers. The BWO hatch did come off around 2:30, but there was so much wind when it started that the fish never really turned onto it. We swam a fair number of fish with streamers that never did eat the fly - but it's neat to see some of those bigger fish follow, even if they don't grab it! We have clouds and calm conditions today, which should offer another good window of casting Bwo's to feeders.

9/16/06

Flies: sz. 6 & 8 Rubber-legs Stone, sz. 18 & 20 WD-40, sz. 16 Brassies, sz. 16 & 18 Pheasant Tails, sz. 8 Tan Chernobyl, sz. 12 Parachute Adams, sz. 16 BWO Parachute and CDC Emerger

Although we saw a fair number of BWO's in the afternoon, nymphing produced the best results throughout the day. The WD-40 and the Rubber-legs stone was the best combination. The weather conditions on this day and over the last few days have been great with daytime temps in the low to mid 60's and a little cloud cover. The river is at 1286 cfs today, and in great shape. We expect the fall fishing to only get better especially the BWO fishing.

9/15/06

Flies: sz. 6 JB's Yellow and Black, sz. 4 J&J Special, sz. 6-12 Stonefly Nymphs, sz. 14-18 Lightening Bugs, sz. 18, 20 Wd-40, sz. 16 Soft Hackle, sz. 6 Para Chernobyl, sz. 8 Winged Thing, sz. 16-18 BWO's Parachutes and Emergers

The cool weather has arrived, along with some cloud cover and rain showers... and the BWO's have arrived with it. We have seen good numbers of bugs flying and fish eating over the past 2 days. The high temperature for today is forecast at 63 degrees, with lows in the upper 40's. the shorts and sandals days are past us - don't leave your waders or rain gear at home! We caught fish on streamers, nymphs, and dry flies on this day, which demonstrates that the fish are pretty active and keying on a variety of different food sources. Don't be afraid to mix it up if you find one technique not working for you.

9/10/06

Flies: sz. 10 Para Hopper, sz. 6 Winged Thing, sz. 10 Dave's Hopper, sz. 8-12 Stonefly Nymphs, sz. 18 WD-40, sz. 16 Baetis SH, sz. 14--18 Lightening Bugs, sz. 16 PT

The wind blew most of the day yesterday, with gusts hitting 30+ mph at times. We spent most of the day nymphing and trying to stay in position to keep the wind behind us. Right after we put in, we thought about having our vehicle shuttled upriver for the takeout - with whitecaps blowing in our face! We kept at it and scraped out a good day of fishing. The grasshopper patterns that we had done well with on Friday didn't produce much. We had our best luck with the smaller beadhead nymphs in the afternoon. Around 4:00, there were a number BWO's on the water between gusts, but still no fish up eating them - another week or so...

9/9/06

Flies: sz. 10 Para Hopper, sz. 6 Winged Thing, sz. 10 Dave's Hopper, sz. 16 Sparkle Dun, sz. 8-12 Stonefly Nymphs, sz. 14--18 Lightening Bugs, sz. 16 PT

We mixed things up throughout the drift - nymphing ledges and seams, and tossing big dries towards the banks. We picked up fish with both methods, although the bigger fish came to Hopper dries. I banged one rock pretty good - I hadn't seen it since May... Flows are down to 1746 cfs today and starting to stabilize. We have been seeing a few BWO's flying, but no fish up yet. We have some cooler weather moving in today, which should help this hatch along. Soft Hackles will also start to get some consideration.

9/6/06

The flows continue to drop, with new ledges and gravel bars starting to show each day. Fishing big dry flies has been great throughout the day and into the evening. We are beginning to see a few BWO's and still some Mahogany Duns each day, and expect this activity to increase as temperatures cool with the Fall season. Nymphing remains productive - don't be afraid to scale down to sz. 16 and 18 beadheads as the BWO hatch starts.

9/1/06

Flies: sz. 12 Phat Fly, sz. 8-12 Dave's Hopper, sz. 12-16 Lightening bug, sz. 6, 8 Stonefly Nymphs, sz. 14 Copper John

We've had some cooler weather over the past few days, and the fishing has been great. When the wind has laid down, we've had good dry fly fishing, and the nymphing has been consistent in between. We're still casting big dries tight to the banks in most spots, but in some of the skinnier water, don't be afriad to fish the color change seam. Air temperatures are supposed to come back up for the weekend and then cool down. We expect this good fishing to continue as flows come down and stabilize.

