Red's Fly Shop | Power Hour Fishing Report - Yakima River Fly Fishing Report

Red's Power Hour Fishing Report
April - June 2007

The Power Hour Fishing Report is brought to you exclusively by Red's. The content of this report is not the generic "fishing has been good in the morning, and afternoons, and later in the evenings, too." Rather, when we go fishing, we will analyze one session and report the day, time, location, fly, number of fish caught, species, and size (if we caught any). We'll also write up the method we used. Keep in mind that the fishing report is based on a prior day's fishing and weather conditions.

Location: Farmlands

Flies: Goldens Stone (clark style)#8, Orange Paranobyl #8/10, Stimulator w/ legs #10, Black K Stone #8, CDC PT #16

The dry fly fishing has picked up a bit and searching with Stimulators and Stonefly patterns has become productive in the lower river (Farmlands/Canyon), the upper river had already been showing signs of life on the big dry but it it now starting to happen from Ellensburg on down. Golden Stonefly patterns have been effective and the Clark Stone style of Golden was probably the most effective bug for us. Do not ignore the Mayfly hatch throughout mid-day and the Caddis hatch in the evening is standard protocol right now. From 6 pm on, there is a steady flight/hatch of Caddis. Temperatures will remain in the 80's all week with a light mix of clouds, this could turn things on for us.

She is a pretty good spotter on carp, just imagine when she gets some good polarized glasses! We went out chasing Carp, or Golden Bonefish as some of us like to call them. It is a fun game, all sight casting and we are putting on a Clinic July 14th if you are interested in learning more. It is 100% free and no kid required.

As for the Yakima, it is fishing great right now and the dry fly fishing yesterday was quite good on Golden Stone patterns and there was a pretty good mayfly hatch mid day with PMD's and other various Sulphur Duns hatching in the 14-18 range. The cloud cover certainly helped as the dry fly fishing slowed a bit when the sun became bright and clear. Overall, it was a good day with plenty of action. Our catch numbers aren't a great representation of the action that was taking place, that is one of the beautiful things about dry fly fishing is that if you miss 'em, at least you saw 'em.

Location: MM20 to Roza

Flies: Orange Paranobyl #8, Gladiator Stone #8, Peacock/tan Paranobyl #8, CDC PT 16, Black K Stone #8/10, Conehead 20" er #8, Pat Stone's, CDC Caddis emerger 16

Fishing has progressively been picking up over the last couple of days, we are right on the verge of having some great big dry fly fishing and have been getting a few takes here and there with a big bug against the bank. We ran a dry dropper combo with pretty good success most of the day, but most of our fish were on the dropper. Our biggest however, did eat a dry fly and we did roll some nice fish which was enough to keep us going on a dry. The evening time yielded a pretty good flight of Caddis and there were a few fish up and feeding. We traded our dropper nymph for a Caddis trailer and hung a nice big one just above Roza. Overall the fishing is good and the water is great right now, but keep an eye on the flows. They just started a fairly substantial release and we may be up around 4000 cfs by the end of the week. The river will likely handle the rise just fine and it will be good to get back up to our normal summer flow level.

Location: Bighorn to Red's.

Flies: Conehead 20"er Stone #8, Black K Stone #8, Orange Paranobyl #8, Soft Hackle PT (no bead) 16, CDC PT BH 16, Conehead Bunny Sculpin #4

Good fishing yesterday, there were calm conditions with mixed cloud cover during our morning float and all the guides agreed that it was probably the best fishing we've had in at least a week or so. Flows have bumped up a bit, but they aren't going anywhere.... yet. It is supposed to be quite warm tomorrow with a high of 85 and 82 the next. That could spark another small release but there shouldn't be anything major in the next few days. As far as hatches go, there were a lot of Caddis in flight yesterday and the diligent dry fly angler could have had his shot at some risers. The Summer Stonefly hatch has officially been kicked off as we found an adult near the Red's boat launch yesterday as well. PMD's are all but gone until the next dark and dreary day so don't invest too much time in tying those right now. Overall, average to good fishing and conditions. PS - if you are wondering why the guy in the picture above looks like he is freezing on a June fishing report page it is because that picture was taken like 2 years ago and we have been telling him again and again that we would put it up and never did. So here it is! Enjoy the glory.

Location: Rhinehart to Bighorn.

Flies: Pheasant Tail #16, Prince #16, Red Copper John, Pat's Stone, Royal PMX #8, Peacock/tan Chernobyl #8, Orange Paranobyl #10, Tan Paranobyl #10

It picked up a bit yesterday, conditions took a turn for the better when some cloud cover rolled in after lunch. The nymphing yielded the most as far as numbers go, but we did see our first tast of Summer Stonefly fishing in the afternoon. We moved a few real nice fish on dry flies while the clouds were out but as the sun reappeared in slowed down again. Another week and we should be catching fish on Stimulators and other dry flies.

Location: Rhinehart to Bighorn

Flies: Pheasant Tail #16, Prince #16, Lime Green Caddis Pupae #14-16, CDC PT #16/18, Lightning Bugs (all of them), Bead body Caddis, Turks Tarantula #8, Golden Stone #6/8, Gladiator Stone #8/10, Conehead Sculpin #4

Great fishing day, not so much on the catching side of things. Very little traffic on the river which was nice, both the pressure in the Farmlands and Canyon was light. The breezy conditions certainly made things a bit more difficult but overall the fishing has slowed a bit, that could all change of course in a matter of a day or two. The river itself does not lend a more inviting condition than right now. The catch was primarily on nymphs, but there were a few fish willing to chase streamers. The dry fly fishing was fairly unproductive however. We will stay with you over the weekend. Thanks, Red's.

