Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Memorial Day Update

Overall, the Yak is coming back into shape throughout. The upper river around Cle Elum is in good shape, but runnning a little high. The Farmlands is still a little murky and pretty high, but definately fishable. The canyon is still a little too dirty and high. So, my recomendation would be to stick to the Cle Elum area for now. We did the Farmlands yesterday, and overall we worked really hard but had a decent day, hooking around 12-15 fish and getting a few less than that in the boat. Again, we urge you to be very cautious floating the river. At these flows, it is a lot of work and there are some very dangerous spots. The East Cle Elum launch is tricky with a lot of water, you have to be on your toes to get over into the creek mouth. A few folks have misjudged it and been taken downstream past the takeout, and theres no getting back up. In the Farmlands, there is a major bloackage at the weir a mile above Irene Rinehart. You can portage to the right over the rocks or through the bushes, but its a pain in the ass. There is also a very tight spot 4-5 miles belove Irene that you have to row, no portage option. Please be careful, with these flows it is very dangerous and unless you are really good on the oars, hold off until the water drops some more and settles. Overall though, the river is coming back and we should be into full summertime fishing mode in the next week or two.
-JW

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