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.
I don’t get to read new water very often here on the homewater. There was a time when I would venture out into the woods and explore and discover new water, and meet new trout when this place I call home was still new to me. I’ve hiked to the source of the Yakima, Cooper, Cle Elum, and Teanway Rivers and fished each in nearly their entirety. I’ve blue lined the maps of the whole ranger district in search of trout and solitude. You know…the cliche things we fly anglers do.
It’s not that I tire of my homewater, quite the contrary, I am still discovering and exploring things about it, but the rivers here are like re-reading old favorite books. The trout I trick new things I read and learn that are there…between the lines. I am at home here, the river a comfortable place that I can lose myself in. But I yearn for new and exciting stories to read. New characters to meet. New rivers.
Spring Runoff is a good time to venture out of an anglers comfort zone or homewater and search out new places to chase fish and read water. In the past 11 years I have seen a lot of water that Washington has to offer. From the Olympic Penninsula, the Columbia Basin, High Mountains of the Cascades, and of course a deep relationship with the Yakima River and the Tributaries. I now look to smaller rivers that can be easily broken down and covered within a few days. Something that presents a challenge, a river with less fish, or maybe one that is tucked away on some long trail that not many people frequent. I want 300 yards of riffles and turns, boulders and seams, where fish hide eagerly waiting for an insect to pass by. Water that doesn’t require my boat, but requires I walk the banks and wade the river to unlock it’s secrets. One that requires attention to detail, and gives me the ability to lose myself in reading the intricate nature of how river, insect, and trout interact.
Not much of that is left for me except for a few select places. I venture east towards Idaho and Montana more now. But there are still blue lines on maps within an hour or two drive of my house that I have yet to sling flies on. While anglers and guides hike float tubes and grab bass and carp flies, I would rather find a mountain stream with a few trout, a 3wt, and a box of simple attractor patterns. Searching each pocket, seam, eddy, and riffle in the hopes that a trout decides to create a new story for a new river, for a new chapter in this fly angler life I have chosen to live.
The river is blown again. Whole thing. More releases from the dam to make room for the snow melt coming into the reservoirs has begun, and the Teanaway is on the rise again with the warmer air temps.
We had a small window. For a few days this week. Might get lucky with another one here soon.
I’ll be exploring some other trout options this week invading some west side of the mountain streams and a few lakes.
For those looking for a fishing option; there is always the Columbia Basin lakes and bass lakes as well as Rocky Ford and Crab Creek. There are a lot of small water systems in the Columbia Basin that have trout and bass. I grew up over there and have fished a lot of it. I like the trees more than the sagebrush so I don’t find myself over there too much but I can answer all your questions and point you in the right direction for something to sling flies to. Did I mention chasing the Bronze Bonefish?! Carp fishing on the fly can also be really fun.
The MBs have started. Hatch came off around 1:15 and lasted about an hour today. As the days go by that will get bigger and longer with trout keying in on it.
Fish were looking up today. It wasn’t a mayfly feeding bonanza but they are looking up and smacking mayfly dries.
The nymph game was strong today. With big fish eating big nymphs.
The water is around 3300 cfs and holding at around 45 degrees. The fish are everywhere. I found them in seams, eddies, fast water, shallow water, deep water, and for the love of trouts the side channels are filled with them! The slower water seems to hold all the whitefish I found more trout in the faster stuff actively feeding.
Fish have a lot of current to play with so I lost a fair share of the fish I hooked into today. Lots of jumping and running. Throw 3x for your nymphs big fish like to snap 4x in fast water.
The river below the Teanaway should be back in shape by the weekend. But that all depends on the runoff. The LC and farmlands areas are still probably a no go until next week. The upper is very fast and very high, so if you’re thinking of floating be prepared for big water.
The calendar is filling up quick. I’ve got Sunday this weekend still open. Next week we have more consistent weather coming in with lower temps and cloud cover with a side of showers…more mayfly weather!
Tamarack
River Update: Salmon Fly McTwitchy
The Teanaway is on the drop for now. It should be below 1000 cfs by morning. The lower temps are slowing down the runoff.
It has started raining this evening. Which is much needed. Rain will help move this run off along and bring more nutrients and cold water to the system. We are currently running above summer flows right now and there is still a lot of snow pack up in the mountains.
