I have been fishing the Yakima River and its surrounding tributaries, creeks, and lakes for 10 years. I have been tying flies specific to this river for 10 years as well. I have guided not only the river but also many of the hiking and mountaineering trails in the area and fished some of the more remote lakes and streams. I love to fish the Yakima River and have been running my driftboat here for 5 years. I guide a little differently than the other services here and have a slightly different philosophy on guided fishing trips.
Its all about the experience, and while I can't promise there will always be cooperative trout, there will always be good times. I learned from some of the greatest anglers the Yakima has both on the water and at the vise and I guide to share and pass on that knowledge and expertise so others can enjoy this river as much as I do. I love to teach people to fish, I love to teach people how to read the river, and I love showing people the beauty and art of fly fishing. My service is a bit cheaper but that is because I have no shop taking a percentage.
I use a lot of my own fly designs and patterns that no other guide has and have spent the past 10 years fine tuning my tying and patterns specific to this river. I have flies, leaders, tippets, and fly rods and reels, and always welcome anglers to bring their own gear. If you need waders and boots I can arrange for a rental. I support my local fly shop for my trips as well as it is important to me that our local shops stay open.
When you take a trip with me it all about fishing and the experiences that happen along the river. I love getting my clients to have great moments with our trout here. Ask me all the questions you can, I want to teach as much as you want to learn. Whether you are an experienced angler or brand new to the sport I love sharing this river with people. I guide the Yakima River and many other secret waters in the area. When you give me a call I will ask you lots of questions as I want to make sure you have the best experience possible while chasing the trout we have here. Whether its a guided river float or a hike and fish, or a walk and wade to the secret places, I can help make your fly fishing experience memorable and fun.
Give me a call today and lets set up a time to go fishing.
Well anglers….the spring fishing is just about over. In terms of trout and for my bummy ass, spring fishing ends when caddis show up. Gone are the days of wicked cold water temps, the waders get hung up and the chacos come out, and fishing altogether changes.
We’ve been running the slow water, the riffle tailouts, the back Eddie’s. Nymphing a good chunk of the day and crossing fingers for headhunting rising trout. It’s been a good spring for trouting. Since the skwallas started back in March the dry fly fishing has been fairly consistent by spring fishing standards. When skwallas wrapped up the mayflies came and the fish switched over and the past 2 weeks have been excellent for the spring. Even in the crap weather, yes we were dealt some tougher days. But still had good opportunity all around.
It’s been crazy busy for me. I’ve never done more than 24 trips between February and May. 38 so far seems like a staggering number compared to previous springs. Whoo!! Just chasing trips this year. And my clients have been good to me. Especially coming out of covid. I cannot thank everyone enough for coming out for trips.
It feels good tonhave hard work pay off over the seasons. The groove is much easier to find these days and it shows while on the water. Just plugged in and vibing with the Yakima. Juicy.
As we roll into May the river changes. She already is. With the salmon pulse this week and irrigation operations starting up the river is now getting a good dose of water from the reservoirs. She’s gonna be high now…for a while. Not summer time high but 3000 cfs and maybe more as we move things the next few weeks.
Fish will finish spawning. I timed my trip to Colorado for boat makeover with runoff and to let the fish finish their business. When I return we should be days away from thr Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch, or American Grannom Caddis. It’s amazing to witness and even better to fish and be a part of. Fish everywhere, dry flies, skating dries, swung soft hackles, so many ways to trick trout with Caddis during the hatch. We fish into the dusk hour as trout slurp in the dark. It’s really fun.
Another thing happens in mid May on the Yakima. We get Salmon Flies. The biggest and baddest of the stoneflies. We are due up for a decent hatch this season. It’s been a few years. We get ours when the air trmps start getting into the 60s and 70s. Usually mid to late May. Just big dry flies and ravenous post spawn trout wanting to munch. It can be really fun to watch amazing smashing takes on big dries during the salmon fly hatch. Much like skwallas but bigger, and with warmer water temps, hungrier trout, the takes are a little more robust!
So May is what’s coming. Lots of dry fly fishing, swinging picks up more trout due to warmer water temps and post spawn trout. That 50 degree water temp turns trout into missles. They hammer shit, and hold in faster water. It’s rad. Side channels fill up, fish move around more, wildlife really comes out, the trees green up, things really come alive in May. Come on out for a trip.