Location: East Cle Elum to Thorp Bridge

Flies: Gladiator Stone #10/#8, Lime Green PMX #8, Parachute Wulff #12, Black K Stone #8, Prince Nymph #16, Orange Chernobyl #6, Biot Sparkle Stone #16 (yellow sally nymph)

We decided to get out of the lower canyon yesterday in pursuit of some better big dry fly fishing and we did get some action on big bugs, but it is not quite hot yet. Most likely the lower canyon will light up first on Summer Stones, although we did have a decent day on big dries it wasn't quite what were were hoping for. Air temps are a bit cooler than normal for this time of year, after a few hot days we'll start to get some good big bug fishing at dusk. I have looked for Summer Stones along the bank and have yet to find a significant amount. Hatches in the Upper River were much lighter than the canyon with a mix of various Caddis and even a few Yellow Sallies. The lower river is still kicking out PMD's and a small variety of larger mayflies. Overall, the fishing has kind of leveled off and if I had to make a generalization it would be called average fishing (which is a good thing!). That means we're catching fish and it could ignite any day with the water is such perfect condition. The flow bumped up 200 cfs at Cle Elum dam, but looking at the forecast it probably isn't going anywhere.

There was some mutiny over letting a "little 12 inch Cutthroat" beat out a 20-25 lb King for the reports page pic in less than a day, so here it is again.... enjoy. It has been haunting me, I try not to think about fishing for Kings while I am fishing trout on the Yakima. The Yakima fished "ok" yesterday, the big dry fly fishing hasn't quite turned yet but we will be there within a week hopefully. The nymphing was steady with a lot of small fish and Whitefish mixed in with the mature trout, the water is low and clear, still and in perfect condition. I think that the next cloudy day should yield some good dry fly fishing, yesterday was so sunny that the fish wouldn't come up very often. We turned a good number of small fish on big dry flies, but the largest was about 13". There were a few sporadic risers on PMD's in the afternoon but I wouldn't have called it "hatch fishing". The fishing seemed to peak out in the afternoon from 3-7 pm when the Caddis began to get active. Good luck, we'll keep you posted. By the way, congrats to Art whom landed his first trout on a fly rod yesterday. Nice job.

Location: Upper River

Flies: Size 4 Sculpzilla, Orange parachute Chernobyl, Elk Hair Caddis, PMX, Brown K Stone #8, Prince #16

This river continues to amaze us, the flow is low (relatively speaking) and very clear with good fishing in all sections including the canyon. Hatches remain the same, a few PMDs/Caddis in the afternoon hours with mixtures of large mayflies as well. There are a few Golden Stones hanging around and we are just on the verge of seeing our first Summer Stone hatch. Caddis at dusk is the best dry fly opportunity right now.

One of our guides just got back from Alaska, check out the type of Kings they were catching. Good lord that is a heavy fish. The Yakima River is still in prime shape, we have been fishing the entire river from Cle Elum down through the canyon (of course). Catching is slightly above average, things will pick up a lot when the Summer Stonefly hatch gets rolling. A few hot days and as long as the Bureau of Recreation doesn't blow us out we should start getting some action on Chernobyls and other big dry flies. Overall, fishing is pretty good. The PMD hatch has been light so we have been nymphing most of the time.

I had to put the Carp picture back up, that thing is huge. The Yakima was decent fishing today, the nymphing proved to be the mainstay for us as the PMD hatch didn't materialize until after 1 pm but I heard through the grapevine that it didn't amount to much in the way of rising fish anyway. The water itself is in perfect shape and cooperative if you like to wade fish. Hatches right now are a mixture of green/tan Caddis in the size 14-18 range with no one particular size, just a well rounded assortment. The PMD (Pale Morning Dun) is a yellow mayfly that hatches from about 1-3 pm give or take, it is about a #16. A pheasant tail makes a fine PMD nymph, or even a lightning bug will do. We have one fly in the shop called a Biot Sparkle Stone that is a brown and yellow nymph that seems to work well prior to a PMD hatch. There are larger Yellow Mayflys in the size 12 range that could pass as a PED (Pale Evening Dun). They typically have been hatching later in the day and help to let you get away with throwing larger dries like Wulffs, or a big Para Adams as a searching fly. I wish in hindsight that we had thrown dries today, but one of our participants was a feisty 4 year old named Ryan and he was more concerned with numbers of fish, as he was nominated as the net man. Well I hope that everybody has a great Father's Day, there are a couple of Dad's here at Red's that will be taking the day off and playing with their kids tomorrow!

Location: MM19 to Red's

Flies: A variety of small nymphs, primarily Krystal Flash PT 16, Flashback PT 16-18, RCJ 16-18, Prince 14.

Great nymphing, the sky was bright and sunny which was not very conducive to a PMD hatch but it is very good for nypmhing with small bugs. The water is low and clear, think about running 5X and 6X Flourocarbon to a tandem nymph rig with 2 small bugs when the conditions are such. The weather right now looks like it is going to be great dry fly fishing, dark and cloudy again. The forecast calls for cool temps through Tuesday at least, look for the next push of water will have to wait at least a few more days.

Location: Ensign to South Cle Elum

Flies: Stimulators, Princes, Pat Stone, PT, and Royal Wulf.

I really thought we we could just jump over it, I built up a lot of speed and we almost made it. We made an extreme run through the tree farm we used to call Bullfrog today and it was pretty rough going through there, I would describe it as unfloatable in its current state. That is part of the adventure I guess, but there were 5 bad spots in that section and it doesn't look like any of them are going to be moving around anytime soon. The fishing however was quite good, conditions were perfect and I'm sure it was bonkers throughout the whole system with the heavy cloud cover and PERFECT water conditions. It doesn't get much better, I wish the wind would die down but that is just part of having cloud cover I guess.

We were after the exotics today, big Carp on the fly. It is pretty fun sight fishing to carp as they cruise through the shallow flats, it is the closest thing we have to Bonefish in Eastern Washington so we're all over it. There was a little chop on the water which made them tougher to see, it takes good vision to identify them on a day like that. The fishing should only get better out there as the summer progresses, the hotter it gets the better the fishing is. It is all wet-wading on a solid bottom. We have started running guided trips out there, so if sight fishing to 10-20 lb Carp in clear water sounds like fun give us a call. The Yakima River continues to be in great shape, the forecast for the next week shows that it will stay in the 70's so we don't expect any surprises in the flow status. PMD's are still active mid-day, with a Caddis hatch at dusk. The nymphing fills the voids between hatches and the pattern of the day yesterday was a Lightning Bug. On another note, the Klickitat is in surprisingly good condition and the first push of Summer Steelhead have moved into the river and are dime bright and hotter than a pistol. We have a few dates available over the next week while the weather stays cool, so if you are interested give us a call. Our guides yesterday got into a couple of fish, one of which was taped at 32" and about 12 lbs. Oh my.

