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Yakima River Report
Benton County, WA

Details

06/04/2014
Catfish
Evening
06/04/2014
1
1992

I'm far, far beyond the annoyed or irritated stage. I'm far into white hot, slam my expensive fishing gear into the ground rage. Literally.

I've had at least a half dozen people tell me how fishing the Yakima River below Horn Rapids Dam would result in exhausted arms, and a never=ending Nirvana of catfish pleasure. Don't worry about the 15000 mph current, the catfish love it. If you try to fish springers, you'll be bored with all the SMB and channel cats you catch. Throw spinners, eggs, bobbers, or bait, and you'll never see the end of the catfish or bass.

Well, I think all of you are totally full of you-know-what, and I don't mean it nicely, in the least positive terms. I've spent hours on that river, losing tons of gear on the bottom, struggling with the 15000 mph current, and I've yet to see a catfish bite. This is at least the 10th trip. The current is far too strong, and I fail to see how to hold even a frozen bait on a hook for more than one cast. In terms of spinners/lures -- they're gone within minutes due to the rocky bottom and the 15000 mph current. Put heavy weight on the bottom to hold it there, and it is gone in minutes. Try to use a bottom bouncers steelhead rig, and you still lose either bait or rig within seconds.

I'm done with catfish and this stupid river and all the "I just inhaled nitrous" reports/advice from y'all. Screw the salmon smolts, they deserve to get eaten, even under the dubious assumption there are a tidal wave of channel cats in that river...


Comments

rcthepirate
6/4/2014 9:27:00 PM
I think you were just doing it wrong
BentRod
6/5/2014 10:44:00 AM
Sorry it's led to such frustration. Have you not caught one fish out of that river in all the attempts you've made?
tluedeke
6/5/2014 2:34:00 PM
Sorry about this post, I was extremely frustrated, and should have cooled down before posting.

BentRod, I've caught channel cats in the Snake, but not in the Yakima.
OffThaHook
6/5/2014 3:51:00 PM
The best bait is sucker fish with a 2 oz cannon ball. i camp at horn rapids damn every year with plenty of success. The current can be annoying sometimes but with a 2 oz cannon ball it usually holds up.

Relaxing on a lake/river with a pole in the water on a nice day is never annoying or frustrating. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, that's what makes it fun.

But anyways sucker fish with a 2 oz cannon never fails for me, i just got back from camping there in may and i got a couple nice cats, still really slow though. best time to go is early July. i usually get my sucker fish from the Columbia.
OffThaHook
6/5/2014 3:55:00 PM
Oh yeah by the way, i camp just above the horn rapids dam. Anywhere above the dam within a mile usually produces cat fish. I have never fished below the dam.
tluedeke
6/5/2014 10:44:00 PM
I had a 4 oz cannon ball, and it certainly held it to the bottom. But the buildup of grass sweeping downstream and accumulating on my line caused problems, and eventually when I tried to bring it in to clear it, I'd lost my rig on the bottom. I can't afford to lose 4 oz cannon balls every 15 minutes.

I've also tried what I think amounts to a steelhead rig - a drop weight of 2 oz or so of slinky weights, bounced off the bottom, with a spinner or bait below. All that does is make me lose everything below the slinky weight rig (either the spinner on the rocks, or the bait getting torn off because of the current), and even if it doesn't, I wouldn't notice a bite from a bounce off the rocks.
tluedeke
6/6/2014 7:00:00 PM
God I wish they'd remove this review. It is embarrassing, given my complete lack of self-control....
dalealan2011
6/11/2015 2:19:00 PM
To fish for Cats below Horn Rapids Dam without getting snagged up is to either fish with very little weight such as a slip weight or no weight at all and wade the river where you can. Used to catch quite a few on the West side of the river before it was closed off. We used to use Night Crawlers and found that to be better then most bates..
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709