I’m back May 5th after Kearstyn and I get back from CO. With a handful of days already scheduled the pickings for dates are prime still. Caddis start that 2nd week fosho, and Salmonflies probably after the 15th. It’s looking like a good summer anglers. Lots of water and still tons of snow to melt. Come out and enjoy the fishing this season. It’s already need pretty Decent!
It’s April. It’s not my favorite month but has its sweet spots. The month brings wetter, gloomy weather that weeds out the weak. Fish spawn this month and into May. Water tempsmget closer to 50 degrees every day of the month. Trout eat more and more every day. Salmon smolt begin their seaward migration. The riverbanks come alive with spring green, there’s bud, cotton woods begin to sing in the rain and wind as the leaves grow. Birds and baby otters, little ducklings and gosling, frequent the river, life begins anew in April.
But the beauty of all that has its downside. The river is usually an unpredictable torrent of spring runoff, dam purges, and algae soup kicked up from the dams opening. We are a tailwater after all. Below the Teanaway River the Yakima can get angry in April. The snow locked valley begins to thaw and the largest Freestone tributary of the Yakima can rise upwards of 8000cfs when melt begins. This storm coming through this week helps greatly and our snow pack is in the 70s in April amd we want it in the 80 percentile. All that damn sunshine in March was nice but not so nice.
Being a tailwater the flows are somewhat controlled even when the Teanaway starts spewing. The flood plain restoration and work that’s been done in the headwaters of the Teanaway watershed over thr past decade is starting to show results with more normal spring runoff episodes. Above the Teanaway from thr Cle Elum River confluence to Lake Easton the river sees a few minor high water events until a salmon pulse is ordered or a purge needs to happen due to the reservoirs being at capacity. Salmon pulses mimic spring runoff and push smolt to the Columbia so that baby salmon can grow up to be food and fertilizer.
A lot of trout spawning occurs from the Teanaway confluence up to Lake Easton dam. I’ve chosen to fish less up river during the spawn which leaves me at the mercy of the Teanaway and purges but I, as well as others, have seen a vast improvement in quality of fish as well as quality since the 2020 closure during the spawn. Leave big fish alone during the spawn and they stuck around in the fall.
The hatches change this month as well. We transition out of the Skwalla Hatch which usually last into the 2nd week. Maybe longer. March Browns have ready started to percolate and will become the dominate food source for the rest of the month for most trout. Streamer fishing also ramps up due to water fluctuations, smolt getting pushed around, baby sculpin that have gotten fun sized since hatching, and big trout spawning like to eat meat. Caddis will also start to become a regular food source as flows tick up and down and warmer days and evenings settle in. Trout will begin feeding into the late hours of the evening as we get closer to May. Waiting to feed on caddis hatches at dusk. Also salmon fly stonrflies begin migrating for hatching in May as well. Nocturnal this also lends to thr evening feed with trout. We are due up for a big salmon fly hatch this season.
As we get into the month I watch the weather, flow, and wind charts like a hawk. Several times a day sometimes. The river and weather change a lot in April. We get new logs and jams like the new one below KOA or the blockage below state. Trout are moving and shaking a lot. Constantly and inconsistently changing and adapting to conditions. It’s can be a tougher month to fish but a very rewarding one with the colored trout, big trout, and really great dry fly fishing on the good days.
The river is up and a little blown, but is going to settle within a few days. Hopefully the higher elevations got that good 8 to 10 inches of snow they were calling for because we need it badly. I’m back on the river Thursday, river cooperating of course. I’ve got a good chunk of days coming up after this storm amd little water surge. No dam releases yet, Teanaway taking care of things for now. They’ve started priming irrigation but that really doesn’t start until May. April 15th they will start to open things up more irrigation wise.
We’ve got a few weekends open, 10th thru the 14th during this sweet little window coming up. And already taking trips for caddis in May. Full Days and Half Days are now open. $450 and $375. We also do walk and wades $275 in the upper river and lower Cle Elum. I leave for Colorado at the end of the month so get your trips in before I leave for a minute to get the boat fixed up. When booking in April we really look at the weather and forecasts when getting dates locked down so give me a call or email and get on the calendar!
Alrighty anglers! The hog, Kay, and I are headed to Steamboat at the end of April to get the old boat a big face-lift. It’s one of the longest running hogs on the water. It’s been over 10 years since I bought the boat.