The weather has gotten cooler and windy, but the fish are continuing to feed. I think the fish like feeding when it is cloudy, windy, and nasty because they think that they are less likely to encounter fisherman on those types of days. The trout underestimate our dedication.

Location: Bighorn to Lmuma

Flies: Pheasant Tails 14-18, CDC Prince 16, Biot Sparkle Stone 14-16, Parachute PMD 16, CDC PMD 16, PMD Cripple.

It's go time, the fishing yesterday was great with steady dry fly fishing in the afternoon. The cloud cover combined with flows at just over 3000 cfs made for some great fishing, the river bumped up slightly to 3392 cfs this morning but it isn't going anywhere. Conditions are ideal and flows are finally manageable enough to get anchored securely and work rising fish, in addition the wading opportunities are at a point right now that we would call it "do-able". Certainly it is still a bit high for the pedestrian angler but it is certainly better than it has been, and probably better than it will be from now through Labor Day. It looks like the cooler weather is going to hold out all through the week which means the flow should hold steady for us, it is nice for the river to be back on track for a change.

Location: Ringer to Red's

Flies: BH Prince 14-16, Biot Sparkle Stone 14 (yellow sally nymph), Brown K Stone 6-8.

Wow, the river actually dipped below 3000 cfs in the canyon last night and is the lowest we have fished it all spring practically. The PMDs were pretty thick yesterday, but the dry fly fishing was isolated to individual fish. An advanced angler could certainly jump from riser to riser, but it would be tough to throw the dry exclusively. Today however is another story, we are starting with thick cloud cover which is what PMD's and trout both love. If the cloud cover hangs there will be a great hatch with lots of feeding fish in pods. More reminiscent of the fishing 2 days ago when there bugs and clouds to keep the trout looking up. It looks like the forecast is for relatively cool weather through most of next week which means the river should stay in check for a while. When the temps get back up in the mid 90's, expect the Bureau of Rec. to open it back up again. But in the meantime, enjoy the low/clear flow.

Location: Ringer to Red's

Flies: BH Prince 14-16, Pearl LB 14, PT 14-16, Lime Green Caddis Pupae 16, Biot Sparkle Stone 14 (yellow sally nymph), Black K Stone 6-8, Parachute PMD 16,Tan X Caddis 16, EHC followed by a CDC.

The Yak is back, great fishing yesterday in greenish clear water with some good dry fly fishing in the afternoon. Everything you hope to see this time of year, fish rising to a medley of PMDs and Caddis, good nymphing. The fishing was described as the type... "if you thought you should get a take, you did" Summer stones are just around the corner and there should be plenty of trout biting this weekend. Red's.

After a hard drop that should stabilize today sometime, we are back in perfect shape and the fishing should be very good after a blowout like we had. After fishing the river on a drop so much this spring, it is pretty safe to say the fishing will be really good. It has been every time that it has dropped like this. See you this weekend, Red's.

I just looked at the flows, oh my that is a fast drop. Wow. They turned off the faucet on the Cle Elum River and we should be fishable sometime tomorrow, in good shape by Friday/Saturday for sure. The fish are going to be hungry after that last blowout.

The river is on the fritz again and out of shape with high flows and very muddy water, I would say it is unfishable right now. Hopefully this will be our last bout with Mother Nature regarding water flows for the year, after this last push we should be good to go for the remainder of the summer. The Desert Lakes are a good option, as most of the tributaries are pretty high as well. Rocky Ford is also a constant, but the Damsel Flies on the Seep Lakes are going pretty good. If you fish the lakes, try to avoid the weed growth and using a Damsel nymph on a floating line to stay above the weed beds is a good idea. We'll keep you posted on fishing conditions as the river drops over this next week or so.

We were all over the place this weekend, the Bass fishing on the lower river was pretty good and yielded good numbers of smallmouth especially in the evening hours. We were on the upper Yakima in various sections, it was relatively slow overall. The guide staff got it done, but the flows are up and there was little dry fly fishing to speak of. The Caddis hatch was isolated to only the last few minutes of the day. June 1st marked the opening of all the smaller streams and rivers in Eastern Washington and we poked around on some of the local waters. Although most of the tributaries i.e. the Naches, Tieton, Teanaway, Wilson Creek, and Naneum are pretty high due to the hot weather. There is some great fishing via 2 weight rod and an Elk Hair Caddis around the valley. It feels good to head into the mountains and catch few little Cutts. As I look out the window, the weather today looks pretty conducive to a PMD hatch which has showed us a few riser mid-day, with the cloud cover and "balmy" weather the rise game today could be quite good. It is the first "fishy" atmospere we have had in a while. We have an Isaak's Ranch trip coming up in a couple of days with space remaining, with the river so high maybe you would like to come hook up some 5-6 lb. rainbows at the Ranch?

Location: The Canyon

Flies: Princes 14-18, Flash Back Hare's Ear 16, PT's 14-18, Lime Green Sparkle Pupae 16, Trout MRE 16.

The clarity is great in the lower river, it is a deep green and very fishy. The Caddis hatch has lightened up a bit but is being replaced by a steady PMD hatch mid day that keep the fish moving during civilized hours. The nymphing yesterday was average, when the fly is in the pockets on a good drift they eat readily but it isn't good enough that they are moving and chasing your flies. The dry fly fishing has slowed a bit, but you can find riser mid-day on the PMD's if you look hard in the shady spots. The devout dry fly angler is still in the game. The evening Caddis hatch is now a nightly occurrence, although sometimes it is isolated to only about 20-30 minutes of good fishing before dark so be prepared to stay late for that. Overall the river is in nice shape and we'll be waiting for you, Red's.

