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.

More Naches River Action

June 23, 2014

Well the entire center part of our state is ideal right now. Where to go? Over this past week we have been on the Klickitat River, Naches River, Lower Yakima River fishing for Smallmouth Bass, Cle Elum River, upper Yakima River, and of course some of the tributary streams on doing some "walk 'n wade" fishing as well.

The most unique trip right now if you are looking for a guided option is the Naches River Guided Float Trip, we have only seen one other boat in addition to our staff all season and we do a max of about 3 guides per day there in all sections. The river is a bit high for an all out wading trip still, so the float trips are still a great option. The fast paced fishing mixed with some whitewater is a great adventure. Look for the flows to get down around 500 cfs at Cliffdell in order for the wading to be ideal. The float season will be over soon so forgive us for pressing, but in the next several weeks the window will close!

On the Naches River, we prefer to throw light rods and are happy to catch small to mid-sized Cutts and Rainbows on dry flies. We tried using dry flies with droppers, streamers, and did a little nymphing but the most productive tactic was dry fly fishing! Love that river! Above is a shot of Matt putting a nice bend in a Redington Butterstick 370-4 fly rod.

Self landing a feisty trout using a lightweight fiberglass rod can be pretty fun!

Landing a few scrappy trout while bouncing down through the whitewater is fun, even the guide is smiling despite the heavy currents and hard rowing of the Naches River.

What Flies to Use on the Naches River?

Black Tupac Stonefly

Tantrums Size 10
Purple Trude

Bullethead Golden Stonefly #8/10

Corn Fed Caddis

Satch Skwala (not sure why but they were all over this the other day, I think it makes a very good terrestrial)

Love that little river! One of my absolute favorites anywhere. Crossing my fingers there is still enough water to float it in three weeks.