Yuba Clarity

Here is a quick report on the clarity of the Yuba. I fished the Yuba on Saturday and there was about one foot of clarity. The water was definitely brown. It was not even close to green. The odd thing was the edges of the river were clearer than the middle. On the edges there was about a foot and a half of visibility. There were definitely some bugs coming off though with a handful of PMDs, March Browns, and even a few Skwalas. Needless to say with the tough water clarity the fishing wasn't good. In total we got three rainbows. I guess three is better than none. At least there was no skunk left in the boat. As deer creek gets lower the clarity on the Yuba should start improving. I would expect the Yuba to be in prime shape by Tuesday or Wednesday.

Hopefully someone can add some input on the clarity today. I will be back out there tomorrow.

For anyone interested in booking March 16 or 22 for the Yuba, Lower Sac, or Feather I will take $100 off.

Tight Lines!

Water Clarity Report

Amidst all of the rain we have had in the last couple of weeks I am sure you all are wondering about clarity on the local rivers. I guided the Yuba on Friday and was only expecting about 3-4 feet of visibility with deer creek flowing around 100cfs. When I showed up at the river it was like last weeks storm never even happened. The Yuba was extremely clear and there was about 6 feet of visibility. With all of the rain I am sure that deer creek has to be pumping quite a bit of color into the water but it probably is fishable. Friday the fishing was good but not excellent. We hooked 17 rainbows and landed 10 of them. The hot flies were rubberlegs, copper johns, and small olive caddis patterns. The morning was pretty slow with hardly any bugs on the water. We hooked the majority of our fish after 1PM. The cool thing is that we landed two big yuba rainbows with one going 23" and the other 21". Those big fish really pull on that river.

The clarity on the Lower Sac on Saturday was about 4 feet up in Posse Grounds. The fishing was good and we boated 30+ rainbows on a variety of nymphs from rubberlegs, red copper johns, red headed step child, and flashback pt's. Sunday the story was a whole lot different on the upper drift between Posse and Bonnyview. The water clarity this morning was about 3 feet above Sundial Bridge but only about 1 foot at the 44 bridge. Needless to say the fishing above sundial was awesome. We landed 8 fish from the boat launch to the bridge but after that only 3 more fish were hooked. I ended up rowing off because the water was brown brown! It could have been an epic day if we would have kept the 3 feet of clarity. Oh well. We all know that the rain is much needed. The clarity on the Lower Sac should be back to fishable by the middle of the week.

For anyone interested in fishing I will take $100 off anyone wanting to get guided on the Lower Sac or Yuba on March 1, 2, 4, or 6. A great price for some late winter fishing.

Fish Hard even in the Rain!

Lower Sac Spring Caddis Hatch Around the Corner

With all of the warm weather the north state is getting those fish on the Lower Sac are starting to look for caddis. I was on the river three times last week and each trip the hot fly of the day was some caddis variation. So this means that the caddis hatch is getting close. Each time on the river I would see a handful of caddis fluttering about but not anything a fly fisherman would call a hatch. All I can say is that you want to be on the Lower Sac when that hatch comes off. Last year it was arguably some of the best fishing during the entire year. When the fish start gorging themselves on caddis the fishing can get pretty silly on the river. Currently things are just getting going. Currently we are boating 25+ rainbows on the middle drifts of the river. But when that caddis hatch starts those numbers are going to go way up. The spring caddis hatch should last for about 3-4 weeks. So make sure you plan accordingly to get some time on the water.

The last couple of weeks on the middle part of the river, between Anderson and Jellys Ferry, we have been hooking a stray steelhead about every other day. Actually one of my clients had a treat last week when he hooked two adult steelies in the same day. This doesn't happen very often on the Sac. Especially in the middle of winter. But it looks like it is going to set up like last spring where we hook steelhead all the way through May. It is exciting when you have a chance of hooking a random steelie in the midst of a massive caddis hatch.

Contact me ASAP if you want prime dates for the Sac or the Yuba.

Fish Hard!

Lower Sac Report 1/24 & 1/25

I had a couple of great days on the Lower Sac this weekend. On Saturday I was lucky enough to get out there with my dad and Bonnie (wife) for a half day. We floated from Posse Grounds down to Bonnyview. We did this float in about 4 hours time and the fishing was consistent all the way down the float. I didn't work to hard trying to backrow stuff. We managed to land a dozen fish on eggs and small mayfly nymphs. The quality of the fish was awesome. Almost all of the fish we landed were between 16-19''. It is a special thing when you can row for your wife and dad. I still love watching how excited Bonnie gets when she hooks a fish. It is awesome fishing with her because she knows what she is doing and most of the time out fishes the other person in the boat. As she did again with my dad. It must be that womans touch. I guess I taght her enough of the right fly fishing technique.

