2007 Fishing Reports

Yakima River Conditions Links:

Ellensburg's Weather

Yakima River at Umtanum

Yakima River Water Temperatures

NOAA's Hydrologic Prediction Service

Yakima River Basinwide Flow Site

Yakima River Basin Storage Diagram

Mountain Pass Report

-This is our current fly fishing report for destinations throughout Washington State, focused mostly on our main attraction, the Yakima River. The previous years fly fishing reports (linked above) are also a great resource for you.

-December 12th, 2007

-This isn't going to be much of a fishing update as we haven't been waterside for a while. We did have a great float trip and hooked some fish on the Wenatchee River the other day. I want to report that we are settled in to our new home and business here in Yakima. We recently moved from Ellensburg. West Valley is a great place for us and we're excited to be here. We are much closer to the Yakima River smallmouth bass factory, the Klickitat River, and will continue to market the Yakima River trout fishery between Easton and Yakima as our pride and joy. We had a tentative guide trip scheduled for this weekend, but with this cold snap we are experiencing it's on hold. Winter fishing can be great when the conditions are right. I like the days that see a day time high of 35 to 40 degrees. You usually need to monitor ice flows and launch access too. Make sure your 4X4 is in good working order. I'll be out this Friday scoping out some spots and fishing the good olle YAK.

-I'm hoping to give the website a little face lift this winter as I've got some time on my hands. With graduate school over and done with, I'll be spending more time on the business! Be checking back to see some new destinations/trips. We've had inquiries for gift certificates and they are available. Now is a good time to reserve your date for our 2008 season.

-Winter rates are in effect as the days are short and the fishing conditions a bit cold, but the fishing can still be warm. Let's get out there and hook a few. Yakima River winter outings will be 5 hours and $225. Shoot our new phone number a call to book, it's 509-965-1675.

-If you get a second grab the current Fly Fisherman magazine issue on the newsstands. There's a great article on the Yakima River trout fishery. It was a pleasure to work with Skip Morris and the photographers on the article. The Yakima River is truly a river for all seasons. The Yakima is the finest trout stream in the state!

-October 21st, 2007

-We have been having great fishing when Mr. Weatherman cooperates. The wind has been the issue. The cool, cloudy and sometimes drizzly days have made for some great mayfly hatches in the afternoons, sometimes the hatch has been coming off around 12pm, and others not until 1 or 2 pm. On the cooler days the hatch will come off later. What really worked well for us yesterday is patience. We waited on our hole, a hole that I knew would be full of risers once the hatch begun and it was, but we had to wait for it. When we haven't been tossing blue wings, mahoganies, and October Caddis adults we've been tossing nymphs under an indicator. For numbers of fish the nymphing can't be beat. We should have another few weeks of good fishing. By mid November things usually slow down, but keep in mind that the Yakima River will produce all winter long. So keep a winter guide trip in mind too. We appreciate all of the clients that have fished with us this fall. This has been one of our best falls for bookings and fishing, thank you.

-The Wenatchee River opens for steelhead fishing tomorrow. This has been highly anticipated. It should go well. Check out the newsstand edition of the Washington Fishing and Hunting News. There's a great article on the opening as well as the Methow steelhead fishery. Check out my steelhead picture featured in the article.

-October 9th, 2007

-The good olle Yakima continues to fish very, very well. You know, almost every client asks what is the best time to fish the Yakima-well it's October, hands down! I love the fall colors, the wildlife both deer and often elk, and of course the beautiful rainbows and occasional cutthroat. My last guide trip was from the KOA to the Ringer road boat launch and we nymphed fish like crazy. One of the fish was 19 inches, and that's a true 19 inches! You'll see the pictures soon. I've got a ton of photos to upload, but can't find my cord.

-Speaking of photos, you've got to see some of the pigs we've been getting at lakes throughout the Columbia Basin. As much as I love the Yakima, boy do we have some incredible stillwater destinations in this state. I resorted to fishing stillwater rather than chasing steelhead on the Methow River this last weekend. Rumor has it that you had to bring your own rock to stand on in this popular steelhead stream on the October 6th opener. I fished the opener once and vowed to never do it again-I'll tell you about the experience I had: I was working as a Biologist on the Columbia River at the time. I had been monitoring steelhead passage at Priest Rapids Dam as often as I could during the course of the steelhead migration, as the opener is based on the number of steelhead, more particular the need for wild fish passage at Priest Rapids to meet both Methow, Wenatchee, Okanogan etc., potential steelhead production. Long story short, I camped right beside the river on the opener, right next to the hole I had been dreaming about for the entire year. I had done well there in the past. Here I am as glad as a kid in a candy store to be fishing the Methow River. It's 5am and I'm pulling my very cold waders on at my tailgate when 3 guys pull up in a fancy truck, their rods all strung up with bobbers and the like. They jump out and just like that my hole was gone! I fished marginal water for a few hours and saw anglers crawling out of trucks left and right. I hooked 4 and landed 3, which in itself was a great experience, but I said to myself, wow, this isn't really that fun. That's my two cents.

