Went yesterday with a friend in hopes of the BWOs still hatching and, once things thawed out, they did and the fish responded. On the drive over we were getting a bit worried as the temperatures kept dropping as we came down from Snoqualmie Pass and by the time we got to Ellensburg it was only about 34 degrees out at 10:00 in the morning. After a brief stop at the fly shop we were on our way and got fishing somewhere between 10:30 and 11:00 when it was still in the 30's out. Even in the cold some fish were taking midges on the surface in the flat water areas at this time. Around 11:30 the fish began moving and I was getting them on nymphs. The first two fish were almost identical 16-17" trout, very chunky and strong. For about an hour the nymphing was really hot and I ended up landing 7, loosing 3 before finishing up the stretch I was on. My partner had moved way upriver by then and was also finding some fish. We prospected a bit furher and finally at about 1:15 I saw the first rise.
We moved down to better water and from 1:30 - 3:30 the hatch was going off. It was not a constant heavy hatch but would come off hard briefly then slow down. When it was heavy the fish were rising everywhere and you could get 1-2 to come up then it would slow and you'd wait it out for 10 minutes or so. The other factor was that damn helicopter that buzzed us at least 5 times during the day and each time would shut the river down for about 10 minutes it seemed. Scared the crap out of me the first time it flew over and then you just got sort of used to it or at least knew it was coming. During the hatch we landed about 10 fish between us, missed many, and I lost about 5 in a row at one point. I think the biggest riser was about 14". All were taken on #18-20 BWO Comparaduns. Tim
