Well the snows are here. And so is the holiday! It’s been a pretty normal and slow off season. I’ve been pretty hunkered down and only hit the river once since November.
I’ve been focused on off river stuff while also trying to keep the interest going for next season. The 2022 season is booking up quicker than any previous year. It’s exciting and I’m stoked. As of today it’s only 8 weeks until skwallas start migrating and possibly hatching. Awwww ya!
I’m grateful for those booking early. It makes the off season go a little smoother. It’s always a little tight in the winter and there’s still recovery happening from covid on the business side of things. 18 months of crap means there’s still some catch up. Slowly but surely. The trick is to not get down and just keep putting the work in.
I headed to Idaho tomorrow. Girlfriend and I are picking up kids and spending Christmas with them. It’s been since the summer with all the craziness this year. I think finally, 2022 will give me some semblance of normal…maybe.
The winter snows have hit the highlands. The snowpack is settling in and it looks like we are gonna have plenty of water for the summer. Stoke gets a little higher each day as we come closer to things turning over.
I’m starting trips in January this season. With 3 on the calendar already…going after those big bows on the swing and trout spey anglers. And the skwaala hatch in late February and into March is starting to get days. So the stoke is high with anglers too!
I hope to see ya riverside after the new year. It’s going to be a good season anglers. I feel it my trouty bones.
If you reserve a trip before January 15th for anytime in the 2022 season I will knock 15% off! Pretty sweet! Flies are also for sale until March 15th so get your orders in soon before I stop production tying and just tie for guiding.
The off season has become pretty familiar to me and after 2020 being one giant one I’ve gotten used to the cabin fever and the boredom. Still hate it but I’m less bothered by it.
The numbers from the 2021 season were really good. Worked almost all of my trips through my own service, did under 2 dozen for other outfits, and broke 150 trips so I can’t complain. Especially after the 2020 season, ugh. My client roster grew, we hooked into like 3000 plus trout between all the trips, stupid good dry fly fishing, and the river made it through a hot summer without anything determintal happening. Damn fine season.
Now the grind to February is here. It’s a haul. I’m tying, but its pretty light this winter. I still have a goal to sell a good 2000 flies or so, but if it doesn’t happen that’s cool too. I’m already booking trips for the 2022 season, which I’ve never booked out this early. It’s exciting to be moving forward after being in covid stasis. And while winters are always slow and tight, it’s a little easier knowing what is coming when the thaw starts.
I’ve been keeping to myself this winter. I’ve got an off river life I am pretty into. Spending time with my girlfriend and getting ready for the Holidays. I haven’t fished in a month and don’t plan to for a few more weeks. I’ll start swinging in January.
The offseason can be slow. I’m accustomed to it after 7 seasons. But I’m just kinda checked out. It was busy and it went fast last year so I’m enjoying my down time even if it’s a little slower than what I prefer. I need it, body and mind need it. Especially since next season is shaping up to be busier. Preparing mentally and physically as I come out of December will be when things start to shift back to work mode.
I know it’s been a minute since I blogged. I’m slowly coming back into it now. Flies are for sale, trips, gift certificates. I’ve got a special for reservations running through January 15th. Book a day and receive 15% off your balance. It’s pretty sweet. Saves ya a little and gets ya back on the water this coming season.
I’ll be posting blogs more regularly now. I’ve got all sorts of things to write about after the 2021 season. Hope to see ya riverside after the new year anglers.
The end of the regular trout season is upon us. The last weeks of Fishtober are here. It’s been a great season with way more trips than I was expecting. Lots of things happening and changing the past two season with more to come.
The last remaining dates for October are up for grabs. I will be guiding through the winter teaching and guiding single hand spey and trout spey winter swinging this off season. We will also be ramping up fly tying with a goal to sell $10,000 worth of flies this winter to help start moving business forward and hopefully down south next off season!
Last dates: 15th 19th 21st and the 25th thru the 30th anglers. That’s it.
Winter Trips are open through January 1st.
Your support and patronage are always greatly appreciated and I can’t thank everyone enough for coming out and making this 7th season a really good one.
The end of the season approaches. We have roughly 75 days of the trout season. September is almost here and so are the crane flies.
The following dates are still open this month.
The 2nd and 3rd, and 5th. But don’t book the 5th.
9th and 11th and 16th
19th thru the 22nd
28th thru 30th
That’s what’s left. October has days but they are going quick too. As long as the season hold we will plan on guiding into November again this year. Then Fly Tying begins!