In just the past 7 years, the boat and I have seen over 1200 trips. And 6000 to 10,000 river miles. Before guiding, I infloated quite a bit and traveled to a few dozen different rivers to float. We’ve run class IV, floated wide steelhead rivers in Oregon, the short torrent rivers of the OP, Montana…there’s just a dozen or so we’ve done. Like the Gallatin, Blackfoot, Bitterroot, Clarki, Rock Creek, the MO. I’ve seen rivers in Wyoming like the Snake, and we’ve fished national parks, lakes, in Idaho, the Boise, the Snake, St. Joe, just to name a few. We’ve seen a lot together. I want to keep her going so she’s getting some much needed love to extend her life for another 10 plus seasons.
So, get your dates on the calendar for April. I’m leaving the 30th, back May 4th in time to get ready for Caddis and the season really ramping up.
I’ll see ya riverside this season anglers. And the hog will have a little touch up here by the summer.
The river flows crested overnight, and we are in F’ing business anglers! It’s going to start dropping this evening. Shit is about to get real! I’ve got the weekend booked, but the 7th through the 10th is open and looking at this chart. Those are some good-looking days and anglers. Really good…like fucken Magic good. So get on the calendar with them! Skwallas are going to pop hard, bwos, and that streamer grab awww ya. Reserve today! For real! We call it skwalla holla for a reason. Drop everything and chase it!
I can feel it in the troutesphere…there will be skwalla eats in the future. There is something to behold when you see a big wild trout take a skwalla dry fly off the surface. Mmmm.
Trout have been wintering sipping little bugs and the occasional sculpin or worm. Not the most appealing diet, and if you think trout don’t have picky tastes in their food you haven’t fished enough.
Like most critters, trout are opportunistic but also one of the most adapted creatures to their environment. They know things anglers could only dream of knowing. What they see, move, hear, feel the aquatic world is astounding. As an angler I am always striving to understand trout more. Over the years, I have come to understand a great deal about trout especially when it pertains to eating bugs off the surface.
It’s no secret as an angler; I am a dry fly fisherman. It’s my favorite; it’s what I’m best at and presents the most challenging encounters with Yakima River Trout I’ve ever experienced both personally and guiding. I’ve spent the better part of my angling career fine tuning dry fly fishing. As a guide, I’ve spent a good amount of my hours teaching, working, and opening up the world of dry fly fishing to clients.
It’s not just a thing we do for 20% of the day. When I worked for outfitters, I was told and expected to only target dry fly fishing for 20% of the day. What a waste of a day. There are just as many trout up on top as underneath once water temps are up above 42 and even better above 50. Once we get those conditions, we are hunting on dries. It works here. Trout on this river are wary of the dry. You have to be patient and precise, and you have to read water really well. Not just position and presentation, the timing of the drift, the amount of lead time to the fish, angles of approach when one doesn’t work, sun, shade, cover, so much goes into a dry eat. It takes work on both ends, client and guide. When it comes together, it’s fucken magical.
Trout only get stupid a few times a season for dry flies. We see it during hoppers, drakes, ants sometimes. We even see amazing feeding during mayfly hatches but there is one time a year….when trout go absolutely bonkers for top water flies….Skwallas.
Maybe it’s because they’ve been hibernating all winter eating shit that tastes like dirt and is little. Skwallas taste like bacon for a trout coming outta the winter months, and they are huge compared to other bugs. The first big bug of the year. Of course it corresponds with spawning, water temps coming up, spring runoff, all these things that make trout need a larger, more robust food source come together in the first few weeks of the spring season on most western rivers. The Yak is no different.
Trout, get pushed around from the runoff. Trout are looking for territory, areas where they can feed, swim, feel safe, and move about the system. Trout, don’t sit still; they are constantly moving and seeking out places that give them food, cover, and oxygen. In the spring, everything has oxygen, so those places with cover and food become easier to find. It’s still cold for a trout, but not that cold. 42 to 50 degree water is equivalent to our 50 to 60 degree days. Pretty comfortable. Trout are hungry and are now prepping for the spawn, the heavy flows, and the pressure of nature like predators…survival kinda stuff. It all begins in the spring. Right when this big easy to find, easy to eat food source becomes readily available. Skwallas.
