As the title states, yesterday Brian Anantatmula and I went up to Pateros and met up with Dave Graybill, the Fishin' Magician! Sorry to break it to Rick and Rob, but you guys are not the Fishin' Magician! One of his friends, Rollie Schmitten was with us.
Rollie is of fame in our area as he worked for the national fisheries and was part of the group that decided to reopen the upper Columbia and its tributaries to steelhead fishing. YEA! That pretty much made him my favorite guy! He then also admitted that he was also the reason they closed it years ago. BOO! I suppose that since he is now semi-retired he needed to get some friends back and have a local place to fish again. I'm pretty sure this is the science that led to the UC reopening again!
It was about 34 degrees and cloudy and stayed that way all day. Luckily, there was no wind, so it wasn't too uncomfortable. We launched in Pateros and fished the main Columbia for steelhead at three different spots. Right at the mouth of the Methow (where there was no flow) and at two rock pile spots below Pateros.
Dave has a 5 year run of never getting skunked while steelhead fishing. Pretty impressive! Brian and I did our best to break his streak, but we did end up catching steelhead. All three of them were wild hens and looked great! My phone was out of batteries, so I didn't get any pictures. We were fishing with jigs tipped with shrimp tail and slip bobbers set at about 10 feet.
While bobber fishing isn't quite my preferred fishing style, man, it covers water well when drifting from a boat!
If you get a chance, Dave is a great guy to fish with. Very nice, great boat and now a 5 year and one day streak of not getting skunked for steelhead!
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Friday, November 28, 2014
Black Fishday at Rocky Ford Creek
With the turkey, stuffing, and pie put away (and I don't mean in the fridge!), the relationships with family members who live distant rekindled, and the Thursday night football game finished (go Hawks!), there was only one thing left to complete the Thanksgiving weekend - Black Fishday. While others crowd the mall, Tom and Rick headed to Rocky Ford Creek, the only viable option for moving water with all the rivers swollen from recent rains. The day after Thanksgiving, this place is often more crowded than the mall, but we arrived early and were pleasantly surprised to find only one other car in the parking lots. That was a good start - now if the fish would cooperate. And cooperate they did.
Starting at the corner above the bridge, we had a few chasers stripping, Tom with a black woolly bugger, Rick with a small olive leach. A couple to hand, but no fast and furious action. Moved to check out the skinny water. No action on small flies. A change back to stripping brought a few more fish.
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| Nice fish from the skinny water |
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| Another view of the same fish |
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| Tom finally lands one after changing from his dull hook |
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| Nice fish with colors brought out by the sun |
Saturday, October 18, 2014
A Good Morning on the Wenatchee
Rick was up in Wenatchee to help with some wiring modifications at Carlynn's sister's house and to get Melinda's braces adjusted by Tom; it just happened that the Wenatchee River opened for steelhead the week or two before, which added even more purpose to the trip (or took over the purpose of the trip?). Rob and Tom had been out Friday morning (where is that report, guys?). Tom and Rick reprised two of the holes on Saturday. Started at the confluence hole at first light, not too crowded, but no action, so it was on to the Bishop's hole further upriver. Fishing the tailout behind a good sized area where salmon were spawning, we found lots of fat whitefish, Tom and Rick each landed a good sized bull trout, and Tom had at least one suspiciously steelhead-like take. When the willing fish all had sore mouths, we decided to head downstream to try out a large broad run we have seen before but never really fished.
Walking along the long run of whitewater leading down to the next hole, we drifted our beads in a narrow strip of softer water right next to the bank, just wide and deep enough that a steelhead might be holding there. About halfway down, Rick's indicator dipped under about 3 feet from shore, a frequent occurrence from catching on the rocks in the relatively shallow drift. Lifting up, he felt one head shake and knew it was no rock; just as he lifted to set more firmly, the fish took off into the fast current. With virtually no line out to absorb the shock, in an instant the line parted and came back to Rick sans hook or bead. One of the most exciting (and brief) takes and fights in some time. Definitely steel. Three seconds of ecstasy, then days of wondering what might have been.
Another great outing. Peachy pearl was the ticket, as usual. And the home project at Marci's got done. Great weekend!
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| Tom and his bull; mine was perhaps a little longer, definitely quite a bit fatter |
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Fishing Without the Priests...
I was supposed to takes the Priests Quorum from the ward fly-fishing this morning. Friday I got a text that they weren't going to be able to go. Hey, I could stay home and mow the lawn, but I spun the dial on my wall and I couldn't get it to stop anywhere but on "Go Fishing"!
