Summer stones or NOT hoppers will prevail, with heat, wind and tight loops.

July newsletter

   Its that time again, the river has surrendered to the summer flow’s for irrigation. Looks like we will be steady around 3200 – 3800 with a few dips below on cooler times. With only a handful of days in the 80’s the conditions look to be favorable for Stones and Hoppers.
   Good sized rainbows and some pretty hefty cutthroat have settled into there feeding lanes after the irrigation rise. Cle Elum branch is full of water and has all the side channels redistributed with trout. Have not even set foot in the lower canyon yet but when the hopper action looks good it would be a great play.
   The summer stones will begin to appear around the next full moon. Hoppers are already getting big in my yard and winds are frequent enough to put them in play on the next heat wave.
   We have pretty steady Yellow sallies and a smattering on PMDs. The Drakes are all but finished, Flavalinas will be popping randomly and good caddis hatches will start happening as summer heats up.
   Pay attention to water temps if we get a heat wave, check it every morning and afternoon in 90 deg weather.. As it warms (August) there is often a cool water bubble in the upper canyon as the evening temps dip low cooling the water.. This happens when the lakes get lower and lake water thermocline reaches the outflow.. Its tricky but paying attention will help our Trout, never fish above 70 NEVER! 

Smallmouth Bass

If you missed the spring Bass fishing there’s more to come. Fishing desert basin creeks was pretty fun this season and the dep south on the lower Yak was epic for a few days.
   Patience will pay off there some good Popper action to be had as the weather gets hot evenings and early mornings will produce on top..
   Switching to sink lines as the sun rises will continue that effort.. Bugs like chickabou craw and simple brown or olive buggers tied heavy and full will bring strikes. There are a ton of really good top water bugs too. Dahlberg divers are cool if you have the arm for them and simple chuggers in multiple colors work as well..

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