8/27/06

Flies: sz. 12 Phat Fly, sz. 8 Winged Thing, sz. 10 Dave's Hopper, sz. 8 Feth's Hopper

Flows have continued on a slow decline, and are currently at 3300 cfs. Both dry fly fishing and nymph fishing have been productive; but for the past 2 days, there hasn't been much need to fish nymphs as we've had good dry fly action all day long. There has been a fair amount of recreation traffic on the river on weekends, so don't be afraid to fish the skinny side of the river if you find yourself in a crowd. Hang in there - just one more big recreation weekend left for '06. The light intensity is changing, and a hint of Fall is in the air!

8/21/06

Flies: sz. 6 Winged Thing, sz. 6 Para Chernobyl, sz. 12 Phat Fly, sz. 12 Royal Wulff, sz. 8 20"er, sz. 12-16 Lightening Bug, sz. 14 Prince Nymph

The summer season is starting to wind down as flows are beginning to drop, and the days are getting noticeably shorter. By mid September, we will be looking at flows of 1200-1500 cfs, and the start of our Fall fly assortments. We have been very fortunate with water temps this year, due mainly to the high volume of water we've had. We always hope for cooler weather to coincide with the Flip Flop, as this is the time of year when water temps can become a factor if the weather remains hot. For the time being, keep throwing the big dries tight to the banks and cover a fair amount of water. We have had some haze in the sky over the past couple of days due to forest fires, which has actually seemed to help the dry fly fishing.

8/16/06

Flies: sz. 6-10 Para Hoppers, sz. 8 Turck's Tarantula, sz. 6 Winged Thing, sz. 8 Leopard Hopper, sz. 6-10 Dave's Hopper, sz. 8 Royal MT Bar Fly

We stuck with the gameplan of big dries tight to the bank on the go and had fairly consistent action the entire drift. It seemed like some of the nicer fish we saw actually responded to an occasional "twitch". As is typically the case with fishing big dries, there were lots of "flashes, bumps, refusals, and takes" that didn't result in hook ups. Don't get discouraged when this happens - you're doing everything right on your end. The fish just eat better on some days than others. More nice weather in the forecast for the next few days with even a few clouds possible...

8/13/06

Flies: sz. 8-12 Para and Dave's Hoppers, sz. 4-8 Summer Stones (Chernobyls and Stimis)

Big dries on the go, and keep the fly tight to the bank has been our strategy. The flows remain in the 4000+ cfs range, and the fish have still been looking up pretty good in the early morning and later evening. We are seeing air temps of 90 plus degrees this week, so we expect the big dry fly action to remain fairly consistent. There has been a lot of recreation traffic on the river on weekends - it's a good idea to start lower in the canyon in the morning and stay ahead of it, or higher in the canyon in the evening and stay behind it.

8/9/06

Flies: sz. 8-12 Para and Dave's Hoppers, sz. 4-8 Summer Stones (Chernobyls and Stimis), sz. 6 Rubber-legs Stone, sz. 16 Lightening Bug, sz. 16 Prince Nymph, sz. 16 Beaded Hare's Ear Nymph

We can't stress enough that, "Tight to the Bank" with a good presentation is what it takes right now to see fish come to a big dry. We had good action on both nymphs and dries on this float. We started off nymphing with a standard nymph rig under an indicator and ended the trip with the dries. We are still seeing 90 degree days and the river is staying at about 4000 cfs.

8/7/06

Flies: sz. 8-12 Para and Dave's Hoppers, sz. 4-8 Summer Stones (Chernobyls and Stimis), sz. 6 Rubber-legs Stone, sz. 16 Lightening Bug, sz. 16 Prince Nymph, sz. 16 Beaded Hare's Ear Nymph

We had lots of looks up until about 8:00 am. The takes were slow, and it was difficult to get a good hook set. From about 8:00 to 10:00 we threw hoppers and had a tough time getting the fish to look at them. We resorted to deep nymphing throughout the rest of the trip and had consistent fishing on both the Stone nymph and the dropper. Mornings and evenings are still the best times for dries. Daytime temps are back in the 90's and the river flow is staying consistent at around 4000 cfs.