Actually, Kirk Morris, a fishing fanatic in the ward who I had talked to about maybe helping with the priests called and asked what the plans were. I said the trip was off, but knowing his wife and kids were out of town, I kindly offered to keep him company for the day on the Touchet River. He gladly accepted. For you sports fans, Kirk is the nephew of Jack Morris, the famous forkball pitcher in the major leagues. And he is as wild about fishing as some of his uncle's forkballs were at the plate.
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| Kirk and one of his nice ones |
We fished 0.9 miles of the river from 8:30 to 2:30, through wind, rain, and sun. Some stretches were familiar and some were new to me. We found plenty of fish. None in some holes that looked good, then 20 or 30 in the next good run. I started with the double psycho, Kirk mainly caught them on a gray hare's ear that he tied. Some flyers and chesters, but a lot of nice 8 to 10-inchers, and we each caught a couple honest 12-inchers, great fish in this river. About noon we switched to dries, and had some non-stop action, Kirk on a home-tied kind of stimulator and an EHC, me with a standard big stimulator. Some October caddis around. I forgot how fun dries were!
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| My last, and nicest fish, that exploded on the fly in a little pocket of soft water against the bank |
I found a kindred spirit after the likeness of Tom, who would fish from sunup to sundown. We almost stopped fishing three times, before we finally quit, each time having to check out that next hole just upstream, which led to the next and the next, which ultimately added a couple hours to our fishing day.
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| Pretty fish |
A side stream came in that was heavily overgrown, that I thought was Wolf Fork, and I dipped a little rainbow out for a new stream, but then I got thinking about it and checked on Google Earth, and my suspicions were correct, Wolf Fork is a few miles upriver. This must have been a side channel, although I didn't see where it left the main river. Oh well, I'll have to go back and pick up that stream another time.
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| Briefly thought to be stream #125, but that will have to wait |
Ended the day at Ray's, of course, with the cheeseburger basket and blackberry shake. An incredibly awesome day!
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Team Patrick (or Team Gould?)
I had the pleasure of fishing this afternoon at the FRC with Patrick from Ellensburg, who fished with Rick earlier this summer, and his daughter, Ella. Sunny and warm with water surface temps now cooled to 63 degrees. Lots of weeds made fishing a bit of a challenge, but Team Patrick was up to that challenge.
Team Rob had the hot hand for bluegill (and all of them would easily fit in the palm of a hand) and put up the numbers early on, but it was not to be enough to fend off the challenge provided by Team Patrick.
After hooking a nice rainbow early on and breaking it off in the weeds Team Patrick made a nice comeback. Some casting to rises yielded some strikes, but eventually it was on the troll that Team Patrick made the score that put them well ahead of Team Rob. Quality and size was the name of the game.
I had a great time fishing with this Daddy/Daughter team and will gladly do it again. Thanks for the afternoon guys!
Team Rob had the hot hand for bluegill (and all of them would easily fit in the palm of a hand) and put up the numbers early on, but it was not to be enough to fend off the challenge provided by Team Patrick.
After hooking a nice rainbow early on and breaking it off in the weeds Team Patrick made a nice comeback. Some casting to rises yielded some strikes, but eventually it was on the troll that Team Patrick made the score that put them well ahead of Team Rob. Quality and size was the name of the game.
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| Team Patrick with the winning rainbow. (Ella shown wearing green body armor to protect from errant casts.) |
I had a great time fishing with this Daddy/Daughter team and will gladly do it again. Thanks for the afternoon guys!
Fishing Song
While floating down the Klickitat in the sunny warm weather this last week, there were many salmon in the river, occasionally rippling the surface of the stream as they rolled. Which led to this song, sung to the tune of Garth Brooks' "The Thunder Rolls". The chorus was composed on the stream, the verse while driving the last couple of days. (Craig and Brian were our guides on Monday).
Verse:
Early in October on the mighty river Klick,
Out with Craig and Brian on a guided fishing trip,
Driftboats on the water, the river’s running low,
Prayin’ that the weather won’t make the fishin’ slow,
Then the salmon roll, the salmon roll.
Chorus:
And the salmon roll, then the steelhead strikes,
Indicator down, now we got a fight,
The line screams out, out of control,
Steelhead takes flight, while the salmon roll.
Verse:
Early in October on the mighty river Klick,
Out with Craig and Brian on a guided fishing trip,
Driftboats on the water, the river’s running low,
Prayin’ that the weather won’t make the fishin’ slow,
Then the salmon roll, the salmon roll.
