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Yakima River Fishing Report March 13

Section: Cle Elum
Flow: 1500 CFS
Water Temperature: 41 Degrees
Fish caught on: Pats Stone nymph, Composite Soft Hackle streamer, Unit Skwala dry
Key Notes: Feels like spring, big bugs flying, looks like spring

Feels like spring

The last few days have really been ideal spring days on the Yakima River. Warm air, gentle breeze, and steady flows. Good things never last, and as I’m writing this up it’s raining and the river is on a steep rise. But before we get into that lets talk about how the fishing has been.

First dry fly eat of the year!

Still cold at night (30’s) but getting into the high 40’s and 50’s each day has finialy brought water temps into the 40’s daily. Fishing is usually slower early but as water warms and the sun arcs into the afternoon you can almost say the bite turns on. We still find fish earlier, but hit and miss. Nymphing and moving, find the aggressive and cooperative fish. Into the afternoon more fish are found but still no risers. Around 3pm we start to see skwalas flying but still have not seen risers. Don’t let that deter you, cast a dry to the most trouty looking water and you’ll be surprised! First dry fly taker of the season was a cutthroat eating a Unit Skwala on the first drift over a trouty looking ledge. Soon enough head hunting will be the name of the game.

Looks like spring

When we look at the forecast it’s starting to look like spring, which doesn’t feel as nice. Rain rolling in throughout the 10 day forecast. Some days windier than others with temps between 30 and 50. The river is rising steep right now, but it shouldn’t blow out. A little color is nice anyway. Expect this pattern to continue into actual spring with plenty of actual blow outs to come. For now enjoy the dynamics and fish when you can!

More information about Yakima River access, flows, and guided trips can be found at riverdog-outfitters.com/yakima-river/

Be sure to follow our Facebook page for the latest news, reports, and media https://www.facebook.com/riverdogoutfitters

Check back on this blog for more Yakima River Fishing Reports.

See you on the river!

-Andy Lockey

River Dog Outfitters

Co-owner & Guide

253-381-6539

[email protected]

Post author:riverdog
Post published:March 14, 2022
Post comments:0 Comments

Yakima River Fishing Report February 21

Section: Lower Canyon (Ringer to Mile Post 20)
Flow: 2000cfs
Water Temperature: ~40 Degrees
Fish caught on: Egg Sucker Spawn, Storm Swim Shad
Key Notes: Useful map, cold water don't matter, spinning rod catches big fish

Back on the Lower

Made it back down to the Lower Canyon, this time with Neils. Eager to make use of my intel and river map I sketched from the previous trip (see previous post here). We were floating a little longer this time down to milepost 20, and there was wind forecasted in the afternoon.

So we got started around 9am while the water temperature was still in the high 30’s. Right off the bat I Neils hooked into a nice trout just across from the boat ramp. I also pulled a rainbow up with the Egg Sucker Spawn. Moving downstream it was ridiculous, Neils was using a spinning rod casting a plastic swim bait, specifically the Storm WildEye Swim Shad 1/4oz. I can’t remember the color pattern but it didn’t matter, this lure has a history with Neils absolutly crushing it on the Yakima. Today was no different, we can confidently say he went 5 for 20, but he probably touched more fish than that. And the 5 we did bring to sight were hefty. Most were fought quick and shaken off to keep them in the river and happy, but this one pictured below was worth a quick moment together.

Photo Pro Tip

Pro tip on photos with fish, we all have heard the “keep em wet” idea, we like to say go to the fish. Get out of the boat and in the water (that’s why you’re wearing those $ waders right?). It keeps the fish in the water, or at least over the water, and looks cooler in my opinion. Like you’re actually out there in the action. Not just on a boat ride. None of us are perfect, just striving for better. Anyways, photo rant over.

The crazy thing with this swimbait is we were watching fish chase it all the way to the boat! Water temp barely got up to 40 degrees and fish were MOVING across the river after this thing. Fish don’t like to move far in cold water, at least not after the flies I’m casting. Gear fishing on the Yakima is no secret, plenty do it, but it’s certainly something these fish aren’t used to. So try something new on the Yakima and pick up a spinning rod, or tie a 1/8 shad to your streamer rod. We won’t make fun of you.

The river map helped target the best water, and fish were found in just about every spot mentioned plus more. Thankfully we were off the water around 1pm, just before the wind really started to pick up and freeze us. Stay warm out there!

More information about Yakima River access, flows, and guided trips can be found at riverdog-outfitters.com/yakima-river/

Be sure to follow our Facebook page for the latest news, reports, and media https://www.facebook.com/riverdogoutfitters

Check back on this blog for more Yakima River Fishing Reports.

See you on the river!

-Andy Lockey

River Dog Outfitters

Co-owner & Guide

253-381-6539

[email protected]

Post author:riverdog
Post published:February 22, 2022
Post comments:0 Comments

Yakima River Fishing Report February 7

Section: Lower Canyon (Ringer to Big Horn)
Flow: 1400 CFS
Water Temperature: 39-40 Degrees
Fish caught on: Zebra Midge, Sculpzilla, Egg Sucker Spawn
Key Notes: Fish later in the day, know your water, stay warm.

Back on the Yak

First time back fishing on the Yakima River since steelhead season. Fished with my buddy Drew of Crow Creek on a section neither of us have much time on, the lower canyon.

