A November Day on the Yakima River
A November Day On The Yakima River in eastern Washington.
I spent a very pleasant day fishing on the Yakima River on November 7. My guide was Aron Larsen from the Worley Bugger Fly Co., Ellensburg, WA. The usual form of fly fishing in November is nymphing. You will keep a dry fly rod rigged and ready to go if a good hatch occurs but nymphing is normally the most productive way to fish this late in the year.
However, this year, with its twists and turns of weather patterns, fishing was different. Dry fly fishing was still very productive. In fact, we never even rigged up my nymphing rod, but rigged up two dry fly rods instead. One with a very productive October Caddis pattern tied by Aron, and the other with a really small Blue Wing Olive pattern.
The weather was very nice for this time of year. Some sun, some clouds, minimal wind and the temperature was in the mid-forties. The river was flowing about 150 cfs below the normal flow, but there was more than enough clear water for fishing.
There were a lot of huge October Caddis (size 8+) flying around and a even more smaller caddis, around a size 14. There were also some BWO's hatching, but not an over abundance of them. The area has not had a good hard freeze as yet, so the bug activity was still really good. This will cease shortly however, and nymphing will be the best bet for fishing.
I had a very productive day on the Yak. I caught 20 fish, had a few more come off after a short fight, had a number of missed hits (some of the fish were too eager to get the fly) and a few refusals. Most of the fish were in the 12 to 14 inch range and most of them were Rainbows, with only a few Cutthroats being caught. The days prior to me being there, the Cutties had been very active, but today they were far less so.
In October when I last fished the Yakima River, the leaves on the huge cottonwoods and willow trees had just started turning and were not falling. But in the past month, all that has changed. The majority of the leaves have fallen off, the remaining ones are very yellow and red and a gust of wind will take many off the trees and deposit them into the river and surrounding forests.
As the sun started setting behind the mountains around 4:10 PM, the bite was off, the majority of bugs took to the bushes and the fish started getting ready for bed and decided not to have a late snack. By 5:00 the river was masked in darkness and you would not want to be floating on the water at that time, far too dangerous.
It was a very pleasant early November fishing trip.
Larry ---sagefisher---
