My good fishing buddie Joe Cortez called me up the other night and invited me along with his friend Luis Ochoa to do some wade fishing for Smallmouth Bass on a central section of the Yakima River. We gained access after Joe got permission from the landowner. She was very gracious, but begged us not to leave any trash on her riverfront property. We all reassured her that we would respect and honor the privilage of being able to open a gate and stroll down thru her land to fish the river. The spot was perfect with a series of small rock wing dams forming fishable poolls just above an expanse of rapids.The sound of those rapids put me into a really great mood and the water felt good after enduring a sweltering hot day. Joe popped his first fish right away. I marveled at how hard these fast water Smallies fight and make your drag scream! . My first fish took me a while to hook into but after making a perfect cast into a riffle, she took my grub and lauched into the air. It ended up being my biggest fish of the night, at about 15". Night kinda snuck up on the three of us. All told we had caught 9 keeper sized bass and a number of shakers. 3" Kalin's Grubs in pumpkin, avacado and smoke worked the best for us. Joe and Luis used plain 1/8 th oz. jigheads while I used a 1/16th oz black jighead to minimize snags.(P.S. We stopped by the lady's house before we left and gave her the pick of our catch. )The Jigmiester

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