-On the other hand let me tell you what I did the other day that has spun me around in circles ever since. I called my buddy up (another guide on the Yakima River, a great guide, he's ran several guide trips for us, he's a great caster) we hit a Columbia Basin lake, and brought nearly 25 fish to the driftboat, with the average size in the 20 inch and 4 pound size class. The largest fish I caught was 23 inches and fat as can be, and Tyson got a 25 inch hogg on his last cast of the day. What if I told you that most of these fish including dozens that we nearly caught were on dry fly in a public access lake! It's true, we had a world class experience and what's better about it is that we had almost the entire lake to ourselves for nearly the entire day. That's good fishin!

-September 30th, 2007

-The best mayfly hatches of the fall, so far have been coming off over the last few days. Mr. Weather has brought some ideal cool, drizzly, cloudy hatch happy days. We had two great floats last week; a guide trip down the Yakima River Canyon and through the farmlands near Ellensburg. Our fish to the boat totals have been high, and the canyon has been producing some hoggs. Larry hooked, I kid you not 3 fish over 18 inches and we almost hooked another in that 20 inch size range. One fish will stay in my memory banks for some time. She was a horse sipping tiny blue wings in this soft foam line down near the Slab. We hooked her on a small comparadun and she went hogg wild, jumping multiple times and fighting like crazy. I pulled up anchor and we chased her for a while, and the line went limp, bummer, she broke off. She had to be a 5 pounder in the 22 inch size class. What a fish. Those fish are the ones that keep us coming back for more. Let's get out there, give me a call or shoot a quick email.

-September 22nd, 2007

-Our fall fishing has officially kicked off. Flows are low and clarity is beautiful. Our guide trip yesterday yielded many great memories for Dan and Dave, including Dave's largest fish ever, on a fly rod. Nymphing has been my mainstay with stones and small droppers, and I mean small droppers, down to size 18. A good cranefly imitation will get hammered and toss some fall caddis out in the late afternoons, especially in the farmlands and upper Yakima. Look for the baetis and mahoganies to intensify as major hatches, as our fall progresses, especially on the cooler overcast days. I'm back out on the river today and we'll have a ball!

-We have anglers up fishing Grandma's Lake today and look forward to their fishing report. Fall is gorgeous up in the Okanogan.

-We've had good smallmouth fishing lately, so call for details!

-September 9th, 2007

-Our summer high flows are finishing up for the year and our low fall flows are here. It's been a steady draw down and the fish are finding their new holding lies. I usually limit my fishing during the drawdown, and really hit the river once the flows have dropped. While the good olle Yak was dropping we hit Kelly Creek and the North Fork Clearwater Rivers in Idaho and had a great time tossing dries to cutthroat. I have never caught that many nice sized cutthroat in my life. What a beautiful place!

-I ran a fantastic guide trip yesterday down the lower Yakima River canyon. We stuck with nymphing primarily with the standard stonefly with a bead head dropper in the size 16 size frame and caught fish from start to finish with the largest fish measuring about 17 inches. The small mayflies, like the baetis, mahoganies, sulphors and still some small caddis are available on the surface for hatch fishing. I also saw several large adult stoneflies, hoppers in the brush, and my favorite early fall bug, the cranefly. The nymphing was so good, it was hard to switch, ahh there's always next time. Let's go fishin'! We've relocated our guide business, so please note our new address on our contact us page and our new business phone number, 509-607-1419.

-August 21st, 2007

-Summer fishing is rolling on, and we've been busy guiding. I recently ran two outing in one day, a great morning float tossing dries and then nymphs, followed by the reverse order for techniques on the evening trip. If I only had 2 hours to fish in a day, it would be the first two hours for sure. I keep asking my clients, "how early can you get up", well then that's when we're fishing! Summer flows are still high to meet downstream irrigation needs, but the good olle Yakima River "flip flop" should be occurring that first week or so of September. The weather has been beautiful, the rainbows have been putting up quite a fight and life is goooood! On another good note, fall is coming. There's no better time to fish the Yakima than September and October, and I'm very biased to October, especially right smack dab in the middle of the month. We've relocated our guide business, so please note our new address on our contact us page.

