I'm looking for information on fishing the yakima river for the spring chinook fishery. What to use for catching these fish, where to fish, where to launch and take out a drift boat for this fishery. Thanks for any help.

I will pm you with a contact I have over there. I have never fished it but he lives in Selah and is a great guy. Bill

PM sent

Hey ProG, you been out yet?

I was on the lower section this weekend. Had 3 fish on, one to the boat. Reeeeaaaallllllyyyyyyy slow. But, with that said, yesterday was the first day of a 1000+ fish over McNary. So, if history holds true this year, in the next couple of days, we will start seeing 100+ fish over Prosser. So, by the middle of Next week we should start picking up fish around Yakima.

I will be back down in the lower section on Wednesday, and maybe this weekend.

Right on. I am waiting til they get up here. Don't know the lower river very well. Was there a lot of pressure?

Not much pressure at all. The river is so low, that most jet boats can't get up very far. We were in the db so we got to fish a lot of the water with no pressure.

Won't be low for long with this warmer weather. The Yakima and Naches have come up a quite a bit along with color in the last day or so.

I know. That has been the trump card all year. Well, see how much water they start dropping out of Roza in the up coming week.

With all the snow pack, a couple days in the upper 70's low 80;s, it'll be toast...unfishable.

Just hope for more cooler weather.

As for what to use, in the past seasons, Yakima Springers have been great egg biters, whether under a float, behind a bait diver or back bounced.

3 fish on is considered slow for you on the Yak at this time? Wow! I'd like to see you on a good day!!

What Mike said.

Three fish in two days. I am just comparing it to years past when the Yak was open. From my experiences when I was able to find a couple of fish, there were usually several there as well. That was not the case for me this past weekend. Each time I had a fish, it was the only one to be had in that spot. When I fish HARD for two days from Benton City to the bridge in Richland I would consider it to be slow. But, that is just me. With the numbers shooting up like they did yesterday at McNary, the lower river should be good in the next few days to come. Lets home mother nature helps us out a little.

Looking worse today, the Naches has muddied up pretty good, and is putting lots of color into the Yakina...not lookin to good for now.

I hope for some cooler weather, as I supose to starting the Yak around May 20th...

Yeah it's lookin pretty rough today...high and pretty dirty! I don't mind the color so much as the water level. I had a buddy "attempt" to fish it on Monday and was off the river in about a hour and a half...he floated about a 6-mile section and it was just too heavy for him to plug or fish effectively.

Enjoying the few days off Bob?

I spent a good part of the day yesterday "looking" at the river, wondering if it will fish again this season. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but it's not lookin very good.

Have you guys seen this site.

http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/nws/hh/basins/yakima.html

I just found it the other day, and thought you guys would like it.

If we get any shot it will be a very small window. Look at the 10 day forecast, in the 80's by next Wednesday and 86 next Saturday. Bad Bad Bad!!

I know I know I know. I am thinking maybe the first of next week Maybe.

Can you post a pix of the Yakima springers. I just wondered how they look when they get up there. I see fall chinok there when I trout fish, that are in surprisingly good shape early in the fall.

The Yaki fish that I have seen come out of there are in great shape. Most of the fish are destined for tribs further up the water-shed (American River, Little Naches, Rattlesnake), so when caught in the lower yak, the fish still have a ways to go.