Location: Umtanum to Roza

Flies: Lime Green Sparkle Pupae 16, CDC Prince 14-16, Fly Formerly Known as Prince 16, Trout M.R.E. 16, Biot Sparkle Stone 14, PT's in a few sizes and configurations.

This report came in late last night from 2 members of our staff, pretty good nymphing despite the rising river and wind. They nymphed 2 small flies in tandem and their anglers put 'em "spot on" through the wind gusts and came out with good results. The biggest difference seemed to be the lack of fish feeding on dry flies, which we expected when the river began coming up. It looks like the river will stabilize today at around 5100 cfs and after 24 hours or so the fish should acclimate to it and get back up on top.

Location: Canyon/Farmlands

Flies: Caddis Dry Flies, various Nymphs primarily size 16 Princes/Green Caddis Pupae

Fishing has slowed down over the past couple of days, due to the big wind (today) and a rising river that is being caused by increased release out of the Cle Elum River/dam. The Yakima will remain fishable through the rise but it will likely slow the catching a bit and certainly hamper the Caddis as the water temps fail to reach the marks of last week. The Cle Elum river is traditionally very cold water and any increase (other than the peak of summer) will typically slow down the fishing. It is all relative though, we still expect fair to average fishing it just won't be the whack 'em stack 'em type dry fly fishing of last week. The PMD hatch should prevail and keep some mid-day opportunity happening and there will be enough Caddis in the late afternoon to keep the game rolling. Keep an eye on the flows, but I think we can weather this one out just fine. Have a great Memorial Day, Red's.

We fished dry flies from start to finish yesterday and it was awesome, lots of rising fish and they were not very picky. All day we hit them with an EHC - jokingly called a Cosco Caddis because you should buy them by the dozen. We trailed a CDC emerger behind that a good portion of the time and picked up our bigger fish on the CDC most of the time. All in all, it was spectacular fishing and I have no reason to think today or tomorrow will be any different. There are PMD's and a few other Sulphur Duns so pack a few of those, but make sure to pick up a dozen Cosco Caddis because you are certain to lose a few in the sticks. Golden Stones are out too, so don't forget about them. Happy Memorial Day Weekend, Red's.

Location: Farmlands

Flies: K Stones, Pat's Stones, Lightning Bugs 14-16, Prince Nymphs 16, Fly Formerly Known as Prince 14, Krystal Flash PT, BH PT 16

The Farmlands yielded some decent nymphing yesterday but little in the way of dry fly fishing, the canyon on the other hand has been putting up some great dry fly fishing which is primarily sight fishing to Caddis risers in the late hours and a few fish in the 12-2 pm window that are finding PMD's and Sulphur Duns. The river is in perfect shape and it looks like we are actually going to get cooperative weather over Memorial Day Weekend which might be a first. See you on the water, Red's.

Location: Ringer to Red's

Flies: X Caddis, X Caddis, X Caddis, and a Parachute X Caddis in the afternoon. K Stone with Prince in the morning.

The Canyon is back in good shape again and the Caddis hatch this afternoon was perfect, not too big but not too small. Lots of rising fish from 3 pm on, it was one of the best afternoons of dry fly fishing we have seen yet. The water is still high but the fish are adjusted and ready to feed. There were Golden Stones out today too, regretfully we never fished any big dry flies because we were too busy with Caddis but it is now a consideration. Overall, the dry fly fishing was a 7-8 out of 10. Finally we were able to search the banks with a single Caddis and hook fish blind casting on the go. It is tricky at 5000 cfs, so be prepared for a challenge. Kudos to our guests today, they Got 'er Done! The fish are feeding on Caddis in the afternoon/evening hours and to quote a friend "that is just the way it is"!

The river is coming back into shape and the color throughout the Farmlands/Lower Canyon is as good as we have seen it in at least a week. Caddis numbers are down due to the cold weather, but that doesn't necessarily affect how hungry the fish are. If they need to eat, they will find your fly and sometimes a few less bugs makes that a bit easier for them. Flows are coming down near 5000 cfs again, look for submerged ledges and weak water. "If it looks to fast, it is too fast". Conditions should improve as the river stabilizes, hopefully we get back down to around 4500 cfs soon, it is going to feel like flip-flop if it hits 4000.

Here is a picture of a big old Yakima Rainbow caught last night, the river is pretty high right now and it will hopefully subside over the next 24 hours. Look for it to get back down to around 4500 before you get too serious about coming out, although we did land this Hawg last night with the river at 5600 cfs so anything can happen. Good luck if you are headed our way, we'll do anything we can to help. Red's.

Location: MM20 to Slab

Flies: Size 4 Pat Stone, Prince 14-16, CDC Prince 14-16, Green Flash Caddis Pupae 14, Olive Parachute X Caddis 16

Results: 5 trout landed, Plus one that was 22-24"!!!!! Once in a lifetime Yak trout.

Tough conditions today, we fought hard all day and actually made a day out of it despite the big water and wind. The rise on Caddis was a 2 out of 10, BUT we did land a monster fish on a dry Caddis #16. Their are pictures coming for all you non-believers out there, this story is based on actual events despite the skepticism that I have heard from a few close guide friends of mine. I have a picture of it on my cell phone, but I can't figure out how to get it on computer. This may require a trip to the US Cellular office to get it, but I will and provide the evidence. This fish is a big one, it had a head like an 8 lb. steelhead. Overall the fishing conditions are pretty tough right now, but you never know what can happen.... Stay tuned and I will try and get that picture. Consider waiting a couple of days for the river to stabilize, maybe by Saturday it will be fishing good again.

