Friday, March 21st

I just had a great experience, floating the Yakima River, fly fishing for trout in the very early season. My fishing buddy Rollie Schmitten and I share this experience a few years ago and always wanted to do it again. This is when you have a shot a really big trout and very few anglers make this float on the very upper river.

Johnny Boitano from Troutwater Fly put the boat in a few miles above Cle Elum, and we had good water clarity for the float. One of the challenges of fishing this early on this stretch is that there are often log jams that have been formed over the winter.

This is not a portion of the Yakima that you float without checking ahead about conditions and where you may encounter hazards. This year we only have to make one serious detour around a log jam. We did have to push the boat over another, though.

Don't expect to catch a lot of fish this time of year, but you may hit some dandies. We hooked four fish on the float, estimated to be from 17 to 24 inches. They were a mix of rainbow and cutthroat.