There's a freeway entrance in the middle of Cle Elum, you go south from the Chevron station to get to it. Keep in mind if coming from the west side you'll want to take the first freeway exit to get into Cle Elum labeled South Cle Elum, then crawl at 25 mph to avoid the ticket-loving Cle Elum police until you reach the Chevron where you'll turn South. The freeway exit by the Chevron is only a Westbound exit - coming from the East your in business. Anyway, go over the freeway overpass, continue past the freeway entrance, then hang a left (there's a sign that says Hansen's Ponds) and follow that road as it curves down the hill until you're heading approximately east - it turns to dirt... just follow it to the end - it's not far.
-tight lines- Jim -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Roger Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 4:36 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Yak Report : Hansen's Ponds stretch : 10/3 Where exactly is this Hansens Ponds stretch? Thanks, Roger ----- 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 > > > > > > --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.772 / Virus Database: 519 - Release Date: 10/1/2004
