Yakima River Report - Feb. 9th 2010 S. Cle Elum float

I attended the Overlake FF club meeting a couple of weeks back and met Gonzalo, a recent transplant from MA - he's a fisheries biologist and moved out here for a fresh start. He'd never fished the Yakima before, so we floated between S. Cle Elum and State today - it was gorgeous out. Put in at 11 am, water was 40*, air was 38, and partly cloudy. I spent the first few hours in a short-sleeve shirt, it was nice to feel the sun again. I figured that the fishing would improve around 1, given the recent trend, and sure enough, it got VERY good. Pat's Stone in brown, CJ dropper for Gonzalo, who is a great caster and knows how to fish. Patient, good listener, attentive, and well - he should be fishy given his profession. I caught a few nice fish today too, the Cutt below on a tunghead streamer in olive, sink tip line. Deep and slow was the game today. Off the river at 530, some live Willie Nelson for the drive home. A great day - no skwala's to be seen, but a prolific midge hatch around noon - no rising fish though, still too cold.











I also got to test out the new Orvis River Guard Ultralight boots with the EcoTraX sole - it's Vibram and comes with easy to change out studs. Great boots, very sturdy and sticky. No slippage.



All in all a great day and made a new friend - problem is now he thinks ALL the fish on the Yak are this big....