Barry Sehlin Yakima

3/21/2006 - 3/20/2006 Fished with guide Steve, and Steve's dog Fidget, Red's Fly Shop.

        General Info For March/April From Steve:

1)        Fish Nymphs in morning and when no surface action. Nymph set-up = Large poly yarn indicator with liberal floatant, #8 brown rubberleg stonefly nymph about 4 - 4 ½ ft below indicator, #14 - 16 beadhead nymph dropper about 12 - 18 inches below stonefly, and small split shot about 12 inches above stonefly. Use fluorocarbon leader for nymphs - it sinks. Use mono for drys - it floats.
2)        Surface feeders are feeding on Blue Wing Olives. #16 parachute split wing gray body BWO with #18 purple body, upwing, emerger dropper. Use small drys with emerger dropper.
3)        In afternoon during March and April fish Skwala Drys. #8 or #10 to likely water. May include #12 or #14 beadhead emerger dropper. NOTE: tiny flies on water are midges, fish not likely feeding on them.
4)        Note: In the Cle Elum area the river bottom is more small gravel and not likely to hold as many stoneflys or skwalas. Dry feeders will still be BWOs

3/21- Drifted from Red's to Big Pine, 6 miles. Launched at 1000 after buying Susan's boots, briefing from Steve on Stone Flys (Skwala and "regular"). Susan caught first fish on nymph set-up. Caught several rainbows before lunch, and a couple of whitefish.


                            Susan catching the First Fish

        Restrooms and several good camp spots for motor home 3 miles below Red's at Lmuma Creek BLM access.

        1330 Switched to dry Blue Wing Olive to cast to feeding fish. #16 parachute gray body BWO with #18 purple body, upwing, emerger dropper. Caught several fish casting to feeders. When no feeders visible used #8 Skwala dry foam flies, some with sparkle body, poly legs, no dropper. Caught a couple of fish on this rig also.

        Took out at Big Pine Rec Area. Good riffle for wading, Camp spots for RV ok.

        Note: ½ mile below Big Pine is a DFW access area across from Phil and Steve Mayer homes (skiers).

        Didn't count total fish. Susan caught one on nymph and 2 on drys. I got about 6 more and lost or long line released several more.

        3/22 Drifted from Big Horn, MP 22, to Red's - about 7 Miles. Nymph set up as on 3/21. 1000 several feeders and changed to BWO dry set up as 3/21. Caught 3 rainbows within 20 minutes and lost more. Then back to nymph set up on one rod and skwala dry on other.

        Lunch at 1300 at small island at MP 18. Nice place to wade. Caught a few more fish in PM on BWO or skwala drys. Took out about 1630 at Red's.

        Again didn't count fish but probably about 12 caught and that many more long line released.



3/23/2006 Spent most of the day checking access areas upstream from Red's.
        DFW access Golf Course Road exit about 3 miles west of Cle Elum. Follow paved road that parallels HWY 90 on north side for about 2 ½ miles. Quite a bit of snow on the road in today, even though none visible in the area. Nice water, good looking wading area.


                        DFW access at Golf Course Road

        DFW access at green bridge about 4 ½ miles west (upstream) from Thorpe Exit HWY 90 exit - on Thorpe Road between HWY 90 and HWY 10. Nice rocky bar and riffles. Large rock bottom similar to Canyon area.

        Steve said there is good access by walking down Teanaway River to Yakima where Teanaway crosses HWY 10 but we didn't see the parking area when we went by and weren't sure which was the Teanaway so didn't go back.

        MP 16 Umtanum BLM area - foot bridge. 5 good motor home sites. Private camp area next to BLM in process of sale??, no fee collection seems to be in force currently. Wading access in area of bridge. Could also cross bridge for access up and down railroad to south side of river.

        MP 18 Park opposite 40 MPH sign for access to small island and lots of good wading water. Can wade and cast toward shore for a long way below the island.

        MP 21 on Canyon Road looks good around rock slides - But it's not worth the effort. Many other areas along road look like good possibilities.

        Ringer Access Area on Ringer Loop. There are two parking areas. The downstream one is larger with a launch ramp. The upper smaller parking area is about ½ mile above. We parked in the smaller lot and walked upstream a few hundred yards to where the river comes together below an island. Caught one nice rainbow feeder on BWO set up. Lots of good looking water in the area worth checking out.