8/2/06

Flies: sz. 8-12 Para and Dave's Hoppers, sz. 4-8 Summer Stones (Chernobyls and Stimis)

The morning and evening hours remain the most productive time for the big dry fly fishing, and we are still seeing a few afternoon fish up on Caddis and Mahogany Duns. We have fished dries all day long, but it slows down during the middle part of the day. We'll stress it again - it is absolutely imperative to get your fly tight to the bank! The nymphing has remained fairly consistent and is probably the best strategy for seeing action during the noon hours. We get lots of questions about dry flies with beadhead droppers this time of year. The problem with running a dropper is that it doesn't allow you to get your big dry tight enough to the bank to be real effective. It also doesn't allow for a long enough drift to get your nymph fully sunk. So you're doing a half decent job of dry flying and a half decent job of nymphing. Granted there are some bouldery, pocket water sections that it can work well even with flows where they are now; but overall, it's best to go dry or nymphs all the way and fish them well.

7/28/06

Flies: sz. 6 Winged Thing, sz. 6,8 Para Chernobyl, sz. 8 Para Hopper, sz. 8, 10 Dave's Hopper

We had pretty good dry fly fishing right off the bat, and then things slowed down as the heat and bright sunshine increased. We have still been mixing things up between big dries, nymphs under an indicator, and even some small dries to feeders in the evening. Some days have offered more of a window on the big dry flies than others - depending largely on the light and heat intensity. The best dry fly fishing has been during the low light periods and on days where we've had some cloud cover roll in. Tight to the bank is a must if you're going to be successful with the Hoppers, especially during the middle of the day. We have been fishing the faster moving, more oxygenated riffles with nymphs when we go subsurface. It looks like things are going to cool down over the next couple of days with highs in the 70's tomorrow. After the heat wave we've had this past week, this sounds great!

7/25/06

Flies: sz. 6, 8 Kaufmann's Stone nymphs, sz. 12-16 Lightening Bugs, sz. 14, 16 Prince, sz. 14 Caddis Pupae

We fished nymphs on the go for most of the trip, and had fairly consistent action the entire time. River flows are up a bit more, and water temps are slightly cooler (which is great for late July), and the trout seem willing to move for a shallower nymph rig. We did fish a few dries in spots, but didn't see any interest in our flies, nor anything else on the surface. After having highs in triple digits through the weekend, this low ninety stuff we have today is a welcome change!

7/22/06

Flies: sz. 6, 8 Kaufmann's Stone nymphs, sz. 12-16 Lightening Bugs, sz. 14, 16 Prince, sz. 14 Caddis Pupae

Our schedule put us on the water during the brightest, hottest part of the day, but we did still find a fair number of trout looking for a well presented nymph. We have actually experienced some great dry fly fishing in the morning and evening hours over the past couple of days, as well. We have had success fishing big dries tight to the banks, and even located some pods of fish eating Caddis and Mahogany Duns. The flows have surpassed the 4000 cfs mark, so don't be shy about making a Ringer to Roza run. Although it seems high in comparison to what we've seen water-wise the past 2 years, it is near the normal 10 year level for summertime flows. We have seen some great fish over the last week - bright, fat, and full of fight! These higher flows and cooler water temps are doing them a lot of good right now, but with air temps in the 100 degree plus range, we still like to get them unhooked and back in the water as quickly as possible.

7/19/06

Flies: sz. sz. 8-10 Para Hoppers, sz. 8 Peach, Pink, and Tan Nightmares, sz. 8 Dave's Hopper, sz. 8-10 Kingfisher Hopper

We tossed dries the entire float and had plenty of opportunities to hook a good fish. Just had a little trouble getting the hook set. In fact, Gina was so captivated by watching the fish coming to the fly that she forgot to raise the rod a bit at the right time. Even so, it is always exciting to see a mouth, dorsal, or tail especially when it is chasing your offering. One fish traveled down stream several feet trying to catch the bug for the second time. The best fishing was up to about 10:30 am. It slowed a bit with the rise in air temps and increased sunlight on the water. The weatherman is forecasting some hot weather this weekend with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. The river is on a gradual rise on its way to reaching normal summertime flows of around 4000 cfs. It is just under 3800 cfs this morning. It has been awhile since we have had this level of summertime flows.

7/16/06

Flies: sz. 6, 8 Kaufmann's Stone, sz. 12-16 Lightening Bugs, sz. 14, 16 Prince, sz. 14, 16 PT, sz. 14 Caddis Pupae, sz. 6-12 Para Hoppers, sz. 8 Bugmeister, sz. 8 Feth's

We spent most of the day fishing nymphs under an indicator, but casted big dries through some of the sections we had been having luck on Hoppers and adult Stones over the past few days. Overall, the big dry fly fishing was very slow and the nymph fishing was pretty good. The river is bumping up a bit this morning, but remains in great shape as far as the visibility goes. Each day has been different on the fishing end - the only way to know for sure whether the morning or evening is going to be best, or whether they're eating nymphs or dries is to get out and try it!

