Yakima River 3/26/2005 and Rocky Ford Creek 3/27/2005

The end of a great day of fishing!  Great Trip fishing with two buddies and catching my largest Rainbow ever!
Yakima River  I had the pleasure of visiting two good friends in Washington. Faz, who now lives and works in the Seattle area. Wade is currently in the Airforce and just happened to be in the Spokane area finishing up some training. Wade was the person who got me hooked on flyfishing while we were in highschool. After Faz picked me up at the airport we meet up with Wade who drove to Seattle from Spokane. Friday Faz had to work so Wade and I did some tourist stuff. We drove up to Mt. Rainier. All I can say is WOW. It is just something that you have to see for yourself. Friday afternoon we met up with Faz and headed down to Pike's Market and downtown Seattle. Where we had some awesome clam chowder to hold us over untill dinner. From there we went walked up to the Space Needle. We had dinner at the Crab Pot down by the water and the food was great! Also before returning home we stoped by the fish ladder between Lake Washington and Puget Sound. The ladder allows salmon and steelhead to move up stream. Unfortuneately there were no fish, but we did get to see some guy jack up his sail boat in the locks. Saturday the three of us got up around 6:30am and got everything packed up for the trip. The Yakima River near the town of Ellensburg should only have been a 2 hour drive. Which would have put us there around 9 or 9:30 am. However, the mountain gods didn't see it that way and we ran into a bit of snow.
Highway 90 Through the Pass.  Once we hit the mountains the trafic quickly slowed to a snails pace. The pass that we drove through ended up getting 14 inches of snow! The highway department also closed the road for a couple of hours. There were dozens of minor accidents throughout the entire mountain pass strech. Luckily however the fishing gods must have been with us. We managed to make it through the pass before they closed it. However we did not get to Red's Fly Shop untill 10:30 am. Once at Reds we got all of the specifics inorder. Because of the snow delay we did not have as much time to fish as would have been liked. However Reds was able to accomadate us perfectly. We put in at mile marker 19 and floated to Reds Fly Shop, this was only a 4.5 to 5 mile float. This enabled us to take as long or short a time as we liked. After witnessing a remarkable trailoring job by the young guy which dropped us off, we were ready to get going.
Getting ready to get on the river.  We had been floating not more than 30 minutes and I noticed we had substanially more water in the boat than before. Apparently the two rubber plugs near the back of the boat were not attached firmly and water was coming in! Well we had a big orange bucket to bail with!
Don't forget to check the plug!  After Wade got most of the water out of the boat it was his turn at the oars. For only being his first time Wade was fairly competent at the oars and substantially better at rowing than Faz. This did not surprise me much since Wade and I once did 10 miles in 2 hours on the Current River. Apprently Faz loses the ability to use his left arm while in a boat. So if you like doing circles while fishing than he is your man. One advantage would be that both the font seat and back seat get equal opportunities at "new" water. However I think this may have just been a ploy so that he could fish more.
Wade at the oars.  Around noon the Blue Wing Olive hatch started as promised. The staff at Red's had informed us about the hatch prior to leaving the shop, so we had a good stock of flies. The hatch went off perfectly. We anchored up next to a pod of risers and began to reel them in. The fish didn't seem to mind much as we had alot of sloppy casts to the same fish. Everyone managed to land at least two fish and miss or lose multiple others. I think we ended with about eight fish to boat from that section.
Wade with a Yakima Bow.  After the hatch ended we stopped for lunch and some beers. By this time it was about 2:30pm and we need to make some time up. I took over at the oars while Faz and Wade hit some likely spots along the way. We had a couple of good hits, but no fish to boat.
Me at the oars while Wade hits some likely spots.  All in all it was a great day to be on the river and spend time with two good friends. We caught some good fish and had time to reminese a bit. As we get older and go our own ways in life, it gets harder and harder to do trips like these. When we do get together it is always a good time fish or no fish.
The end of a great day of fishing!  We packed everything back into the cars and headed to Ellensburg to eat some mexican food. After Dinner the three of us parted ways. Wade went back to Spokane to catch a flight. Faz and myself carried on to a town near Rocky Ford Creek. Sunday we woke fairly early and stopped at Wanda's cafe for the biggest Omlets I have ever seen. We arrived at Rocky Ford Creek around 8:00am. The day started off well with both Faz and I hooking up within the first couple of casts. Faz caught some nice fish on white streamers. I managed to pick some fish up on size 20 BWO emergers and scuds. Rocky Ford Creek as some amazing fish. Faz with a Rocky Ford Bow 

My largest Rainbow ever. 24 inches caught on a size 20 emerger  All I can say is it was an awesome trip and I can't wait to return.

Beaver Lake Tailwater (White River) 3/08/2005

I fished below Beaver Lake Tuesday. I have never fished it before so it was a bit of a trial and error thing. I arrived at 6:00am and they were running water. I spent an hour or so driving around to all of the different access. About 7:00am went to the River View Cafe/gas station. It is just south of the turn off for the Dam on Hwy 62. They serve up a great breakfast at a supper low price. Also the regulars are a hoot. Anyways I went back down to the river around 8:30 and they were still running water! So I broke out my camera and hiking boots and did a short hike up the river along the paths. It is a very nice looking river with awesome bluff formations. Along the way I found some large cat tracks. I will assume them to be from a large bobcat, but not sure. I took some picks using my multi tool as a guage. I hope they come out right. Around 10:00am they were still running water. So I rigged up and tried tossing some streamers in the back eddies to no avail. A little while longer I ran into a local that worked for American Airlines in Bentonville. We talked fishing, while staring at the ragging water, hoping it would start droping. He finally broke down and went to fish anyways. I left and went to the boat ramp just below the dam. There looked to be a shallow shelf I thought I might be able to pick up some fish on. When I arrived the sounded the horn. I thought great they're turning on another generator. Then to my dismay they strated droping the water. Not fast but very slowly. While I was watching the water drop I met two other retired locals from Bella Vista. We talked fishing for about a half an hour while the water dropped. By the way Bella Vista has seven 18 hole golf courses and two 9 hole courses. One of them began fishing and on his first cast his spool popped off the reel and flew into the water. After a long laugh I grasiously waded out and netted it for him. At least I caught something for the day. Finally around noon the water was down and I went to the C&R area. I fished some midges just below the access in a area called the cuts, I think. I picked up 5 rainbows in an hour and a half. Unfortuneately I had to leave at 2:00pm, but I think I could have picked up more if I had all day. It it was a good trip for not ever having fished there before and only a limited time to fish. Once the flows get back to normal I will have to plan a trip down there. Also just a note but Bentonville is only 45mins away and has many amenities. However I would not stay in Bentonville as hotel prices are a bit on the high side due to WalMart being there.