To reserve a day hit me up via call or email and get on the calendar.
This summer has been weird. The weather is funky. Like really funky. We’ve had multiple heat waves and triple digits, more wind than ever, and we’ve battled some warm water temps this year. And now….before August ends we seem to be slipping into the Autumn.
We have a cooling trend and now it’s not getting above 80. Might see some warmer days over the next 3 weeks but the forecasts call for lower temps as we move into September. I can tell you the river is already moving that way.
The summer stones or Shortwing Stonefly is hatching. Has been for a week or so. And that ushers in the fall season. They usually hatch at the end of the month into September as the temps start to cool. They’ve already started. Which means the river and fish know and feel what’s coming before we do.
Flows haven’t started dropping and probably won’t for 3 more weeks. Already water temps are cooling back down. I suspect next week we will be back to fishing in the evening. We were seeing 65 and 70 degrees in the upper and lower respectively, but already water temps have dropped back to 60 degrees. Those higher elevation overnight lows are cooling the water again. Wooo!
Fishing has been great. Absolutely awesome. You all are missing out. Covid scares, and economic stuff, as well as smoke and water temps have been making for a really light month this August. Not what I want but it’s reality right now and 17 months into this pandemic it’s still having a large effect on things whether people believe it or not. I usually work 10 15 days in a row in August prior to covid, with 20 to 30 trips done with double days. We’ve been lucky to get to 3 to 5 in a row and 15 a month. It’s still light and that stress is there as we come into the end of the season. I’m already planning pivots for the winter as I knew I wouldn’t work enough to get through an offseason. The fall season brings a lot of excitement due to the fishing but also some anxiety as guide-able days become less and less.
I’ve made my living for 7 years this way. Got a little tougher these last 2 seasons. Changes are neccessary moving forward. Scary but also part of the plan. Just pivoting on the how and what.
The fall brings me that clarity. Things slow back down. The river settles into her regular pace. I know the river the best in the Autumn. I’ve spent more days on water in the fall over the past 10 years than most. The river has changed considerably these past 2 seasons which makes the river even more fun as the water drops.
The best mother fucken hatches on the Yakima River are in the late season. And we are already onto our first big one. Let me brake it down real quick like.
Summer stones usher in the end of the summer. Big stoneflies that hatch nocturnal. This tells us the overnight lows are shifting and the barometric pressure is starting to change from that consistent summer time high pressure to more normal fluctuating barometric pressure. Sciencey but after years you can feel it. Gets the guide senses tingling.
The water starts to drop due to the flip flop, when they turn off irrigation water flows and the river drops back to her normal size around 1500 cfs generally. She sits around 900 to 1200 in the upper by end of October. This drop in flow also gives us our naturally fluctuating water temps again. Temps rise and fall during the 24 hr cycle more naturally making fish metabolism more normal and puts fish in the prime feeding temp zone. That lovely 52 to 58 degree water. Fish start to act more trouty.
Then the Cranefly Hatch occurs. It’s the fucken best anglers. These dangle morsels hatch in the late am and the fish go bonkers. We get to skate flies and watch trout chase em and eat the crap out of them. It’s awesome balls. That’s gonna start really soon. Get on the calendar.
Then as things start to cool down air temp wise more the October Caddis and mayflies return. I’m very stoked for these hatches. Fish are ravenous in October and have to pack in as much as they can for the winter. As it gets colder the big fish get hangrier. We get to skate big orange bugs in the late afternoon and evening after picking apart riffles with little dries for sipping trout. Headhunting at its finest. Oh ya. Bwos, mahogany duns, and cahills all hatch in the late season. Mmmm. Little dries.
Lastly we get a bunch of salmon in the system. Eggs, and flesh oh ya. Trout chase down the salmon and feed off them. They feed off the little fish feeding off the salmon, it becomes a crazy food frenzy for fish. We get to huck streamers and swing em for big boys, we get do run eggs and sucking leech patterns for Trout. And yes you can dead drift flesh flies and produce chonkers. It’s awesome. So if you like to swing or chase really big fish…October baby.
There are roughly 60 days of the late season left to fish. Let’s fill them up with clients, trout, and happy faces. We all need it. Come on out for the end of the 2021 trout season! It’ll be really fun.
