The Yakima has swung back into shape nicely over the last week or so, despite warm temperatures and a 12,000' freezing level. In the wake of the salmon fly hatch that didn't really happen, we can expect the dry fly fishing to go from O.K to Pretty Good. Reports overall have been generally favorable from down in the canyon to the Cle Elum area. While hatches are fairly limited, they seem to be slightly heavier and more diverse in the upper river areas than down in the warmer, sun-saturated canyon lands. The water clarity is pretty good all things considered throughout the river, and despite the 'summer flow' levels advertised, even the lower canyon ought to be fairly wadeable these days for most of us. Young James 'Pugsley' St. Clair, formerly of Creekside fame, who now fishes constantly under the guise of being a University student, echoed the favorable reports from the region in general, suggesting that the nymphing was particularly gnarly. That means 'good'. While we're not officially immersed into Hopper Time yet, the hopper fishing has received honorable mention in the last week and a half or so, and so that means that the hoppers and ants and beetles, are enticing fish to the surface. (Digression: I always want to spell Beetles as Beatles, but spell-check won't let me. Does that mean I'm old? Don't answer that. End of Digression) So bring your super-ugly foam-ant foam-beetle foam-hopper foam-thing over with you and give it a try. Tying a dropper from the hook bend wouldn't kill you, and may, in fact, improve your odds of hooking a fish. It can't hurt them. At the very least, you could attempt to justify the fishing of the giant synthetic-fake-not-really-a-fly-by-the-purist-definition-foam-ant-hopper-Beatle imitation by dropping a nymph off of it. Then again, if fishing the killer foam patterns (that slay fish) really bothers you, you probably won't be comforted by the thought of fishing something slightly more-pure behind it. Whatever floats your boat. Do what you need to do. If you just want to catch fish and have fun, then consider our recommendations, but, please, No Wagering. Hatches on the Yakima these days include: PMD's, (Pale Morning Duns- yellow mayflies) #12-16, Golden Stones (yellow stimulators #8-12) Yellow Sallies (yet another yellow-bodied stonefly), in #8-14 or so, Caddis Flies (elk hair caddis olive, brown, yellow, tan, etc. #14-20, there are some Drakes hatching in the upper Yakima- Green ones. The definition of Drake in the dictionary just says basically that it's a giant mayfly…so we didn't bother to send the flies we saw to the Taxonomic Lab for analysis….forgive us if we neglect the Latin names….Other flies to include in your selection include, but are by no means limited to, Larry's Lightning Bug #12-16, Prince Nymph, Hare's ear, pheasant tails, king bead prince, etc… There are many many effective nymphal imitations that are viable and ought to be considered as 1st or 2nd string players in your fly box. We're more than happy to offer our suggestions in-person at Creekside (as you would imagine) at your convenience, during your next visit on the way to the river. Should you choose to gratuitously use this report and forgo the tremendous service offered by the aforementioned fly shop, well, then, we will be sad, but we'll live.*

Westside Rivers have been fishing rather well for trout, in general. Runoff has abated, for the most part. For example, the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River has been fishing pretty well over the last couple of weeks. Did you know that you could go up to exit 32 off I-90 (10 minutes from Bellevue) and catch wild cutthroat on dry flies until dark (9:30pm) and beyond? Did you know that you could do the same thing on the Middle Fork? The Green River? Even some of the other smaller tributaries to these rivers offer pretty darn good small-to-medium sized trout who are dumber than Brittany Spears with three wine-coolers in her? Sillier than Gary Locke's perception of a competitive business environment? Crazier than the fly shop that offers 12 flies for the price of 10…in this economy????? Believe it. There are many less-than-stupid individuals taking advantage of the abundant fisheries in our immediate midst who would just as soon break my fingers as have me inform you of the bounty that awaits you on the Snoqualmie Drainage. Hatches on the Snoqualmie Forks include caddis flies, PMD's, yellow sallies, micro-mayflies, and a mixed bag of other food items- including the occasional terrestrial. Fly suggestions? You bet: parachute adams #12-16, Humpies in yellow or red, #12-16, elk hair caddis tan or yellow, #12- 18, little yellow sallies, #10-14. In addition, you might want to have some stimulators/bigger attractor patterns, hoppers, ants and beetles in the bullpen, along with your Yakima nymph selection. Fishing early and/or late in the day has been more productive than at high-noon with the sun blazing. Go late. Bring a flashlight. Stay late.

Lake fishing on both sides of the mountains has been very good. Eastside lakes are getting very warm these days, however, so try to focus on the early or late day program. The usual suspects have been effective- damsel and dragon fly nymphs and adults, woolly buggers in black, olive, brown, and various combinations and variations of those colors, carey specials, nyrges nymphs, san juan worms, six-pack…your general streamer selection with a BC slant. For the most part a sinking line will be all you need, although the late evening fishing can be more conducive to some surface activity. Where, you ask, shall I go? Folks we've been talking with have been fishing pretty much the same lakes we generally mention in our area- Alice, Pine, Beaver, Lanlois (bassy), Sammamish, Lone and Pass on the Westside. Eastside reports are still largely from Nunnally, Lenice, Dry Falls, and some of the hike-in lakes. Despite the lowland lakes' high marks, the higher lakes are coming on as well. Break out your map book of choice and pick one…the likelihood of fish living there is right up there with the chances of the toilet smelling after a side of asparagus. And there are few adrenaline surges like the ones created by finding fish randomly.

Puget Sound the cutthroat are everywhere out there hunting for baitfish. From the South Sound up to Bellingham, the fish are on the beaches. Smelt are on the run. Clouds of smelt. Oodles. They like that half tide- two to three hours after high tide the bait are right on the beach, and the bigger fish are right there with them. So consider this your written invitation to take advantage of our saltwater bounty- take simple baitfish imitations- candlefish, sand-eels, Ferguson's green and silver, Dan's Thorn River Emerger, flash flies, Knudsen spiders…stuff like that. ON the heels of our inaugural Puget Sound Fly Fishing Class here at Creekside, since both Dan and Seth are involved, you can rest assured that the stars are in complete alignment and that there's a 'Big Dot' on the fishing dot guide book for today…and maybe tomorrow and the next day. There are definitely dots in their books these days.

Steelhead reports have been pretty few. The Snohomish system has some fish coming into it. In order of likelihood of success, my ranking right now would probably fall 1.Stilly, 2. Sky, 4. Green 5.Snoqualmie. But I know that I know nothing. There are known knowns, that is, things that we know that we know, and there are know unknowns, that is, things that we know we don't know. We know that we don't know how many fish are in the river. We know that we don't know if we will catch any on a given outing. Knowing that, we should know that we're better off dwelling on it on the river. Is that what Rumsfeld meant? Floating lines, sparse flies. Fish the water.

Thanks for reading. Visit us soon.

*Past performance is not an indication of future results. See store for details.

Hugh Pastoriza
Creekside Angling Company
1180 NW Gilman Blvd.
Issaqauh, WA 98027
425.392.3800

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Creekside Angling Company
1180 NW Gilman Blvd.
Issaquah, WA 98027
425-392-3800 (voice)
425-557-8928 (fax)
info@creeksideangling.com