Charlie, we finally got wise to that and started using egg patterns as droppers and started catching some fish. I was still stubbornly tying on stimulators, however, in hopes of bringing a fish up on top. Needless to say, my partner caught more fish than I did.
Cliff ----- Original Message ----- From: "CHARLIE MASTRO" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 2:28 PM Subject: Re: Yak Report : Hansen's Ponds stretch : 10/3 > Cliff, I fished with a friend of mine that also guides on the Yak this same > time last year. We used egg paterns and caught fish all day. > > > ----Original Message Follows---- > From: "Cliff & Karen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: Yak Report : Hansen's Ponds stretch : 10/3 > Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 08:47:10 -0700 > > Jim, > > Thanks for the report. I've never fished the Hansen Ponds or I-90 ponds, but > I've always wanted to. I understand it used to be a great place to catch > lots of bluegills. > > This year I made a decision to pay more attention to the Yakima in the fall, > as I had been ignoring it for the last few Septembers'. I've fished it three > times in the last four weeks and have come up with a few decent sized fish > in the upper river, and quite a few dinks, also. I fish with a fisheries bio > and we've been seeing a few spawning chinook from Thorp area to upper Clem > Elum, but what dropped our jaws were the numbers of spawning suckers. > Hundreds of them in that area. > > I've also noticed a lack of hatches in the upper river. I seem to recall > lots of caddis hatches from previous September months, but I haven't been > seeing any. I'm really hoping to hit an October Caddis hatch this fall. > > Great report. > > Cliff > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jim Speaker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "WA Fly Fishers (E-mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Sunday, October 03, 2004 6:51 PM > Subject: Yak Report : Hansen's Ponds stretch : 10/3 > > > > I fished the Hansen's Ponds stretch today from about 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 > p.m. > > > > Flows were steady at about 470 cfs and visibility was excellent. The > > weather was great, sunny and warm with just a little bit of wind in the > > afternoon which quickly died down. > > > > There was some Midge activity; a few Baetis here and there, never really > a > > hatch; quite a few crane flies were ovipositing; and I saw a few October > > Caddis, one of which landed on me and allowed me a good look at it - a > > little smaller than I expected, perhaps a #12, and the body wasn't very > > orange, sort of a dirty, almost orange color. > > > > I saw around twenty rotting chinook carcasses. Some of them had their > tails > > cut off. Is this where they get tagged? At first I just thought it was > odd > > but when I saw that about half of them were like this I figured it was > > probably WDFW collecting tags. > > > > There were only a few sporadic rises here and there so I nymphed the > whole > > time. I started with a #10 Copper John with a #16 Green Rockworm > dropper. > > I got two bows on the C.J., one healthy one about 14", and two whitefish > on > > the rockworm. Thinking that I was really working for a few fish I > switched > > to a #16 BH FB PT followed by a #18 Olive Biot Softhackle. The second > rig > > didn't pay off at all through the next couple riffles so I switched > again, > > this time to a #10 BH CDC Prince with a #18 BH FB PT dropper. As soon as > I > > switched I started hooking up again and had three more bows before I left > > that riffle, one on the Prince and two on the PT, one of which was a > really > > fat, strong 13-incher. I kept working it through a few more riffles and > > runs where I picked up another bow and a whitefish, and worked my way > back > > up to my truck. Nearly there, I managed one more bow. So, total for > three > > hours was 7 bows and 3 whitefish - not bad for a few hours but I really > felt > > like I had to work hard for them, it was never really hot fishing. > > > > For those who don't know, the Hansen's Ponds road ends now where the hole > > referred to by locals as "the slammer" used to be. A small diversion > > channel has been created that runs into the ponds and a parking area was > > created there. The ponds are now considered part of the Yakima and are > > under the same regulations. A nice little footbridge crosses the channel > to > > a footpath where the road used to be. A lot of new trees are being > planted > > in hopes of providing more shade for the ponds which I understand have > been > > getting to hot. The big swirling hole, the slammer, is gone. They > > restructured the river a bit: now there's a shallow weir that forces the > > main current through a narrower gap and forms a big riffle and an eddy. > I > > didn't get a single strike in the new habitat - I'm thinking maybe the > > insect population took a hit there and/or it'll be a while before the > fish > > take to it - or maybe it's just not a good spot now. > > > > On my wade downstream there were no fishermen about. On the wade back I > > encountered a couple boats and a pair of wade fishers. Another nice day > of > > Fall fishing. > > > > -tight lines- > > Jim > > > > > >