-June 18th, 2007

-Let's see, where do we start? We've caught hundreds of fish on guide trips since the last report. Ahh, that's a good place to begin. I've guided trips all over the place in the last few weeks. We've caught everything from basin large and smallmouth bass, to bluegill on tiny bamboo fly rods, to rainbow, cutthroat and whitefish slayin' on the good olle Yakima River. Now is a very good time to be booking a guide trip. This last weekend I guided 22 miles of the Yakima River trout fishery and we had a ball. Nymphing has been my mainstay with stone flies as my lead fly and various dropper nymphs that look like caddis and mayflies. Tie your own flies, you'll catch more fish! The upper river has been treating us to some pretty good dry fly attractor fishing and the afternoons are producing pmd and yellow may (the common name for the larger light colored mayflies you're seeing on the water in the afternoons) hatches. The longest day of the year is approaching, so don't be afraid to stay out until 10 or 10:30 at night. The caddis dry fly tossing can be epoch. I've got availability in the weeks to come, but the bookings are coming in, so if you have a date in mind you better call.

-So, it's finally over. I've graduated with my Master of Science degree, check out this picture, click here. What a relief. I haven't been updating the reports as much because it took a lot of work to finish that baby up.

-May 8th, 2007

-Caddis blizzards are here. We needed a few warm days and we got them. I personally experienced a caddis hatch the other day on a guide trip that was stronger than any I've seen, and this is my 7th season on the YAK. Life is good! Now is the time to get out there! Nymphing has been the mainstay when the fish haven't been looking up. We've done the best on stone fly nymphs weighted to bounce on the bottom trailed by a lighting bug, pheasant tail or prince nymph. I don't usually get to fancy on my dropper nymphs as the good olle stand byes are hard to beat. When you find shaded areas where fish are slurping caddis adults make sure you get a good presentation in there and wait that extra moment on your hook set, fish on! Let's get out there!

-The water temperatures are perfect and flows are low enough at the moment to head on down to the lower Yakima for smallmouth. I've been guiding down there. Two different weeks in a row we got guests into 4+ pound smallies. I repeat, life is good!

-I defended my masters thesis last week. I'm done, yahoo!

-April 5th, 2007

-I bet some of you were wondering if I'd update this fishing report--well here goes. First off I need to share some important news. I handed my Master's thesis in to my graduate committee today! I'm expecting a fix it loop, but for the most part I am done, yahoo. I'll defend the thesis in the coming weeks. Many of the clients that have fished with me over the years know that I've been chipping away at this Master of Science for some time. I have been blessed.

-As for fishing, I'll start with the Yakima River trout fishery. We're back in business for spring fishing as flows have dropped and are steady, for the time being. The current conditions are the best we've seen in the last several weeks and I encourage you to take advantage of the skwala dry fly flingin' opportunities, march brown risers, beatis hatches and consistent nymphing. It is still a drift boat game as flows are high enough to make wading difficult. Look for flows to go back up again with the warmer weather and precipitation in the extended forcast. Check flows and everyone's online reports before planning a trip. I'll keep you posted as often as I can get to the computer, but here's a few great links for Yakima River trout fishing reports.

http://theeveninghatch.com/YAKreports2006.htm

http://www.tightlinesangling.com/Yakima%20River%20Fishing%20Report.htm

http://www.redsflyshop.com/powerhour.html

http://www.worleybuggerflyco.com/Yakima_River_Fly_Fishing_Report.htm

http://yakimariverangler.com/yakima/fishing-reports/Yak2007reports.htm

http://blueskiesfishing.com/yakima_river_conditions.php

-When the flows have compromised the Yakima River trout fishery I have been wetting lines in the Columbia Basin. The stillwater fly fishing has been good! I love packing my float tube into some of the desert gems I grew up fishing. It's like a kid in a candy store for me. Get out there. The weather will be beautiful and water temperatures will be on the incline. Denny Rickard's seal buggers are hard to beat on a sink tip, and toss some chironimids under a bobber. Hold on as those fish fight. My favorite is the hard tug of the brown trout. Try different depths. Study your drop offs and think like a fish. What will it take to catch more fish? Put your fly in front of them! The more I think about habitat and foraging techniques the more I think like a fish. Try it.

-I've said it before and I'll say it again. The put and take lakes throughout the state are great fly fishing destinations. After stocking, the trout are in the top few feet of the water column and eager to take a fly. Keep posted to the WDFW stocking report: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/plants/weekly/

-Bass, bass, bass, largemouth, smallmouth, they are all bucket mouths and I love them! I just about pulled the trigger and headed down to the lower Yakima River, but I'm going to give it some time to improve in both clarity and flow volume. I want to share some incite. If you are a fly fishing only guy or gal the lower Yakima smallmouth game is for you when flows are below 2,000 cfs at Kiona. If you don't mind mixing it up a bit than I will be fishing the river for smallmouth any where from 5,000 cfs and below. I have had considerable interest in this fishery and the March 2007 "Sagebrush Smallies" article in the American Angler magazine has helped greatly. I want to take you on a guide trip down there. As for largemouth, oh what a fish! I'll be after them in the basin tomorrow. I will be offering additional trips to Eastern Washington bass lakes and streams in 2007. I started guiding some of the spots last year.