Location: MM19 to Slab

Flies: Olive Parachute X Caddis 16, Tan X Caddis, Tan EHC 14

Yesterday, was another big hatch day. Amazing numbers of Caddis and without being there and seeing it is difficult to imagine. Just multiply by 10 whatever you are imagining and that is roughly how big the hatch was, there were literally "rafts" of emerging Caddis floating down the lanes. During the heaviest emergence there were about 6 Caddis per square foot (not an official measurement )across the entire river. Overall the fishing was good, my guest yesterday had never fly fished, let alone a river or a dry fly and to get him 4 fish in the net, not to mention many hook ups, misses, and a fish that would have pushed the 20" mark to bust him off was pretty exciting. I would rate the overall rise as a 6.5 out of 10. We had no trouble finding a rising fish to cast at ever little bit, but it gets a lot better. I noticed that there are few mixed clouds in the forecast these next few days and that might be the ticket, also this hatch is going to lighten up a bit over the course of the next week and that can actually make the effectiveness of the dry pick up. Less competition. Traditionally blind casting an EHC against the bank can be productive, but this year with our high water almost every single take has been from an anchored boat targeting a specific fish that might even need 20 casts and a couple of spare flies to make the shot. Although we fished dries, I did happen to notice a few other guides that threw nymphs were catching fish so can imagine the nymphing was really good during the hatch. Regarding another fishery, if catching LUNKER rainbows sounds like fun we are heading Isaak's Ranch tomorrow and have space available. Give us a call today, catch a 6 lb. trout tomorrow.

Location: MM20 to Red's

Flies: Parachute X Caddis 16, X Caddis, EHC 14, Size 4 Pat Stone, Lime Green Caddis Pupae 16, Pearl Lightning Bug 16

If Dairy Queen plans on staying in business they had better add Caddis to the menu because last night was a Blizzard. Big hatch, lots of rising fish and good dry fly fishing in the afternoon. Evening was a bit slower, but from 2-6 pm was great. I will admit though, river conditions right now make this hatch challenging to fish. Wading is next to impossible at this volume and anchoring is impossible if not dangerous in spots. In addition, keeping an X Caddis afloat across multiple speeds of fast current is tricky - not to mention most of the fish are tucked up against the bank. The game is ON though, and you will see rising fish every afternoon for the next week or so. Good luck, get out there and give it a shot.

Location: Ringer to Umtanum

Flies: Parachute X Caddis 16, X Caddis, EHC 14, Size 4 Pat Stone, Lime Green Caddis Pupae 16, Pearl Lightning Bug 16

Good dry fly fishing this evening, plenty of rising fish from 4 pm on. Flows are stable and should improve over the weekend. There is about 18-24" of vis in the lower canyon and LOTS of Caddis. This is what you have been waiting for. It's a bit more challenging this year with flows over 4000 cfs, some of those fish are tucked back into spots that are tough to get at. It is much different than fishing this hatch at 2000 cfs, oh my. Bring EXTRA flies, you will lose a lot of them if you are playing to win. I went deep into the ammo box today, more than just a few wound up in the trees. We'll see you this weekend, Red's.

Location: Red's

Flies: You can fish any fly you want, as long as it is a Caddis.

Good dry fly fishing this evening, plenty of rising fish from 4 pm on. If you are reading this and it sounds just like the report above, it is because it is. I was dreaming about fishing and screwed up my texting. I am sure you understand. Flows are stable and should improve over the weekend. There is about 18-24" of vis in the lower canyon and LOTS of Caddis. This is what you have been waiting for. It's a bit more challenging this year with flows over 4000 cfs, some of those fish are tucked back into spots that are tough to get at. It is much different than fishing this hatch at 2000 cfs, oh my. Bring EXTRA flies, you will lose a lot of them if you are playing to win. I went deep into the ammo box today, more than a few wound up in the trees. We'll see you this weekend, Red's.

Location: MM19 to Slab

Flies: Caddis Pupae 16, Hare's Ears 14-16, Prince Nymphs, Black K Stone size 4, X Caddis 16 Chartreuse CJ 16, Pearl Lightning Bug

Man that is a big bass... Too bad we were trout fishing today. The river bumped up pretty hard today bringing us some instability in the water and a tad more color that we would have liked. The hatches of Caddis were stellar with zillions of Caddis both on egg laying cycles and emerging in the afternoon. The fishing was very slow overall, although we made a day out of pretty adverse water conditions. As the water stabilizes the fish should start to get back on the dries, today was nearly void of dry fly opportunity until about 4 pm and the hatch picked up and there were isolated feeders but not nearly what you would expect or hope for during the Mother's Day hatch. Overall, if the river cooperates we should be back in business by Saturday at the latest. The fish need to acclimate themselves again to the high flows, earlier this spring we had great fishing at 4500 cfs so I have no reason to think that as the trout adjust they won't be on the take. This can be some of the absolute best dry fly fishing that there is, hopefully the fishing comes back around and we don't miss it. The visibility in the water isn't so much an obstacle as the unstable flows, on this Caddis hatch it is not uncommon to have good dry fly fishing with no more than 18 inches of vis, even 12 inches. That is about what we have in the canyon now, hopefully that will improve a bit tomorrow during the day.

Location: Irene Rhinehart to Ringer

Flies: Parachute X Caddis 14, CDC Caddis Emerger 16, WD-40's, San Juan Worms, Black K-Stone size 6,8 Pat Stone 4-8, Orange Chernobyl size 6, BH Prince 14, Chartreuse CJ 16, Pearl Lightning Bug

"they're here", the Caddis hatch has started and this week should be a good one. Water temps took huge jump yesterday and we began seeing our first formidable Caddis hatches. Make sure you are packing 3 main patterns, listen close and write this down: X Caddis, X Caddis, and some more X Caddis. Just kidding, but that would work for you. X Caddis, some traditional EHC (Elk Hair Caddis), and a few CDC emergers for the more selective trout. If you have plenty of those 3 you are set. One of our guide's favorite combinations is to run a highly visible and buoyant EHC and chase it with a CDC emerger only 6 inches behind. You can see the EHC and fish it well and that CDC should be working undercover in the immediate area. Nymph during the downtimes, the hatch in the Farmlands didn't hit until 5 pm, but in the Lower Canyon it happened much earlier. By the way, BE CAREFUL in the Irene to Ringer section. Another boat got hung up on a log jam and sunk 2 days ago and our guides gave them hand getting it back yesterday. And another note of caution, the guys that sunk the boat are local and fish that section a lot and we are happy to hear that nobody was hurt. They certainly aren't novices, so it reminds us that it can happen to anybody. That is the second drift boat plus a pontoon boat that we have seen go down in that section this year, not to mention a few close calls that could have ended badly. I am sure there have been other accidents that we don't know about, so please exercise safety if you are going to make that float. It is only going to get worse when the water gets cranked up for summer time. In the meantime, get your dry fly rod and a fistful of Caddis patterns because it is starting to happen!

