In this post you will find discounted trips in February and an up-to-date fishing report from our valley rivers. I will give you the hot bugs and techniques so that you can go out on your own and be successful. Hope to see you on the water this spring. Get in contact with me if you want to book any trips for the spring CADDIS HATCH on the Lower Sac, DRY FLY fishing on the Yuba, or to chase some SPRING STEELHEAD on the Feather.
Now for the Nor Cal Valley Fishing Report:
Lower Sac:
The Lower Sac has had an interesting winter. Typically this is the time of year where we target those big rainbows up by the Posse Grounds. But usually we are fishing in prime cloudy and rainy conditions. This spring weather we are getting in January is affecting the fishing adversely. We want the clouds because it gets that second egg bite going. Yesterday on the river is was 70 degrees and there were summer caddis coming off. We still caught some great fish under the sun with the best going 21.5 inches. My clients and I ended up hooking 21 trout but only landing 10 fish. So needless to say that we had to work for them. It was the first time ever that I have caught a fish in the winter on a summer tan caddis pattern. The hot flies have been eggs, tan poopahs, Hogan's S&M, and olive micro mays.
There are things to get excited for with this warm weather. That means the spring caddis hatch is just around the corner. So get excited for some awesome fishing in late February through March. If you want to fish the Lower Sac during prime time then March is hard to beat. In 2010 this was the best month of the year.
Yuba:
The Yuba is in a similar trend to the Lower Sac. Lots of sun, minimal bugs, and higher flows makes for some tough fishing. I was out there yesterday guiding a buddy of mine and he hooked 6 fish in about 5 hours of fishing. Pretty tough for the Yuba but it would have been better if we had a second rod in the boat. The river is at higher flows and is currently at 3,000 cfs. It is definitely at the point where you need to fish it out of the boat. Not lots of wading opportunities at these flows. With the increased flows there are a few steelhead being caught. Even though they are rare this is the time of year this is when the majority of those ocean going fish show up. Look to find the majority of the fish in the flats and off the edges of the faster currents. At these flows fish really like to pod up. So where you catch one there should be another willing fish waiting. If the weather stays warm like this expect to start seeing some major skwalas in the next couple of weeks. I actually had a couple land on me in the boat yesterday. So it is getting close to that time. The hot bugs have been eggs, san juans, rubberlegs, skwala stones, and Hogans S&M.
Feather:
The Feather is in its winter dull drums. The next 6 weeks there is nothing to be done on the feather. There will be a random fish or two out there for the die hard fisherman. But this time of year you might as well go fish the American river. The American is a much more winter viable fishery as compared to the Feather.
Get excited though. Because those spring fish are on the way. Those springers will be in the river in good numbers by mid March. These are the hottest fish in the valley. Most days we hook 10+ springers between 14-24". If you want to catch some hot fish under the sunny conditions of March and April then this is your game. This is by far my favorite time of year to fish the Feather. There are two specials for you to take advantage of this winter:
In February I will be offering some discounted trips on days that I am having a hard time booking. The cost of a full day trip for the selected dates below is going to be $275. You get a full day trip at the half day cost. This is a savings of $125.
February 9-10, 14-15, 23
Looking forward if you are interested in doing any trips this winter or spring then my openings are below. For those of you that want to get prime weekend dates for spring fishing then now is the time to start looking at your schedules.
March 1-3, 5, 8, 12-13, 18-25, 28-31
April 1-6, 9-22, 24-29
Well......I think that is it. I want to thank all of you for a great 2010. We caught some great fish and made some awesome stories. To big fish that got away, a few beers being drunk, sitting in hail storms, breaking rods, falling in the river, and spending time with friends. I look forward to all of our future trips and memories.
Hope to see you this Spring.
Tight Lines!
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