Weekend

Guided the Yuba this weekend....Tough. River is low and super clear. Some people have always had the idea that fish at this time of year move up river and the lower river becomes devoid of fish. Not sure I buy this as fishing has been tough through out the river. I am more of the opinion that the month of november is always tough as fish have gorged on eggs for the better part of 6 weeks and just sit on the bottom and digest.

Fishing this weekend was tough but by changing flies, rigs, and weight we caught fish. Most fish came on small tippet 6x and 5x, small caddis or mayflies. Once the sun was off the water we caught fish on eggs but nothing on stoneflies or bigger attractor patterns. Fish were spread out and we did find a few steelhead in the lower river landing one and loosing another. So fish are still moving in. Bottom line is we need some rain to mix things up, move fish around, and get fish back on the feed.

Whiskey, low flows, clear skies...great steelhead fishing

Went out to a small steelhead trib of the sac yesterday afternoon...super low flows, clear skies, clear water, no rain recently....great steelhead conditions....best thing about the afternoon was the drinking of the new green label Jack Daniels...Good stuff. Didn't touch a fish, see a fish, or miss catching one after a few pulls of JD.

the weekend...

Finally seems like winter weather is here. In chico it has been cold high 30's low 40's over the night and hovering around mid 50's to 60's during the day. Spent time over the last few days guiding the Lower Yuba, Lower Sac, and helping my buddy Ryan Johnston and his wife Bonnie move into their new home. Fishing on the Yuba was good when the weather was bad and bad when the weather was good....Bottom line fishing on the L. Yuba has been tough. The fish are there but November fishing is always a bit up and down after fish gorge themselves on eggs for two months. Floated the Lower Sac on sunday and fishing was fair to good. Hooked one nice adult steelhead and good numbers of typical football L. Sac rainbows. Was a little bummed we didn't get another steelhead in a few runs but over all a great day on the river.

Other than that have the whole week off from school...gonna fish today when my wife gets home from work...Tuesday paint kitchen then go kill somthing with wings...Wednesday fish or shoot...not sure...eat thursday...back on the water fri, sat, sun. Have a great thanksgiving and time off with family...over and out.

back to the world...

So we moved into our new house on veterans day and I have finally unpacked my office and got internet hooked up again. Still no dryer as our old house had gas and this house needs gas hook up put in and my wife won't let me mess with gas lines after various "incidents" with electrical projects. Other than that the house is great and oliver and the dogs are loving all the new space.

Trout season has come to a close and the winter season has opened...Butte Creek, Big Chico Creek, Salmon Fishing on the L. Sac all opened on Nov. 15. While I am sure some commando's were on butte and big chico at first light on sunday I have not heard any reports yet. I am sure there are a few fish in each system but I know from driving over both creeks that they need rain. I usually don't fish these creeks until the first big blow out of the year and then rush out to fish the drop.

Guided the Lower Yuba this last weekend and fishing was TOUGH. Only saw a few salmon on redds and the egg bite has definately dropped off. We did scratch a few fish and lost a few nice ones but almost all our fish came on buggs in what I call bug water. For the most part though I would say the fish are sitting on the bottom digesting a month and half worths of eggs. Fishing should pick up again in mid dec.

If you live in the Bay Area the idylwilde crew (me, Kevin Price, Mikey Weir, Jason Hartwick) will be at the California Fly Shop on Dec 12 from 10-3 for a fly tying day. All of us will do a presentation, tie, and answer any questions people have about flies or tying. Also there will be plenty of Idylwilde stickers, hats, etc....plus some prizes of beer and flies....cases of sierra nevada to be specific...Free lunch and tunes I think as well...should be a good time

Nov. 7 and 8th weekend

Spent this weekend on the Lower Sacramento from Red Bluff to Los Molinos. Fishing was fair. Caught some nice size rainbows for this stretch of river and a few clip fin steelhead but not the big fish you go down there for. Most of the fish came on bugs but a few came on eggs. This might have to do with the fact that there are scary few redds. Like maybe 3 or 4....there should be a ton by this time of year in about 2-3 spots on this float. Couple this with the fact I only saw 4 salmon...scary for the sac. I think the river up and down is fishing fair but there are not a lot of salmon around on the L. Sac from what I hear. I don't fish up high much anymore but I know that those that do are not impressed with the numbers of fish.

So...back to the Lower Yuba next weekend. I was glad to see we may get some rain wednesday but kinda pissed since that is the one day we have decided to move ALL our stuff into our new house...nice....never moved in the rain. Any how keep in mind as the egg bite on most rivers slows down fish move to deeper, slower water to digest. Down size flies, weight, and tippet and you can still get em...and the big guys start eating again first so keep that in mind.

A day wasted

I had presentations by Butte College in all my classes today (all senior econ and govt) so I spent the whole day cruising the web, reading, sleeping while the lights were out for a power point...great day. Any how if you get a chance check out the new issue of catch magazine at www.catchmagazine.net also http://catchmag.blogspot.com. Also check out all the drake movie award winners on http://www.drakemag.com/videos/2009-films. sweet flics even if you have to watch them with out sound as I did. Also check out the new issue of this is fly at www.thisisfly.com......So much cool stuff on line now adays. with regards to fishing this week none in sight...lots of fly tying in the morning and guiding this weekend both days. Red Bluff to Los Mo on the sac saturday and we'll see on sunday maybe L. Yuba or secret canyon river....I am out of to pray for a Phils come back in the 8th

Yuba Weekend

Guided the Lower Yuba this last weekend. River was not that crowded at all but fishing was fair. Fishing has definately slowed down over the last week. There are still good numbers of redds and more redds showing in the lower river but fish seemed to have moved off the beds. Most of the fish we caught were on bugs in slower deeper water. This usually means fish are gorged on eggs and moved off into deeper water to digest. We did find some fish eating eggs in the shallows but the consitent bite was on smaller Yuba Pupa's and red headed stepchilds. Next weekend I am going to move over to the Lower Sac I think in the lower floats (redbluff down) to start looking for some bigger steelhead. Haven't heard any good reports from the feather but I am sure with the next big storm things should pick up over there. Over and out.