Yakima Pig

September 27, 2013

#18 pheasant tail in the jaws of a 20" fish - yeah baby!

 Following my success at Lake Lenice, I decided to attempt wade fishing on the Yakima River.  The Yakima is Washington's premier wild trout fishery - that doubles as an irrigation ditch.  All summer the river is a rushing torrent, popular with rafters, tubers, and guides in drift boats that have their clients throw big terrestrial dries tight to the banks.  In mid-August the down stream irrigation demand diminishes, the water is cut back, and the Yakima again takes the appearance of the partial tail-water / partial freestone creek that it is.  The trout in the Yakima are wild, and catch and release regulations are put in place to protect them.

The Yakima River - and chukar country!

I drifted nymphs all day long.  The cool, overcast conditions should have been ideal for a BWO hatch, but although I saw a few bugs, I never saw a single rise.  Quickly my flies were approved by some of the smaller resident trout, and I could fish easier knowing that at least the skunk was off.


Typical fish for the day.

 Eventually I found a deep pool that allowed a relatively drag free drift.  Making long casts and multiple mends, I was able to dredge the bottom.  It was successful for a few little fish.  Then, right at the end of a long drift, my indicator hesitated, and I swung.  Before I knew what was happening my line was ripping through the water and the fish traveled from 30 feel below me to 20 feet above me.  This wasn't a little tyke!  Luckily my position in the pool was ideal, and after some nervous minutes I was able to coax the chunky 20 inch rainbow into my net.  I had my measuring tape handy (he was all of 19 3/4 inches), snapped a couple pictures, and sent him on his way.  Then I sat back, took in the surroundings, and ate some food.  Life was good!


The big boy.  It's hard to keep the fish in the water, take pictures, and get something in there for scale.  This one turned out alright, but the pictures never do the fish justice!  Most importantly, this big dude was back on his way swimming hard in no time!

About an hour later I hooked into another big fish in the same hole.  For some reason, I saw a brief flash and thought, "Hey, that looks like a whitefish" - it was!  You'd be hard pressed to find someone that enjoys catching whitefish more than me.  They eat small flies, fight well, and most of all, they are native.  Whitefish have made it through dams, invasive trout species, and warm water periods.  Nobody cares about them, but there they are, surviving and thriving.  I think it is a privilege to catch them.  The one privilege a whitefish doesn't get is a trip in my net - they are slimy and stinky!  Sadly, this guy decided to freak out on the rocky shore and I'm pretty sure he gave himself a pretty good headache, but in the end he got his whit's about him and made his way back to the depths of the pool.

A big, CHUNKY whitefish.  They are always welcome to my fly (but not to my net)!

Ironically throughout the whole day I only had five minutes of sunshine and five minutes of rain - and they were at the same time.  Weird!  Every day in trout country is great.  I look forward to learning the Yakima river, and I really want to get a raft or a drift boat so I can explore more of it.  With time, I suppose, with time.

A cool insect that joined me for lunch.  I have no clue what it is, but its iridescent blue color was amazing!