Touchet, Walla Walla

Last night, after fishing Big Four and taking in Opening Day of the Walla Walla Sweets, I wrote down the following list: Dayton, Lewis and Clark State Park, Waitsburg, Whitman Mission and a campground near the turnoff from US 12 on the way to Tri-Cities.

I was finding the fishing around Walla Walla to be so productive that I needed a bucket list to keep straight where I was going.  I followed the list exactly.

Today was fishing's Opening Day. Many rivers open on the first Saturday of June.

I got up early again and drove to Dayton, where the Touchet River cuts through the middle of town.  Some Opening Day. The wind was howling and the rain coming down steadily. I climbed down a steep riverbed and the wind most went away. I was well protected from the rain, and I was ready to fish.  I had an Elk Hair Caddis as a strike indicator and a beadhead Prince Nymph for a dropper. I saw several pools behind boulders, and within a few casts I was into some nice 11- and 12-inch rainbows. They were hungry and struck hard. I didn't bring them all to hand but they hit virtually ever cast.

Unfortunately, my camera had a smudge so pardon the photo above. This was typical of the fish I pulled up from behind boulders and in riffles. Very fun, very colorful and very strong fighers.

By mid-morning I left Dayton and headed for Lewis and Clark State Park which is between Dayton and Waitsburg. It's a beautiful setting, but I didn't get a bite. Seems the fish are more in the upper regions of the Touchet.

Waitsburg was also a bust. The Touchet cuts through the center of this little town as well but its really brushy and the water has few breaks. I barely bothered to cast. Onto the Walla Walla River.

Just past the Whitman Mission West of Walla Walla off US 12, I parked near the second bridge. the current was moving pretty swiftly. I walked up and down a stretch of the river, casting and high-sticking. Nothing.  I went to the other side of the bridge and saw this nice eddy behind the boulder in this photo.  I was using a Hares Ear and a Copper John but was not successful. I switched to a brown, white, black and olive Wooly Bugger. I let the current suck it behind the boulder a few times trying different retrieve speeds and action.

I felt a little take and tried it again. Bam! A very hard strick, the rod bent over and I saw the fish's silver side flash in the tea-green water.  A 17-inch, muscular Squawfish (northen pikeminnow) was the result. The northern pikeminnow is a Cyprinid, which is related to the great Indian Masheer, which I had wanted to catch on my recent trip to India. Despite the fish's undesireability, I was glad to cross another species off my list of fish caught on a fly.

I still need to fish the Tucannon and Mill Creek. My sense is that the fishing around Walla Walla is probably unappreciated.