Photo by S. Worley- Recent Yakima Rainbow
As the fall season continues the slow, inevitable slide into winter, fishing is still staying blistering hot on the Yakima. The river is a gin clear, low and slow, dry fly fishing carnival ride and kaleidoscopic technicolor wonder. Guide Aron and I were on the river for 7 hours yesterday and calling it epic is not hyperbole.
The recipe for success right now is this: One good quality drift boat, Two rods- one with a nymph setup and one with a big honking OC- October Caddis. Forget the size 22 BWO's right now, albeit they fish awesome, but there are so many OC's on the water that Blue Wing Olive feeders will snatch them before they float past. Mix that with a quality section of river and a guides knowledge and it's an all day dry fly bonanza. I admit that there is a secret ingredient here... A secret that, if told, would lead to terrible, horrible things. I like Guide Aron, so I won't divulge his secret here, but Aron has a guide fly that fishes better than about any dang fly out there (Except of course my own pet fly). My only hint- ORANGE! Better yet, book a trip and have the best day you'll ever have on the Yakima and actually see the fly yourself.
How was our shop guys trip? It started with some great nymphing. Pat's Stones, small Baetis patterns, Bird of Prey Caddis Pupae and pink worms all fished well. Both Aron and I were using New Zealand Wool as indicators, Aron green, me white, and that stuff works really well. Fishing slow riffles and even slower soft side seams produced fish. With the river mostly stabilized from a freak, fall blowout of the Teanaway, we had high hopes as the day progressed. At about one o'clock we switched over to October Caddis as the fish started trying to eat my wool indicator! After that, nymphing was minimal with a couple of deep runs the only exception. Fish after fish rose to the OC and when a BWO feeder was encountered, we simply slowed the boat and fed a good drift into the foam. WHAM! fish on, or, in my case, way too many over excited early hook sets. I'm not too prideful to admit that I did have a long streak of overly excited, too soon, sets. Use my misfortune to your advantage- wait. Sit on the fly and wait. Use something like a verbal count or "I like fish", before you set the hook as the takes are molasses sloooow. So painfully slow. The fishing shuts down about 4:30 to 5:00pm so don't beat up water after the most productive period is over. Give your arm a rest and scan the hills for wildlife. Lots of deer and elk along the river right now and the bucks are starting to get active while they shadow the small groups of doe.
No recipes today, but take these tried and true flies as reference for future tying and solid fishing.
Stimi-Chew Toy, Size 8- ORANGE!
October Caddis Tri Wing- ORANGE!!
PMX- Orange!!!
Orange flies have been selling too fast to list any here. Feel free to call the shop and see what we have, shipping is fast and affordable at $7.95. Better, if you can stop by the shop in person, our friendly staff can directly suggest flies and help you get on the hotttest sections of the river.
Get that late fall fix.
Thanks for reading,
WBFC Pro-Staff,
WBFC Pro-Staff,
Joe