Reservoirs are all but full and there is currently: 1400 cfs coming over the Cle Elum dam, 1100 cfs coming over Keechelus, 1000 cfs of the main stem of the Yakima and feeder creeks such as Big and Little, and you have a wicked fast flow!
The Yakima at Cle Elum is currently 3400 cfs and has been for the past 3 days. Water temps are hovering between 43-46. Consistency with flows and temps, even when the river is high, is always a good thing.
Trips are on a wait and see basis. Short windows of opportunity will arise here and there. Don’t worry, I’ll let ya know when they show up. We should be at a nice consistent flow within the next 10 to 14 days.
Currently we have March Browns starting. Green and Grey Drakes will be thrown in there. A few areas of the upper have really sweet drake hatches. Salmon fly nymphs have been cruising around the system for a few days being kicked up by the higher flows. Big Salmon Flies will start hatching soon along with Caddis.
Higher flows and consistent temps 45 and above mean trout gotta eat…a lot. And when big bugs show up…things get rowdy. With big flows forecasted for the majority of the season I expect some wicked awesome eats on mayflies and big dries as the season moves forward.
My May calendar is filling up already and I start offering overnight trips soon! Call and reserve dates!
That old saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Is malarkey.
A picture is worth jack in today’s social media driven market place. Where an Instagram post of a big smile and a big fish will get you 1000 likes and make you popular. That is great and all. I sift through hundreds of photos that are wanting a like every day. It gets boring seeing another buff covered face with a perfectly placed hat, and a large trout held up for the camera and the interweb to see. They typically have a slew of tags and they have some sort of comment below like: EPIC, AWESOME, WICKED, CRAZY, AMAZING. Its a photo, of a fish, and an angler, with the same type of caption as the last 50. A picture is worth about 6 words and they usually have an undertone of: “Look What I Caught Now Like It.” We are using these colorful words to describe the same mononotous picture. When we should be using those words when we talk about fishing. People think I’m weird because of the way I talk about fishing. I have passion and use rather colorful language and enthusiasm when I talk about what I do for a living. How many can say the same? It’s not corney to use the word amazing and beautiful when talking about a trout or a cast or how one rows a boat. It’s silly not too. What else do we use those words for then? The face of some angler holding a fish up? Please?!
Where is the story?
I don’t see a lot of photos that show off the fish. A trout held up in front of an angler for the camera is about the angler in comparison to the fish. It’s not about the fish. At least to this angler. You can say what you will, but in the end, the grip and grin is a tried and tired way of showing off and stroking some ego. I’ve seen big Lahotians, I have seen epic steelhead, hell I have even caught a few, but what about what made that particular fish unique? The intricate spots on the head that no other fish that day had, or the rose colored plate that stood out among all the other fish, or that one blue haloed spot that sticks with you forever? Or how about the way the rod bent when that big nasty trout took you for a ride? These things are rarely photographed and never highlighted it seems. And while a picture used to be worth a thousand words…what happened to words being worth…well words. Photos will never come close to the power and ability to transform, inspire, and lose one self in that words and language have.
I will take a good fishing story over a fish photo any day. One word I can’t stand is Porn. Now I, like most other men, have to clear my browsing history from time to time. But one thing I never associate my trout with…is porn. It just seems disrespectful. Fish Porn, Trout Porn, Angler Porn, it all seems like a crappy way to promote our sport and the fish that make it so much fun. Porn is porn, not art, no matter what way you look at it. I feel that fish, deserve a little more respect than a photo on some fish porn website. But that is just me, some anglers like that stuff, but don’t expect me to snap a bunch of photos for your collection if we are fishing together. I have a different respect for my fish, and I look for the little things that make that particular fish special, whether it’s the color, the spots, the way it fights, or any other number of things that make each fish I trick or my clients trick, unique. Most clients and anglers don’t even notice until I say something.
“Look at the spots and how they are all bunched together on this trout compared to the last.” Then my clients take a second look. They realize that it’s not just another trout, it is something special, a wild animal more unique and mesmerizing than the last. “Did you see how the trout just kept running into the fast water then dropping into the current and rolling inwards trying to pop off the hook?” And my anglers realize that they had one hell of a fight with a wild animal, yet again helping them see past the A Typical, just another fish for the Facebook feed.
This brings me back to words.
The fight between angler and this trout cannot be described with a photo.
