The coastal waters just got a MUCH needed injection of agua.  The Queets was down to 1000 CFS prior to 36 hours ago.  Heard tell it was at it’s lowest winter level on record since 1945….I wonder if global warming was happening in the 40’s as well?

Honorable swing mentions…

Tomo Higashi and a black and white steelie, fresh from the salt

4 anglers all the way from japan for a week

Gorde’s first

Matt and his 4 to hand in two days.

Super Flat

Overall a great week and a half of swinging on both private and public water.

Gorde’s first

Tomo(all the way from Japan) and a black and white one.

The Song Remains the Same – The adult Skwala stone combined with the  Blue Wing and Ameletus mayfly have provided some good dry fly fishing lately. The Ameletus looks a lot like a small March Brown but it is smaller in size.  The March Brown is an average size 12 / The Ameletus is a size ’15The Ameletus is a swimmer mayfly where the March Brown is a clinger mayfly.  

Lately, the bright sun has made the dry fly fishing a little ‘less good’.  Regardless, the shadows of the afternoon have proven worthy.  The river is LOW and clear. March Browns are just around the corner.

Adult Skwala

Ameletus Dun

The river is in great shape.  Flows at the international border are ranging between 90-100k daily and the lake level is @ 1265 above sea level.

The elevation of Lake Roosevelt is expected to gradually decrease over the next week to be in the range of 1257 – 1259 by March 7.  Lake Roosevelt is currently being operated to meet power demand.  The predicted elevations are…
March 31 – 1255
April 30 – 1249.5

Swinging and retrieving a variety of patterns has proved effective.   Sculpins to Minnows to Stones and more….

We predict the next 45 days to be awesome on the Upper Columbia…..

Call 509.962.5959 or 509.859.2280

The Yakima has had some reasonable dry fly Skwala action lately.  Every day and zone will be a bit different with no guarantees, as it is fishing!  Best dry fly pattern for us recently is the #10 Unit Skwala.  

Recent trout that fell for the Unit Skwala

Unit Skwala

The Yakima has been a bit quirky and in the same breath, good.  There are a myriad of choices for the trout to eat currently, unlike a normal February.  Generally at this time of year the predominant active stonefly nymph would be the Skwala; and they are active.   In addition to the Skwala, we have noticed active Salmonfly nymphs…a little early for this.

We have been utilizing all tactics to catch trout….Nymphs, dry flies  and streamers

Predominant bugs hatching are….
#16-18 Blue Wings
#22 Midges
#10 Skwala (A few)

Honorable mentions;
Phil’s first
The Streamer game
59 degrees
Blue wing sippers
Bobber eating trout

To view more recent photos, click here

Salmofly Nymphs

Phil with one of his first trout ever.

Been running a little behind lately.  Apologize for the delay in responding.  The last big water occurrence brought in some fish and the ensuing 9 days after has been some good fishing on both the swing and the bobbercator.   We are however in need of some more water as everything is getting ‘kinda bony’.

For more images click here

There have been a few of these around….on both the nymph and the swing.   Water has dropped and cleared on most watersheds; in fact we need some more rain.  Hopefully not as much as the last deluge.

Yakima river clarity chart

Upper Proper – 3.5 feet
Upper Flatlands – 4.5 feet
Upper Canyon – 3.5 feet
Farmlands – 3.5
Lower Canyon – 2.5

Fishing continues to be steady – Some days have been real good lately! Best bugs include various Skwala nymphs and searching nymphs – The below bug image demonstrates one of our guides preparation for the dry fly action – Coming real soon to the Yakima!  The other images are of beautiful Yakima trout.