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.

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!

Nice rainbow out of a fast riffle

 

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).

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.

Nice rainbow out of a small Stream 4

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...

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!

Stream 7 from the bridge

Tom wants to build a cabin on this riverfront property on Stream 2