The river is always there. Life isn’t supposed to be easy. And like the trout that I chase it rarely is. I find my late 20s and early 30s to be mostly class IV and V rapids. Eddy out for a breather here and there. I apologize in advance for all the river and fish references. Like sports ball!
Tis the older millennial curse I guess. A world that’s trying to kill you, passed aside as a well educated snowflake generation, trying to make it as a small business owner, post covid, still in covid, living guide trip to guide trip. It’s not what I set out for but what I was dealt.
Off river life…ya, let’s stay away from that for now. The river is always there when I need it though. When I need to ponder and process, or need to release anger and frustration, when I need to get away from the noise of people, the pressure of being a guide, a good dad, a good boyfriend. When no one else listens….the river does. It takes my focus, stimulates my whole being…if I could be a fish I would.
What it comes right down to is the simplicity of fly fishing…and also its complexity. One of only a few activities I’ve ever done that never leaves me bored. I get bored easy. Sitting still, hanging around, it’s not my default mode. Covid put a damper on it. Now that things seem to be getting better the drive to move is back. Slowly but its back. That drive to work, to play, to do.
I rarely ever find anyone that can keep up. Most days its a solo affair. And I still pursue people that can hang but tis the life of a trout bum river rat to always be wanting more. It makes you greedy, makes you aloof, makes things that others find important…trivial. Not always the easiest way to go about things.
The Season is in its peak, but the world is still trudging to catch up and heal. It’s hard sitting still when things are good. It’s hard to wake up some mornings with no new trip inquires. After 2020 I had hoped things would pick up substantially, unfortunately that’s has not been the case this summer. Fishing is amazing…trips not so much.
It’s exhausting when all you want to do is work and get going but everything around you is still at as ails pace comparatively. Wanting to travel and explore and share new experiences but stuck still. It’s maddening. Hence the snorkeling and fishing.
I can find solace and stretch my mind in or on the water. Being a part of the lives of the things I chase and hold dearly keeps the negative at bay. The river is always there.
The summer is going strong. Things are hot, places are on fire, it’s the new norm. After a bust of a trip to the St. Joe and then again on the Methow due to fires we ended up fishing Cooper Lake. It was wicked getting to see some Browns and having Alec get his first one and a doozy at that.
Now camping is closed off, day use is still allowed which means we can fish. The summer has been weird post covid and now this fire shit again, plus the fly fishing industry still reeling from the pandemic now has drought, low water, and hot water issues all over the west. I feel for my guide counterparts in other places having to combat the effects of AG and climate change. Frontline of it.
Here on the Yakima we are fairing well. We had decent snowpack and made it through the heat waves with enough water in the reservoirs to get us through. This season. I feel that every year there will be more fires, more heat waves, less precip, it’s not always the easiest to stay positive. It’s supposed to get easier post pandemic…right?
Thankfully we can fish. And it’s busy but not as busy as it could be. I can always work more. It’s rarely enough. So bring it on. It’s hopper season.
We’ve been chucking big bugs for a minute now but it’s really good in the mornings and evenings. Big flies, big slurpy and slappy trout. Heavy flows, water under 60 degree, it’s dope out there. We are getting away with dries almost all day. A few sections of river I have clients bobber dog streamers and we’ve been booking CHONKER DONKEY Trout. It’s been a blast.
I had days open this week so get on the calendar and lots of stuff open in August. The fall season…the best season…is right around the corner. Get on it!
It is the month of July. Which means the month of dries. One of the only months where you can get away with chucking a dry fly all day and trick the troots. It’s had already happened on the few trips already this month.
It’s the month of smorgasbord! Hoppers, ants, stoneflies, caddis, drakes, beetles, tricos, spinner fall, there are bugs to eat. Water temp is in the low to mid 50s unlike most other western rivers right now….we do not have hot water temps in the mainstem Yakima.
Fortunately for us we had decent snowpack and even with our past heat wave we still have water. The Teanaway and smaller trib streams are starting their summer drop and warm up but the mainstem Yak will be just fine all summer.
The evening floats are pushing out some chonker trout. Early AM floats as well. We aren’t fishing the middle of the day as much but they will eat basically all day now.
Flows are up, which means the treadmill is on for these fish. It’s work our time. Big flows, big bugs, big eats! The fish are now pushed into the banks with the heavy flows. With the water temps hovering in that prime trout feeding zone: 50 to 55 we are in business for a bitchen July and August.
