Eric, I, too have had negligible luck at the Cle Elum spot this year. Last year was much better. Beautiful section of river, but apparently is become overfished or the fish have moved elsewhere. We're headed there this weekend as well, but we'll probably just use that spot as a meet point and move down below the Teanaway.
As for small tippets, I would say this: I fished in New Zealand for 3 weeks and learned how to land 8# browns on 2# tippet. During that time, we fished small clear rivers much like the upper Yak. The tricks they taught me made a world of difference in my success at bringing these spooky monsters to hand. The first trick was in keeping the rod tip up at a 90 degree angle to the water so the flyrod worked best as a shock absorber. The way the guides taught me the value of this was that before we went fishing, we strung up the rod, paid out 30-40 feet of flyline with a 10-12' 6x tippet and I wrapped the tippet around my finger and held tight. The guide pulled the rod back as hard as he could (smoothly) and held it at a point where the rod was ready to snap. I could barely feel him pulling. We reversed places and it's amazing how much pressure you can put on the flyrod like this without breaking the tippet. Then out on the water, the training continued with the guide constantly reminding me to keep the rod tip up and let the drag (a good disk drag reel is important here) do the work. No palming the reel, just taking or giving line - never staying static. The next (and by FAR the most important) tricks I learned were to stay DOWNRIVER from the fish wherever possible and go "tip-to-tail". The first trick often involved mountain-goating over rock while chasing 6-8# monsters as they ran down river. Most big fish won't run far - especially down river (steelheaders and salmon fishers will disagree with me here, but we're talking trout at this point) - They've fought their way to a good feeding/holding spot and they don't want to leave it if they can help it. "Tip-to-tail" was the most important lesson, though. What I mean by that is that if the fish is fighting and swimming with his head upstream, you bring the rodtip downstream towards his tail always keeping the butt of the rod up. This can be tricky to explain by e-mail, it's easier to show, but think of having the rod vertical, then twisting your rodhand to the left or right, never letting your rod hand drop toward the fish. You want a nice 90+ degree bend in the rod and keep it there using pressure and line retrieve, but then twisting the rod upstream or downstream as necessary while keeping that bend in the rod. As soon as you start to let the fish take that bend out of the rod, the shock absorbing action is defeated and you WILL bust the fish off - GUARANTEED!! By staying downriver from the fish and keeping the line pressure backwards to the fish's swimming direction, you're doing two things: using the current to fight him (he's swimming against it AND the pull of the line) and you're pulling his head back in a very un-natural way to the fish. He'll tire much more quickly than if you're upstream holding him straight and releaving him from his struggle in the current. If he starts swimming downstream, you turn your rod tip upstream. This will work as long as he's swimming downstream, but soon, he'll turn back upstream and there you are holding him in the current - now the fish AND the current are working against you - thus the reason to start hiking downstream as much and as quickly as is SAFELY possible. In all cases, no fish is worth a dunking (Brad Pitt and his "River runs through it" cutthroat be damned). I know this is a long answer to a short question, but many people are scared of going below 4x tippet for river trout. The truth is, with patience and perseverence and a couple of tricks, it's quite reasonable to expect to catch river trout on light tippet. In those three weeks in NZ, I landed over 50 browns from 4-8 lbs in crystal clear water (think 15' 7x leader here). These fish were extremely wary, and VERY strong fighters. And this was on 4wt and 5wt rods, so a light rod will work fine for fish bigger than you think. On the other side of this, I lost twice that many, though. It took a lot of faith and a large dose of humble pie before I got the hang of it (Babe Ruth struck out more than anyone on his team - don't forget). I'm not saying I'm Babe Ruth to fishing, but you will have to go through lots of lost fish before you gain experience in landing fish on a light tippet. But that's why they call it fishin' not catchin'!! I think longer lighter tippet leaders bring more fish to the fly (less micro-drag, better for tippet-shy fish like in the Yak), but with more concentration on fighting the fish properly - quick but light hook sets, constant, firm pressure against the fish's direction of travel - you'll bring more fish to hand. I've used this experience on the Yak, and have brought several 19"+ fish to hand using light tippets. I'm sure others on the board will have additional (and sometimes contradictory) advice. Try it all. Keep what works for you and throw away what doesn't (including any that I've given!!). Good luck and tight lines. Sean [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Thanks for the report Tim. > > I have fished the Yakima at the Cle Elum boat launch twice in the past week - > last Thurs and this Thurs. Last week was windy, overcast and cold. This > week it was between storms, the wind was light and it was sunny. I saw very > few rises both days and no hatches except a short lived bwo both days in the > afternoon. I saw a few cahills (?) and, about 4 Octobers over the 2 day > period. > > I had very little success; 1 fish and 6 or so rises to the dry fly in the > late afternoon. One fish was quite heavy and snapped me off immediately. > > I tend to use light tippets 3lb (6x?) and leaders which has resulted in > losing some nice fish while catching some average ones. > > I could use some advice. Is it wise to use light line to entice more takes, > or something heavier? Is it worth the extra miles to travel further towards > the canyon from Seattle? I always wade. Was there ever an October Caddis > hatch this fall? Do the hatches occur along the river at about the same > time? Should I be fishing nymphs instead of small caddis, bwo, etc? Are > attractor patterns or streamers in order when no rises are seen? > > Thanks for any advice. > Eric > > In a message dated 10/24/01 8:47:21 PM Pacific Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > Subj: Yakima Canyon report > > Date: 10/24/01 8:47:21 PM Pacific Daylight Time > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Tim Harris) > > Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > My friend, Lisa, and I braved the weather today and headed to Ellensburg > > to > > try the Yakima. It was pouring in Seattle, snowing from Snoqualmie Pass > to > > Cle Elum but actually very nice in Ellensburg. We started down the canyon > > road only to find it closed due to an accident, a truck turned over and > > blocked the road just up from Red's. We told the guy at the road closed > > post we were just fishing so we went in to find water before the road > block. > > Fished from 10-12 between mile 19 & 18 but got no hits, saw no rises, > etc... > > The water was a bit higher and colder than my last visit and full of > leaves, > > grass, branches, and other assorted garbage from the wind yesterday. My > > biggest catch on that stretch was a really big leaf. Saw a few small BWOs > > in this stretch but no fish up taking them. From 12-2 we fished up from > > Umtanum and did much better. I landed 5 rainbows in the 12-14" range, lost > > one and had a few other potential takes. All fish were on a #18 PT that I > > had dropped behind a #14 BHPT. Lisa got skunked but this was only her 3rd > > trip out and the fishing was a bit tougher than it was on the last few > trips > > over there. The wind was getting pretty horrid by 2 and the clouds/rain > > were on the way so we bailed and got to drive through rain most of the way > > home. > > > > Tim > >
