Brazda’s Fly Fishing

Brazda’s Fly Fishing works the Yakima River above Roza Dam, roughly seventy miles of water that swings between canyon walls, wide flats and braided channels. Up near Cle Elum the river takes on spring creek character over freestone bones, while the reaches around Ellensburg fish differently again. Trips launch about two hours southeast of Seattle and run March through November as drift boat floats or wade days. A full day covers about eight and a half hours, roughly 6:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon, priced at $475 for a single angler in the boat and $575 for two. Guide, flies, terminal tackle, fishing gear and a cooler of ice, drinks and snacks are covered. Spring fishes skwala stones, green and grey drakes and caddis; July into September brings summer stoneflies and terrestrials including hoppers, beetles, crane flies and ants; fall turns to small duns in sizes sixteen to twenty, blue-winged olives and streamers once salmon are in the system. Rainbows, westslope cutthroat and cutt-bows are the fish.

On the Klickitat the company fishes two float sections – a lowest section where it holds a special permit shared with only one other fly guide, and the canyon section above the town of Klickitat, which begins earlier with a 5:30am meeting time. The season runs from September to November and closes on 30 November, with the best numbers of fish in September and October. Trips are full-day floats of seven to eight hours at $595 per boat for one or two anglers, fished fly-only by spey swing, nymph or centerpin float for summer and fall steelhead and for Chinook salmon.