-Currently, we are promoting two private still water trout fisheries in the Okanogan. Lemanasky Lake (Grandma's Lake) and Crumbacker Lake are both incredible fisheries located North of Omak. Crumbacker is ready to go, let's get you out there! The small lake offers chironimid, dry fly, and sink tip bugger opportunities for very large rainbows. The average size is quite large. Lemaskly Lake is a larger lake that offers probably more steady action and is my favorite of all the private stillwater lakes I've fished in this state. At 3800 feet we are still waiting for the ice to melt to evaluate the fish population and open the fishery. As stated below Lemansky Lake is booked this spring nearly solid with some mid week dates still available. Please consider a fall booking up there as we have many dates available. Call or email anytime.

-With the thesis and Master's degree just about nipped in the bud and my time freeing up greatly I'll have more time for guiding. Let's get out there!

-March 8th, 2007

-Well I ran a great guide trip the other day on the farmlands section of the Yakima and it went well from start to finish. We nymphed fish on the dirty worm, stone nymphs and various droppers. The weather has been beautiful. The fish should really start looking up for the dry skwalas, especially in the canyon. Look for the midges, baetis and march brown hatches too. Remember that you don't often see adult skwalas out and about, butt the fish key on the large dry attractors. This should be a great week to hit the YAK. Our flows will be temperature and rain fall dependent so look for a decently steady hydrograph and we should be in business. I personally enjoy the days when we're fishing a falling limb (when flows are dropping back into shape). For now, we're still fishin'. Flows are rising, but get out there!

-Many of the Eastern Washington desert lakes opened March 1st, and I've heard pretty good reports, although this weeks warming trend is just what these lakes need. Fishing should be excellent in the coming weeks at Lenore, Lenice, Nunnally, Dusty and don't overlook the put and take fisheries like Quincy and Burke Lakes. Stop in to see Darce at the Desert Fly Angler flyshop in Ephrata to pick up a few last minute necessities. We live in a beautiful state with ample opportunities to wet a line.

-I wanted to keep you posted as to our availability up at Lemanasky Lake (Grandma's Lake) for the 2007 season. We have many fall dates still available, but from the middle of April to the middle of June (other than a few midweek Tuesday and Wednesday dates) the lake is booked with fly flingers. Keep me posted as to your availability beyond this spring. This little private stillwater gem is getting famous right before my eyes.

-For you smallmouth fishing fanatics pick up this months issue of the American Angler magazine. David Williams, a fellow Washington fly fisher wrote a pretty good article on what to expect on the lower Yakima River. Check out my big olle smallie pictured in the article. Let's get you down there for a spin and fly fishing adventure you will not forget. I'm planning to guide down there all spring and summer for 2007.

-February 22nd, 2007

-After rising to over 5000 cfs the Yakima River is now on the drop and clarity has improved form brown to a hinge of green. She is very fishable presently. I've heard some great fishing reports. I hit the river for an hour or so today with my new fox red lab pup, Dragon. The river was a bit high for wading today, but she continues to drop. Fish were definitely holding in the softer seam water. Spend time nymphing your inside river bends, and lower velocity drop offs, shelfs and undercut banks. Fishing from a driftboat will improve your odds at having a high number fish day. The water will be clearer and lower as you stay above Wilson Creek and the lower canyon. Spring fishing is almost here. Any day now we'll start whacking em on skwala dries. Let's get you out there!

-On another note we've had great interest in Grandma's Lake this season, and I want to put a plug out for this private stillwater gem. I've helped manage the fishery for 6 years now. I have fished many private lakes, completed private lake fisheries consulting for different lakes in the Okanogan, and have fished many of the "go to" public fly fishing lakes. I can honestly say that Grandma's Lake is the place to be. The first time I visited the lake I was so excited that I couldn't sleep the night before. I resorted to cleaning the cabin all night while Jaclyn snoozed away. When the sun started to peak over the Aeneas Mountains to the North of the Lake I knew it was time to fish. I fished for 14 hours straight. I don't know if I have had a more memorable experience on the water. Anticipation of the lakes surroundings, cabin and fish keep me going through the winter.

-February 9th, 2007

-Well life has been treating me mighty fine. The wife seems happy, the kids are as beautiful as can be. I love my job and guiding. My thesis is coming along. The Superbowl went well, especially with my new 42 inch plasma. Most important to all of you, the fishing is really starting to turn on. With the warmer weather comes warmer water temperatures and more active fish. Now is the time to get in on some early season fly tossing. The baetis, skwalas, march browns, and the caddis are right around the corner. Spring is coming! Are you ready?

-The fly fishing show in Bellevue is this weekend, have fun. We've had a booth at this show in the past and had a ball. It's a great show.