I recently wrapped up my annual (12th) fishing trip with my friends Scott & Andy. We’ve almost exclusively fished the Olympic Peninsula for the last eleven years, moving south from the Bogachiel, Callawah, and Sol Duc to the Humptulips and Satsop in search of a dwindling number of steelhead and salmon. The last few years included closures on these rivers because of low water and low fish returns. So we decided to try something completely different: Trout fishing in the Yakima River Canyon.
Per usual, Scott and I fed on each other’s excitement and ended up going a day early. We camped the first night at Umtanum in his new camper. It was comfy and warm. The next morning we floated from Bighorn to Umtanum (718 cfs) and picked up a few trout nymphing (Korben Dallas MultiCaddis, Blowtorch, perdigon)and throwing small dry flies (Lt Cahill, small parachute Adams). Then we hit up Whipsaw Brewing our way to the AirBnB outside Ellensburg to meet Andy.
There was a wind advisory that day, and it really picked up after we got off the water. Sustained wind to 30mph with gusts to 50mph. The wind raged through the night, and waking up at 6am, they finally died down shortly before we left. We dropped Andy’s car at Lmuma Creek and drove back up to launch from Umtanum. The morning started fairly quiet without much activity until passed a clutch of guided anglers posted up by Red’s. Eventually, we started picking up fish on mouse jigs, chironomids, and a green blowtorch. Scott brought homemade potato brats, curry kraut and mustard and made an amazing warm lunch.
The last day, the river was down to 673 cfs! We foolishly left wet boots outside and it got down to 26F overnight. Even the 30 minute drive to the river with the floorboard heaters running didn’t thaw them much. We launched from Ringer boat ramp off Thrall road and did the shuttle to Umtanum first. The float into the canyon was gorgeous, and we had our first few whitefish of the trip. Each one we caught got larger and thicker until the trout started to bite after noon. We picked up a couple on dries (red dot mosquito, lt Cahill) and on some nymphs (girdle bug, Spanish bullet perdigon) We promised to only float from Ringer to Bighorn and immediately broke that promise. We didn’t reach Bighorn until around noon. We stoped for lunch (grilled fried chicken and cold pizza) around 2pm. Scott finally caught his two fish and I was able to fish off the bow. I was chucking a Lt Cahill with Michelle’s Beulah 5wt. At one point, I had the entire fly line out and was casting like a boss. Had a few takes and one catch, but the fun eventually came to an end. The ramp an Umtanum is steep!
I’ll admit, we joked that trout fishing would be lights out compared to the recent years of salmon and steelhead fishing. Sure, we caught more in the first two hours than the last two years, but it wasn’t as stellar as I expected. It was great, no doubt, and the scenery was gorgeous. It was also a reminder of how nice the east side can be. All three of us started to scheme about doing something like the Grand Ronde next year, though I would happily fish the Yakima again. Odd, considering I lived there all through middle and high school. I never fished the canyon.
As a reminder of the trip (and the low water), I have a few big chunks missing in the chines of Flüsse (Clackacraft drift boat). I’m going to have to do some patching with MarineTex or Goop Supermend soon.