Yakima River

I tasted a bit of heaven today on the Yakima River. It was sunny and 70 degrees with the wind relatively calm for Yakima standards. I decided to explore a new section of river, which required a bit of hiking. I started out with a double nymph rig at the first likely seam, and immediately hooked into a nice sized fish, but it popped off after about 30 seconds. A few casts later, I landed a 13" whitefish. Within the first half hour, I could tell this was going to be a good day -- more than willing fish, perfect water conditions for wading, and already a fish to hand. After working my way upriver, I had a fish slap at my orange indicator. I immediately threw on a very large orange stimulator in hopes of fooling a trout looking for some October Caddis. After a few tosses, I had a couple small guys look at it, but no hookups. There was a nice looking side channel, so I decided to make my way up it. After about walking about 10 yards, I caught sight of a big trout rolling on the surface. Immediately, I tossed slightly upstream of it. Nothing the first drift through. I placed a second cast a bit farther out in hopes of getting it into his feeding lane. In slow motion, the trout took the offering, and I immediately got that "holy shit" feeling. Even though I wanted to set the hook, I remained patient until the trout took it fully under watter and set the hook. ZZZZZZZZ -- my reel sung while the trout made some fierce darts up and down stream. The prize? An 18" rainbow: I continued working my way upstream when I stumbled across the honey-hole and my new secret spot. From this hole, I ended up landing about 10 fish, including 2 rainbows @ 18" and a nice cutthroat @17". A size 16 parachute adams caught most of the fish, including the largest ones, and a size 16 and 18 phesant tail took fishing from the same run also. I'll let the rest of the pictures do the talking: 18" rainbow :

Another 18" rainbow: 17" Cutthroat: