To the Yak!

Saturday morning, Kevin, my dad, and I headed over to the Yakima River near Ellensburg for a little bit of fly fishing! We did this a couple years ago with Tristan, and would like to make this an annual event! We had such a good time, though the fish were less than willing to get hooked.

We rented a Clackacraft to float down the river and fish from, stopping occasionally to wade in the river. Sadly, my camera batteries died immediately on the first day, so we didn't get any pictures. We floated along, getting a couple nibbles here and there, but nothing seemed to be taking. The weather was a little misty, light rain. We tried tons of different kinds of flies, and were pretty much winding things down for the day when Kevin got a bite! It was his first hook off a fly, and it was a doozy of a trout! He struggled with him for a good 5 minutes it seemed, pulling in a little line, letting the fish pull a little out. He got it really close to the boat, and Dad and I got a great look at him. He was absolutely enormous! At least 20 pounds. Sadly, after much struggle, the fish got loose. But it was extremely exciting none the less!

The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful, but the river was gorgeous. After we got off the river, we headed into Ellensburg for dinner. We had delicious barbeque at the Rodeo BBQ, totally stuffed ourselves, then headed back to camp and slept like logs.

We got up early this morning, headed in to town for a hearty breakfast, then hit the river. The sun was shining, and we had high hopes for the fish. The wind had other ideas in mind, though. It was blowing very hard pretty much all day long. which made casting pretty tough for us beginners. But we tried out luck. Alas, it was nothing but nibbles again. I got one hooked for a second, but my line somehow got underneath the oar, and in the process of getting it out from underneath, I "long distance released" him. Bummer! Oh well, we had a blast anyway!

Father and son-in-law!

Me and dad get ready to hit the river.

All I can say is wow!

Dad was super oarsman! He rowed all day both days, and tried his darndest to keep us in fishy waters!

Kevin gets some casting in.

Kevin reminisces about the one that got away!

What a great weekend! Can't wait to go out again! Kevin and I both want rods that we can also take when we are backpacking! We're hooked, even if the fish aren't!