North Washington guide service

Pretty GOOD fishing recently on the Yakima.  Dry flies, nymphs and the swung fly have all produced.

Clarity Chart

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

Top fly picks …
#8 Golden Chubby
#14-16 Tung head YB Soft hackle
# 10 Catch All

Bugs de Jour
#16 PMD’s and PED’s
#16-18 Caddis
#6-8 Golden Stones
#12 Green Drakes

YAKIMA

Currently blown out based on direct releases…. should be back in shape by Sunday.

River has been in good condition and fishing avg. to good depending on the day.  the river has turned into a Caddis,  Stonefly, Baitfish, Terrestrial and Salmon Spawn River.   In other words,  our general mayfly population is significantly less then ‘Back in the Day’.   My take on this is  the Salmon. While our clinging Mayflies are still abundant,  our Swimming and Crawling Mayflies are significantly less.  With the abundant Salmon Smolt in our river now,  and the type of water the smolt like to ‘hang out’ in, it is no wonder the Swimmer and Crawler mayfly population is less prolific as they are easy prey for the smolts. Conversely, the clinging Mayflies are still reasonably prolific because the smolt cannot target a clinging Mayfly nymph.

BWO – Swimmer
PMD – Crawler
March Brown – Clinger

As we all know the Mayfly is the classic fly for trout to eat on the surface. The insect has an incomplete metamorphisis and becomes a sitting duck for trout in its emergence stage.  We just don’t see the Mayfly hatches as we use to on the Yakima.

Looking at the positive side… The Salmon add a dimension of biomass to the river that was missing for quite awhile.  The ‘Little Alaska’ effect from approximately Sept 10 – Oct 10 can be very fun.

Bugs Include – Salmon Flies, Golden Stones, Caddis, Carpenter Ants

________________________

UPPER COLUMBIA

Big Water everywhere this year.  When you are on the Columbia that is all relative…It is the biggest trout fishery in the world.

Bugs include…. Caddis, Baetis, Carpenter Ants, PMD’s
Water Clarity ranging from 4-6 feet depending on the day

________________________

SMALLMOUTH BASS

As with all fishing, it isn’t always catching.  We have had some avg. to goooood topwater action on the Smally’s or aka ‘Washington Snook’

________________________

KLICKITAT

Currently on the rise and at 3560.  Prior to this bump in the water level, the river was on steady drop….and was down to 2850 +/-.  Tough conditions overall with not a lot of fish passage over Bonneville.  Watch for those number to increase once the Columbia system levels out.

KLICKITAT

The river is at 3250.  Long time avg flows at this time of year are about 2500.  Fish counts seem to be a down a bit…….
Klickitat River – 5/18/17   Current clarity is 2.5 feet

____________________

UPPER COLUMBIA

Lot’s of water on the UC, as with everywhere;  However the UC is just a BIGGER scale.  Not much dry fly fishing currently but some avg to good nymphing.  A variety of Mayfly’s out and about with a few Caddis A showing….

____________________

Typical UC Bow

____________________
YAKIMA

WATER CLARITY
Upper Proper  5-6 feet
Upper Flatlands 6-7 feet
Upper Canyon 6-5
Farmlands 5-3
Lower Canyon 3

Bugs

Quite a few of these  Salmon flies lately.  In addition, March Brown’s in isolated locations, Mother’s Day Caddis light and variable, Flying Ants. Water is in great condition but predicted to go out of shape with this upcoming weekend.

The river spiked hard yesterday due to an inordinate amount of rain.  It is currently dropping and looks like it will do so for the next few days and then see a slight continual rise over the next week.  This continued rise will be gradual and the river should fish right through it.

BUGS include – Salmon Flies, Mothers Day Caddis, March Browns

CLARITY AT STATE BOAT LAUNCH – EAST CLE ELUM

YAKIMA RIVER –  The river is completely blown out currently.  However with this current weather pattern it should settle down a bit.  As stated earlier,  Between now and stabilization (somewhere around June 15)  the river will fish good and not so good….It all depends on how the water comes.

Current bugs include

Salmon Flies
March Browns
Flying Ants
Caddis

Current Water Clarity as of 5/6
Upper Proper  – 6 inches
Upper Flatlands – 8 Inches
Upper Canyon – 0
Farmlands – 0
Lower Canyon – 0

UPPER COLUMBIA RIVER

This is the one river that does not “Blow Out”  believe it or not….Current visibility is 6 feet.  Current bugs include Baetis, Caddis, March Browns.   Predominant tactic lately is nymphing with some swinging and dry flies. Here is a world class trout caught recently….Not all of them are this big:)

SMALLMOUTH

Smallmouth bass action is heating up.  Top water action just started on one of our favorite desert streams…..

Clarity Chart….

Upper Proper 4.5 feet
Upper Flatlands 5.5 feet
Upper Canyon 5.5 – 4.5 feet
Farmlands  4.5 – 2.5
Lower Canyon  2 feet

The Yakima has some big water right now.   The Lower and Upper Canyons are bank to bank.  Our best fishing as of recently is to stop and fish likely water in the Farmlands or Upper Proper.  Both the listed stretches afford foot access in high water because of the islands and channels.

#1 Fly yesterday…  # 4 Black Stone fly

Current hatching bugs…
#12 March Browns
#18 Baetis
#10 Skwala

Upcoming bugs…
#4-6 Salmon Flies
#14 American Grannom – Caddis

There are still a few of these around…