3/24/2006 with Martin. Fished most of the day around the island at MP 18. 1130 caught nice rainbow on nymph set up in riffles at top of island. Also on dry skwala along road below island about 1330 and later - lost several more. Can wade and cast toward shore for a long way below island. Martin caught one nice rainbow a couple of yards up the small side channel inside island as we were leaving. Quite windy all day so there was no BWO activity, but caught fish on both nymphs and dry skwalas.



                      Below MP 18 Island                               Martin got last fish in channel inside
                                                                             MP 18 Island


3/30/2007 w/ Martin and Susan. Guide Steve.

Martin got about 5 nice RB and a couple of Whitefish. I got one RB and lost one VERY large one. Also a couple of Whitefish. River had been flooding earlier in week and just coming down and clearing enough to fish. Had to cancel the day before.

Steve: OK to fish to 5000 cfs at Umtanum, best visibility about 2 - 3 feet.

Steve: Spring weather good when cool nights freeze snow in mountains so river is down in the morning and then rises as warmer day melts snow. Morning fish nymphs, then as water warms in afternoon try dry Skwalas and watch for BWO's. Cloudy days good for BWO's.

Nymph rig + 2 ft leader between end of dry line and strike indicator, then 2ft 10 pound fluorocarbon and another 2ft lighter fluorocarbon to the stone nymph, then another 2 ft flourocarbon to #16 bead head nymph or San Juan Worm.

Umtanum access has about a few good sites. Others below Red's have more. Steve says BLM will be developing about 60 RV sites at Big Pine later this year.

5/5/2007 w/Martin

Warm sunny day, about 65-70°, flow at Umtanum 2500-2700. Ok for wading at this level.
Drove to Martin's to deliver armoir and then Martin drove up to the river. Left home at 0645, fishing by 1100. Fished til about 1630.

Started at MP 18 Island. I got three nice fish (one 17", two 12") within about ½ hour to 45 min. Fishing at top of island on outside.   All on San Juan Worm below stone fly nymph. Martin got two below island during same time. Rest of day very slow. Nice warm day but saw very little hatch activity. Red's expecting May fly hatch today or tomorrow, but we didn't see any sign. Martin did get a couple of fish using small drys.

Had lunch on the island just below the Smiley Face. A little difficult climb down from road level, then waded to submerged bar and down to the island. Nice fishing spot but only got a few 6'' fish between us. Martin got one decent fish on a dry. Two geese on a nest at lower end of island but they didn't mind me fishing down past them.

Nice day on the river, got a few fish, very pleasant.

Went home via Thorp road. Walked to bridge on John Wayne trail up from Thorp Fruit. Didn't look very promising.

5/18 & 19/2007 Camped at Umtanum.
Planned to fish both days. Had boat reserved at Red's for Saturday the 19th. Steve Called on Friday morning to suggest the river was too high at nearly 6000 cfs. We decided to cancel. Went to Rocky Ford Creek instead. About an hour and a half to drive from Umtanum campground to Rocky Ford.

10/8 & 10/9/2008
Camped at Big Pine enroute home from Craig, Mt.
Martin came up on Wednesday 10/8 with his pontoon. Floated from Lmuma to Big Pine, Lunch, the from Big Pine to Rosa. Waded and fished for over 4 hours between Lmuma and Big Pine. Caught about 20 fish between us. I got most fish on caddis #10 or 12. Got first fish just down from Lmuma on other side, nymph rig. Got several more on numph rig with #12 or 14 beadhead prince. Shifted to caddis later and continued to get fish, most along banks. Thursday I floated from Lmuma to Big Pine for about 3 hours. Not as good as Wednesday but got a few fish on caddis.

11/8/2008
Met at Martin's, loaded his pontoon, and drove to Cle Elum. Stopped at fly shop for advice and to arrange shuttle. Decided float through Cle Elum sounds good for pontoons but shop not staffed for shuttles during fall/winter.
Went on to Red's and got shuttle from MP 20 to Red's. In water at noon, out at 1600. Lots of rain last couple of days. River spiked from 800 to 2000 yesterday. About 1800 today. Visibility about 1 ½ feet at launch, improved to about 3 feet at end of day. Cloudy and cool but rain held off. I got no fish, one small strike on #12 caddis with #18 numph, didn't see fish but I think it hit the nymph. Fished nymph rigs most of day. Martin got one and lost a couple more all on nymph rigs. Saw no other fishers on the entire day with exception of two guys rigging up to wade at Umtanum as we went by. 439 Miles home to home.