Sunday, November 23, 2008

Last Friday I went over to Les Schwab and bought a set of studded snow tires, getting ready for my monthly trips to the Yak.

I had decided to do a drift on the Yakima River this day and had arranged a guided float with the Worley Bugger Fly Co. in Ellensburg, WA.

I drove over the E'Burg in the early morning. Snoqualmie Pass was in good shape, just a few icy spots with the temperature sitting at 31 degrees. As I dropped down the east side of the Cascades I passed through a thermal layer, the temperature went up to 37. Then I hit the inversion layer that usually rests just above the Kittitas Valley and the temperature dropped to 23 degrees with patches of fog.

I arrived early at the Worley Bugger and had a great chat with Tim, who was working the shop that day. Then my guide, Ryan, arrived and we headed off to the river. We drifted down to the KOA campground this time, launching at what I call the horse ranch, a few miles up river.

While I waited for Ryan to drive his truck and boat trailer out towards the road I fished near the launch. The recent flood had deposited a huge Cottonwood tree close to shore, which helped to create a good looking shelf for fishing nymphs. Right off the bat I caught one Whitefish, and had two more on. That is usually a good sign, catching fish right at the launch.

Ryan arrived back at the boat and took off, picking me up down where I was. Again, after just a few casts I had more fish, all Whitefish, but I don?t mind catching those trout, they are good fighters.

As we worked our way down the river we would go through quiet areas then hit a stretch where there would be fish. Ryan knows the river. He put me onto a number of good spots, having me toss to a different seam than what I had first chosen and sure enough, there would be fish there.

During the day I caught a number of really nice Rainbows and Whitefish. I don't know how many, but more than enough to keep me happy. All the takes were soft and I do mean soft. It was important to get the fly down the right seam and within that seam, the proper 'lane' where the fish were holding. Once you found that then you could count on catching two or three fish in each seam.

The water temperature stayed a constant 40.5 degrees. The air temperature climbed up to 38 degrees. It was sunny all day with only a few really high clouds and get this, there was NO WIND at all. A perfectly windless day on the Yak. Now that is a rare one.

We saw no other boats on the river, no wading fishermen either. We had the whole section of river to ourselves, well us and the deer and hawks and the fish.

Something that did surprise me was the lack of any kind of hatch that day. I figured for sure we would see a midge hatch but we never saw an insect flying and no shucks on the water. Ryan did check the rocks along the shore and found some healthy looking Stonefly nymphs. I got a good picture of one big brute.

Ryan had me try a wide selection of flies all day, but the one fly that all the fish were interested in was a Whitefish egg pattern.

When it is posted on the PSF website, you can check out the PSF Newsletter for a few photos of my trip.

Yep, it was a good day on the Yak.

Larry ---sagefisher---