Chorus:
And the salmon roll, then the steelhead strikes,
Indicator down, now we got a fight,
The line screams out, out of control,
Steelhead takes flight, while the salmon roll.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
All the Boys on the Klickitat (plust streams #123 and 124 for Rick)
October 6-7, 2014
Dad, Rob, Rick, and Tom all got together for two days of guided fishing on the Klickitat River for steelhead with Red's Fly Shop. Accommodations were great, at a lodge near Glenwood Washington with an expansive view of Mt. Adams. Great hosts, guides, and food.
The weather was great for a scenic float down a beautiful canyon - clear skies, cool mornings, afternoon temps near 80 degrees - but it made fishing tough with it being dry for the last couple weeks and low water without any significant fall rains yet. Cloudy weather with rain a few days before gets the fish moving, but we made-do with the weather we had and found some fish, both steelhead and king salmon. The guides were licensed this year to allow us to keep kings, so we brought a little meat home in addition to the fun.
The Klickitat made stream #123 for Rick, then on the last day we got off the river with just enough daylight for Rick to stop at a pull out on the side of the road adjacent to the Little Klickitat River and pick up a couple small trout for stream #124. Tom could have been there, but somehow he thought getting home to see his family after being a week away from them was more important than a picking up a new stream (he was in California for several days before the fishing trip). He's getting soft!
It was a fun couple of days. We'll have to try again next year and hope for better weather.
Dad, Rob, Rick, and Tom all got together for two days of guided fishing on the Klickitat River for steelhead with Red's Fly Shop. Accommodations were great, at a lodge near Glenwood Washington with an expansive view of Mt. Adams. Great hosts, guides, and food.
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| View from my bathroom window (and the room if I had opened the blinds) |
The Klickitat made stream #123 for Rick, then on the last day we got off the river with just enough daylight for Rick to stop at a pull out on the side of the road adjacent to the Little Klickitat River and pick up a couple small trout for stream #124. Tom could have been there, but somehow he thought getting home to see his family after being a week away from them was more important than a picking up a new stream (he was in California for several days before the fishing trip). He's getting soft!
It was a fun couple of days. We'll have to try again next year and hope for better weather.
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| Tom and our first steelhead of the day |
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| Bright steel! |
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| Fighting the king |
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| A nice king |
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| Tom was the steelhead man this trip |
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| Stream #124 for Rick in the fading light of day |
Saturday, September 13, 2014
To Rexburg - Year 3
Friday, September 12
Time to take Sarah to school again. Planned the route to pass by the Lemhi again. No magic this time. The river was a little higher and a little dirtier than last year, and only found a few small trout and some nice whitefish (I think what I thought were pikeminnows last year were really whitefish). There were a number of people camped at the access, so it may have been hit hard already.
So after leaving the Lemhi behind, with the sun approaching the western horizon, I made a last second decision to run up the teeny tributary where I found a bunch of small rainbows a couple years ago, this time fishing farther up where the small creek split into two even smaller creeks (I saw a pic on Google Earth that showed water in the creeks). The fork was much smaller than it looked in Google Earth, but I was surprised by a nice 10" rainbow out of one of the few spots deep enough to hold fish. Found another one up a ways, but holes were few and far between in this very small stream.
Saturday, September 13
Slept in the van after moving Sarah in, then with the sunrise and a McDs #8, headed to the Warm River, with some intel to access above the railroad tunnel without a really long walk. Walked in about a mile, above a deep, whitewater canyon and found some nicer water, but only a few small fish. Moved up a little further, and about 10:00 am when the sun hit the water, a bunch of brown mayflies that flew like caddis started coming off, and soon the trout were following. After rotating through a number of flies, I found one that they really liked (irresistible, size 16 or so) right when I got to a nice, long, waist-deep run with fish rising like crazy, sometimes jumping out of the water to grab a fly out of the air. For an hour I watched nice cutbows and a couple browns come up from the depths and hammer my fly. It was fun!
Time to take Sarah to school again. Planned the route to pass by the Lemhi again. No magic this time. The river was a little higher and a little dirtier than last year, and only found a few small trout and some nice whitefish (I think what I thought were pikeminnows last year were really whitefish). There were a number of people camped at the access, so it may have been hit hard already.
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| Only small rainbows this time in the Lemhi |
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| Nice rainbow from a tiny tributary |
Then to the other fork, promptly caught a nice 10" bow, then 1 or 2 in every hole in this slightly larger stream that meanders through a grassy meadow. Fun to watch them come up and grab the fly. I was glad I made this stop!
