About the Author

Joe Rotter

Joe is the "blogger in chief" here at Red's in addition to being our guide service manager and partner here at Red's. He is a father of 3 spunky children his wife Kelly can only be found fishing when the temperature gets above 85 degrees and the fish are gobbling up dry flies.

In addition to being a fly fishing junkie, Joe is a hard core bowhunter, is a volunteer Hunter's Eductation Instructor, and loves riding horses with his kiddos. Joe still guides a small part of the time but spends most of his time working on web marketing, travel, and helping customers find the right tools and information for the job.

Double Down and Go!

July 19, 2014

The fishing this past week has been incredible in the mornings and evenings. Especially the "dawn patrol", this has been pretty awesome. I have been out most mornings this past week and I have seen fishing as good as any in my 15 years of guiding the Yakima River. Especially on Wednesday 7/16, but it started to taper off today pretty hard and was just plain "good" on a scale of good, great, super good, and the rarely used "epic". That type of bite just can't sustain itself very long, the fish would weigh 15 pounds by fall at the rate they have been eating stoneflies and hoppers.

The moral of the story is that you just need to lay out some dates and not wait until you think the fishing will be good and plan later. Plan NOW for later. Dream, plan, fish. That is a mantra you can live by. The guests that I guided Friday and Saturday did the "Double Down and Go!" program. After having an insane morning of dry fly fishing on Friday we decided to spontaneously run it back on Saturday. Time to Double Down. While it wasn't quite as good in the morning we did hit some mid-day hopper fishing that was awesome, especially since it was in direct sunlight and we got to see every detail of every take! Some fish swam lethargically up to the fly yawwwwnnnnning their way up.... while others exploded on the fly. It was great. If you are planning a trip please try to polish your casting. Pinpoint accuracy yields incredible results this time of year. If you are new to fly fishing, don't be intimidated. We have patient guides willing to show you the way in a positive, fun, and educational manner.

Be warned that the fishing will be good, but probably a bit more challenging that what you will witness in the video below! This type of double does happen though and if you want some of that action you gotta get signed up and put the fly where it needs to go! :)

CFO Ant Dry Fly - Great fly for imitating the nocturnal or "summer" stonefly. It skitters and skates very well which imitates the male summer stonefly which has only short useless wings. It has to skitter around on the water to go anywhere. Easy pickings for hungry trout!

Good Tip for Hopper Fishing in Direct Sunlight

The "glow" of natural materials like on the Dave's Hopper such as hair, hackle, and feathered legs cannot be replicated by foam flies. Although I LOVE foam flies somedays the fish just want a natural fly. I saw this the other day with the Bugmeister and the Solitude Hopperstone. The fish were hooking up better too, because foam can be a lot to inhale.

Hopefully this view from underneath can help give you an appreciation of what the sunlight does to a "hackled" fly. It makes ton of difference! Make sure to try using natural fiber flies like a Dave's Hopper on your next trip. Foam hoppers like the Solitude Foam P.D. Hopper are great in shadows and mixed light. Also, check out the Morrish Hopper as well. A good variety of sizes and colors are essential but you absolutely need to have some natural fiber flies.