Location: Ringer to MM20

Flies: X Caddis 14, CDC Caddis Emerger 16, March Brown Cripples 12, WD-40's, San Juan Worms, Black K-Stone size 6,8

There were some fish eating Caddis in places yesterday and they were willing to pop up and grab an X Caddis or a CDC Emerger. The ones that were stubborn to the Caddis at a March Brown Cripple quite willingly. Overall the fishing is picking back up and we are close on the Caddis hatch, this weekend might be the breakout for us. Despite the weather being fairly cool overall the dry fly fishing is gaining momentum, it is almost time. Sunday is predicted to be in the high 70's and that might be the first day of the big hatch.

Things are looking up after our bout with the wind and pressure change on Sunday, flows are great and the fishing over the past couple of days has been "average". Which in our book, an average day is all right. The air temperatures have been somewhat cool over the past couple of days and it is supposed to remain that way through Saturday, on Sunday however, the predicted high is supposed to be 78 degrees. Start looking for good Caddis flights starting then. Unlike Mayflys, Caddis like bright, sunny, and warm days for the big hatch. It is just around the corner and if you have never experienced what it is like being in the Mother's Day Caddis Blizzard, it is a must do. There are very few hatches like it, the gross number of bugs that come out of the Yakima River at that time is amazing. It tends to be the most consistent in the lower canyon, but certainly the Farmlands and Upper Yak will see big swarms of Caddis too. On the topic of river conditions, Wilson Creek is fairly dirty right now and we have about 2' of visibility in the lower canyon. Don't let it fool you though, it is just the nature of this time of year for Wilson to give the river some dinge. The irrigation canals in Ellensburg are being charged and a small rain shower will cause this, the fish are totally accustomed to it and ready to bite. See you on the water, Red's.

"You should NOT have been here Yesterday", the infamous quote that you rarely here from a fishing guide. Yesterday was the toughest day we have seen in the last few weeks, if not the entire spring. Our catch total came out to 6 trout and we worked our tails off for every single one of them. The overall numbers doesn't make it sound too bad, but if you saw the lengths we went to catch those six fish you would understand. The wind blew a steady 20 mph with some stronger gusts at times, keeping the boat on line and the flies in the water was tough work. Oh well, that's just fly fishing on a Big Western. Maybe today will be great, you never know. Red's.

Location: Ringer to Red's

Flies: Pat's Stones (various sizes and colors), BH Flashback Hare's Ear 16, FB PT 16, BH Prince Nymphs 14-18, Mayfly Soft Hackle 18, Parachute X-Caddis 16, Bitteroot Skwala 10

Yesterday gave us mixed reports in the fly shop from various anglers, but overall the report was quite positive. In fact, we had 2 groups of fisherman that had to make emergency runs back to the fly shop to get more of a certain fly! In one case it was just a regular size 18 BH Prince, and in another it was a Gary's PT. The particular fly you have isn't so important as the confidence of which you fish it. You gotta have "bug confidence" to be successful. Fish it well and fish it long. The Caddis are pretty light still but the water temps were up a couple degrees yesterday and got as warm as 52.5 F. The river is on an upcycle this morning and should fish great again today, keep an eye on the flow charts though. We may get some more water in the near future, however, once the big Caddis hatch begins the Lower Canyon can handle a lot of muddy water and still fish great. Have a good day, Red's.

Location: Umtanum Bridge to Lmuma Creek

Flies: Pat's Stones (various sizes and colors), BH Prince Nymph 14 - 16, Lime Green Caddis Pupa, Bitteroot Skwala 10, Zug Bug 16, Mayfly Soft Hackle

Fishing was a bit slower yesterday than it had been the week prior, maybe the weather had something to do with it. 73 degrees and sunny makes for a nice day for the fisherman, not so nice for feeding fish. There were definately less Caddis and very few BWO's. No March Browns, but there were a few Skwalas. Dry fly fishing for us was not good at all, but I have to venture a guess that today is going to be much better on dries. It is dark and cloudy in Ellensburg right now and that might revitalize the catching. We are still about a week out from the first big Caddis hatch, but it is exciting to start seeing a few bugs here and there to remind us just how good it will be. Have a great weekend!

Location: MM 19 to MM 10

Flies: Pat's Stones (various sizes and colors), FB PT, Gary's PT, Mayfly Soft Hackle, BH Gold Ribbed Hares Ear 16, Chart Copper Johns 16,18 BH Prince Nymph 14, Bitteroot Skwala 10, Peacock PMX 10

The Yakima is continuing to produce great fishing, the weather and water has been perfect and the trout are cooperating. Yesterday's conditions were ideal, high clouds all day with "balmy" atmospheric conditions. The nymphing was great and we fished Skwalas after lunch and had good fishing on that too. The biggest news however, is that we are starting to see some Caddis activity and there were a few sporadic risers yesterday that were definitely on the Caddis as they were emerging. Splashy takes generally means Caddis. Searching with a Skwala and an X-Caddis is about to get very productive. We'll be on the water again today and update you on how the hatch is progressing, but over the next week or so it should start happening. Make sure to have plenty of X-Caddis in the Peacock and Tan color scheme, sizes 14-16. The forecast looks great for this upcoming weekend, 60 degrees and cloudy with cool nights to keep the river in check.

