UPPER COLUMBIA REPORT -9/29/14

Fishing remains solid.  The dry fly remains the winning tactic.  The photos below are of Bill Smith - 85 years young and a lifelong fisherman.  He landed the biggest rainbow of his life yesterday on a dry - 25 inches!

Lifelong angler - Bill Smith

Awesome buck on a dry fly

YAKIMA RIVER REPORT - 9/28/14

The river has been great from top to bottom.  Food choices include 

1) #10-12 Craneflies
2) #16-18 Little Yellow Mays
3) #10 October Caddis
4) #18-22 Baetis
5) #16 tan Caddis
6) Salmon Eggs/Spawn

The Upper Proper and The Upper Flatlands are sporting the majority of the Salmon spawn.  The Farmlands would most likely win the cake when it comes to the Cranefly activity, yet there are Cranefly throughout the system.

Lot's of Little Yellow May's  in the 16-18 size.....

Nymphing, Wet fly swing, Streamers and Dry fly tactics have all been worthy. Get out and fish!

Little Yellow May

Lower Canyon Sunset

Upper Flatlands Fishing

KLICKITAT REPORT - 9/28/14

As good as the fishing was before this past week of a dirty and rising river... We needed the change up.  The river is close to normal flows for this time of year and back in shape!  Some incredible steel in the river with 'lotsa' Chinook as well.





Multiple tactics are worthy for duping the steelhead.

Favorite sink tip this year has been 10 feet of T-8.  Favorite swung fly recently has  been the Black and Blue Searcher by Jeff Cottrell.

Favority Nymph - The Bead

The Searcher

YAKIMA RIVER REPORT - 9/26/14

Healthy fall trout

The Yakima is fishing GOOD to GREAT from Roza to Easton...End of Story.

More later on the Yakima ....

KLICKITAT RIVER REPORT - 9/25/14

Clarity on Sept 23 - MM 4 @ 6PM

This picture shows the clarity of the river within the last 36 hours.  The clarity is actually worse today.  However, we are most likely on the upswing ....

Hopefully by Saturday we will be good to go!

KLICKITAT RIVER REPORT 9/21/14

The Klickitat took a turn for the worse yesterday regarding clarity....Two 90 degree days in a row, warm winds on the mountain with warm night time temps were the culprit.  1-2 feet of clarity.

Definitely plenty of fish in the system....as the Nymph and the Swing have been good to great lately.

Will keep you updated.

YAKIMA RIVER REPORT 9/21/14

#8 Orange Stimulator
#10 Cranefly
#16 Purple Haze
#8 BH October Caddis
#10 CDC Pricne beadhea
#16 BH Deep Six Caddis
#16 Tungsten Readay Baetis

Honborable mention....
'The Bead' in select zones....especially up river!
The adult Crane Fly

The entire river has been fishing good to great from head to toe and it is ultra low as are most western streams currently.  A variety of tactics are needed depending the day and  the stretch of river.

As listed above,  The winner for the dry fly is a #10 Crane fly.  The best nymph in the upper river undoubtedly is the egg pattern behind the salmon.  The best nymph for us in the middle and lower stretches has been the #16 BH Deep Six Caddis.  A well place streamer in the upper river, especially an Eggsucker.....has been WORTHY.

Get out and catch one! -  Grass roots on the Yakima SINCE 1988

Upper Columbia Report - 9/18/14

October Caddis

Average fishing some days, great fishing on others.   October Caddis are here!   15 feet of visibility - WOW!

Long leaders and immaculate presentation (not conception) make for challenging but good days.

What is hatching...
October Caddis #8
Midges #22
Baetis #18

John with a noooicccee buck

KLICKITAT RIVER REPORT - 9/18/14

Nooiicce wild native!

Hatch dog for some fish chicks

We have seen average to great fishing since the last report    MULTIPLE tactics are worthy; from the nymph to the swung fly with a dry line and sink tip as well.  Pick your favorite technique and get'r done.  The water has been LOW and CLEAR until today when the river bumbed up a bit - 60CFS - and changed color to Steelhead 'Grey Green'.  Clarity change was most likely due to some rain and wind on the mountain.  No worries......River is in great shape.

We have seen some incredible fishing lately with mutiple tactics...as listed above.  We have also seen some incredible pressure on the river as well.  With the Methow river in poor shape for Summer run potential.....There have been a good number of other anglers and guides on the river.  In addition, the amount of Salmon anglers has added to the pressure.

