Father's day in the Yakima River Canyon

Date: 06/15/2014 10:00 am ? 6:00 pm

Location: MM20 to Mahre?s

Nymphs:  YT Hare?s ear, Pat?s stone, Double bead 20 incher, and of course my all around favorite, the Anato May

Dries:  Tupac stone with a Blooms parachute caddis dropper.

Hunger Level:  8 out of 10

Fishing was very consistent yesterday for both nymphs and dries.  We started out running nymphs until we spotted several rises on the cut banks and quickly switched over to the dry rods.  The cloud cover, warm temps, and dropping flows made a perfect storm for great takes and good numbers.  Unfortunately, as the afternoon went on, the wind picked up and forced us to rethink our tactics.  As you?re probably aware, double nymph rigs and indicators don?t play nicely with high wind, so we were forced to cut the bottom fly off and just run a stone fly, which didn?t seem to affect the takes at all.  One thing I noticed, the fish were sitting higher in the water column than expected.  I lessened the distance from the indicator to the top fly and our ?take? percentage went up.   Don?t be afraid to play with the depth, as you might be surprised.  One example, we were running nymph rigs and saw a riser, but didn?t have time to switch to a dry rod.  My guest threw a fantastic cast 4 feet above the riser with a stonefly nymph only 3? under the indicator.  As soon as the indicator passed over where the rise was, we had a fish on!  Remember, just because they are feeding on the surface doesn?t mean they will pass up a free ?stonefly chocolate martini? if one happens to pass by.

Once the wind died down, the dry fly fishing picked up.  From about 2 pm to 6 pm, there were steady rises all along the banks.  We tied on a Tupac stone and a caddis dropper and were rewarded with fish on both.  We?ve mentioned it before, but having a dedicated dry fly rod along with your nymph rod is the best way to go when conditions can change in a matter of minutes.

Lastly, a quick request; if you?re fishing in the shallows and get extremely feisty small fish slashing your dry flies even when your flies are dragging, there?s a great chance it?s a salmon smolt.  If you see this, move on and let them enjoy their lunch.  We want these juvenile Chinook to grow up strong, head to the ocean, and come back 30 pounds heavier.