A picture doesn’t describe the way the trout took the fly, it doesn’t explain the anxiety and heart palpitations that ensue when you feel that initial head shake. A picture won’t tell you how crisp the morning was, how the wind smelled heavy of budding cottonwood, or the lingering of campfire smoke on my flannel from the night before while we talked about old trout and secret fishing places. A picture has jack shit on words.
There can be passion in a photo, especially one that highlights the experience, the uniqueness of the fish, or the uniqueness of the angler. But it will never hold a candle to the way it can be described and explored through the written or spoken word. A picture is a lazy way of saying…I went fishing. I go fishing every day practically, if it was as boring as the photos that frequent my Instagram feed look I wouldn’t be doing it everyday. Nor would most anglers. It’s as if we have lost that unique connection that fly fishing has with its fish, no matter the species; we may not necessarily care less about the fish, but we care more about ourselves with these photos. The fish doesn’t make the angler. The angler is made with time, patience, and a good cast. Too many times do I see photos of fish caught to glorify the angler instead of the fish or the experience. When the whole entire reason we fish with this method is because it is unique. What happened to a sweet photo of a wicked loop, or a big bend, or the moment when angler and trout meet? Those photos, they are worth more than a few words below a post. They have essence. They also typically get more likes.
When I can’t hit the river, like now due to runoff, I am not watching the F3T stuff jonesing for a tug, or surfing the interweb drooling over fish I am not catching. As a matter of fact, I am blasted with that stuff all day long on my social media feeds and I rarely even look at or like that stuff now. It’s the same old same old. It’s lame after a while. And your internet prowess because of the 30 fish you snapped photos of while fishing just lose their meaning after a while.
What I end up doing on my days off, is reading. I read new tactics and methods to trick fish. I read stories and blogs. Check to see what my favorite out of state rivers are up too. I also tie. Nothing like working on sets of flies for the next riverside adventure. Plus, while everyone is editing their photos to try and make it look like it’s worth 1000 words, I am filling my fly box, saving money, writing about trout and adventures, honing my skills, and doing the one thing I love most when I can’t be fishing. Talking with other anglers.
I used to frequent my local fly shop regularly to learn from an old timer that eventually became my mentor. Number one thing about fly shops and I’m not the only one to say this: You should never feel intimidated or unwelcome in a fly shop no matter what skill level, sex, or what outfitter you work for. If you do, then your fly shop sucks. I have 6 fly shops on my homewater, and I will only ever be spotted at 3 and even those are getting hard to walk into now. The fly shop used to be where you learned stuff. Now they seem more and more to be like used car dealerships. Peddling the latest fly pattern that’s just based on something that was tied 30 years ago, selling guide trips when the river is fishing like crap, trying to get you into a new $800 Sage or $450 pair of Simms. When you find a fly shop that isn’t like that it’s like realizing you hooked a bulltrout and not just a big whitefish.
When I realized that my local shops had succumbed to the modern age of fly fishing, albeit not to their benefit in the long run. I started hanging out with anglers at the take outs, local bars, fire rings, campgrounds, and my house.
My lady and I have 3 kids, we live the fly fishing guide lifestyle to a T, and we have an open door kinda house. I live right in town, less than a mile from my favorite put it, drift boat parked out front so the world can see, and I have people stop by all the time once the season starts. Just yesterday we had visitors that saw me hanging outside swing in and talk trout for an hour. We almost always have a fire each night, with camp chairs sitting around on our patio, and most nights we have at least one extra person and/or kid hanging around. It’s how we like it. My wife loves seeing anglers come over and how we get into talking about fish, I learn something every time someone stops by to talk trout or just see how things are going. We live a very care free life that revolves around talking passionately about life and the things we love.
That is what draws me to fly fishing. There is a passion that runs through this activity that is unlike any other I have had the pleasure of participating in. I don’t want to see the photo of the brown you caught last year, I want to hear about how you tricked it. The events leading up to it. That quirky gas station you stopped at before you got to the put in. That guide that you met that told you that story. The smell of the woods and the burnt coffee the next morning. Give me sustinence with your fish stories and pics.
God forbid I get a little plot with my fish porn.
Swing by, I don’t just wanna see ya riverside.
Well, took my eldest daughter out today and we slayed them. Cutties were super active today.
