The summer is coming to a close…finally. Its been a weird one since June anglers. But a good one.

With the end of the summer comes my favorite time of year fir chasing trout. The Autumn. We are a few days into the flip flop on the Yakima when the river drops back down to her normal flow. Trout move into different water, start acting real trooty, and we return to regularly scheduled hatches with bugs a plenty for fish faces.

The cranefly hatch has already begun, and fish are starting to search out these tasty dangly morsels as they skitter and skate across the river surface. Drag free drifts go out the window and we skate dries to trout willing to chase down flies with aggression. The October Caddis Hatch has started to percolate and fish are already smashing orange flies throughout the day. Switching from hoppers and stones…to these bug rusty colored soggy moths bumbling around the rivers edges. And the mayflies return here has the temperatures drop. 2 pm will being about some of the greatest dry fly headhunting this river has to offer. I’ve been patiently waiting to work pida of feeders since our amazing March Brown Hatch back in late March and April. It’s some of the most technical but also rewarding fishing a trout angler can experience here on the Yakima River.

There are so many options, from beading eggs and swinging flesh flies as the salmon come in, to skating dries, to massive smashes on drag free drifts, soft hackle hook ups, stripped and swung up streamer eaters, and of course you can nymph…but you don’t have to. The Yak becomes wadable throughout the system, and floating becomes short distances and working the water on foot with precision. The fish pod up, congregate and seek out the best water for the easiest eats as they prepare for the winter as it slowly creeps in. It’s fucking sick.

Fishing has been stellar the past few days, and it only keeps getting better and more consistent. Days are filling up and we are well on our way to 200 trips this season. Which is fantastic.

October still has a lot of days open but they fill up fast with the mad dash to get one more day in before the season slows down. September is pretty much booked.

Open dates in September are the 8th coming up, the 20th through the 22nd, and the 27th through the 28th. That’s it anglers. October is open but not for long so grab a date soon. Depending on weather I run trips through November chasing those trout spey eats and the last of the bwo hatch sips and slurps before the slow down and I switch gears to fly tying and chasing sea run Cutts this season, and maybe winter run steel.

I am thankful to everyone this season for all the love and support. This season has had a lot.

With about 60 days left of the trout fishing I hope to share it with familiar and new faces before the winter sets in. Come out this Fall and enjoy and share the Yakima River and everything that I love about chasing trout and guiding clients on my favorite river in all of trout fishing.

See ya riverside anglers,

Tamarack