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| A good number of 7" to 9" rainbows out of this beautiful small creek |
Slept in the van after moving Sarah in, then with the sunrise and a McDs #8, headed to the Warm River, with some intel to access above the railroad tunnel without a really long walk. Walked in about a mile, above a deep, whitewater canyon and found some nicer water, but only a few small fish. Moved up a little further, and about 10:00 am when the sun hit the water, a bunch of brown mayflies that flew like caddis started coming off, and soon the trout were following. After rotating through a number of flies, I found one that they really liked (irresistible, size 16 or so) right when I got to a nice, long, waist-deep run with fish rising like crazy, sometimes jumping out of the water to grab a fly out of the air. For an hour I watched nice cutbows and a couple browns come up from the depths and hammer my fly. It was fun!
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| These guys were rising all over, easy to see coming up to the fly in the crystal clear water |
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| Even found a couple browns in the mix! |
Walking back down, I saw a dozen fish feeding on nymphs in a deeper hole, so I climbed down and was able to fool a couple with a golden stonefly. Nothing on the psycho caddis today (or prince or just about any other nymph - all surface action today. Another successful BYU-I drop-off.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
South Fork of the Snoqualmie
Well. Two firsts this trip. First trip to Safeco Field to watch Felix give up six homeruns... and first time on the South Fork of the Snoqualmie.
In preparation for heading to Alaska to catch some BIG trout, I thought the 3 weight needed a little love, too.
The older boys from church and a couple leaders and I stopped on the way home to overnight at Denny Creek Campground. This is right in between the lanes of I-90 just west of Snoqualmie Pass. Not a quiet campground, as there is lots of road noise, but it is right along the S. Fork.
On waking up, I went to the stream and quickly added another stream to the total with a nice Westslope Cutt. We also caught one rainbow, which may have been a cut-bow as it had some faint slashes present, but a definite rainbow spotting pattern.
After a quick breakfast we decided to brave the rain and hike to Franklin Falls.
On hiking to the falls, we let most of those present have attempts at trout in the pocket water. Using a size 16 yellow-bodied humpy brought easy surface action. All rose trout, but liked to let them "take it". Too much bait-fishing influence I guess! Most of the trout were between 6-9 inches, but this one was the beast of the trip!
Jon Dickson was going to get a picture of this one, so he took a 1/2 step to the left from his video position. The 1/2 step led to a full slide down the granite slab and off a small cliff onto rocks. Fortunately, he landed well and only had a few scrapes on his hands and no damage to his phone. If it were an iPhone, it would have been done for!!! :)
Continued the drive home with a stop at the Roslyn Cafe. (Highly recommend it! - Great parmesan fries!)
Now that the 3 weight has been appeased, it is time to make the 8 weight happy in Alaska!!!
In preparation for heading to Alaska to catch some BIG trout, I thought the 3 weight needed a little love, too.
The older boys from church and a couple leaders and I stopped on the way home to overnight at Denny Creek Campground. This is right in between the lanes of I-90 just west of Snoqualmie Pass. Not a quiet campground, as there is lots of road noise, but it is right along the S. Fork.
On waking up, I went to the stream and quickly added another stream to the total with a nice Westslope Cutt. We also caught one rainbow, which may have been a cut-bow as it had some faint slashes present, but a definite rainbow spotting pattern.
After a quick breakfast we decided to brave the rain and hike to Franklin Falls.
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| Franklin Falls between the lanes of I-90 |
Jon Dickson was going to get a picture of this one, so he took a 1/2 step to the left from his video position. The 1/2 step led to a full slide down the granite slab and off a small cliff onto rocks. Fortunately, he landed well and only had a few scrapes on his hands and no damage to his phone. If it were an iPhone, it would have been done for!!! :)
Continued the drive home with a stop at the Roslyn Cafe. (Highly recommend it! - Great parmesan fries!)
Now that the 3 weight has been appeased, it is time to make the 8 weight happy in Alaska!!!
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Ungulates at Lyman Lake
Absolutely one of the greatest joys of being a scoutmaster is that I get into the backcountry with the boys on a regular basis. Another joy is that I get to help determine the destinations and hence there happen to be a high proportion of those hike destinations where fish may be found!
You may remember that I had an experience back in 2011 in the backcountry hooking a goat on the fly. (See previous post at: http://fishingwiththemerrillboys.blogspot.com/2011/08/enchantment-lakes-saturday-august-27.html) Well, this past week while hiking with the scouts I had another opportunity for ungulates on the fly. Though my presentation was superb, the Renegade was refused on multiple occasions.
I had to give up on the deer and instead settle for a nice cutthroat.
We day hiked to Hart Lake and found lots of willing cutts and rainbow/cutt hybrids at the inlet of a stream from the hillside into the lake. Chad Byrd, one of the adults on our hike got into the action here as did Brian.
