I've been fishing the Yak for more than 20 seasons, and she's a fickle one. Some days you get the goods, some days you don't. I've had plenty of weekends like the one you described. I would agree with Sean about the fish being sensitive to flow changes. Same same with Tim's comments about investing some time learning it. There are days when anybody can rip 'em up, but much of the time you have to work it. You were in good water. For what it's worth, I've never done squat in late-May/June when the river is getting up to summer irrigation flows.
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Gary Meyers
Kirkland
I just spent a very frustrating weekend on the Yakima. Despite all the good things I have heard about it, I had never gotten around to fishing it. I dusted off my drift boat and decided to check it out. I went by the Worley bugger for advice and to get some good fly patterns. They were very helpful, but the fish were not very cooperative. The wind was bad Friday night and worse Saturday. It was quite a bit better Sunday, but the fishing wasn't. I fished Friday night by the KOA and caught 2 squawfish that had to be 5lbs each. I also got a 10 inch rainbow I saw rising. Very few rises, and only an occasional caddis sailing in the wind. Sat morning I drifted from above to the KOA, I started at 9AM and almost immediately caught a 12 inch cutt I saw rise, it took a big dry salmonfly. The wind howled making casting a nightmare, I needed my 9 weight permit rod, not my little 5 weight. I saw some beautiful water, but no rises and few bugs. There were occasional mayflies and stoneflies all morning but nothing was rising to them. I nymphed the seams deep, thinking they were feeding below and nothing. It was absolutely dead until 1:30 when stoneflies and caddis began hatching. Unfortunately, they floated down the river undisturbed. I finally found a shallow run with several feeding fish and pounded it for about an hour from shore. I got nothing on nymphs, but hooked several on dries. They ranged from 6-10 inches. Sunday was a repeat of Saturday, with calmer winds. Got a 10 inch rainbow I saw rise at 9AM and nothing for a couple hours. Then got into a cut bank with risers, tiny, nothing over 7 inches, this was my highlight of the day. I quit at 1:30, there never was a decent hatch.
I realize I can't expect great fishing my first try, but I was very frustrated at the lack of feeding fish. This was opening of streams weekend and there was zero competition. Maybe the people who know the river knew it was a waste of time. Did I fish the wrong area? Was I missing fish? Any tips would be appreciated.
Terry Whitworth
