North Washington guide service

YAKIMA TROUT

The river is in great shape and we are good to go for the remainder of the year. We will see some fluctuations on flow based on demand variation but overall we have stabilized for the 2022 season. Caddis, PMD’s, Golden stones, Drakes and Salmon smolt Would be the main fare.

Water clarity
Upper Proper 5 feet
Upper Flatlands 6 feet
Upper Canyon 5 feet
Farmlands 5-3 feet
Lower Canyon 2.5 feet

Verbatim report from a guide
for 6/28   Fishing was pretty darn good yesterday in the lower canyon. Lots of action nymphing. Not many big fish landed but lots of strikes. Pats Stones, Yellow Sallie and PMD nymphs were the ticket.

….and 6/29Fished the upper canyon with my daughter today and the dry fly and dry dropper fishing was very good. A ton of 9-13 inchers with a few kicker 15-18’s. Some tank refusers. Lots of pressure I’m guessing.  Prevalent bugs Sallies, PMDS, beetles and a size 10-12 yellowish brown stone.

YAKIMA BASS

Dang good fishing down low on the Yakima for Bass.  Predominant tactic has been retreiving streamers utilizing sink tips.  The topwater activity should be good over the next week.

UPPER COLUMBIA-BLACK BEAR LODGE…. Catching has been average to good depending on the day. Water clarity is about 6 feet of visibility. Bugs include Caddis and PMDs. Honestly hatches have been pretty light so far-1st gear….. but they are about to kick into 2nd and 3rd gear this week.   Mostly nymphing with some soft hackle and some dry fly action starting.

KLICKITAT-THE STEELHEAD RANCH River is in great shape… And there are Steelhead in the river. So far over Bonneville the fish counts are matching an average for the 10 year number! The fish trap on the Klickitat is showing a consistent number of fish coming up! Happy to see this – should be a good season!

Fishing is spot on!  Big water but spot on.  Short leash nymphing has been the key.

#4-8Pats Stones
#4-6 Salmon smolt patterns
#10-12 Prince nymphs
#14-16 CDC PT’s, Perdigons, Duracells & YB’s
#10-12 San Juans in variations

Appears we might get a bump in flows this week.  It will be dam released clean water. If it happens, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Cover lots of water – Target likely spots – Enjoy the day.

LOOKING good….Big, but looking good.  We will be back on the wtaer starting Friday:)

Quick update–Klickitat and Yakima are BLOWN out.
Smallmouth fishing in the basin is good/lots of topwater action.  The Upper Columbia is fishing as well!

Recent Images – Contact Jack @ 509.859.2280

YAKIMA

Video taken at Irene Rinehart 4PM June 5

When the river comes back into shape The predominant bugs will include….

Caddis
PMD’s
Flying Ants
Golden Stones
Green Drakes

In the mean time the Smallmouth fishing has been good! This coming week looks great for Smally’s!

UPPER COLUMBIA

Lake Roosevelt Reservoir is way lower than normal, therefore the flows near the border are FAST.  Caddis have been really strong making our fishing a little tough honestly;   Much rather have Mayflies.  Actually, everyday has been different and we have had some good fishing. Some days better than others!

The fishing has been good even with the BIG water.  However, the river just increased in size quite a bit more over the past 24 hours and although the fish still have to eat the catching was pretty darn tough yesterday! Recently the PMD’s have shown up.

Current Bugs include:
->Caddis  #14-18 Heavy hatches
->PMD’s #16
->Salmon Flies #4-8
->Salmon Smolt # 2-6

Bugs of the Week
->#14-16 YB, PMD Trigger Nymph
->#4-6 Sparkle Minnow
->#6 McSalmon
->#4-8 Pats Stone

Coming Soon 
->#12 Flying Carpenter Ants
->#10-12 Green Drakes

YAKIMA

Fritz with a good one!

Water is in great condition…..it will most likely stay big as the reservoirs are full and the current snopack is roughly 140%.  Water temps are varying between 42 and 50 degrees depending on time and zone.

RECENT VIDEO HERE

We should see some great fishing throughout the season.

Bugs of the week
1)Caddis
2)Salmon flies
3)March Browns
4)Blue Wings

Best patterns of the week
#4-6 Black or Orange and Black Pats Stone
#14-16 CDC PT,  Perdigon, YB, Red Halo Prince
#4-8 Sparkle Minnow

Water Clarity
Upper Proper           4 feet
Upper Flatlands      5 feet
Upper Canyon          4 feet
Farmlands                 4-3 feet
Lower Canyon          2.5 feet

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UPPER COLUMBIA

Water clarity is at about 6-7 feet and green. Nymphing and  Soft Hackles have been the ticket lately with some healthy fish.  Catching has been good on average.  We have a busy schedule coming up !

We do have a cancellation special June 6-9  ….   30% Discount available.  Call Jack @ 509.859.2280

KLICKITAT

We are looking forward to the opener just around the corner!

SMALLMOUTH

This is the time of year that we find some Smallmouth to play with.  Although it is a little early for top water based on our cold weather patterns, it should turn on soon on some of the waters we fish…not on all of them. If you are looking to schedule….. call Jack @  509.859.2280

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YAKIMA RIVER

Water has been all over the board lately.  Things are stabilized for now!

Predomonant bugs are Blue Wings, March Browns and Caddis.  Food source also includes Salmon Smolt patterns.   Short leash More here nymphing has been the mainstay recently.  Shortleash = 7.5 foot leaders with 2-5 feet below the Indicator…. ..

The Indicator aka…

Bobbercator Indi-Bob(Indicator/Bobber
hybrid)
Float(Old school name)
Indicator
Strike Indicator
Bobber
Strike Detector
ASID (Acute Strike Indicator Detector)

Bobbers are used to detect strikes while drifting a fly suspended below the bobbercator in a static free fashion. This technique is
the complete opposite of fishing a fly under tension or commonly referred to as the ‘swing’

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UPPER COLUMBIA.

I should never say this river doesn’t blow out, because it does, but rarely.  Bugs include Caddis, Blue Wings and March Browns.   Nymphing has been the GOTO recently with a little streamer, soft hackle and dry fly action.

Fish are healthy and the river is in great shape .  We have some availability in May!

This past week was a little rough on the Yakima.  Last Sunday they flushed the river and the flows almost doubled. In addition the water temps dropped 6 degrees.  Pretty much SLOWED  the March Brown Hatch down.

The warmer weather coming should be welcomed.

YAKIMA CLARITY 
Upper Proper 5 feet
Upper Flatlands 6 feet
Upper Canyon 5 feet
Farmlands 5-3 feet
Lower Canyon 2.5 -3 feet

HATCHES
Skwala
March Browns
Blue Wing Olives
Salmon Flies
Midges
Caddis