After returning for Hart Lake, Brian later found a few cutthroats in small pockets in Railroad Creek below Lyman Lake. Railroad Creek has very difficult and limited access in the Lyman Lake-Hart Lake corridor.
We eventually had to leave this wonderful place and return to our homes. What a blessing to live in such a beautiful place.
Great loop hike with the scouts up and over Buck Creek Pass, Middle Ridge, Suiattle Pass, Cloudy Pass, and Spider Gap. Lots of vertical ascent and descent. And of course, some fishing along the way!
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| Lyman Lake Friday Morning |
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| Refused on the Renegade! |
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| Lyman Lake cutthroat |
I had to give up on the deer and instead settle for a nice cutthroat.
We day hiked to Hart Lake and found lots of willing cutts and rainbow/cutt hybrids at the inlet of a stream from the hillside into the lake. Chad Byrd, one of the adults on our hike got into the action here as did Brian.
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| Chad Byrd with a Hart Lake cutthroat trout |
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| Brian with another Hart Lake cutt |
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| Friends along the trail |
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| Ascending to Spider Gap to leave Lyman Lake/Railroad Creek basin |
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| Rob & Brian above Spider Meadow. Brian's last summer backpacking trip as a scout. |
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Stream #122
On the way to Girls Camp to help with hikes for two days, stopped to meet a new friend and visit an old one. First stop was at Cowiche Creek to try and pick up another new stream. Found a small stream, somewhat like The Creek in nature but smaller, flatter, with far fewer fish, at least in the stretch I fished. Very brushy along the sides, with very limited access in or out. Fished a 1/4 mile stretch from bridge to bridge in about 30 to 45 minutes. Found a half dozen fish, missed twice that many, most smallish, and spooked a few more. There were a limited number of deeper holes in this stretch, just not a lot of water to hold large numbers of trout. But those I found were fun, coming up to the humpy willingly. Might be worth exploring a different stretch with more gradient another time, but not a real honey-hole of a place to visit.
Next was the traditional stop along the highway in the Tieton River. With the water running somewhat high, fishing was only possible near the boulders along the highway, but that's OK, it is normally where I find the fish. As I caught my first fish, I heard a voice behind me and there was a nice, young game warden to check my license and flies (this stretch is selective gear, which I wasn't aware of, but not a problem since I always fish barbless - if it is open to fishing, I'm OK). Told him it was only the second time I'd been checked in Washington in my life, the other being nearby on the Naches a number of years ago. He said they had hired more people, but still only had three wardens for the Yakima office to cover a lot of territory. Nice guy, checked me out, then was on his way. And I was back to fishing. About 30 minutes, found a dozen fish or so, some on the stimulator chew toy, some on the psycho prince, nothing of great size, one that came off was about 12". But it is always nice to visit an old friend and to receive a few nice gifts, which trout of any size are...
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| The devil fish from Cowiche - don't know what the deal was with the red eye |
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| Nicest Cowiche fish - didn't see any others this size |
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| Tieton trout headed back into the water |
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Stream #121
Out with Mel preparing for hikes this coming week for Beehive Camp. Had time to make it over to the west side of White Pass to see if I could pick up some new streams. Stopped at Dam Creek, small, forest stream, but with plenty of water and some nice holes, but apparently sterile. Not a sign of a fish willing to come up and look at a dry or the dropper just under it. Up the road to Lava Creek. A little larger forest stream, a couple nice holes, not a look. Man! put me back on the east side! These streams do have limited drainage, have no lake in the headwaters, and are above falls so no connection to the Cowlitz, so perhaps they are sterile or have very limited populations. On to the third try, Summit Creek. It is in a deep canyon until you get to the campground. Beautiful stream, deep holes, some very small rainbows, which we were finally able to each hook one. Obviously fished a good bit, so perhaps further upstream there might be more, but it would be a hike in. No matter, I had #121.
Tried one more on the west side, Millridge Creek right along Hwy 12 flowing into and out of Knuppenburg Lake. Fast dropping stream, some nice deep pocket water around big boulders, a lake just upstream with brook trout - but no fish! Surprising. We did some hiking, then a quick stop at the Tieton, which was much higher than normal for this time of year. Mel pulled one small one out in a brief stop. Then a final stop at Oak Creek, where I found lots of fish a few years ago after a fire burned through and cleared out the willows. Stream was much smaller than I remembered and didn't see a fish. Not sure what has happened here. So a great day with Mel, a nice short hike, good views, wildflowers, watching Mel catch fish on her own, and one more stream to the tally for me.
