Yakima River Drift

[Bmcox86]

I plan on heading over tomorrow and drifting the yakima river a couple times over the weekend. Never done it before, got set up with flys but don't know where to start and end my drift.  Also plan on camping, which place should I camp?  Also do I need anything extra for my lisence?

Thanks
Bryan

[jackelope]

Float the canyon. You can do 2-3 different floats over a couple days. You can float from the Bighorn launch to Red's, camp at Red's then float to Roza Dam the next day? There's several different launches in the canyon.
Red's also has a shuttle service, fly shop and restaurant/bar now.

http://www.redsflyshop.com/map.html

You have hoppers lined up?

[Northway]

The upper Canyon drift is another great option. The fish count is a little bit lower than the lower canyon, but there is only a fraction of the pressure. At the beginning you can put in at a State boat launch and pull out at a dam not far from Thorpe. One thing that contributes to decreased pressure is that there is not as much public access as the lower canyon.

I don't normally fish the Yakima this early but I believe water flow can be a bit more unpredictable right now.

[Northway]

I plan on heading over tomorrow and drifting the yakima river a couple times over the weekend. Never done it before, got set up with flys but don't know where to start and end my drift.  Also plan on camping, which place should I camp?  Also do I need anything extra for my lisence?

Thanks
Bryan

Another thing to watch out for this time of year in the lower canyon is party drifters on inflatables. When it's hot there are tons of them from late morning through 4 or 5pm. They usually put in at Ringer Loop and either pull out at the foot bridge or drift farther down to Umtanum.

[jdb]

You can also camp at big pines or the roza. Big pines was INSANE last weekend!!!

[steen]

I plan on heading over tomorrow and drifting the yakima river a couple times over the weekend. Never done it before, got set up with flys but don't know where to start and end my drift.  Also plan on camping, which place should I camp?  Also do I need anything extra for my lisence?

Thanks
Bryan

Don't know about fishing but we stayed at the Umtanum campground and loved it!  Great views!

[7mmfan]

Be careful in the Upper Canyon stretch from state to diversion or Green Bridge, as there is still a full blockage immediately below the state launch. I believe you can walk your boat around it, but with the water up as high as it is right now it could be touch and go... would hate to be reading about you next week in the paper.

[Bmcox86]

We fished the upper reaches around Easton, the water looked great but we were fishing used water, while we were rigging up two guys pulled up in their truck and rushed to the river when they saw us getting ready

Had a few rises but learned a lot for next time.

[jackelope]

Tough fishing up there IMO. Hit the canyon or upper canyon and you'll see a lot more fish.

[Bmcox86]

That was the plan, but when we got to ellensburg the guy at the fly shop said the flow was way to much for our float tubes and suggested we come back in the fall.

We might start trying the cedar river on week nights, have any experience there?

Thanks

[jackelope]

Cedar is good. Leave your valuables at home.
Float tubes?

[fly-by]

That was the plan, but when we got to ellensburg the guy at the fly shop said the flow was way to much for our float tubes and suggested we come back in the fall.

We might start trying the cedar river on week nights, have any experience there?

Thanks

If you have true float tubes, the U or donut shaped kind, I wouldn't try it in the fall either.  Those things are meant for still water only and would be dangerous even after irrigation needs are over and they drop the river.   +2 on the upper canyon as a nice float if you have access to some other kind of watercraft.  You can get a pontoon pretty cheap if you watch CL.   

[jackelope]

No way would I be floating that river or any moving water in a float tube.
Too much potential for bad stuff to happen.

Red's in the canyon will rent rafts and driftboats if you really want to. I think about $100 a day.

[Northway]

That was the plan, but when we got to ellensburg the guy at the fly shop said the flow was way to much for our float tubes and suggested we come back in the fall.

We might start trying the cedar river on week nights, have any experience there?

Thanks

Yeah, I fish that river based on the flow in late summer/fall. I could tell you exactly where the fishing is great when the flow is low, but........

You can track the flow online.