YAKIMA

We had a couple days there last week after the rain that was TOUGH.  The river bumped up in flows and the clarity decreased but the biggest culprit   was the 6 degree drop in water temp  from the release of water out of the  Cle Elum reservoir.  We are back on track now as everything has evened out.

The Yakima  Clarity is as follows..

5 ft Upper Proper
6 ft Upper Flatlands
5 ft ft Upper Canyon
5-3 Farmlands
3 ft Lower Canyon

Hatches 
-Blue Wings
-March Browns
-Salmon Flies
-Salmon Smolt

Just around the corner
-Mother’s day Caddis
-PMD’s
-Drakes

Nymphs
Salmon Fly Nymphs
#12-16 Pheasant Tails
#14 Duracel
#4-6 Sparkle Minnows
#10-12 Prince Nymphs for the active Drake nymphs
#12 Trigger nymph

Dry Flies
#4-8 Salmon Fly Adults – Chubby’s , Glommers etc…
#10-16 Parachute Adams
#10-14 Irressitable Adams
#10-14 March Brown Standard Thorax

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KLICKITAT

The Klickitat is in great shape. It is flowing at 1530CFS at Pitt which is historically lower then normal and will most likely be the case for the season.  This fact does lend itself to a good opener which is the Saturday before Memorial day …May 23!
We will be offering an early season special…..more to follow!

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UPPER COLUMBIA

Hatches are kicking in with Blue Wings and Caddis.  Both are reasonably light currently but the nymphing has been productive.  This time of year is cool because we usually catch a few Brookies during the early season as the one pictured above.  19 inches and heavy.

Sam with his first river and Yakima trout!

The Yakima  Clarity is as follows..

5 ft Upper Proper
6 ft Upper Flatlands
5 ft ft Upper Canyon
5-3 Farmlands
3 ft Lower Canyon

Hatches 
Skwala- waning
Blue Wings
March Bowns

….Just around the corner
Salmon Flies
Caddis

A lot of Salmon fly nymphs moving around currently.  A great nymph combo is a #6 salmon fly nymph (good example in the video below) with a #12-16 CDC Pheasant Tail or even a standard PT.

As far as the dry fly fishing …. A little slow lately.  Being in the right spot at 12:45 – 1:45 for some fish on March Browns is a good idea.  Also a big dry / Chubby type and a dropper.

OLD SALMON FLY NYMPH TRICK

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UPPER COLUMBIA

The upper Columbia has been pretty unpredictable recently. The flows have been a bit erratic and hatches have not been very consistent. Regardless, we have been able to pick up some nice fish as shown above!

Blue wing  olives are pretty much the ticket and we should see the Mother’s Day bloom in the next 3 weeks!

YAKIMA

The Yakima is coming back into shape.  Clarity is as follows..

3 ft Upper Proper
3-4 ft Upper Flatlands
3 ft Upper Canyon
2.5-3 ft Farmlands
2 ft Lower Canyon

We will still see some Skwalas here and there but after 40 years of fishing the river, statistically once we see a blow out during the end of the actual Skwala hatch time frame, typically the hatch becomes less important.

If I were guiding today it would be ‘ Turds and Worms’  aka
Stoneflies and San Juan Worms.  A Streamer here and there, or more,  isn.t a bad idea as well.

Hatches 
Skwala
Blue Wings
March Bowns

….Just around the corner
Salmon Flies
Caddis

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UPPER COLUMBIA

The river is in great condition. Mostly nymphing and swinging currently.  Water temps is 43 degrees.

Light and variable bugs currently.

Blue Wing Olives and Skwala….Caddis, just around the corner.