Sunday I guided the Lower Sac and we floated from Posse Grounds down to Sac RV. The fishing was really good. We hooked 40+ rainbows on this drift. This has been one of my better winter days out on the Sac so far this year. We landed four fish that went 19'' and we got several others that were all 18''. I think that we might have hooked a steelhead above Sac RV because whatever we hooked took about 25 yards of backing off my clients reel in about 10 seconds. We never saw the fish because he ended up wrapping us around something on the bottom of the river. Bummer. Steelhead on that drift are pretty rare! Another Lower Sac steelhead that gets the better of us!

For anyone interested I will take $100 off if you want to book a trip for the Lower Sac or the Yuba on January 27, 28, 29, or February 1. Both of these fisheries are doing well so take advantage of this last minute discount.

Tight Lines!

Another Day on the Yuba

The Skwalas have started coming off. I saw a little more than a dozen of them yesterday. Didn't see tons of fish eating them on the surface but there were a couple toilet flush grabs in a couple of the riffles. There is no doubt when a fish takes a stone fly on the surface.

I had one client with me yesterday and it was a pretty average day on the Yuba. We hooked a dozen fish and landed seven of them. Almost every fish ate a stone pattern. No surprise with the amount of skwalas around. Those rainbows yesterday were slamming our bugs. There was nothing subtle about the takes. The indicator was slamming under the water when a fish took. I tried all kinds of small bugs and got a couple fish on small mayfly patterns but it seems to me like they were focused on the stones. Yesterday you could call those Yuba rainbows stoners!

Lots of fish in the 15-17" range. With one nice rainbow right at the 20" mark. Those rainbows still blow me away on how well they fight. Its like a miniature steelie at the end of your line.

I have a few days open through Jan 21. So if anyone wants to do a trip in that time frame I will take off $100. Contact me asap if you want to go.

Fish Hard!

One of those Special Yuba days

I guided the Yuba last Wednesday and the fishing was great. It was one of those days were it seems like everything was going right. To be honest I think we got a little lucky with the weather. With a little patience and quite a bit of bug changing we were able to pull a fish in about every dependable spot. In total my clients hooked 24 rainbows and landed 19 of them. We were lucky enough to get two fish on baetis dries. Most of the fish we caught came on stones, eggs, and small mayfly nymphs. The hot bugs were Hogans S&M, small FB Pheasant tails, Rubberlegs, and orange egg patterns.

What was crazy is that we hooked and landed a 25'' rainbow about a mile or so above Sycamore. When I netted the fish I thought that it was around 21'' because of the size of the rainbow. I put it up to the tape to get an accurate measurement and it stretched all the way to the 25'' mark. The rainbow probably only weighed three pounds when it should have gone 5 or 6 lbs. The fish was really snaky looking. It was an awesome fish but to be honest a little disappointing.

For anyone who wants to fish the Yuba or the Lower Sac this week I will take $100 off any trip booked

Fish Hard!

Yuba River on 12/30/08 & Holiday Special

I got the chance to go fish the Yuba with one of my good buddies on Tuesday. It was great to get back out on the water after all of the Christmas madness. The weather and the river were both nice and clear. We floated from the Highway 20 bridge down to the rod and gun club access a couple of mile past the Sycamore campground. The fishing was about average on the Yuba for a single rod fishing out of the boat. We managed to hook thirteen fish and land 8 of them. We probably would have gotten a handful more if we had some more flies in the water with a second rod. The bugs that were the most productive were a Red Copper John (16), Hogans S&M (16), and Flashback PT (16). I tried eggs throughout the day but I think that the clear day and high sun really killed the egg bite. If you get out there under some dark rainy conditions then make sure to try throwing your favorite egg patterns.

In the warmest part of the day there were some bugs coming off. There was a decent baetis hatch and a handful of PMD's coming off. The baetis were about a size 18 and the PMD's a 16. I was surprised by the PMD's since it is in the middle of winter. Needeless to say there were a handful of fish feeding on them. We were able to rise one rainbow on a dry. However we just pricked him.

For those of you interested in a holiday special. If you book two trips between January 1 & March 15 then I will give you a third trip free during the same time period. This is a cool deal because it will give you the opportunity to fish the second egg bite on the Lower Sac in January, the Skwala Hatch on the Yuba in February, and then finally the caddis hatch on the Lower Sac in March. Three trips for the price of two. Get together with a buddy each pay for a trip then the two of you get a thid trip to hang out.

Hope you all have a safe and wonderful New Year.

Tight Lines!