Location: MM 19 to Red's

Flies: Mayfly Soft Hackle 16, Pat Stones, Gary's PT 18, Bitteroot Skwala, Single Skwala

Good fishing again today, the river started a bit dirty in the canyon due to an influx of water from Wilson Creek. By afternoon though most of the effect was gone and we had excellent nymph fishing and what I would call "good" dry fly fishing in the afternoon. We turned plenty of fish on Skwalas from 2-4 pm and a few of them were nice ones in the 16-18" range. The hatches were relatively light but anybody in a drift boat that was in need of a rising fish from 12-4 could probably find one or two. We are fortunate to have the flow conditions that we do, it is a great time to fish. Are you ready for it??

Location: Irene to Ringer

Flies: March Brown Nymph 12, PT 14, Pat's Stone Brown, Para Adams 12, March Brown Cripple 12, Hare's Ear Gold Ribbed 12.

Fishing was good today, the March Browns hit around 1:30 pm. River is in great shape and looks like it will stay that way for a while. The most important report of the day is that we had the honor of hosting a very special member of group, someone that represents the sacrifice, resilience, and dedication of all the men and women of whom we are so proud, the soldiers in Iraq. The campaign is called Healing Waters and it is composed of a group of Veteran's that are helping to teach other, typically disabled and amputee, Veteran's how to fly fish and tie flies as a means of physical and mental therapy. Our personal guest was Captain Eiviand Forseth, whom is one of the members of the program and his convoy was hit by an ambush composed of a bomb hidden in a Taxicab on a busy street in Baghdad. He is a young man from Billings, MT whom sustained permanent injuries to his right hand and arm. Needles to say he was a little depressed after coming home from the war. I think most of us could only imagine how hard that would be. He was undergoing exhausting physical therapy day in and day out. He then decided to take up fly fishing again despite the great adversity that he had been dealt in the Middle East. He has been using fly fishing as therapy to rejuvenate himself physically and mentally on the river, bringing happiness to somebody whom had almost forgotten what it was. Captain Forseth is now one of their leading spokespersons and is one of the most inspirational people that I have every been around. His dedication to spreading the joy of fly fishing and helping create smiles on the faces of wounded soldiers that might not otherwise experience any type of joy. Please take a few minutes to learn a little more about this program: www.projecthealingwaters.org As for the fishing, it was great. I think the fish gods smiled down on a certain guest in our boat today and gave us a great March Brown hatch, plenty of beautiful trout, and comfortable weather. To understand how special this is, think for just a minute how much you enjoy fly fishing.... it is your passion...you still remember that first fish. Now imagine what it must feel like for somebody with no legs, back from an unpopular war, to be in a drift boat with a guide and catch their first fish ever. Amazing isn't it, keep up the good work guys.

Location: Isaac's Ranch

Flies: Orange Crush size 6, Red BH Chironomid 12, Black Chironomid 12, Olive Carey Bugger 8, Black Carey Bugger 8, Thin Mint 8, Black Buggers 6,8, and 10.

We ran a group out the the famous Isaac's Ranch yesterday, which is a pay-lake out near Coulee City and it was everything and more than we could have expected. That lake grows incredible trout, both in their size and girth and their overall strength and fight! We mostly stripped buggers on Intermediate sinking lines and the takes were aggressive and some of these fish would literally run into your backing! There are few lake fish that fight like these. This lake is truly amazing and an incredible ecosystem, tons of Chironomids and tons of Scuds. The latter is likely why these fish grow to such amazing proportions. We didn't land the biggest fish that were hooked, and a few that we got were in the 5 lb range! It is a pay lake, but we are going to host a few more dates so if you are interested sign up through the shop. The dates are: May 17th, May 24th, and May 31st. There is a limited number of anglers so please sign up soon. The Yakima River is continuing to fish good as well and the water conditions for this weekend look fantastic. March Brown hatches have been fairly predictable in the 12-2 pm range with a few BWO's mixed in. Skwalas are not quite done yet, for the devout dry fly angler that wants to fish attractors before and after the Mayfly hatches the Skwala dry can be productive. Try a bit more natural patterns rather than lots of rubber legs. The fish have had a bit of pressure now and the smaller more delicate patterns might be a good idea. The Single Skwala is an example, it is basically just a Stimulator with very natural colors and an egg sack. No flash, no rubber legs, just a very natural pattern. Good luck this weekend, it looks to be a good one. Red's.

Location: Ringer to Red's

Flies: Split Wing BWO 16, March Brown 12, Split Wing Adams 12, CDC BWO Emerger, Pat's Stone Orange 8, WD-40 Olive 16, Gary's PT 18, Bitteroot Skwala 10, Buoyant Skwala 10.

Great fishing today, the nymphing prior to the hatch was very productive and we encountered one of the best March Brown hatches that I have seen in a few years. It was a perfect day for a big mayfly hatch, the thunderstorm came through at just the right time and as soon as the snow and rain quit pelting us on the back of the neck, the hatch began and there were more feeding fish than you could possibly cast at (although we tried to hit everyone of them!). Make sure you don't flock shoot on these pods of feeders, pick one fish and stay with it. Even with so many rising trout, the small dry fly fishing is still quite a challenge. We had 2 guests today that had never caught fish on dry flies and we worked for a bit to get the drifts right and sure was a lot of fun to see them hook fish "the purist way". The BWO hatch came next at about 2 pm, and was relatively light in comparison to the March Browns but still productive. We were successful searching with a Split Wing BWO on the move in the afternoon. There were enough sporadic risers to keep us busy the entire day. Other than a few nymphs in the morning it was 'dry fly or die' after lunch and I would say we succeeded. Overall, the fishing this entire spring has been some of the best that we have ever seen on the Yakima. It is refreshing to see a river that we have fished so much continue to impress and surprise us on a daily basis with some large fish and great hatches.

