Yakima Report and Strategies

[James St. Clair]

Where is there a large western river with stable, predictable and consistent hatches where the trout are always looking up? I’ve been around and haven’t seen it yet!

I strongly disagree with this. But, I also don't want to throw a bunch of names of rivers up here as they don't need additional attention. Most of them are well known, a few are lesser known, but there are plenty of them.

 

[Creatch'r]

I strongly disagree with this. But, I also don't want to throw a bunch of names of rivers up here as they don't need additional attention. Most of them are well known, a few are lesser known, but there are plenty of them.

Hey I’m not saying the yak is the best in the west, far from it. Just doesn’t have the FPM and feed of some of the big names and that’s ok. All I’m saying is the Yak has some truly fantastic dry fly fishing but like all rivers, including the big names, it takes some unlocking to fully appreciate. I’m not saying that with the context that I have it unlocked because I don’t, I simply don’t fish it enough to be more than a casual visitor, and I usually time my visits to what I know to be productive dry fly fishing so that certainly helps. Trout are trout, and the bigger and more pressured they are the more dialed you gotta be and I appreciate that aspect it’s what keeps it engaging and challenging. I think the reason most of us don’t walk up the yak (or any western river) on any given day and light the river on fire sun up to sun down is because that’s the nature of trout rivers in general. Every hour it’s a new river. Right place, right time, right knowledge and skill, any blue ribbon river can be incredible. Or terrible. And that’s what makes it so fun.

 

[Ian Horning]

Certain sections of the river are far more conducive to dry fly fishing than others. Some sections or access points (if you walk n wade) are characterized mainly by deeper holding water, or riverbanks exposed to sunshine for a large part of the day. These places are less likely to see rising trout.

When the sun dips low, or the clouds come in, dry fly fishing can be excellent on the river. In my experience, large pods of sipping fish aren't terribly common. As a tradeoff, the fish aren't usually terribly picky either. Given the right conditions, I've found it not difficult to bring large trout to the surface even in pressured water.