On Tuesday 4/16 , eight Desperados from the WIFFC headed to Ellensburg for our spring pilgrimage to fish the Lower Yakima River Canyon . We rendezvoused Tuesday night at the Porch Steak House for some chilled adult beverages , delicious steaks and some fish talk (AKA :BS) . Wednesday morning we met our 4 guides at Red's Fly Shop and hit the river . The fishing was spotty but everyone caught fish . A day with beautiful weather , good guides , great equipment , delicious lunch from Red's and wonderful scenery . A good time was had by all.

Had a great time on the outing organized by McGinn. Fishing was good, catching was slow. Our boat got 7 fish including one large white fish. Fish took big stone nymph in the morning and mayfly nymph in the afternoon. Lots of mayflies hatching but no fish rising. The river was dropping rapidly during the day - down 400cfs (2400 -> 2000) between put in and takeout. Guides worked hard to get us into the fish. It was difficult to tell where they might be. Even with slow catching, the weather was awesome, the guides were awesome, and overall a great day.

Sorry no pictures, I'm not much of a camera guy.

On our exploration of northern Arkansas in advance of the solar eclipse, Carol gave me the go-ahead to spend the morning fishing one of the rivers for which Arkansas is famous. The White River and the North Fork of the White River (locally referred to as the Norfork) have year-round trout fisheries widely known for their bounty and trophy-size brown trout. It was an interesting experience, full of familiarity and strangeness.

As I met my guide, Paul Brown, at the put-in, the first difference I noticed was the boats used here. They are sleds with outboard motors but also with oars. While you can float a multi-mile stretch of river, it is not uncommon to fish a shorter stretch multiple times, motoring back up time and again. Once the motor is cut off, the guide switches to the oars and rows on the way down--though not so nimbly as in…

If fishing every day of the year is the requirement for a perfect fishing year, Jeff Sturm, Mac LaMay, Steve Sintay, and I are perfect so far. The four of us met at Pass Lake on New Year's Day to have a go at it. I brought a few doughnuts, and Jeff brought coffee, so we spent a few nice minutes chatting at the boat ramp before heading onto the water. Next time you see Mac, have him tell you about his recent experience with the Mexican government.

Though cool, the weather was dry and partly sunny. There were, perhaps, a half-dozen other boats on the lake, some fishing chironomids, others using baitfish or leach patterns. All seemed to catch fish. Our group perferred the latter, so we broke up to fish different areas of the lake to see how we could do. Jeff, with his white balanced leach stripped…