The Lower Sac on 3/29 & 3/30

I had the opportunity to guide a couple of my regulars from Sonoma on Friday and Saturday last weekend on the Lower Sac. Both days we decided to float from Anderson River Park down to Balls Ferry. Both days saw significant hatches of PMD's, Baetis, and March Browns. The funny part of both days was that the fishing was better when there were less bugs out. I really couldn't figure out what the fish wanted with all of the different mayflies. The river fished a little above average and we were hooking around 35 rainbows a day. The hot bug was a coffee brown rubberleg. Friday there were a few special moments that dont happen every day on the Sac. We managed to get three rainbows on PMD dry fly patterns in the middle of the day. The real big surprise was the 26.5'' steelhead that we managed to catch on the last run of the day. I have never caughten a steelhead that late in March. When I saw that fish I got really excited. It really makes me want to get the chance at some more steelies but the odds are that is going to have to wait until next fall. I guess we will have to see if there are any left in April.

For those of you who are interested in fishing the Lower Sac of the Yuba I had two cancellations for April 18 and 19.

Yuba and Lower Sac Report 3/7-3/9

I had the opportunity to guide Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this past weekend. The weather was beautiful with these warm 70 degree days that we have been having in northern California. I think that spring is finally upon us. It is time to shake off those winter blues and go check out your favorite trout stream. It wont be to long now until trout opener. Those of you who are waiting to fish all of the upper streams make sure not to miss out on the good opportunities that some of our tailwaters have to offer. For those of you interested in doing a little fishing I only have a few days left. My availibiilities are March 30, April 9, April 23, April 30, and May 9. Here is a little summary of my last three days on the water.

The Yuba River on Friday was tough. Since the weather was warm I was expecting some great hatches out on the water. The entire day I only saw a handful of pmds, march browns, and skwalas. Nothing was coming off on anything of what I consider a consistent basis. Flats where there are usually lots of rising fish only had a single sporadic riser here and there. So with the lack of bug activity it was hard to get the fish to eat. In total we hooked 10 fiesty rainbows and landed 8 of them. Lucky for us we got a couple really nice ones that were in the 18'' range. I wish every fish fought as hard as those Yuba bows. They are hands down the strongest fighting trout I have ever seen.

The Lower Sac on Saturday and Sunday was good. On both days there were decent hatches of spring caddis and it really got the fish eating. Saturday was a lot of fun and I got the opportunity to guide Maggie (junior in high school) and Erin (5th grade) on their first ever fly fishing trip. Both of them did great and caught a handful of rainbows, but Erin out did everybody with her 18'' fish. When you are 11 and your first rainbow you ever catch is 18'' that means there are good things to come in this girls fishing future. I was thoroughly impressed with both of the girls willingness to learn and enthusiam to pull on some fish.

Sunday I had two of my regulars up from Sacramento and we hooked close to 50 fish. The real treat on Sunday was that we ran into two clipped half pounders. One halfpounder was 19'' and the other was 20''. That is the latest that I have ever caughten a steelhead on the Lower Sac. Prior to the ones yesterday the latest I had ever caught one was in the end of January. The Lower Sac is a great river. You truly get spoiled with nubers like the ones we have been having over the last several weeks.

Give me a call if you are interested in doing any fly fishing on the Lower Sac, Yuba, Feather, or Putah Creek.

Tight Lines!

The Lower Sac 3/1-3/3

The Lower Sac was a little up and down this last weekend. I kept hoping that the spring caddis were going to pop, but the wind did play a little havoc on the hatch and our drifts. On Saturday the fishing was pretty average with 20 fish to the boat. The wind blew for about 2 hours in the middle of the day and it really turned off the flats. This time of year the flats can really hold lots of fish as they get into their spring caddis mode. So that was a little disappointing. You know the Lower Sac is a special river when an average day is 20 fish landed in the net.

Sunday was a different story all together. I had one angler who had never fished the Sac and I was excited to show him what a gem the river can be. Just be thankful that you weren't out there because it was brutal conditions and fishing. The wind was blowing 20-25 mph from the time we started until about 4PM. At 3PM my client had only landed 3 fish. With winds like that it is better to spend a day going and flying a kite. However when the wind started to die down the fish got really grabby. From 4PM until about 530PM, when we took off, my client landed 13 really nice rainbows. Getting pounded out there in the wind ended up paying off in the last two hours. All in all my client had a great time, but I am glad he had a little glimpse of what the Lower Sac can fish like.

Again Monday was another story. The weather was warm and the wind calm and we saw our first real nice hatch of caddis come off on the Sac. Lets just say that the Lower Sac went off. We hooked over 50 fish and we actually rose 4 fish on dries. The river is starting to get into its spring trend where the morning is a little slow and the afternoons the bite picks up. The hot flies for the weekend were eggs, stones, and princes.

If you are interested in doing any trips in the next month I have March 30 and March 31 available.

Tight Lines!