They hatch on the bank and lay eggs on the water. Fish are all about big twitchy bugs in the soft water along the swollen banks of a springtime river. The way these trout eat skwallas is something else. Like a grasshopper eat, but in March. Trout lie in wait sometimes coming 4 to 6 ft to the surface to eat a skwalla. When a fish moves that much to the surface, it’s explosive! A 2lbs trout moving at top speed for a skwalla will lunge out of the river, literally crushing the bug with its head and shoulders as it eats it. It’s like trout forget how to eat big bugs over the winter. They expose themselves, give up position, and fight and jockey for the best areas to feed on these bugs. Trout will hold in an area, sometimes for a few days, other times a few weeks. It depends on the species, water conditions, and that sort of thing. They can be larger area for a good number of fish or they can be small tight areas only for a few fish. Water reading becomes a key to dry fly hunting.
We get a 10-day 2-week window that this process happens over with our trout. It’s the start of their season too. And skwallas are a great way to usher it all in.
Nothing quite like rolling up on a good 100 yard spot of bank with overhanging brush, maybe a stick and log or two in there, some good sized rocks 2 to 4 feet down 6 feet off the bank. That slow walking speed water that’s just a little swollen from about 400 cfs of runoff in the river. Mmmm, juicy stuff. Those precise casts tight to the bank twitched 2 to 3 feet off the grass line, a big trout underneath watching, waiting to face punch that fly. It twitches one last time almost put of range for the fish to want to eat it… But it’s spring, and that troot is hungry.
Just before you get ready to pick up for another cast….a violent splash occurs as a pink banded leviathan with a set of big green, black spotted shoulders launches out of the river! There is panic, there is tension, and there is a trout in the air 15 feet from the boat with a fake ass bug hanging in its face! It’s like a stick of dynamite goes off under your fly sometimes! It’s amazing.
I’ve had the good fortune of experiencing skwallas many times on the Yak and other rivers. It’s the same no matter where….trout love that bug. Anglers who have been in a skwalla hatch know…its something else. I have many fond memories of skwalla days over the years. A day where 5 to 10 large, and I mean, large ass fish decide to fuck up some skwallas. The kind of fish getting ready to make more fish….ya….the good ones.
Its here anglers…all those things are lining up. And although I do love to experience dry fly fishing on skwallas for myself…its a lot more fun, and more challenging for me…when I’m guiding during it.
I guess that’s what separates guides from anglers. I’d prefer to guide skwallas instead of fishing them myself. Maybe it’s a bit of “been there done that,” for me, but really, I just get a kick outta being in the cockpit of the drift boat, not the horns. Oars in hands not a fly rod. I can’t fish and row at the same time.
The hunt is on, for those big dry fly eats, for trips on the calendar, for that one trout this spring that just never gets topped all season. A handful of clients know what I’m talking about….there’s always one fish that gets landed in the spring that’s pushing 20-22 inches. The biggest and baddest troot…always happens in the spring, and we spend all season trying to find another one. Maybe you could land that fish this season.
Come on out. Skwalla pop this weekend, and I’ve got the 7th through the 10th open next week during what looks like could be the peak of the skwallas in the lower river. Who’s coming? Land that big trout for me and help me lose my mind on dry fly eats.
Those of you anglers that watch the flows know that some shit is coming. Our first big runnoff event on the spring is starting as I’m typing this.
This river is forecasted to hit around 7000 to 8000 cfs over the next few days. It’s already moving up as the rain comes in, snow melts, and the warmer temps slide in. We have already seen the weather shift to muggy and warmer than it was a week ago during the cold snap. It feels like a Blue Wing Olive kind of day.
This is awesome for fishing. Yeah, it sucks we have to sit it out for a few days, but by the 3rd, we start to see the flows drop. Which is money. The river in the spring up around 2200 to 2800 is damn near perfect flows. Especially after a drop. By the 7th, the flows are predicted to go back down to 2000. So a big flush is coming and we need it. The rest of the lowland snow will melt, groundwater will swell, and we will see our consistent above 2000 flows start to hang out.
You always want to fish the drops. Fish displace and have to seek out refuge, pod up, and hunker down for the heavy water. Like hunkering down for a snowstorm for us. After things start to subside, those fish are hungry, cranky, and tired of being stuck together in big pods. They wanna spread out and get into those smaller feeding pods of 15 to 30. Not 50 plus. They start to look for territory for the spring, and they also feed for spawning. It’s all happening this week. Trout getting trooty anglers.
Clients on the calendar are in for a treat as these conditions slowly materialize. I’m internally giddy and stoke AF to fish three next 3 weeks. It’s going to be sweet; all the stuff and things that make for good trooting are coming together.
