Hey guys just a quick report from my recent 3-day exploration of the lovely Yakima Valley in Central Washington. This was my first visit to the area and I was very pleased with what I found, I will be back in the area alot now that I have found it.
I arrived late friday night and fished a section know as "the farmlands" the water was OK and the scenery was unspectacular:
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I fished the last 2 hours of day light and managed to end the day on a nice pool where rainbows and whitefish were rising to small "midges" (I will use the US term since this is a WA report). They were not buying what I was selling since I had nothing in a size 28 to chuck at them. I did have some fun trying to identify these cool thistle like plants that I had never seen before:
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After a great sleep in a reasonably priced motel in the town of Ellensburg I was ready to go the next day and decided to fish a stretch known as "the lower canyon." It reminded me very much of the T (but smaller) and I instantly fell in love with it's arid ponderosa filled viewscapes.
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As I was driving down the road I noticed a nice flat area where some fish were jumping, "too bad it's on the wrong side of the river!" I chuckle outloud to myself. No sooner had I said that when a bridge jumped into view about 2 klicks d/s. I parked the car crossed the bridge and hiked up the tracks to the promising looking pool........
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......and proceded to have some very good sucesss for some really good sized fish.
The last pic is of an old snow bank that speaks of the cold winters common to the area. Kind of a cool site when you are walking the river on a glorious day of around 15 degrees without a cloud in the sky!
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That is it, sorry for the lack of fish pics but I seldom shoot pics on solo missions. I will say this about the fish though: they were all good sized, well conditioned and extremely hard fighting. I landed rainbows, whitefish and pike-minnow all of which put on great displays and performed admirably on the 5wt.
The wildlife also seemed to be quite prevalent with mulies and California bighorns being very common.
Overall I would say any swiftwater enthusiast who needs a break from heavy heads and big rods would do well to have a look at this gem of a river. It fishes well most of the year and I know I really enjoyed myself there.
Tight Lines,
Pat
I arrived late friday night and fished a section know as "the farmlands" the water was OK and the scenery was unspectacular:
I fished the last 2 hours of day light and managed to end the day on a nice pool where rainbows and whitefish were rising to small "midges" (I will use the US term since this is a WA report). They were not buying what I was selling since I had nothing in a size 28 to chuck at them. I did have some fun trying to identify these cool thistle like plants that I had never seen before:
After a great sleep in a reasonably priced motel in the town of Ellensburg I was ready to go the next day and decided to fish a stretch known as "the lower canyon." It reminded me very much of the T (but smaller) and I instantly fell in love with it's arid ponderosa filled viewscapes.
As I was driving down the road I noticed a nice flat area where some fish were jumping, "too bad it's on the wrong side of the river!" I chuckle outloud to myself. No sooner had I said that when a bridge jumped into view about 2 klicks d/s. I parked the car crossed the bridge and hiked up the tracks to the promising looking pool........
......and proceded to have some very good sucesss for some really good sized fish.
The last pic is of an old snow bank that speaks of the cold winters common to the area. Kind of a cool site when you are walking the river on a glorious day of around 15 degrees without a cloud in the sky!
That is it, sorry for the lack of fish pics but I seldom shoot pics on solo missions. I will say this about the fish though: they were all good sized, well conditioned and extremely hard fighting. I landed rainbows, whitefish and pike-minnow all of which put on great displays and performed admirably on the 5wt.
The wildlife also seemed to be quite prevalent with mulies and California bighorns being very common.
Overall I would say any swiftwater enthusiast who needs a break from heavy heads and big rods would do well to have a look at this gem of a river. It fishes well most of the year and I know I really enjoyed myself there.
Tight Lines,
Pat
