The flip flop is basically over. The fishing on the Yakima has been, quite frankly, great.  The dry fly, nymph and the streamer have all been productive.

Hatches include…

#16 Tan Caddis
#10 Crane flies
#8-14 Hoppers
#12-18 Ants and Beetles
#14-16 Yellow Mays

Don’t fall into casting at the bank…..While there are fish on select banks, the water is quite low and many of our fish are being fooled in the middle of the river.

The beautiful fish in this post ate a dry fly, nowhere near a bank!  Pattern of the week shown below…

Crane fly pattern

A view downstream from Black Bear Lodge

Overall the fishing has been good.  Techniques include the dry fly and the swing.  Bug of the week for the dry fly actually happens to be the #6 Orange PMX.

AWESOME RESIDENT TROUT

Masa with his first fish on the Two Hander

Trey ‘Getting it done’

Tomo with a sweet wild buck

Just spent the past 3 days chasing Steelies with Tomo Higashi, Masa, Trey Combs and Bo. Lots of fun and we swung up a good number of willing fish.  That is not to say that we landed them all  –  One particular fish ate the fly so hard it actually broke a partridge hook!Even though conditions were reasonable for the dry line we fished very light tips to medium heavy tips and were successful with the variety of densities.
Best fly this past week
Trey Combs’s new pattern-Steelflash
Honorable mentions 
The Bucket Bouncer
The Super Muddler
Images to follow soon
   
The river is quite low for this time of year…Hope we get some moisture soon.  The nymphing remains good as well utilizing the usual fare of Stonefly nymphs and egg patterns, including the bead.

Coming soon to Cabelas, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Feather Craft…..

The ‘Steelhead Underground’ Series of Steelhead Patterns.

Featured Tyers;

Trey Combs
Jeff Cottrell
Jack Mitchell
Michael Davidchik

We  just kicked into our late summer/fall season on the Upper Columbia river and Black Bear lodge.  The beautiful Cutt bow pictured here ate a dry fly yesterday. The overall fishing yesterday was ‘average’  with some nice fish eating the dry and the swung fly.  The fishing was certainly not numbers oriented…..but as you can see the quality makes up for the lack of numbers!

The river flows are dropping and the fishing continues to be good and is actually heating up! It is Flip Flop season on the Yakima.   Flip flop is where the Yakima River Reservoirs are ‘turned down’ in volume and at the same time, the Tieton river is ‘turned’ up by releasing more water into it from Rimrock reservoir.

The fish are finding new holding water and moving around a bit, and we are seeing some bigger players in the last couple days taking smaller dy flies.  Fish are holding on banks with deeper water and along drop offs in about ‘one foot per second” paced current.  Size #16 Blue Wing Olive mayflies have been popping and the little tan Caddis #16 has been cranking up, which is what has been working for us in the evening hours!  Sub surface fishing can be very productive as well when the dry fly action slows down.  Late summer is here with cooler days, cooler water temps and lower flows – which all adds up to some GREAT fishing days.

Hatches currently – #18-22 Beatis, # 16 Tan Caddis, # 10 Crane Flies, #14-16 Yellow May’s, #6-12 Hoppers,  #14-18 Ants and Beetles

The top photo is a Caddis pattern that has been successful for us recently…. A take off on the EC Caddis. Some insight  from the guides report re: ‘The bent hook’   –  ‘Everyday is a learning experience on the water. Yesterday’s lesson is called – DON’T COMPROMISE –  I did and tied with some antique hooks that my dad gave me and lost an exceptional trout – 20 plus inches!

The bottom photo is an image of the Bugs of the Week
Top Row  –  #10 Crane fly, #10 Bugmeister, # 8-10 Peach Stream Bank Hopper
Bottom Row – #12 Adams Split Wing, #14-18 Para Adams, #14 Ant

The middle photo is partly why we do what we do – Enjoy the places that we fish!

The Klickitat is fish gooood with both the nymph and the swing.  Best bug this last week fished on the swing is the featured photo – The Klickinator – A combination of Brian Silvey’s  ‘Silvinator’ and the ‘Bucket Bouncer’ by Jeff Cottrell.

Both the dry line and tips have produced.

Nymphing has been stellar as well utilizing various egg patterns, the bead and Stone nymphs….

The entire river is fishing good. The Stinson to Slide stretch has a complete blockage from a fallen tree.

We would not suggest trying to float under the tree.  The blockage is about 1/4 of the way down the float – Portage left and drag your boat around the hazard.  

There is also a very tight spot about half way down that is located at one of the splits in the river. I watched a boat almost dump there the other day….  Be careful.  The river is lower than normal as well, making it difficult to navigate some spots.

In addition, just after the hole known as the ‘Morgan Hole’ (approximately 1/2 mile above the Little Klickitat confluence) is a split in the river – don’t go right – There is almost a full blockage there as well.

Nick and Luke

GREAT FISHING, on both the swing and nymph – END OF STORY.   3.5 feet of Steelhead green and happy fish.