Day On The River

Spey casting with Craig from Creekside Angling Company/River Run Anglers

Our Yakima Report Courtesy of Reds Fly Shop

• Date: Saturday January 17, 2009
• Where: Yakima River
• Flows: 3800 CFS
• Temps: Mid 20s to upper 20s

Results: A couple of whitefish, and a couple of nice bows hooked and lost.A few anglers braved the big water and the green color over the weekend and hooked a few fish just as the river came back into fishable shape. Conditions are still tough but they are improving and there are some hungry trout out there. Some fish were spotted rising to Midge Pupae and in the right situation this can be great fishing, but with the water so high most of these fish were in back eddies where drag free drifts with size 20 Griffith's Gnats are all but impossible. As the river drops, you will find more of these fish feeding in the open flats where you can "go old school on 'em" and get a good drift. Sink tips and streamers are a great idea, stay with it and fish it for an hour straight before you make judgment on whether it is going to produce or not. It is a game of quality right now so don't give up. Good luck and you should have the river to yourself this week!

The Aftermath

After yet another “One Hundred Year Storm” in the Seattle and surrounding areas many families were left without homes and power. I spent my Saturday in the town of Snoqualmie helping a colleague rip out soaking carpet and padding out of his house. Many other items such as plasma TVs and furniture was also destroyed. You don’t realize how heavy the padding can be until you have to move giant sections of giant sponges. This was his second flooding in the past 3 years and this time the water level was about 8 inches inside his home. He was in the process of refinancing on Friday which was 3 days before the flood… Unfortunately this didn’t happen and now he calls home Motel 6. Through the tragedy and loss it was amazing to see people whom you’ve never met before come together as a community and help out. People just started picking up trash and debris and load it into trucks. Another Crazy winter in the PNW….