Steve and the guys at the Worley Bugger in Ellensburg deserve a big round of thanks for organizing last weekend's river clean up on the Yakima! We gathered at Ringer and I counted about 40 altogether. Probably 10 or so with boats. Coffee & donuts (and lots of trash bags) were provided, and we all signed up for pretty short stretches from Ringer to Roza. Seemed like 2 or 3 boats on each stretch, and plenty of landlubbers hitting the takeouts and camping areas. The boats leap-frogged their stretch, stopping to pick up trash on beaches/bars, and of course we fished. It was cold, so stone fly nymphs were on the menu. My boat partner switched to a 15' sink tip and lost a couple of flies (in the right place) but picked up one very nice 'bow that was jumper. I picked up a consolation prize, about a 17" white fish that fought back. Saw some little ones picked up on the surface with the bwo hatch around 2pm-3pm. We all took out at 3pm, piled up the trash for pick up, and headed back to the shop for bbq'd burgers and a very nice raffle (one ticket & one chance per "trasher") with a whole mess of nice prizes. I didn't get a count of the bags, but there was a huge pile of trash that is no longer on the river.
Pat Bolton