The Chinook have not 'inundated' the system yet.  There have been fish entering; definitely quite a few in the past 24 hours with the bump.


Highlight of the past week.....One fish eating the skated fly 3 times!

NEVER FORGET - 9/11

Don't forget with thoughts and prayers to all.

UPPER COLUMBIA / KETTLE REPORT - 9/10/14

Columbia Highlands Redband - 9/9/14

The Fall continues to progress in the Northeastern corner of Washington -  AKA  'The Columbia Highlands'   or also could be known as the foothills of the Kootenay Mountains.

Typically this time of year means low and clear waters and it certainly isn't any different this year with the rivers actually being lower and clearer than usual.  Pray for overall cooler weather as low and clear water warms and cools with the prevalent weather.

Overall tactics in the low and clear water calls for LONG leaders and a variety of terrestrials.  A well presented streamer here and there has also proven to be worthy.

Dale Depreist 'AKA 'Big Daddy'

Best Bugs this past week....

#12 Tan Morrish Hopper
#10 Cranefly

#8 Olive Sculpzilla

YAKIMA RIVER REPORT - 9/10/14

October Caddis

The fishing on the Yakima river has been great this week...  That is, when shade of any kind is on the water.  Mornings and evenings have yielded spectacular fishing, with nearly perfect weather!  River flows are low, 1300 cfs at Umtanum, making for slightly warm mid day water temps.  However, fish are lying in deeper water, foamlines, and focusing dryflies on shady banks will produce topwater takes.  Fishing sub surface with Salt & Pepper Pat's Stones #10, Prince nymphs #16, #18 Red Copper John, #16 W-D40 (Blue Wing Olive) can be productive when trout are laying low.  Smaller Hoppers, #10 and #12 flying ants, or a Tu Pac Stones, Caddis Patterns, are all effective flies this week.  Crane Flies are the fly of choice this week, fished by skating and bringing life to the fly will get the attention of some big opportunistic Rainbows, just waiting for a meal.  Hatches include: Crane Flies, Small Baetis and Caddis (#16, #18), with big October Caddis on the way... We have spotted a few on the river banks in the last few days. 

YAKIMA RIVER REPORT- 9/8/14

The flip flop is basically over. The fishing on the Yakima has been, quite frankly, great.  The dry fly, nymph and the streamer have all been productive.

Hatches include...

#16 Tan Caddis
#10 Crane flies
#8-14 Hoppers
#12-18 Ants and Beetles
#14-16 Yellow Mays

Don't fall into casting at the bank.....While there are fish on select banks, the water is quite low and many of our fish are being fooled in the middle of the river.


The beautiful fish in this post ate a dry fly, nowhere near a bank!  Pattern of the week shown below...

Crane fly pattern

UPPER COLUMBIA REPORT 9/4/14

A view downstream from Black Bear Lodge

Overall the fishing has been good.  Techniques include the dry fly and the swing.  Bug of the week for the dry fly actually happens to be the #6 Orange PMX.

On the menu lately for the trout (What is hatching and available)  Ants, Beetles, Hoppers, Craneflies, Baetis, Fall Cahills, Tan Caddis, October Caddis.

The big fish pictured ate a swung fly.....a # 6 Brown Catch All.  Weather has been beautiful, save for a few days with some rain

AWESOME RESIDENT TROUT

KLICKITAT RIVER REPORT - 9/4/14

Masa with his first fish on the Two Hander

Trey 'Getting it done' 

Tomo with a sweet wild buck

Just spent the past 3 days chasing Steelies with Tomo Higashi, Masa, Trey Combs and Bo. Lots of fun and we swung up a good number of willing fish.  That is not to say that we landed them all  -  One particular fish ate the fly so hard it actually broke a partridge hook!Even though conditions were reasonable for the dry line we fished very light tips to medium heavy tips and were successful with the variety of densities.
Best fly this past week
Trey Combs's new pattern-Steelflash
Honorable mentions 
The Bucket Bouncer
The Super Muddler
Images to follow soon
   
The river is quite low for this time of year...Hope we get some moisture soon.  The nymphing remains good as well utilizing the usual fare of Stonefly nymphs and egg patterns, including the bead.