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| Small rainbow from Stream 121 (after missing the first dozen) |
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| Mel shows me how to do it, catching one on her second or third hit |
Tried one more on the west side, Millridge Creek right along Hwy 12 flowing into and out of Knuppenburg Lake. Fast dropping stream, some nice deep pocket water around big boulders, a lake just upstream with brook trout - but no fish! Surprising. We did some hiking, then a quick stop at the Tieton, which was much higher than normal for this time of year. Mel pulled one small one out in a brief stop. Then a final stop at Oak Creek, where I found lots of fish a few years ago after a fire burned through and cleared out the willows. Stream was much smaller than I remembered and didn't see a fish. Not sure what has happened here. So a great day with Mel, a nice short hike, good views, wildflowers, watching Mel catch fish on her own, and one more stream to the tally for me.
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| Mt Rainier from Hwy 12 viewpoint |
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| Mel in Dark Meadow |
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| Red sand spurry, flower is less than 1/8" across, about 1 1/2" tall |
Friday, August 8, 2014
Happiness is Hopperness
What is better than fishing on a beautiful summer day? Tossing hoppers all day long! Yesterday Don & I floated the Yakima River with Shan from Red's Flyshop. It was a two-stage float fishing the lower canyon to Roza from 2-6pm then repositioning upstream and floating down to Red's 7-10pm.
Started the day well with Don & me both landing rainbows in the first hole, bringing fish to the fly and catching throughout the floats, and both of us getting rainbows in the last hole of the day when being able to see the flies in the dark was kind of "iffy". We did have one double on the day and as usual Shan was an exceptional guide. You may remember Dad & I fished steelhead with him on the Klickitat last fall (8 steelies in one day) and he was our guide host in Mexico in March at Ascension Bay. I rarely fish a day with him that he doesn't teach me some new technique or better refine some of what I'm already trying to do. I really appreciate that in a guide. Today I learned how to gently tease a fly off a branch or other snag on the shoreline.
As we were first driving into the canyon to meet at Red's, I turned to Don and simply said, "Six." He asked me with a puzzled look, "Six what?" I replied, "My goal is to only break off six flies today." Then I explained that tossing hoppers to the shore inevitably puts a few in the trees with somewhat predictable consequences. We were pounding hoppers to the edges all day long. And yes, I put some in the trees, and I think I may have (barely) managed to meet my goal. (Shan could probably tell me for sure.) Don was also acting like one of my brothers and just kept fishing while I was getting a new fly tied on and he caught fish while I was out of the water. (See photo below: Rob--no fly; Don--nice fish)
Fishing was steady all day long. The plan was to fish hopper and then switch to stones. Near the end of part one of our float we stopped for a dinner break--nice grilled meat, pasta salad, fruit--I love roughing it with the Red's folks! When we repositioned Don switched to a stone but I stayed with hoppers. I continued to get fish to the hopper and Don did the stone. I figured I'd stay with the hopper until it was ignored, but it never was.
When I broke a fly off after dark and could no longer see it I asked Shan to tie on a stone for better visibility. When I say "better visibility" I mean a stone with a white parachute on top that would make Don King proud, and I could barely make it out in the fading light, finishing the day with a really nice rainbow. Thanks goodness for bright moonlight. In short, another excellent day on the Yakima with the guys from Red's Flyshop.
Started the day well with Don & me both landing rainbows in the first hole, bringing fish to the fly and catching throughout the floats, and both of us getting rainbows in the last hole of the day when being able to see the flies in the dark was kind of "iffy". We did have one double on the day and as usual Shan was an exceptional guide. You may remember Dad & I fished steelhead with him on the Klickitat last fall (8 steelies in one day) and he was our guide host in Mexico in March at Ascension Bay. I rarely fish a day with him that he doesn't teach me some new technique or better refine some of what I'm already trying to do. I really appreciate that in a guide. Today I learned how to gently tease a fly off a branch or other snag on the shoreline.
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| Happy Hopper-Eater |
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| Don "I'm not stopping fishing just because you broke off your fly" Shurtz with a nice Yakima River rainbow |
Fishing was steady all day long. The plan was to fish hopper and then switch to stones. Near the end of part one of our float we stopped for a dinner break--nice grilled meat, pasta salad, fruit--I love roughing it with the Red's folks! When we repositioned Don switched to a stone but I stayed with hoppers. I continued to get fish to the hopper and Don did the stone. I figured I'd stay with the hopper until it was ignored, but it never was.
