I was at Rocky Ford on Friday afternoon and Sat. morning as part of our annual eastern Washington, early October camping trip. The plan was to also hit Dry Falls but we found out that a VW EuroVan is pretty much impossible to get down the road whereas our Subie Outback never had an issue with it but also didn't have a propane tank sitting 3.5" off the ground. We managed to break the propane control cover on a rock and then hit a really rough spot so we turned around.
Rocky Ford was tougher than it has been all year for me. On Friday I fished a few hours and got skunked for the first time all year. Not too many fish were scudding and a few were rising to some #16 tan mayflies but only in a few spots that had fisherman on them by the time I arrived, most fish just seemed to be sitting in the light current looking more like salmon than trout. I did see a few fish landed but heard the same report from many people there - it had been a tough day and 5 hours of fishing brought up 1-2 fish. It was pretty darn crowded too, over a dozen people on Friday afternoon and about 8-10 in the morning on Saturday. On Saturday morning I fished just a short time because we had to pack up and head north. My first cast, however, connected me with a nice fish and after a brief battle I landed a 25" rainbow on a scud. That always jinxes the rest of my day and, of course, it did. I managed 3 more takes but either blew it setting the hook or the fish broke free quickly. By 10:00 though the action had slowed a bit and so I started tearing down camp. Fun time even though it wasn't my usual stop fishing because my arm hurts trip to R.F. After the Dry Falls bust my wife and I did some hiking and were glad we didn't get on the lake when the wind picked up in the early afternoon, it was ripping by nighttime and we had to batten down everything at Sun Lakes to keep it from blowing away. Hiked in Leavenworth on the way home on Sunday and hit rain after crossing Snoqualmie Pass, so much for the sunshine and short-sleeve days. Off to the Yak again on Wednesday, weather permitting, it was just way too fun last week. Tim
