Tim, Hearing your story about hooking lots of fish, then losing a big one while nymphing reminds me of a tip I learned from another fisherman: After you've caught 4-5 fish, nip off 4-6" of tippet and re-tie on your fly. Same goes for the dropper. Since you're fishing a nymph deep on the Yak, even a few smaller fish will beat up that tippet against the rocks enough where it's too weak to handle a bigger fish. Usually, when I'm in the heat of battle on a good day, catching fish every few casts, I forget, and a big fish will take and then bust me off on pressure that normally would be acceptable for the tippet size. I remember the tip - but alas, too late! I guess that's what makes us keep coming back to the same places, the same rivers, and trying again and again.
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. That describes most of us fishermen!!! Nice report. Tight lines. Sean Tim Harris wrote: > Today had to be one of the best days imaginable on the Yakima, the weather > was picture perfect, the mayflies were abundant, and the trout were rising > to flies. This fall may just never end. > > I got over to the canyon around 10 a.m. and fished the stretch of water > right by Mile 17 all day. I put in at the riffle and worked the stretch up > the shoreline from 10-12:15 or so fishing nymphs upstream. The fish were on > nymphs big-time today, I got 13 fish in the few hours of working. Many were > 11-13" fish but I got one 16" fish, one 18" fish and had one other big one > on that I never even got a look at. I was fishing my usual dual nymph rig > with a #16 BHPT and a #18 PT dropper, I got most on the #18 but a few on the > BH fly. Fish were hanging close behind big rocks so almost anyplace a "V" > wake came off a big rock you could find and hook a trout. > > Just after noon I had worked most of this stretch and was at the slack > water, just having lost the one big fish that broke me off so I waded back > to shore and went to see if the risers had started yet. Sure enough the > main pool was covered with small BWOs and trout were starting to rise. I > put in just below the mile 17 sign, waded out to the ledge and began > fishing. In the next few hours, until just before 3 p.m., I worked about > 100 yards of water and rose about 1 1/2 dozen trout, hooking and landing a > little over half of these. The bugs are getting smaller, I started out with > a #20 Comparadun and only hooked a few fish with it, when I switched to a > #22 I began getting real action. None of these fish were big, 10-14" but > they were everywhere and getting them in that smooth current on small flies > was pretty challenging. The hardest part was telling your fly from the > thousands of real ones on the water, a few times I went to set the hook when > a fish took a natural just inches from my fly. > > All in all an unbelievable day and not crowded either, I only had one boat > pass me the whole day which was amazing for a popular stretch of water. If > the weather holds call in sick and go fishing, it isn't going to last much > longer. > > Tim