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| I still like hoppers |
When I broke a fly off after dark and could no longer see it I asked Shan to tie on a stone for better visibility. When I say "better visibility" I mean a stone with a white parachute on top that would make Don King proud, and I could barely make it out in the fading light, finishing the day with a really nice rainbow. Thanks goodness for bright moonlight. In short, another excellent day on the Yakima with the guys from Red's Flyshop.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Happy Birthday to Rick!
For day two, we had decided to drift the Yakima as Rob had done something to his toe and couldn't walk without pain, but he ended up waking up with it throbbing multiple times during the night and decided to stay home and keep it unconfined. So Rick and Tom cancelled the Yakima plans and with an early start (4:30 am) and a #8 with OJ at McD's, we set off to a different part of the state to fish an area that shall not be named. Tom had visited this area before, but it was new to Rick, and they both had a great day.
Tom stopped at the bridge crossing of a small tributary (Stream 1) so Rick could knock of a new stream. Standing on a culvert, he quickly had a rainbow and a brookie, while Tom took his turn to find at least one. Not a car passed on the highway the whole time. I like this country.
Next stop was the main stream we were coming to fish (Stream 2). Nice big water with hopes of some bigger fish, fishing hoppers, sometimes with a dropper. The first hole didn't disappoint a Tom promptly hooked into a beautiful 16" rainbow on the edge of the fast water at the top of the hole. Rick had several looks, and finally got one about 13 inches. Tom found some smaller, and Rick had some more rejections. Fished a couple more nice runs in a side channel, and found some more nice fish. Tom had four in one little run, then Rick rose four more a little later, including the skillful catch of the day. A nice splash on the fly, but he was sure he could see the fly still floating - another short strike. Until about five seconds later he notices the flash of a fish rolling madly in the water and Tom finally says something about unusually slow reaction time. Rick realized he wasn't watching his fly, tightened the line, and brought in a nice 12" or 13" rainbow. It takes skill to do that on a barbless!
Moving on we stopped at another very small tributary (Stream 3). After surveying and determining there was enough water for fish (barely more than a trickle) we found a place to climb through the brush into the stream. Rick missed a couple and ended up snagged in the tree. Tom couldn't hook with the strip set. So we climbed out and found a pool with a little more open area where some people had built a water intake for their cabins. We each pulled a couple pretty redbands out of the hole, then moved on before someone showed up with a shotgun (it is that kind of country).
A couple more stops on Stream 2 found some more fish, nothing as good as our first stop, then on to a nearby town for lunch. Across the street from the lunch stop was Stream 4, another tributary of Stream 2. We dropped in at a culvert and Tom nicely let Rick get the first fish, a fat rainbow of good size for this creek, and we each caught a couple more before continuing down the creek to its confluence with Stream 2 for a few more casts, where Rick was able to pick up one more nice rainbow before we turned towards home as rain, and hail began to fall heavily.
But leaving for home and getting there are totally different things. How about a stop by a stream Rick had visited years before where he remembered some pretty water in a nice forest stream. It wasn't that far out of the way, and we could still make it home by 7 pm when Tom needed to be home...So on to Stream 6, yes 6, because we had to stop at Stream 5 on the way. And at Stream 5 (new to Rick, not to Tom), we found a relative abundance of small rainbows as rain again began to fall and yet another thunderstorm moved overhead. Back to the car and on to Stream 6 by way of a good gravel road - 25 years ago...
The road gradually became rougher and more overgrown, at times a tunnel through the brushy alder that lined both sides of the road. Even in Tom's truck it was often 10 mph. Then as we got into a more forested area, we encountered several trees across the road, mostly cut out except one we had to drive around. If there was one all the way across, it would be a long backtrack. At least the road was open as far as the national forest boundary, where we could start fishing. We found a creek that was smaller than I remembered, with fewer and smaller fish, at least in the stretch we fished. So after working our way through a number of holes, we returned to the truck and headed for home.
Our ETA home was now about 7:40 pm, still enough time for Tom to change and be at his 8 pm event. After a couple miles the road got better, we returned to populated lands, and then we came to a bridge...A quick look confirmed there was plenty of water for fish, and a quick check of the Gazeteer told us it was a different stream than Stream 6, and new to Tom, so he pulled off the road just across the bridge and we hopped out of the car and put our rods back together. Tom raised a fish from the bridge, but it was a difficult angle with overhanging trees. The weren't any No Trespassing signs plastered beside the bridge, so he walked down to the stream above the bridge, and I went below. Three minutes later we were back on the road, each having caught a nice rainbow. The rods were put away for good, and we arrived home at about 7:25 with time to spare - should have made a few more casts in Stream 7... Total for today was six new streams for Rick (now at 120 streams in Washington) and two new for Tom. Birthdays don't get much better than this!