The entire Yakima is in perfect shape and is fishing good throughout the whole system. We had guides fishing the Canyon, Farmlands, and the Upper River today and it was productive in every section. We couldn't decide who's day to outline so we had to summarize them. The clarity is as good as it gets and there are plenty of hatches to fish including March Browns in the Upper River, Farmlands, and the top end of the Canyon. Skwalas everywhere, and BWO's in the lower river are a daily occurrence. As the water clears up, make sure to lighten up on your tippet and run Flourocarbon to those nymphs. It is a great time to be out and we'll see you this weekend!

Flies: San Juan Worm - Brown, Red, and Pink sizes 8-10, Black K-Stone size 8, March Brown Nymph size 12, RCJ size 18, Pearl LB size 16, Bitteroot Skwala size 10

The Yak is back in good shape after a little flare up earlier in the week, but the water is green and pretty clear throughout the system thanks to some cool weather. There was a mild March Brown hatch today but the fish didn't pop up and rise to it like we had hoped they would. They took a nymph once the whitefish were thinned out of the hole, but it was a challenge because the whites were out-competing the trout for the fly. Some of the big trout have just moved onto the spawn and a few that we landed today were super thick and appeared to be plum full of eggs. This could be part of the reason that the dry fly rise was not better during today's hatch. They have a few other things on their mind. Oh well, that's fishing, tomorrow could be great on dries you just never know. We'll see you this weekend, Red's.

The Yakima River is dropping fast due to the cold temperatures we have encountered over the last 24 hours, we actually got a dusting of fresh snow on the local ridge tops yesterday which reminds us that living amongst the mountains can be quite unpredictable. The mainstem Yakima should be fishable again tomorrow and we are looking forward to seeing the river clear up. The Cle Elum River is on a steady rise which will probably keep the Yakima from dropping too much, but the water released from this system is typically very clear so it shouldn't have a negative effect on clarity. If you are coming out this week, make sure to pack some Windstopper!

After a solid week of GREAT fishing, with lots of good dry fly opportunity the river looks like it going out again. The beautiful warm weather combined with warm rains was just too much for it to handle. It shouldn't last long though, by later in the week it should be back in good fishing shape. The hydrograph is on an exponential rise right now, hopefully it won't get too much higher. Keep in mind that after the last blowout, some of our best days were at around 4200 cfs which is what it is up to right now but climbing fast. If it stays under 5000 cfs, we might be in luck. If you need an up-to-the-minute clarity report, just give us a call and we would be happy to let you know what is happening. Thank you, Red's.

All of us here at Red's want to wish all of you a blessed Easter. We will be closed Easter Sunday, but we will be back in the shop on Monday, April 9. Probably eating egg salad sandwiches for lunch. "HAPPY EASTER!"

Flies: Olive Pat Stone 8-10, Brown Pat Stone 6-8, Black K-Stone 6, WD-40 Olive 16, Gary's PT 16, Puyon 16, Bitteroot Skwala 10, Peacock PMX 10, Orange Stimulator 8, Split Wing Parachute BWO 18

I'm not sure exactly how hot it was but it felt like 110 degrees, but in a good way. Great fishing on both nymphs and dries, numbers of fish were better on the subsurface techniques but that is par for the course. We caught equal numbers on the Stone and the dropper, and we even did ok on a dry-dropper rig as well. There were sporadic BWO's and few March Browns too. Isolated risers will eat BWO almost every time. The big fish are starting to spawn, we caught a large fish today that had rubbed most of its tail off and had bones exposed so please handle the big ones with a little extra caution. This is a very tough time of year for the older fish and they need all the TLC that an angler is willing to give. A large portion of their natural mortality occurs during the spawning phase, they just too tired out and being over handled is a major contributor to that. Good luck fishing and maybe we'll see you on the river this weekend. Don't forget your sunscreen!

Flies: Olive Pat Stone 8-10, Black K-Stone 6, FB PT size 14, BH Prince 14, Peal Lightning Bug 16, March Brown 12

The Yakima River is dropping hard and is fishing quite well. There was a sparse March Brown hatch today with a few Skwalas out as well, the BWO's were fairly light in the Farmlands but I will venture a guess that they were heavier in the canyon. Traditionally the lower canyon puts out a few more BWO's while the Farmlands section yields larger numbers of March Browns. Although, we did not dry fly fish today the opportunities were definitely there with a few sporadic risers popping up. It is tough to cut off the nymphs when they are working so well! With the current weather and flow pattern, the Yakima should fish good over the next week or so.

The first phase of construction on the new lodge and fly shop is beginning! Yesterday our old trailer under went a relocation to the south end of the property to clear the area for the construction crews inbound this week sometime. It was both exciting yet a little sentimental to see the icon of Old Red's be displaced, although the workings in progress will be a nice blend of nature meets comfort. Things will definitely be a little haywire for a bit, with our shop being relocated it will take us a while to settle in. We will continue to run operations from our trailer shop from now until the new shop is finished which will likely be about 2 years. The lodge will be started first and after that our fly shop. Come down and see it first hand if you like, it might be fun to have one last look at the property before the earthwork begins. Red's.

Flies: Black K-Stone size 6, Pat Stone Black/Brown size 8-10, PT size 12, LB size 14, BH Prince size 14, SJ worm Red size 10, Olive K-Stone size 10, Bitteroot Skwala size 10, Skwalameister size 10

Slower today, probably due to the cooling trend and the pressure change that was happening. Conditions were very cold and windy, it made me glad to have solid fleece Windstopper jacket. Today could have easily been miserable with leaky waders and poor clothing choices. Tonight it is predicted to be 20 degrees in Ellensburg, so we expect that the fishing will be a little sluggish at least in the a.m. hours until it warms up. After that, the fish should be on the take again. The river is in perfect shape and the big water sure opens up a lot of space and they are willing to move for the fly right now. We had lots of soft takes and had plenty of fish shake loose on the hook set, make sure to come up heavy on even the slightest twitch of the indicator. Hatches were sparse to non-existent in the Farmlands, for BWO activity check the weather forecast for clouds/showers and fish the Canyon. It should happen big on the next cloudy day that gets into the mid 60's, (here's a hint.. this Friday is my prediction for a mega Blue Wing rise in the lower canyon).