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.

Fishing Report and a GREAT Story About an Old Net

January 31, 2018

I got out on the river yesterday for a couple of reasons. Number one I love to fish and had to get my butt out from in front of this computer and get some air before I start cranking out Skwala Special Day Trips. Number two my sweet new Clackacraft Headhunter Skiff has been here for over a week and has yet to see any action! That's just wrong. I love these boats, I get a fresh one every year just to keep things fresh but have yet to wear one out! They are amazing little boats. Number 3, RE our faithful and dedicated inventory manager NEVER gets out fishing! I wanted to get him on the water. Here is hooked up with a great fish!

The weather was spectacular right up until about 10 minutes into the trip and we got a freezing wind that was damn near paralyzing. The fishing was really tough when we hit the water about 1:30 pm, thanks to the pressure change and the rising flows. We got a surge of rain water that was also very cold, in addition to a stiff wind.

RE wanted to keep the trout's identify private.

The Davey Jone's Net

Soo.... I start out fishing with my Euro Nymphing setup and the only damn thing I caught was this old net. We got a good laugh out of it and threw it in the boat to get this old trash, I mean artifact out of the river. We kept fishing and I focused on teaching RE some advanced nymphing voodoo. It took a while but we finally get him hooked into a slab of a Rainbow! At this point I realized I had forgot my regular boat net (new boat!) and needed to net his chunky rainbow. Well..... we did have a crappy ass old net in the boat. Why not right?

Yakima River Tips, Flies, and Intel

The number one thing we can do is encourage you to just stop into Red's on the day you fish. Our team is fun, friendly, and VERY willing to help. If you catch fish we find that its good for business! We want you to be successful.

Right now we are pre-hatch and the Skwala Stonefly that can and will provide some great spring fishing isn't active yet. Even with the above average water temps, the length of days have a lot to do with their emergence.

In the meantime, focus on nymphs. Streamer fishing hasn't been as productive and yesterday we found our fish in the deepest, slowest holes. Be very patient, vary your depth, if you float we encourage you do very short floats!

The Deadly Dozen - Let Us Help!

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This is the BEST way to buy flies. Let us help you! Its pro shop service online. You can plan a trip, let us know when you'll be here or where you are going and our pro's will hand select flies for your adventure. If it happens to be the Yakima River - just put that in the comments! We ship immediately and it only takes a day or two. You can get these in your fly box in advance and save time. We see GREAT customer satisfaction from this service and it's unique.

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Skwala Survival Pack - All you need for the Skwala Hatch!

Great Post Joe! keep em coming. Hope to get out with you guys soon. T