My brother has invited me on a flyfishing trip in a few weeks on the Yakima. I know, it isn't a lake, but does anybody have any suggestions on patterns and sizes to use? It has been a few years, about 10, since I went flyfishing, but I practiced a bit this weekend and was still able to hit the mark.

I'll be heading down with the only flyrod I have after having ALL of my other fly gear stolen from my truck 10 years ago. I have a Fenwick 5 weight, and an old Scientific Anglers reel.

Your suggestion would be welcomed.

I guess I'll have to tone down my "Jimmy Houston" hookset that I have perfected on steelhead and salmon.

Andy,

I can't offer any advice as I don't fish the Yak.

But I can tell you the Jimmy Houston hookset won't work on fly gear. Not enough stretch in the line and you can pop up to 6 lb tippets on the strike.

That's why I toned down my hookset and prefer the Bill Dance method.

My guess is that I'll use a strike indicator, aka corkie, and some tasty looking terestrials. Since I believe it is also selective gear rules, I will also bring my spinning gear, 5.25' Fenwick, and some jigs to fish under floats. It has been a deadly method on Cutthroats, Steelhead, Silvers and Dollys with 90% of the fish being hooked at the tip of the upper snout.

Dogfish:

Stop by Creekside in Issaquah on your way over. They should fix you up.

Good luck.

Well, for the first time ever I got outfished by my older brother. It must have been the glare off of his head that made his flies more attractive.

We caught lots of fish, and I even got a few on my little micro jigs.

Hare's ears, sparkling emergant pupas and pulsating "somethings" were the bee's knee's, but we caught a fair amount of fish on dries, which was fun. I kept hoping for something big, but the biggest I got was only about 18", almost a keeper if it was a steelhead . One guy on the river landed a MONSTER sucker!

The scenery was awesome on the Bighorn to Slab drift, and the folks along the way were some of the nicest fellow fishermen I ran into on an outing. Lots of Dads with kids, which was very encouraging, especially the guy out with his daughter.

Poor Pac Man.