I invite new anglers to come in the summer. The water is big and can be overwhelming but my boat and I will get ya over that really quick. The new or inexperienced angler is at the advantage in the summer. Trout gotta eat, they are easier to find, and it makes them a little more inclined for the new angler with everything cranked up to 11. Plus it’s mostly if not all dry fly fishing. I’ll show ya how to do the other techniques, and we will catch fish on them. But we mostly go for the dry eat this time of year. It really fun.
I have lots of opening in July. I’ll be out of town from the 14 to the 17 but we are wide open otherwise.
I will also be adding the Methow river in August for floats which is new this season so if that interests you keep am eye our for those dates as they will be run like a camp. I’m up there. You meet me there to fish!
Coming up this week I have the 8th, 9th, 11th open. 12th and 13th are free as well. I highly reccomend the morning or evening half day floats.
This season has been great. We are close to 100 trips and hope to break 130 which is double last year during covid. I can’t thank everyone enough for the continued support. 7 years full time guiding. Lets fill up the rest of the summer and chase trout anglers! Reserve a trip today and get in on the summer action here on the Yakima River.
I have June 28th and 28th open. And the 1st thru the 6th of July. It’s dry fly time.
Walk and wade trips, half and full day floats, evening and early morning fishing options. There’s a lot of troot chasin to be had. Come out for a trip this season. It’ll be wicked fun.
The Season is here anglers. It is summer whether the calendar says it or not. The river is high, the sun is bright, it’s light until almost 10 pm, water temps are above 50 degrees….the bugs are here.
Some of the best bugs in the upper river in my professional opinion. We have the Salmon Flies which pop early on the Yak. While other watersheds ate just now getting the hatches of the big orange morsels we are just finishing up. Historically never a prolific hatch the Salmon Flies typical correspond with our run off and Salmon pulses which negatively impacts that invertebrate. But it ushers in the next two stonefly species. The Yellow Sally and the Golden Stonefly.
The Yellow Sally is a small size 10 to 14 Yellow stonefly and the females have a red butt and egg sack that develops. They are unique in that they hatch out of the water column like a mayfly. And fish, especially cutties…smack the hell out of em. It’s ann easy eat because it hatches in mass throughout the middle of the day. Allowing trout to seek out and feed on them at their leisure. This makes for those lazy full belly slurps I. The back water and Eddie’s, but also those fast shoulder roll riffle sips that are quick and easy to miss. But fish also look for Sally’s up along the bank and in the tight fast water. It’s a fun bug that let’s us head hunt and pick fish off with dries during the middle of the day.
The Golden Stonefly my personal favorite is just a smidge smaller than the salmon fly. It’s bright yellow or golden or rusty colored. It’s just cool. They like other stoneflies are bank hatchers. They get up on the bank, in the grass and overhangs and hatch, mate, and the females come back to the river in the mid to late afternoon to lay eggs. Chucking big yellow bugs is wicked fun and the takes are explosive. It’s a big meal. The flows are up, the water temps put trout in prime feeding metabolism mode, and we get the awesome summer time days of big dry fishing.
We so get ants. Big carpenter ants. Otherwise known as a purple chubby. I have had days where we sling a single purple chubby for 8 hrs and hook fish all day. They love that stupid fly. We also have mornings with PMD mayfly hatches and fish chasing down meat-sickles before the sun makes them shy. Streamers can be really fun before 10 am as we get into June.
And this season…the drakes look to be good this season! There are a lot of nymphs. And it’s getting close. Fish are stoopid for Green Drakes. One of my favorite side channel bugs. Lots of options for different kinds of fishing.
There’s also caddis in the evenings, PED mayflies, spinner fall, and other terrestrial that start to become viable food for Trout battling the heavy summer flows of the Yakima River. Needless to say there is a lot of food and trout are in a position where they gotta eat it. It’s what fishing on the Yak is all about. The angler is at the advantage in the high water of the summer.
Fish basically gotta eat all day. They have had plenty of time to settle in now. The last salmon pulse has finished and the flows are going to stabilize for thr most part. Side channels have been open for 10 days now. Debris has settles, trees have found their resting places, the river is ready for summer….are you?
After last year. I hope to see a lot of familiar faces! It’s been since before the plague for a lot of us. The trips are coming in and I couldn’t be more grateful. We are on track to do a lot more trips over last season. You anglers keep my trout bum ass rambling and rolling. It is my absolute pleasure to share the Yakima River and the wild fish that live here with you all. Let’s make this summer bitchen…see ya riverside anglers.
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