There is rain in the forecast; we have 45 plus degree air temps. Overnight lows aren’t freezing; mmmm…fishy. The muggy rain is here; overcast skies. BWOs hatch in this stuff, especially after a flush. Skwallas are going to pop after this flush. The huge push in water is going to help move the nymph colonies into the banks of the river and get the hatch going.
I’m telling ya anglers; this shit is coming, and it’s going to be glorious. If you want to get the dry fly, eat, skwalla holla, pick sippers with mayfly dries, soft hackles swinging, streamer tugs, and a big ass indicator take downs nymphing. Fish get ravenous after a flush, and the water temps are going to hit 42, plus they are going to be like fat trout misses to the fly!
The calendar is filling, but I’ve got some opening during this sweet trooty, juicy time headed on way.
March 7th to the 10th right during this week stuff is open. Those weekdays have fewer people, more troot for you.
March 17th is open for a special discount of $275. St. Patty’s Day and the only day open in 11. I just want that day filled, so I get 11 days in a row!
I also have a Spring Wade Fishing Clinic on March 20th with 6 spots open!
March 22nd through the 25th is also open during the skwalla hatch. After that, it will probably start to subsides and switch to mayflies.
So there you have it. Got to sit for a few days as the river flushes. Get on it, hoard, when it starts to drop on Thursday/Friday. Skwalla Special $325.00 is running through March!
Call, email, text to reserve. Super stoked to get out there this spring. Let’s go anglers!!! Time to chase TROOT!
Trips are rolling in, and dates are filling up. Time for the monthly last open dates post.
For March, here iz what’s open!
March 7th through the 10th.
March 17th St. Patty’s Day. Running a special price trip that day for $275.00. Save an extra $50 bucks cuz it’s the only day open from the 11th to the 21st, and I want a big run of trips during skwallas! Get it before someone else does.
I’ve got a Spring Fishing Wade Clinic on the 20th with open spots!
March 22nd through the 25th.
March 28th through the 31st. Which is the last work for skwallas, and we start running regular full days in April, so get in on that Skwalla Special $375.00 pricing before it’s too late.
Dates are open after March, of course, but things have been filling up quickly, and it’s only gonna get busier. Weekends are booking weeks and months out this season. It’s kind of crazy! Wooo!
As per usual, the Yakima is being cold-hearted. Winter was like, “Oh, you all wanna go fishing and have skwallas in February…well that’s just too damn bad!”
Last week, I saw my first few skwallas fluttering around. Like 4 bugs. We lost our cool a little, but it was too chill and a bit too early still. Insert big sigh…
Even right now, it’s absolutely gorgeous out. Sunny, but fuck me, it’s cold. Like 25 degrees cold. And it’s always cooler riverside. Water temps are still around 40. Needs to come up a tad. The sun helps. It keeps the water temps stable until this weather snaps to warmer. We saw a 60-plus degree air temp last week. Little tease of what’s to come..here next Monday. And yes, like every skwalla hatch it’s a crapshoot, and one of those should be next week kind of things…damn weather.
That being said, it is going to happen. We needed this rush of frigid air. Really seal in all the stuff that melted soft up on those mountains. We want our snow pack to be like that hard to get out of the freezer shit. That way, it won’t all melt in April and blow the river out for a month. It still could happen, but extended forecasts say otherwise.
I’ve done my homework. I looked at all the charts, blogs, and noaa stuff. It’s looking pretty normal. This cold snap and snow up high are pretty normal. Little later than usual and slightly colder than average, but meh…not too bad. But the real focus is the next two weeks. I promise this time.
Cold will move through by the weekend. It’s going to be single digits; it’s gonna snow through the 28th. But then it breaks. Finally. We will see 40 plus degree days with lows in the mid to high 20s. Which is awesome. 60 degrees feels amazing, but it’s March. I’ll take 50 degrees and a little muggy with the moisture and melt. We also need things to melt slowly. Not all at once. We don’t need 8000 cfs in the river. Fucks the whole process up! This is one of those things about guiding that still after 8 seasons stresses me out. One super power…control the weather. Is it too much to ask for?
Skwallas will come that first week of March. May not peak until near the end of the second with the current forecasts. We see a slight uptick in flows closer to 1500 2000 cfs that first work of March…that shit is money! Gets cold, warms up just a bit, moves fish, brings temps slowly up to 42-45, fish transition to spawning easily and naturally like they’ve got to the past 2 seasons…it all has the makings for awesomeness. This is why the calendar is almost full. Wooo.
