NF CDA & Yakima Rivers

I ventured to the North Fork of the CDA on Oct. 19th for a half day session, since I was in Spokane for the weekend. I hit one of my favorite bends way up the river with not another soul in sight the whole time I was on the water. The weather was a bit on the chilly side, probably the mid-40's or so, but it was partly cloudy and perfect water conditions. The fish were very active on the surface. BWOs, Pales, and a few October Caddis were on the menu. I caught fish on the dependable size 16 P-Adams, a size 18 Pale Dry (the same one that crushed on the St. Joe), a size 10-ish orange stimulator, a variety of nymphs (not as good of success as the dries), and also managed a decent fish swinging a black bugger in the deeper part of the bend. My best stretch was during the Pale hatch, but the largest fish was on the stimulator when a few October Caddis were coming off. Fish averaged about 10", with the largest this day about 14". Nothing too big this trip, but the action was non-stop and the numbers were excellent. Today, I hit the Yakima with good success. BWOs were coming of in decent numbers, but not much was happening on the surface. I nymphed the whole day with basically the same rig -- a Pat's stone (brown/olive & brown/orange) with a BHPT dropper in sizes 16 & 18. I started in the Lower Canyon for about an hour and a half and managed a couple rainbows, 10" and 13", on the BHPT. After that I cruised back up to one of my dependable spots in the Farmlands, and that's where the action happened. The BHPT was on fire for a couple hour stretch. I found a large pod of sizable whitefish, catching over a half dozen, with the smallest being 16" and the largest about 19". A couple smaller 'bows were thrown in between. The final fish of the day was worth waiting for -- a slab of a 17" rainbow that hit the Brown/Orange Pat's stone. After a few nice jumps and ripping the line out of my reel a few times, the beauty came to hand: 'Till next time, -Josh