We put in at Ringer loop after 10am hoping to give the water a chance to warm up. It’s a short float down to Big Horn, just over 3 miles, so we took our time behind other boats. Got into some whitefish on the Zebra Midge at one constriction, saw trout rising (finning) to what seemed like gnats. No takes nymphing. Moved down to the mouth of Wilson Creek, there’s a nice ledge here and Drew was able to swing up a nice Cutthroat on the Sculpzilla. The run below Wilson is fishy as well and I found a Rainbow to take an Egg Sucker Spawn towards the tailout.

Do you make your own maps?

We spent a lot of time in the upper half soaking up the winter sun and pushed through the lower half being in the shade with a breeze. Saw fish being caught throughout the float, I did take notes and even sketched a map for future reference. A lot of the fishiest water isn’t obvious until you’re right on top of it. Excuse the penmanship and enjoy the beta!

More information about Yakima River access, flows, and guided trips can be found at riverdog-outfitters.com/yakima-river/

Be sure to follow our Facebook page for the latest news, reports, and media https://www.facebook.com/riverdogoutfitters

Check back on this blog for more Yakima River Fishing Reports.

See you on the river!

-Andy Lockey

River Dog Outfitters

Co-owner & Guide

253-381-6539

[email protected]

Post author:riverdog
Post published:February 7, 2022

RMR Phat Cat Multiday Frame Build Cheap and Easy

Here's The Idea

I’ve been building my own frames for a while (check out this post to see a couple videos of my old 130e frame http://riverdog-outfitters.com/new-kids-fishing/) but this is my first build for someone else. Our buddy Jon wanted to set up his RMR Phat Cat with a frame that could handle a multiday trip down the Salmon while also being simple enough for play runs on the Wenatchee. You can cut right to the chase and watch a video of the build project, or continue reading for some more detail in how I went about this project.

Keep it Simple Stupid

Whether you checked out the video or not you can see its a very simple and cheap set up. I use 1 inch EMT conduit which is steel tube just over 1 inch overall diameter, about 16 gauge thickness, galvanized, and only around 11 bucks for a 10 foot piece. My other material is 1 5/8 inch galvanized fence post which is also about 16 gauge thick steel. The 1″ EMT is easily bent with a conduit bender by hand and that’s all there is to this frame. A couple 90 degree bends to make a few hoops.

At the bow and stern are two hoops, one will suspend a cooler, the other a drop bag. At the center is the same bends as the other hoops but will have the larger diameter fence post running the long sides. This was the only real trick to this frame build, the oar tower set up.

Unique oar tower set up

I feel that on any frame you should be able to either adjust your seat position or your oar towers. The seat will be fixed on this frame, so i’m testing an adjustable oar tower set up for a steel frame using NRS oar towers (these guys here https://www.nrs.com/product/91040.02/nrs-frame-oar-mounts). The typical NRS frame material is 1 5/8″ aluminum tubing that accepts the oar towers and other components to be clamped on via U-bolts. In the video I show what happened when clamping the oar towers to the fence post without any support. But by adding a hardwood dowel inside the fence post it essentially makes it crush proof so the oar towers can be tightened down.

With the dowel running the full length of the larger fence post part of the frame there is a lot of room to adjust oar towers to fit any rower. To incorporate this set up into the EMT portion of the frame I left the dowel a few inches short on each end and made several cuts to bend the fence post to the size of the EMT.

Then just weld up the cuts and the connection.

Pretty happy with how this came out. Wasn’t too difficult and should be plenty strong. For the seat I added some extra EMT across the frame and used 18 gauge galvanized sheet metal that the seat is bolted to and to also provide a bit of deck space to either side. 18 gauge is a bit flimsy at first but when welded into place over short spans it stiffens up quite a bit. In hindsight id like to see what the weight difference would be using 16 gauge instead.

That's all there is to it.

Simple and surprisingly light weight. In the video I chat about my thoughts on steel vs aluminum when it comes to raft frames and I still believe that steel frames can be lighter and strong enough. The aluminum most commonly used to build frames is no doubt stronger than this but does it need to be? So far I haven’t broken any steel frames i’ve used or built.

Anyway, Jon seems pleased with this set up. He did say that he wishes he could move the seat forward a little. That is one thing especially with the RMR Phat Cat or any paddle cat style boats, they need to be balanced to perform well. If I would have made the center frame a bit shorter there would be more wiggle room to move it fore and aft as needed. At the time my thoughts were to size it so the bow and stern hoops could be lashed to the center frame as seen. Always taking notes for the next build!

Post author:riverdog
Post published:June 4, 2020
Post comments:0 Comments

Yakima River Fishing Report September 30

If you look closely over Jenci’s shoulder (as shes fighting a monster fish) you can see the faint traces of our first snow on Peoh Point at the upper waters of the Yakima River. Air temps have dropped dramatically this weekend with highs only in the 40’s. Water temp remains steady near 50 so fishing has been excellent! Oh and here’s that monster fish:

My net is a 16″ hoop and this beauty stretches AT LEAST 4 inches past that soooooo (steelhead?) yea big mamma. Didn’t take the time for a real measurement, quick photo and back to swimming #keepemwet

That encounter came within the first bit of our float, the many many other fish we encountered through today weren’t quite as big but plentiful at least.

Most of our luck came on rooster tail spinners, real easy way to fish efficiently on the Yakima that many don’t bother with. We certainly aren’t fly fishing purists, what works works. Not to say a fly wasn’t thrown, bit of action on the zebra midge dropper. Lot’s of top water action from BWO being a nice cloudy day, made it easy to decide where to cast our spinners!

Fall (or in today’s case, early winter) is underway. Fishing is excellent, water is crystal clear and low. Keep your eyes peeled and you’ll see a couple live ones. Head to our FISHING PAGE to join us on a float!

Post author:riverdog
Post published:September 30, 2019