However. There’s a lot of weekdays open during those first 2 weeks still. And I can’t catch all the fish on skwallas myself. It’s better 2 at a time. The river is busy on the weekends, obviously, so I push for weekday trips.
The dates that are still open during this time frame we are discussing above are:
March 1st-3rd. March 6th-10th these four days….mmmm…they look real good! And the 16th and 17th. I also have another Clinic on March 20th that is open.
After that, skwallas will probably wane; fish will eat em, but the hatch will have peaked. Bwos aren’t far off either, and we should see them in the afternoons next week, too! Dry flies!
After the 20th, skwallas will wane, but fish will still eat them. Bwos should start next week in the afternoons, too. March Browns aren’t far off. As the water warms and fish start to move around and transition for spawning, the swinging will only get better. We’ve consistently got into at least 1 good one every time we put some time in, which will improve over the next 2 months. That cold weather made those fish super sleepy, and that warming trend we had for a few weeks just wasn’t quite enough to jumpstart us as early as we all would have preferred.
But it means we have a good snow pack, and trout have gotten fat and happy the past month eating nymphs and slow slurping sculpin. All the fish have been fat the past 2-3 weeks. A little different than a month plus ago when they were a little snakey, coming out of the winter. As the flows change and temps come up…they have to eat even more. Awwww ya!
So there it is, my breakdown of the next few weeks of what fishing should look like. Flows might get close to 2500 2700 cfs by mid-March. Which is just peachy with me. Pushes shit around and puts fish in the obvious water in the upper. Mmmm.
So let’s fill up some more dates and chase trout anglers. These conditions are looking mighty appealing. Come out and take a crack at skwalla and swinging and all that troots stuff we river people do.
Skwalls special runs through March. $325 for 2 anglers. Come get some!
So I’m stoked. I’ve been looking at the graphs and charts and the weather and forecasts. Ooooo. I’m excited. Let’s get into it because fishing session is fing here anglers. It’s here!!!
So the flows are gonna come up this Sunday Monday. Little uptick. Probably a bump of 800 cfs maybe more. It’s gonna super charge the river with cold water. It’s going to displace fish, it’s also going to bring the flows up over 2500cfs which is runoff levels for early season. Que spawning, skwallas, and the whole ecosystem coming to life.
We have 50 degree days this week, it’s super sunny, snow in the lowlands is damn near gone. The water table is charging, and water is seeping back into the Yakima. It’s like pumping blood into and through the heart. Bugs start moving, birds show up, twitterpated otters, and, of course, fish. Already, fishing has had an uptick over the past 10 days. It only gets better. Plus, the sun sets after 6 now. The fishing window grows each day. Water warms a little bit more each day. But next week….mmmm… it looks like it feels like it’s going to be the start. Just a little bump in cfs is all it takes, and all I want. Already, the flows are where I like them for the spring. 2000 to 2800 is just fine for me. 2300 to 2500 is the sweet spot.
The 24th through the 28th into March is looking mighty juicy…and it’s wide open for guide trips. Wanna swing up that big one, or get first crack at skwalla dry fly eats? Ya…I can feel it the troutasphere. Plus it my birthday next week and I’d like to spend it riverside making money in all honesty.
So if you’re looking for that early season trooty day, that is when conditions look to light up real sweet like. Real comfortable for troot chasing…the 24th through March 1st is looking mighty fine.
That’s my trooty two cents for what I see unfolding with the river over the next 10 to 15 days. See ya riverside. Skwalla Special is $325.
You may hear the word ‘skwalla’ being thrown around the fly shop or river over the next month. You might see anglers get all hot and bothered when the hatch shows up. You might lose your own shit when you see a big troot hoover a big dry like it’s August but it’s Late February early March. It’s the Skwalla Stonefly….and it causes fish, critters, and anglers to lose their minds!
The skwalla is a stonefly. We have a handful of species that hatch on the Yakima. The stonefly is a carnivorous little aquatic insect that lives in the river for up to 4 years before it hatches and becomes an adult for a few days to reproduce. Like all our stoneflies here…they live in the big rocks hunting amd feeding and growing. When late February and March rolls around our first big bug of the season starts waking up.