Tom stopped at the bridge crossing of a small tributary (Stream 1) so Rick could knock of a new stream. Standing on a culvert, he quickly had a rainbow and a brookie, while Tom took his turn to find at least one. Not a car passed on the highway the whole time. I like this country.
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| A roadside stop at Stream 1 |
Next stop was the main stream we were coming to fish (Stream 2). Nice big water with hopes of some bigger fish, fishing hoppers, sometimes with a dropper. The first hole didn't disappoint a Tom promptly hooked into a beautiful 16" rainbow on the edge of the fast water at the top of the hole. Rick had several looks, and finally got one about 13 inches. Tom found some smaller, and Rick had some more rejections. Fished a couple more nice runs in a side channel, and found some more nice fish. Tom had four in one little run, then Rick rose four more a little later, including the skillful catch of the day. A nice splash on the fly, but he was sure he could see the fly still floating - another short strike. Until about five seconds later he notices the flash of a fish rolling madly in the water and Tom finally says something about unusually slow reaction time. Rick realized he wasn't watching his fly, tightened the line, and brought in a nice 12" or 13" rainbow. It takes skill to do that on a barbless!
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| Nice rainbow out of a fast riffle |
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| Tom fishing a little run where we rose eight fish |
Moving on we stopped at another very small tributary (Stream 3). After surveying and determining there was enough water for fish (barely more than a trickle) we found a place to climb through the brush into the stream. Rick missed a couple and ended up snagged in the tree. Tom couldn't hook with the strip set. So we climbed out and found a pool with a little more open area where some people had built a water intake for their cabins. We each pulled a couple pretty redbands out of the hole, then moved on before someone showed up with a shotgun (it is that kind of country).
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| Stream 3 |
A couple more stops on Stream 2 found some more fish, nothing as good as our first stop, then on to a nearby town for lunch. Across the street from the lunch stop was Stream 4, another tributary of Stream 2. We dropped in at a culvert and Tom nicely let Rick get the first fish, a fat rainbow of good size for this creek, and we each caught a couple more before continuing down the creek to its confluence with Stream 2 for a few more casts, where Rick was able to pick up one more nice rainbow before we turned towards home as rain, and hail began to fall heavily.
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| Nice rainbow out of a small Stream 4 |
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| A farewell birthday gift from Stream 2 |
But leaving for home and getting there are totally different things. How about a stop by a stream Rick had visited years before where he remembered some pretty water in a nice forest stream. It wasn't that far out of the way, and we could still make it home by 7 pm when Tom needed to be home...So on to Stream 6, yes 6, because we had to stop at Stream 5 on the way. And at Stream 5 (new to Rick, not to Tom), we found a relative abundance of small rainbows as rain again began to fall and yet another thunderstorm moved overhead. Back to the car and on to Stream 6 by way of a good gravel road - 25 years ago...
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| Tom with his fish (little one on the left) and my fish (not quite as little on the right) |
The road gradually became rougher and more overgrown, at times a tunnel through the brushy alder that lined both sides of the road. Even in Tom's truck it was often 10 mph. Then as we got into a more forested area, we encountered several trees across the road, mostly cut out except one we had to drive around. If there was one all the way across, it would be a long backtrack. At least the road was open as far as the national forest boundary, where we could start fishing. We found a creek that was smaller than I remembered, with fewer and smaller fish, at least in the stretch we fished. So after working our way through a number of holes, we returned to the truck and headed for home.
 |
| A decent fish from Stream 6 |
Our ETA home was now about 7:40 pm, still enough time for Tom to change and be at his 8 pm event. After a couple miles the road got better, we returned to populated lands, and then we came to a bridge...A quick look confirmed there was plenty of water for fish, and a quick check of the Gazeteer told us it was a different stream than Stream 6, and new to Tom, so he pulled off the road just across the bridge and we hopped out of the car and put our rods back together. Tom raised a fish from the bridge, but it was a difficult angle with overhanging trees. The weren't any No Trespassing signs plastered beside the bridge, so he walked down to the stream above the bridge, and I went below. Three minutes later we were back on the road, each having caught a nice rainbow. The rods were put away for good, and we arrived home at about 7:25 with time to spare - should have made a few more casts in Stream 7... Total for today was six new streams for Rick (now at 120 streams in Washington) and two new for Tom. Birthdays don't get much better than this!
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| Stream 7 from the bridge |
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| Tom wants to build a cabin on this riverfront property on Stream 2 |
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