I couldn't stand it, knowing that the weather had improved in Ellensburg and that trout were probably going to be rising so I drove back over to the canyon on Friday thinking "this could be my last trip over for the season" though I doubt that is really true, I figure I'll fish till I either get skunked royally, the roads get impassable, or my contracting job comes through and I go back to work for a while. Good dry fly days on the Yakima seem to only happen in the spring and late fall for me and this last month has been some of the best 'match-the-hatch', small fly, dry fly fishing I've ever had on the Yak and it is just something not to be missed.
I got over to the canyon about 10:30 and was geared up and on the water in just before 11:00. I choose a riffle where I knew the trout would be hanging before the hatch that had a run below it where they'd be rising later on, it had been one I floated over a month ago and had good luck at. Just as I thought, the fish were stacked up in the head of the riffle early and from my arrival until 12:30 or so I hooked 6 fish, landing 5 of them, all 12-15" fish on a #18 PT nymph which I was dragging behind a #14 BHPT. The fish I lost was a heartbreaker. He took like all the others and then I saw him turn, a big 18-20" trout that immediately ran into the fastest part of the riffle and hung there. I had run out of 5X earlier so the #18 nymph was on a 6X dropper and after several minutes of abuse in the fast water by the big trout he lept, dove again and broke me off cleanly. Oh well, that is what I came for. I saw a few BWOs flying around me and so I headed downstream to the run, fixed up my leader and tied on a #18 BWO Comparadun then waited. I didn't have to wait long for the first rise and was quickly into that fish. Another rise and another strike, missed him though. The action was hot and heavy for the next hour, fish were rising all around and were pretty easy to get to take. I started to hit a lull and noticed that the bugs were smaller, switched to a #20 and began hooking fish again. In one small seam there were fish rising like mad and I managed in about 6 casts to hook 5 of them, landing 3. All in all in that 2 hour period I hooked about 20 trout, landing about half of them and all were 10-14" fish though I had one on that was a good 15-16" fish. Nothing like a 16" trout sipping a #20 fly on your 6x leader. Somewhere between 2:30 and 3:00 the action came to a lull and I had to bail anyway to get back to Seattle to meet my family for dinner and a movie so I headed off. A great day on the river to say the least. It was a bit crowded in places but if you were willing to walk a bit you could find a fairly secluded spot to fish, I hate to think of what the weekend will be like. The colors in the canyon are incredible right now, worth the trip just to see them. On the way out I stopped by Worley-Bugger to stock up on 5X just in case I get back before the bug-fest ends. Tim
