July 9th, 2020 – Fishing Report

We are still operating the shop with curbside pickup, call-in, online orders or stop by the shop.  We are still running shuttles and guide trips everyday! You don’t have to call ahead of time for us to get you what you need, feel free to knock on the door, we can meet at the door and get you set up. We are here daily to help with your fishing needs.

Plus, fishing has been awesome! The Yak is bumping up to Summer levels and fishing great, while the smaller creeks and high mountain lakes are offering great getaways for wade anglers. Our guides have been finding some big fish and Summer days are booking up fast, so give us a call, or email us at info@troutwaterfly.com to get on the calendar!

YAKIMA RIVER

The Yak has been fishing great for just about anything you want to throw, but thankfully we’ve been starting to find some big fish eating big foam dries on the surface. Our favorite dries have been Chubby Chernobyl’s (any color, any size), Glommers, Flat Wing Stones, Gypsy Kings and small hoppers. Fishing these with small jigged droppers such as a CDC Pheasant Tail or CDC Prince’s has been the most effective in sizes 18-12.

For streamers, Sculpzilla’s and Zonkers have been fishing great on the swing, under an indicator or just stripped off the bank and in structure with a sink tip. Although streamers don’t produce numbers, they’re a great way to filter out some of the smaller fish and just catch a few big ones.

For nymphing, a stonefly nymph on top with a pheasant tail, brush hog, prince or hare’s ear beneath it has been the most consistent, especially in the cooler mornings. Lately on the upper river with the weather not getting really warm like it has in the past, nymphing has been in the morning until about 10:30, and then transitioning in to dry droppers as things warm up in the middle of the day has been the most effective.

SMALL CREEKS

All the small creeks in the area have been fishing great! The Teanaway, Taneum, and Upper Cle Elum have been our favorites, and are really just a small fish game. They’re all beautiful pieces of water with lots of small trout willing to eat a small skated dry fly. We like small hoppers, royal wulff’s, small chubby chernobyls… well pretty much any bug they can fit in their mouth they’ll try to eat. These are great places to take kids out and show them how to fish!

LAKES

Cooper lake has been fishing great! It was recently stocked with more 10-12 inch rainbows that are very willing to eat a woolly bugger, as well as a few brown trout that love eating streamers ripped off the banks. Keep in mind that Cooper is really only accessible for  fly fishing if you have a small boat.

The other lakes around Ellensburg such as Tjossum, McCabe and Fio Rito have had some awesome top-water bass action! There have been some pretty good size bass caught in the 3-4 pound range, and are a blast on a 6 wt fly rod and a popper. If you’re looking for an inexpensive 6 wt. to beat up on some bass, the Echo Carbon is a great choice.

ONLINE SHOP DEALS

We have been adding a lot of awesome products to our clearance section lately, so CLICK HERE so find some awesome deals!

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