Yakima & Naches River

We just spent all winter complaining about how it’s 42 degrees and rainy every day in Western Washington, then summertime shows up and we have an awesome streak of 70 – 80 degree weather. Apparently that wasn’t hot enough, so we decided to run away to Eastern Washington for the weekend, where it would be a mild 100 degrees and we could complain about how hot it was.

No need to put the waders in the car as we packed to head to Yakima Sportsman State Park on the Yakima River. The park itself is pretty large, well maintained, and easy to find, as are most state parks in Washington. Unfortunately, access to the Yakima River from “Yakima Sportsman State park” is a little tough and limited. But, we decided to get up early Saturday morning to see if we could smack a trout on the top of the head with a hopper or and elk hair caddis. Nearly every cast along the bank received a bap from a very small trout. Nothing of any size though. This back and forth battle with monster 4” rainbows went on for a couple hours until my arm got tired from battling these behemoths and my belly rumbled telling me it wanted to go back to camp for breakfast.  

Visibility was good, but the river was running swift and full. I read that during the summer, many of the dams on the Yakima River are opened up for irrigation purposes. This causes the river to run high, hard, and cold during the summer months, but this provides a great environment to brew some big trout. Since the river was running so high, nearly every mile of the river bank was touched by green grass. The entire river looks like it should be housing a 23” trout under its grassy cut banks, but to be successful on the Yakima River, one really needs a drift boat. Since bank access is limited, and we are pedestrians of fly fishing with our lack of a boat, we decide to head up the Naches River after breakfast.

Naches River

The Naches River provided a totally different experience. The Naches is much more of a freestone style river that we are used to in Western Washington. Bank access on the Naches was much more abundant. We cruised up S. Naches River road to Eschbach Nature Area. This seemed to be just an old abandoned camp ground with some empty sheds that would make a great dwelling for rattle snakes. Maybe by “nature area” they meant “beware of snakes and rusty nails”. However, this area provided pretty good river access so I really can’t complain. We were able to get in to several small rainbows here. From there we headed south on Hwy 12 and stopped at another public fishing area that provided a nice big run to get into some more trout.

For the angler on foot that does not have a drift boat, nor a wallet with a $500 bill inside to hire a guide on the Yakima River, I would highly recommend a trip the Naches. Easy access, lots of trout, and less anglers than the Yakima River. If you are looking for nature, scenery, and better fishing, I would book a campsite further up the Yakima River closer to Ellensburg, but don’t forget your drift boat as there is even less bank access in the Canyon. There are many campgrounds, but they fill up pretty quick. If you can make it past the wonderful scenery provided in “Yakivegas, the Palm Springs of Washington” then there is still good fishing to be had. Either way, these two rivers provide some of the best fly fishing for trout in all of the Northwest.

what used to be a Naches River Stone fly

 

Summer Steel - North Fork Stillaguamish

With the past few weeks spent dodging tweakers and angry meat fisherman on the banks of the Skykomish river, I decide it was time to get out and try something different. So Sunday morning I rolled out of bed and made the trip up to the North Fork Stillaguamish river. The Stilly is a good river to fish when you want to escape from the crowds. Still a very popular river, it is further away from Seattle, doesn’t have the jet boat guide traffic, has some fly fishing only sections, and gets a smaller return of summer hatchery steelhead. Overall, less people.

As a rule of thumb, July 4th is when to start chasing steel on the North Fork Stillaguamish River. However, fishing has been tough thus far on the Stillaguamish. Early in the summer there was land slide somewhere up in Boulder creek, a tributary of the North Fork Stillaguamish. This has resulted in a blown out North Fork for several weeks. I have been watching the river closely waiting for it to become fishable. Flows are low running about 775 CFS, but the water is still pretty milky from the slide. It is definitely fishable with probably 12” or so of visibility, but there is still some clearing that needs to happen.

Dug and I took the opportunity to explore a few spots I have never fished before further up river near boulder creek. My first mistake was bringing only my Echo 12’9” 7 weight spey rod. This was a little heavy duty for this small of a river, works wonders on larger rivers like the Skykomish, but I never really had extend my line past the Skagit head I had lined up. My shorter 11’ switch rod would have been perfect for the job if I hadn’t forgotten it in the garage… Saturday was kind of a long night and I may have been a little spacey. 

With the water still murky and my lack of preparation, Dug and I continued hiking around the river looking for holding water to come back to and fish another time. There are several spots that are readily accessible from HWY 530. The best stretch is probably between the famous Deer Creek all the way up to Fortson. This is a large stretch of river, and if you have no luck with the summer steelhead, there are numerous opportunities for some great cutthroat fishing up here, in fact, likely some of the best cutty river fishing around. The Stilly is a great place to spend a whole day and break out the BBQ for lunch. As soon as the river does some clearing I will be back again this summer. 

Summer Steel – Skykomish River Report

It’s officially warm enough to leave the waders in the car and wade the rivers in sandals and swim trunks. There is nothing more enjoyable than swingin’ flies in a tank top and sunglasses. With the season starting off a bit slow, like the July weather, the fishing has been getting warmer.



Paul with a nice hatchery steelhead

Towards the end of June and the first week of July, the Skykomish river was flowing nicely right around 4000 CFS. I had the opportunity to spend Friday June 28th with Matt from Get Hooked NW and some customers from work. We met at the Lewis Street bridge bright and early ready to drag some eggs for Kings and Summer Steelhead.  We made several passes with opportunities each time. About 9:00 a.m. we finally hooked a chrome bright hatchery steelhead.  We had multiple chances at fish throughout the day. Many boats on the river were also hooking fish. Matt and his sidekick Sean did a great job throughout the day taking care of us and giving us opportunities to set the hook. He makes a good cheeseburger too. All in all, it was a very enjoyable highly recommended trip.

The next weekend, Katie and I decided take the meat sticks down the Sky to float some jigs for summer steel. Since last winter I have been 100% fly fishing, so it was fun to break out the spinning rods and gear fish for a day. We arrived to the river right about 6:00 a.m. The river already crowded, but fish were rolling and people were catching them. I hadn’t tied my jig on before Katie hooked a fish in the rocks. It was a chrome bright 6 lb hatchery steelhead. As soon as I was geared up, I too had bobber down. I missed the first opportunity, made a cast to the same spot and this time I hooked him. It was identical to Katie’s fish. These brats we super bright and fresh. We went home about mid morning and started the BBQ later that night. Fishing was good. However, I can only handle so much crossing lines with 15 other fisherman before I start to lose it. 

After getting the first steelhead of the summer onto the BBQ, I decided to recommit to swingin’ flies for the summer. It has been warm and dry, so the river dropped down to about 2500 CFS. It was low and clear. This can make for some tough fishing, but Friday July 12th, Katie and I decided to go swing some flies in Sultan. After fighting the summer time eastbound traffic on hwy 2, we arrived to the river at 6:00 p.m. I started at the top of the bar swinging a dark purple intruder. This area of the river is typically pretty swift, but today with the lower flows the water looked nice. I swung through the first half of the run and about half way through I had a couple solid baps at my intruder. After a premature hook set I missed the fish. Made several more cast through the same spot with no touches. Finished out the run to no avail. Overall it was very nice night with one missed opportunity.

The Skykomish river is overall probably best chance to hook a summer steelhead the Seattle area. The river is low, today is running about 2000 CFS. This is a good time to study the river and take mental notes to find holding buckets. Even though it’s low, it is still very fishable and good days on the river are still very likely.

Skykomish on Dwellable