7/15/06

Flies: sz. 6-12 Para Hoppers, sz. 6 Plan B, sz. 8 Dave's Hopper, sz. 8 Feth's, sz. 6 Nightmare, sz. 8 Para Chernobyl, and the standard nymph fare!

This was the first good day of Hopper fishing that we have experienced this season. We had a number of fish up - mostly nicer fish, too - on Hopper patterns fished tight to the banks. Flows have continued to come up just a bit over the past few days, but the river is in great shape and the inside corners are looking better and better! Longer floats and bigger bugs are now a key element to the fishing strategy. And as an old friend used to say, "if your fly is 3" from the bank, then it's 3" too far!"

7/12/06

Flies: sz. 6 Plan B, sz. 12 Phat Fly, sz. 6 Water St. Stone, sz. 16 CDC Caddis Emerger, sz. 6 Rubber leg Stones, sz. 8 Kaufmann's Stone, sz. 12-16 Lightening Bugs, sz. 14,16 Caddis Pupae

We spent a fair amount of time casting large dry flies, but the fish just weren't keyed in on them. The nymph fishing was fairly consistent throughout the day, and we did have some late evening Caddis dry fly opportunity. The river has bumped up a couple of hundred cfs over the past couple of days, but remains in great shape. We have some cooler weather moving in this morning, and we hope the fish respond favorably!

7/8/06

Flies: sz. 6 Nightmare, sz. 8-12 Para Hopper, sz. 8 Water St. Stone, sz. 6 Para Chernobyl, sz. 6 Bugmeister, sz. 6 Rubber leg Stone, sz. 8 Kaufmann's Stone, sz. 12-16 Lightening Bugs, sz. 12-16 Prince, sz. 14,16 Caddis Pupae, sz. 16 Disco Stone

The big dry fly fishing was slower this morning than it had been the past few days. We fished big dries off and on throughout the day, and had some sections with a bit more activity than others, but the nymph fishing we did in between was our most productive technique. We had a couple of boats out later into the evening that got into better dry fly fishing after the sun went off the water - both on Caddis and larger Summer Stone patterns. There has been a lot of recreation traffic on the water on weekends, so plan your floats accordingly. An early start at the top of the canyon before the rafters hit the river, or a later drift from the top (Ringer and Big Horn) behind the floaters is sound strategy!

7/6/06

Flies: sz. 8 Dbl. Wing Stone, sz. 6 Para Chernobyl, sz. 6 Water St. Skwala, sz. 10 Phat Fly, sz. 10 Kaufmann's Stone Nymph, sz. 12 Lightening Bug, sz. 14 PT, sz. 16 Caddis Pupae

The fishing has been a mixed bag over the past couple of days. We've seen a few windows of good dry fly fishing and a few windows of good nymph fishing, but it's been mostly short periods here and there. Flows are still under 3000 cfs, which is actually low for this time of year. The lower valley is getting plenty of water from the Naches drainage, so they haven't needed much additional water from the Yakima headwaters. Once the flows do bump up a bit, we expect the big dry fly fishing to follow suit!

7/3/06

Flies: sz. 6 Water St. Stone, sz. 8, 10 Dbl. Wing Stimis, sz. 8 Kaufmann's, sz. 14, 16 Silver Lightening Bugs, sz. 14 Prince Nymph, sz. 14 Caddis Pupae (Tan, Green)

We are seeing more Summer Stones, both on the banks and on the wing in the canyon. These bugs will continue to hatch in waves through August. One short section of river may have a couple of hundred of these nymphs crawl out one night, and then the next night just a handful. That's why the big dry fly fishing can be so spotty - going long periods of time without seeing anything, and then seeing 5 or 6 fish along one bank. The best advice we can give is be persistent. Cover a lot of water and keep the bugs tight to the bank. You can try a dropper nymph, but keep it pretty short (12"-18"), as it restricts how close you can put your fly to the bank. We are still seeing some Caddis activity late in the evening and the nymphing has been consistent. We'd still actually like to see these flows come up a bit over the next week. At 2800 cfs, there are still some areas where the fish aren't pushed into the banks yet because there's not quite enough current or depth, which is another key element for fishing Summer Stones and Hopppers!