Yakima River Winter Plan - Introduction

I am really enjoying the mild winter here in eastern WA. I suddenly wanted to try Yakima River for the first time. I knew and everybody around me told me about fly-fishing in Yakima since I moved here. But it didn't seem to match me (vice versa). Floating is popular instead (I could use "because" here) that the wade-fishing seems limited. As far as I had driven through, it is because of private lands and water levels change by season. Yakima is one of the most irrigated rivers in the world. Furthermore, when I first made a driving, it was early July three summers ago (might have been on 4th of July), I saw lots of recreational floating people with bikinis or shorts. Also, water was way high and slightly brown. Indeed it seemed to serve for recreation better than for fishing. While in most of Western trout rivers, that time of the year is the prime season. So all the Yakima information from books and online seemed more like just ads. I recall all of these feelings made me plan to trips to Montana, especially for wild brown trout......


Other reason I couldn't put myself into the Yakima was the car expense. Driving my big F-150 (Big Fella) around costs a lot. Then my work/town car had been an old Subaru, which was not trusted for fishing. For this reason, I stopped exploring around here and rather saved fundings for Montana trips.


But last June the Subaru broke down and I bought a GMC Sonoma from my co-worker. It works pretty well for work and town with much less mileage than Big Fella now. I named it G.M. (Gallatin - Madison). It really looks like this.

Now here are several more feelings that have changed my views recently.
If I could, I wouldn't want to go to Rocky Ford. But my favorite waters in Naches are not fishable till summer. I don't want get bored in this mild winter. Finally, I felt if I put myself into it, I can do something because I've been making over 600 miles one way to Montana and catching trout there. And then I got tired of people around me (at here or when I go to Montana) keep asking me see if I fish Yakima. I say "no" and explain with a couple or several resaons above. Though I haven't really fished, I could easily tell the water level is low in the fall and winter for wade-fishing (no demands for irrigation). And I know most of the river is open-year-around.

I got all the perfect reasons and the perfect time that I have to get out!!!

Enough introduction!! I will write more about my first day.