The Quadfather
5/28/2013 10:05:00 PMFlygirl, glad to hear you made the trip. Was looking for your report. I'm no expert on the Yak, but certainly have fished it enough times.
You are fishing at the absolute upper reaches of the river. All my intel. tells me that the upper Yak. is the least productive part. Get down into the canyon. Thx. for your report. If you go to the S. Fork Snoqualmie, there is a point where the river goes under a bridge that is just a mile or so down from the casino. You can park off the road there and walk back to the river, real easy. I've seen fish in there as I was wading. Wish I could describe better what I mean.
You are fishing at the absolute upper reaches of the river. All my intel. tells me that the upper Yak. is the least productive part. Get down into the canyon. Thx. for your report. If you go to the S. Fork Snoqualmie, there is a point where the river goes under a bridge that is just a mile or so down from the casino. You can park off the road there and walk back to the river, real easy. I've seen fish in there as I was wading. Wish I could describe better what I mean.
colel311
5/29/2013 1:44:00 AMI agree with Quadfather. The upper river has smaller numbers of fish but of the ones that make the journey that high, they're large. The best wading I've had has been near the KOA campground about a mile and a half of walking up the river. You have to fish the the sections where food is going to concentrate such as behind rapids in the riffes. Use stonefly nymphs and dries as well as caddis imitations during this time of year.
FlyGirl
5/29/2013 12:28:00 PMColel311, where is the KOA campground? I just did a quick Google search and the only one I found was near Ellensburg, is that the one you are talking about? I dropped white caddis larvae, mayfly's ( saw them flying everywhere) and a streamer in the rapids, but no luck....Maybe next time I'll get one of the big ones you mentioned!
Quadfather, I understand what you are saying, I'll give it a try. We were up in the Tinkham area, most of the spots were taken by campers, so we wound up down by the bridge at the start of the camp area. Last year we had some decent luck there a bit farther up river, some real pretty brook trout....Nothing huge mind you, but pretty and put up a good fight coming in.
Like I said, I think we were more into just relaxing and getting out of town! Did a bunch of exploring out Stampede Pass, hadn't been there in years, hoping to fing more river access there other than the bridge, but the roads just kept going up! Couldn't beleive there is a sand and gravel pit there now! And all the properties are for sale... :( Thanks for the ideas.
Quadfather, I understand what you are saying, I'll give it a try. We were up in the Tinkham area, most of the spots were taken by campers, so we wound up down by the bridge at the start of the camp area. Last year we had some decent luck there a bit farther up river, some real pretty brook trout....Nothing huge mind you, but pretty and put up a good fight coming in.
Like I said, I think we were more into just relaxing and getting out of town! Did a bunch of exploring out Stampede Pass, hadn't been there in years, hoping to fing more river access there other than the bridge, but the roads just kept going up! Couldn't beleive there is a sand and gravel pit there now! And all the properties are for sale... :( Thanks for the ideas.
Troutdreamer
5/29/2013 10:45:00 PMThere is a good article on washingtonflyfishing.com on the Yakima river including a map showing access points.