I'll probably never fish this river but I wondered what kind of a fishery it is. I was lookin' at a WDFW creel check (don't know if it was the latest one or not), and noticed that a fair amount of salmon (coho and nooks) were caught in the upper Yakima River (and to a lesser extent the lower river). Are these fish snagged or do they actually bite? Thanks.

Krome,

I've never fished the Yakima but I've fished the Wenatchee and Icicle rivers which flow into the Colombia about another 50 miles up stream. These fish aggressively hit the same things fish over here in the west side do. Vibrax spinners, spoons, drift gear etc. I fish spring chinook on the Icicle and use almost exclusively cut plug herring. 600 miles and 7 hydroelectric dams and these chromers absolutely hammer herring!!!

There are only two areas on the Yakima that are open to salmon fishing: from Hwy 240 bridge at Richland to 400 feet below Prosser Dam (Sept 16 - Oct 31) and Hwy 223 Bridge at Granger to 3500 ft below Roza Dam (Oct 1- November 15). Night closure and non-buoyant lure closures are in effect.

I fished the river yesterday for only 2 hours. I hooked and lost what looked like a steelie. It was probably a coho. I only saw and touched that one fish. The wind was blowing very hard. Tight lines.

Thanks guys. Glad to hear some do bite. They probably wouldn't for me, though. Just my luck. Some must be snagged if there is a non- buoyant lure restriction.

[ 10-24-2001: Message edited by: Krome Brite ]

Preston, the "only two areas open" you describe only cover about 100 river miles. I live two miles from the river, and drive the length between Selah and the Tri-Cities about three times each week.
I talked with a couple people, one of which who knows the biologist for the river. Currently, there are a lot of fish in the lower river below Horn Rapids. The biologist expects them to be in the mid to upper sections in the next 7-14 days. The big questions are how dark are they, and will they bite?
Me, I'm going to drive 125 miles to catch fish someplace else.

I don't think it would quite amount to two hundred miles of river. I assumed that the first question concerned the upper part of the river, the area above Roza, which is normally (with the exception of the 2000 springer season) a trout fishery only.

Huntar, you've got the right idea, my ten year old landed a yak king last Sat AM between Yakima and Granger and even though the fish wasn't that Dark the meat was white. I hear over and over from guys that the coho with color still have good pink meat,that smokes up nicely-to that I say you should have seen the parasite I saw squiggling out of the freshly brined coho fillet I got from a questionable Klickitat fish the weekend before. Driving west a couple of hours is the only way to go if want to enjoy quality salmonoids on the grill or smoker. The springers on the Yakima are the only exception, but they still aren't close to being as good as the Wind River/Drano fish.