Chester Allen

Chester Allen:
Outdoors Blog

I'm interested in hearing from readers -- whether it's a weird bird flying around their backyard to the big fish that broke them off over the weekend to skiing down a favorite run. callen@theolympian.com.

Thinking about rising trout...

• Published March 21, 2006

  • 0 comments

03/21/2006 – A lot of anglers are thinking about trout right now -- and I'm one of them. I'm headed over to the Yakima River near Ellensburg on Wednesday. I'm hoping for overcast weather -- and big hatches of blue wing olive and March brown mayflies.

This is one of the best times of the year to fish the Yakima, which is probably the state's best wild trout stream. Friends tell me they are catching a lot of big, wild trout. Catch-and-release and rules that restrict anglers to lures and flies with single barbless hooks have made the Yakima into a fantastic fishery for rainbow and cutthroat trout.

Glory recently sent me an e-mail asking when most of our local lakes will open for fishing. There are a few lakes open right now, such as Offut Lake and Black Lake, but most of our lakes open on the last Saturday in April. That's April 29 this year.

If you're stuck at work until the weekend, check out the trout videos at this website: http://flyfisherman.com/westerncanada/djreddeer/

Those shots of feeding trout got my heart rattling around in my chest a little bit, and that's why I'm going to the Yakima. I need to walk the river, wallow in the sharp scents of wet sagebrush and trouty water, see a few rising fish -- and maybe land and release a couple of them.

Similar stories:

  • Fishing Report for April 24

  • Fishing Report for March 23

  • Catching spring fever

  • Fishing Report for March 6

  • Fishing Report for Dec. 15

COMMENTS Community Publishing Guidelines

Join the Reader Network

Do you want The Olympian to keep you in mind when we canvass the community for opinions?

Click here and sign up with our Reader Network to offer your view.