Doin the Yak!!!!

February 21st 2013, Tim Opitz and I headed into Ellensburg to meet up with our Evening Hatch guide Kevin for a trip down the Yakima River on what they call the Skwala Special.  Starting off it was a brisk, cold Feb morning and the plan was to fish the Canyon which was new water for me.  The river was a bit smaller than last time I fished it but all in all in good shape, nice and clear.  We got a later start but that was OK, the water needed to warm up some to get the fish working.  Kevin was a great and patient guide and I let him know right off the he could yell at me given this was really only my second boat trip.  We fished some of his hand tied skwala's and hung a copper John dropper or plastic egg bead off the skwala.  First fish went to Cowboy Tim, he had a very big Whitey right up to the boat before it released.  We caught quite a few white fish during the day which was something new to me.  I have not caught white fish while fly fishing before.  Kevin taught me a new roll mend technique which will come in play when I fish the Wenatchee for Steel head this coming week.  We did a 8 mile float and it wasn't to the last part of the float that I started to catch some fish.  One nice rainbow and another good looking Cutty.  The weather caught up with us right at the end of the float so we timed it great.  Since this was my first canyon float I have to say the scenery is excellent, the waters great with good opportunities to get out of the boat and fish from shore and we saw some great bald eagles on the trip. We were also looking at this trip as a means to get to know this section of the river since we are planning on spending a week there in May and floating it with our own boats.