Stoneflies eat other bugs. And as they get ready to hatch, they are relentless. They feed and slowly migrate towards the banks and shallow areas of the river. This is happening right now. The skwallas are moving into the bank and feeding….getting ready to hatch. This happens because the bugs have reached sexual maturity. Some waiting for 4 years to become an adult and pass on their genetics. Water conditions, air temps, barometric pressure, and time of year all have to overlap in order for these bugs to pop. And every other critter in and around the river knows this.
Birds, small fish, other bugs, and of course troots eat these crunchy morsels. They pack a lot of protein, are easy to eat, and are in abundance for 10 to 20 days while the entire ecosystem of the river wakes up and ushers in spring. The weather has shifted, flows have come up, runoff has started its trickle, water temps are fluctuating, the sun is out, and in a few weeks the green will come back to the river and hillsides. Skwallas bring in the spring season anglers.
Already, fish are chasing the skwallas along the bottom of the river. The majority of the fish we have hooked into have been on stonefly nymph imitations. 2 weeks ago, fish were deeper and near the middle of the river. This week, they are closer to the riverbank. This means fish are following the food. As the water temps hit 42-45 degrees, the rainbow trout get spawny, which makes them get hungry. The w tire population of trout in the river. All 2000 per mile….they all start getting into a frenzy for these bugs. It starts in the lower river and works its way up river over the next 3 to 4 weeks. When the water hits 6 cutties join the party.
Skwallas cycle, because they are nymphs for 2 to 4 years, we have cycles of big hatches and small hatches. Since the 2015 drought, keeping track of when the big hatches come has been difficult. Hot water does a nu.ber in invertebrates. After 8 years since that drought, I think the skwalla hatch is back to normal cycles. This means we get decent hatches every season, and every 2 to 4, we get a massive hatch. The last season was a big hatch, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be here this season in droves. We have had great water conditions for 3 seasons. I expect to have a really good skwalla hatch this year.
The skwalla hatches on the bank not in the river. It crawls out and then takes several minutes to metamorphosis into an adult. Like a caterpillar. It pops out of its old shuck or skin with a new set of 4 wings and one thing on the brain…reproduction. after hatching into an adult the next 36 hrs are spent finding a mate. Females mate and hang out for the day making an eggsac to oviposit back into the river. The males, once finished, die shortly after. Feeding mostly birds and small critters along the grass and bank of the river. After a few hrs or a whole day, the females return to the river to lay eggs.
Skwallas aren’t graceful and can’t fly worth a damn. The females flutter or crawl back to the river , wiggle, and flop around to release eggs. These eggs, smaller than a pin head, are wicked dense and sink to the bottom of the river. They slowly work their way into the substrate, like a plinko machine. They rest there and hatch into a little nymph and start the process over again.
When these females come back to lay eggs, that’s when shit gets silly. Skwallas are easy to see, which means they are easy to eat. They sitter and flop around, making noise and racket, which makes fish crush them. Fish are hungry getting ready for spawning, battling spring flows, and the general ravenous nature of critters after the winter hibernation. We are so close. Already fishbare feeding on midges up on the surface. When a larger, more filling meal presents itself…oh man troot are gonna lose their little brains.
We are just waiting for bugs now. The water and fish are ready. Now, with all these sunnier warmer days here…the adult skwallas are almost here. This week? Maybe next….we are in it now, and it’s a fun place to be because when it happens and you’re out on the river….its something pretty special. You have to experience it to really understand it. But trout get stupid for these bugs. It just kicks off the season so nice.
Right now, it looks like this weekend, but probably the following and the first week of March for skwallas. No matter what, the next 2 to 4 weeks are going to be when shit turns on. I’ve been doing this a while…my trooty senses are tingling.
Right now here’s what dates are open that are going to fall during the skwalla hatch in my professional opinion. As we get into March the upper river will be the focus but until then we are working the lower river.
Open days during skwallas:
Feb 24-28th
March 1st-4th
March 6th-10th
Last week it will be thick:
Mach 14th-17th, and March 20th.
After that, it will shift to BWOS and March Browns. Skwallas are short and sweet. And there are still a good number of dates open during what should be the peak of the hatch. Later dates in March will be focused on the upper river, so book accordingly if you’d rather fish the upper river.
$325 for 2 anglers is my Skwalla Special rate. I also have a clinic on Feb 19th that has 2 spots still open to learn how to fish this hatch and other spring techniques.
So reserve a day during the skwalla hatch and come chase fish on big dry flies in the spring! No one has hooked a trout on the dry yet….you wanna be the first!?
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