Yakima River Washington

Hendrix Woodstock Axe

Got out of the great state of Colorado for a few days to catch up with my Girls in Wenachee Washington. They had flown out to my In-Laws house a week prior. Two and a half hour flight, quick step off the curb and hop in the truck at Sea-Tac, and vacation was on.

We headed directly to the EMP Museum located in the shade of the Space Needle to check out a Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana exhibit. They just so happened to have on display the guitar shown here. I didn't realize what I was looking at at first. Then thought no way.... Then I read the display and realized that it was in fact the Woodstock Strat as seen here. I couldn't help but stare for a minute or two. Talk about a dude knowing his craft. Just goes to show what level can be reached when you do what you love to do. One of the great things about Fly Fishing is that you decide what success means. And when you get a taste of whatever that is for you, it can be a truly kick ass moment. I think that's why its so fun teaching people how to Fly Fish or in my case, how to develop bad Fly Fishing habits. If I can pass along just one of those bad habits and it leads to someone getting a taste.... That's a deposit in the Karma bank peeps.

Turns out my Father-in-Law Gary was down to give it a go. Gary is an experienced fisherman and has caught a lot of big fish but hadn't yet whipped a trout river. I figured what better way to introduce someone to Fly Fishing than book a full day float trip. I had recently been ruined by Ben who signed up with me to float several days up in Wyoming (that was a helluva trip) so I figured what the hell. Spoil a beginner and feed the beast. Two birds one stone. And when you are with someone like Gary, it's going to be a great time!

Yakima River

 We met up with our guide Craig at Red's Fly Shop. I gave Gary the 10,000 foot overview of the basics on the way to the shop; what a dead drift is, how it's called a strike indicator and not a bobber even though you use it just like a bobber, how to shadow cast like Brad Pit, etc, etc.  Craig had us on the water in a half hour and we anchored up so Craig could go over how things are really done.  He had Gary casting and mending in no time. Gary picked it up so fast that he started the hooking before Craig could even get to that part. It was a nice segue into the fighting fish part though. We kinda skipped the hook setting part (more on that later).

A Natural

We were fishing in 20 minutes or so and were hooking up fast. Gary hooked and landed his first Trout on a fly rod in about 10 minutes (all on video being subjected to all sorts of experimental torture on my computer in various video editing programs (coming soon)). Not bad! It took me half a dozen trips. My first fish on a fly rod was caught on a single fly nymph rig. Had a size 14 Royal Coachmen nymph barley tied on 6" below a split shot.  A small bow hit it on the swing (and by swing I mean not even close to paying attention). I've since learned that a Royal Coachmen is a dry fly and to pay attention at the end of your drift but you see why it took me a bit :-) Oh and turns out swinging sunk dry flies works really well. Seriously try it during a caddis hatch and hold on.

We were using a big Rubber Legs up top and a size 16 olive Pheasant Tail as a trailer. The trout were taking both. Almost all of the smaller bows hit the Rubber Legs. Gotta love the ambition of these little fellas.

Fish of the day 18" bow

I got a good take just after Gary landed his first and saw pretty quickly that it was a good fish. Craig said that a big bow on the Yakima is 20". I knew this one was 18" class so it was an exciting fight. Fought well and was a really healthy fish. Always nice to get that first nice one in the boat. They are all fun but there is just something about seeing a trout that's been around the bend a few times. Both of us learning from each other. Or conditioning in my case where I become more and more addicted to it. (Gary's hat that day - "Fish Control My Brain"- think about it).

Gary continued to get hits but was fighting the urge to hook set to the side which as a general rule (yes not all cases) is less effective than a vertical hook set. We got a good laugh out of this a few times (remember what Gary's hat said?). I'm a firm believer in laughing when you're the joke and Gary's reaction to missing a fish was hilarious. He had Craig and me in stitches a few times. Got some video of this but the audio is pretty much going to be a long peep. Gary got caught with a little extra line out when a fish completely gobbled his fly. We could see the little guy swimming around like crazy while Gary's fly line zipped around the boat. Craig chimed in, "you got one, you still got one, it's on, it's still on, you got one", LOL!!! We were dying. Gary finally got some tension on him and he spit the hook. That little fish is going to have serious problems.

Gary was a good sport about it all and got his digs in for sure. Gary gave Craig some advice on how to fix his truck earlier in the morning. After about the 5th missed set, Craig let out a laugh that set him and I over the edge. Gary said, "that's ok, I was going to tell you what was really wrong with your truck". Ha!

Craig was a great guide and kept us in pretty steady action all day. We hit plenty in the 10"-12" range, a few in the 15"-16" range and one just under 19" (don't worry about zooming in on this one. No ruler there :-)). Very cool to get to Fly Fish with Gary. I don't think Craig is going to forget this trip. I sure as hell won't.  We had a great time and I'm sure it's not the last time we'll get to fish together. I'm thinking Steelhead on the Wenachee :-)