A little on Shallow Water Nymphing

Blue Wing Olives  are Mayfly Swimmers and they originate/live in slower and a bit deeper boulder strewn runs.

March Browns are Mayfly Clingers and they originate in riffles.  Although we haven’t seen any yet, they are just around the corner!

WATER CLARITY

Top left to right Catch Skwala, Bullet head Skwala, Hi Vis Skwala Botthom left top right Brown/Black Pat’s, Pink Worm, Olive Pats

Yesterday marks our first dry fly Skwala fish of the season. I am sure someone else managed to wrangle one up on a dry, prior…but this was our first.

The river is good shape now. We have been utilizing multiple tactics including;
Dry Flies
Nymphs
Streamers

Dry fly fishing from this day toward will be weather dependent.  Wind isn’t such a bad condition as it will blow the Skwala’s on to the water.  However, some of the best dry fly weather will be calm, steady pressure days that hit air temps of 48 or

Yakima clarity
Upper Proper-5 feet
Upper Flatlands-6 feet
Upper Canyon-5 feet
Farmlands-5 to 3 feet
Lower Canyon- 3 feet

Dry Fly Fish

Fishing and catching have been decent lately.  The rivers have been on a steady drop over the past week.  We are definitely going to see a bump over the next couple days and then most rivers should drop based on the weather forecast.  The upcoming water occurrence appears to be a perfect injection of agua – Let’s cross our fingers.

Lately, BIG has been good when it comes to the swung fly; Generally not my first choice, but recently has been. The AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the MOAL Leech have been our go to bugs…..Images to follow.

Statistics…
->Sneaky tailouts with depth = Kudos
->Lines/Heads used the past week = 550 Rio Flight, 525 and 540 Nextcast Zone,  510 Airflo FIST,  540 and 570 Airflo Skagit
->Tips used = Airflo Flo Tip  7.5 ft of T-14,  MOW Tips 10 Ft of T-14, T-11 and T-8

Joe with a tailout fish.

Mike releasing one

Evening light from the cabin

Nice to see a bit of a reprieve in the precipitation.  Fishing over the past few days has been spot on….. We have hooked some big fish lately;  Tough to land.

The upcoming week looks favorable with conditions.

This weeks honorable mention…  

Here is a Steelhead line that favors less stripping and more fishing.  Best fished on a longer rod with reasonable D-Loop room behind.

Call 509.962.5959 and we will get one to your doorstep.

Reasonable to good fishing yesterday on the Yakima.  The swing fishing has recently slowed a bit; most likely because there are more and more food choices on the platter.

Over the years, the adult Skwala activity has made it’s initial appearance of the year somewhere between now and the end of February.  Everyday will be different.  Based on temperatures this week, most likely an adult Skwala should be seen.  The weather looks favorable for it to happen. Conversely, if next week drops into the teens, an emergence of the Skwala is unlikely

Bugs of the Week….
#12 San Juan Worm
#10 Pat’s Stone
#14-16 Flashback PT

Bugs over the next 60 days
Skwala
March Browns
Blue Wing
Midges
Little Winter Stone

Matt and Jeremy

Trout release

1. Nextcast Zone – F1;  This 25 foot head casts like a champ and slows your swing down to the       walking speed that is needed.  10 feet of intermediate is built into the line; top that with a 10 foot tip of choice, based on depth and flow and you have a line that slows way down – We call that thumbs up!
   
2. 1/2 of an inch of rain in 20 minutes.
3. The Beaverslide Boat Launch
4. Amazon.com Film Shoot – Chasing steelhead to feature a Nikon camera on Amazon – Gotta love it.
5. Kristian’s Run….. 3 hook ups in two days – 10 feet of T-14 and a Black Moal Leech – the exact same spot – Gotta love it.
6. Sight fishing Steelhead on two different occasions

Just Fishing

Sight fished to this one!

Kristian in Kristian’s Run

With this inordinate amount of rain,  the Yakima is seeing a increase in flows…. Clarity has been compromised but not as bad as one would think!

Water Clarity Chart
Upper Proper       3
Upper Flatlands   4.5
Upper Canyon     3.5
Farmlands            3.5 -2.5
Lower Canyon     2

The past week or so has been worthy to goood fishing.   We will keep you posted.

TACTICS –
Nymphing the Stonefly and a dropper or sometimes just a single stone.
Retrieving and/or swinging streamers

Kuzi with a streamer bow – Ricky photo

Like a broken record,  the Yakima fishes great at this time of year.  Nymphing, swinging, retrieving and a bit of midging here and there.

Utilizing little two hand rods, or single hand rods with variable sink tips based on depth and flow for swung flies has been and will be effective.

The recent fish below ate a swung fly on a little two hander.  Nice to see the evolution of two handers and the ‘smaller sticks’  that are available now days.  

Water temps have been ranging between 36 – 39 degrees  based on zone and time.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR SPECIAL….