We hooked into a lot of trout on the nymph and even found a pod of close to 15 bigger Cutties having a feeding frenzy in the fast water smacking mayfly nymphs. March Browns are starting to pop as well!
I still have Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th open this weekend.
Offering a $300.00 full day trip for 2 anglers with lunch. Last minute booking anyone?
Took one last trip today before taking a few days off to tie up some flies, do some TU stuff, and rest my trouty brain. River has come up above the Teanaway but it is holding for now. Irrigation has started and will ramp up this week. The snow melt is in full swing as well and the Teanaway is sitting above 1600 cfs and fluctuating close to 2000 on the warm days.
The fish are spawning. So that isn’t helping with the fishing. Our trout get focused on making baby troots and that’s good because we are expecting a great spawn this season with the zero drought conditions.
We should see the population increase over the next few seasons because of this.
As the river settles down over the next week and the trout finish their business, fishing is going to get stupid. March Browns are just starting. And when these fish get reset after all the funkiness they will be wicked HANGRY.
Water temps are rising to 50 during the day. Once the system gets flooded with cold melt water that will take a little bit to rise back up as well. Skwallas seem to be almost done, as are BWOs. Short but sweet as always. March Browns are some serious business on this river. So it’s gonna be wicked fun here really soon. Streamers are starting to work more, and we have salmon flies and Caddis coming up. Don’t forget Drakes in the upper!
The river is poised for awesomeness and epic trout chasing days. The calendar is filling up so give me a call and let’s go chase some wild Yakima troots!
Tamarack
The start of the season has been fantastic. The fishing has slowed as the weather has caused the snow to start melting. There a few stretches that are unaffected still up high but they will succumb to irrigation and the dams will begin spilling water into the system. This will make the river cold, and high, for a few days. The trout will take some time to settle down along with the water. They are also spawny right now so they are focused on making us some baby troots for the coming seasons.
Please be careful where you drop anchor and where you walk. Don’t tread on Redd!
March Browns are upon us. Skwallas are still hanging around but it’s tailing off now. Drakes in the upper along with the best damn mayfly hatch this river has to offer with March Browns. It should be epic. Just like last year. And with the good snow pack it should be amazeballs. Plus salmon flies and Caddis are coming up.
I’ll be taking trips for April days that are still available once the river calms down, probably mid week to the weekend.
Give me a call. March Browns are my favorite hatch and the upper river is the place for mayfly dry fly fishing.
I have been riverside almost everyday the past three weeks. Its been a wonderful time and I am lucky that the lifestyle I live allows me to have so much freedom to continue my pursuit of trout with fly and rod. I learn more about these wild and amazing creatures every time I step into their world. There is nothing quite like it for me. I have been a musician, felt the energy and applause of 35,000 people in front of me, I have felt the vibe of a group of musicians coming together to create something new and exciting while experiencing it simultaneously. Heavy stuff dude. I have witnessed three human beings come into this world, seen countless mountains and wild places, experienced wildlife on many different levels, but nothing, nothing compares to watching trout and meeting them through fly and rod for me. Its truly addictive, I feel the urge to do it now despite the snow and rain falling outside and the 25 mile an hour cross wind out of the north…fish still gotta eat.
I am a little more controlled now. I am an experienced angler and know when to stay home. I know when to hit the river to get the best bang for my buck so to speak. But I find myself searching for trout, that one trout, and spending all day waiting for it to rise in rhythm, as the next wave of mayflies flutters down the rivers surface. Not the four fish at the top of the slick that are feeding vigorously, although my arm twitches as I contain the urge to cast to the small pod of cutthroat making their presence known. No…no…there is a trout further down the slick that has caught my attention. The one I saw at the start of the hatch that only broke the surface slightly…a loud ‘Sllyrrupp’ as it sneakily sipped a large olive mayfly from the small foam line.
To the newer or less experienced angler, the pod of fish feeding is almost to hard to not cast wildly at. But I want this one fish. This one fish that seems to be the only one keeping its cool while the hatch intensifies. A slurp here, and then another….about 45 second apart. The same sneaky nose in the exact same spot below the foam line. Its a perfect dry fly slick. The riffle above is multi tiered, with waves of mayflies wafting from the bubbles. They make their way over the large pool and into the bank where some brush and trees cover the water surface with shade. The perfect place for a large pod of fish to hide from the eagles and osprey above. The ultimate trout restaurant where they serve mayflies every season.
