River Flow: 1700 cfs at Umtanum (low)
Water Temp: 55-60
Trending: Settled
Water Clarity: 2' in the Lower Canyon, 3'+ in the Farmlands, and 4'+ above Ellensburg (water is off color in the Canyon but fishing very well)
Hatches Upcoming and Current:
-
Salmon Flies (still relevant upriver, but getting tougher)
- PMD's
- Caddis nymphs and dries
- Stonefly Nymphs (yellow sallies are coming)
- Mouse Jig
- Jiggy Fry
- #10 - #6 Stonefly Nymphs (stoneflies live 2-4 years, so any color/size is typically good)
-
Sculpin and Various Streamers #6 - #8
- Mayfly Nymphs (dark colors #16-#18)
- Caddis Pupae #14 #16 (dark colors, fish 'em on the bottom)
The river took on another Salmon Pulse this past week and has now settled at a great flow for walk and wade anglers. Probably the last of the walk and wade water we will see this Spring. Get out here while it lasts. Not sure how long that will be.
Caddis, Caddis, Caddis, The fishing can be incredible at times with every single trout in the river up on the surface feeding on dries. At other times... infuriating as the trout won't budge. The Lower Canyon below Ellensburg gets about 4X the amount of Caddis that the upper system does so that's typically the place to be if you want to try for a day that is over the top good.
Nymphing in the morning with a caddis nymph, stonefly nymph or PMD nymph has been pretty productive. Fish sitting in the heavier foam-lines (Think jogging speed water with 3-5ft depth).
Seeing good hatches of PMDs and Caddis daily. Mid-day today we had a pretty strong PMD hatch (yellow mayfly) and were able to target some nice big feeding fish right in the middle of the day. If you see fish sipping mid-day, often they are eating PMD's which are much slower to emerge than Caddis. We've linked some flies below for suggested patterns.
Vehicle Shuttle Service
We move cars, not bodies. Just choose your float, leave us a key and we will valet your rig from the launch point to take-out.
River Flow Links
Yakima River Flow Prediction Chart
While the chart is only a "prediction", it is based on historical data, weather forecasts, current weather, current snow-pack etc. You can use this to get a rough idea of how the river is going to react to predicted rainfall, run-off, etc.
Yakima River Flow Prediction Chart at Umtanum
Yakima Water Temperatures
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