There is a large log under a scraggly tree that has its roots exposed along a small back eddy below the slick that the mayflies float down as they dry out their wings. Easy pickings for the trout. Three feet out from the log, right along the edge of the shadow from the tree line of the mid afternoon sun…the timing is everything for this trout, there is a small seam that forms along the slight eddy that the log creates. And there…a large trout sits 2 feet below the surface hovering silently in the shadows. I see a tail flutter or fin from time to time. Never a flash. The trout targets the natural mayflies from almost 4 feet away. As they move into the window where the trout has keyed into…the trout glides through the slack current with a slight tail stroke, rises, rises, and shows only its nose as it opens its mouth just below the surface and the mayfly falls in quietly. No splash, no noise, just a small dimple in the water and a mayfly disappears. I see it from the rowers seat as I tie on a hand-tied olive emerger that I do not share with others…a fly I tied that morning specifically for this trout. I have been stalking this fish for days now. I met it early in the week, and it bent the hook shank with a head shake. My friend Ross can vouch for the trout.
I have come back since we first met and watched the fish…never casting at it. I pick off a few of the more eager cutties, but mostly I am stalking this fish, watching, and waiting to see if an opportunity shows itself. I was lucky enough to have an opportunity. A few days after we met, the trout was back feeding…on rhythm. I spent two hours waiting to see if the fish would rise in a way that would give me the best shot. This trout is serious, and you only get one shot. The trout rises. I have come accustomed to its behavior over the past few days. It rises again. It eats sporadically at first. But 15 minutes into the hatch of olives the trout is feeding every 45 seconds or so with each wave of mayflies. I check my knots, I make sure my leader is stretched. I wait to enter the water and wade close. The trout needs at least 3 feet of drift with no line in front. I spooked it the last time I attempted to trick it, still cursing myself for my eagerness and lack of patience. The trout rises again. I keep my cool and I prepare to make my attempt.
I slowly wade out with my desired line already out and coiled in my hand. The trout rises again. Its within 30 feet of me and I can just see it along the shadows, about 2 feet under the surface of the river, the water is gin clear. I let the line out, the water is 45 degrees and I am up to my thighs. I am cold. But the trout rises after another 45 seconds and my heart rate increases. My thumb taps the worn cork on my fly rod. I wait…the trout rises again as another wave of olives flutter and dry out their wings around us.
I cast…two false casts…the fly drifts perfectly…but the trout does not rise. I prepare to recast and the trout rises. I wait. Counting. I cast…the fly drifts down the seam, its small CDC para post barely visible in the glare. I hold my breath. I see something move in the water column and my heart feels like it stops. I see the trouts nose break the surface and the fly falls delicately into the wild animals mouth…as if it is just another olive mayfly…I lift the rod almost instantly, as if in anticipation and trout and angler meet!
My heart races as my rod bends in half as the trout dives for the bottom head shaking violently. The trout screams to the surfaces and jumps, and then jumps again. Swinging through the slack with energy supercharged by the cold water and angered with the interruption of its afternoon. I hope the hook holds as the trout is ferociously head shaking trying to make for the log that it has made into its home. I redirect the trout into the faster water and now the battle turns in my favor and the trout runs up the seam along the heavy current. After a long bulldog and one final jump the fish decides to relent, and I am able to net the creature. My mind is blown. A wonderful wild rainbow. The blue and purple hue of the gill plate immediately catches my eye. Like a precious jewel stumbled upon, I am breathless with the beauty of the trout. My fly in the side of the mouth falls out once tension is off. The trout is spotted with large round spots on the head and nose, with an amazing heavily peppered tail. The rich pre spawn colors catch the mid afternoon sun and flash and flare as the fish rolls and splashes in the net. I cradle the fish in my hand and pull the net away. The trout slides off my hand with a slight tail flutter and is back into the depths resting.
I breath…fulfilled. No picture, no fat belly lumped in my hands with a big smile for the world to see. I have been trying to meet this fish for days…and the trout and I shared our moment and now it can resume its wild life enticing another angler to stalk it. For only those that pay attention and watch, and use patience as their tool, will be successful in meeting such a sneaky trout. I float the rest of the day without casting my rod. I only wanted to meet a certain trout today. Tomorrow I may stumble upon another quarry that requires my utmost attention.
Tamarack's Guide Service 