xmas...high water...not much to do....and ham.

Xmas was great. Funny how Xmas is sorta reborn and takes on a whole new meaning when you have young kids. It is really a lot of fun watching my oldest who is 2.5 open presents and get all fired up. That said now that Santa has come I am a little screwed as I used "Santa" to manipulate my sons behavior for the last month or so. To the point where I had him convinced that every time he wined Santa brought one less gift. Good stuff.

High water is every where. I have had to cancel a ton of trips this Xmas break as there is no where to fish. Lower Sac dropped down to 10,000cfs Xmas eve and should stablize and fish here shortly. The Lower Yuba is now below 6000cfs and looks to be dropping pretty steadily. Deer Creek is still around 250cfs but looks to be steadily dropping as well. I am hoping that the Lower Yuba is fishable this weekend but with the rain that is suppose to come in today and tomorrow who knows as Accuweather forcast over 2" of rain. Butte Creeks is still around 800cfs and unfishable.

With nothing to fish I am been going a little stir crazy but If the Lower Sac doesn't change it should fish fine here in the next few days so I will be back on the water towards the end of the week.

Also I had ham in some for for 7meals straight from xmas dinner on. I have run out of ways to use left over ham. I will most likely revert to the beginning and work my way back to a ham quesedilla.

Rain...and more Rain

So it has rained a ton up here in Nor Cal. Early last week prior to the arrival of what most talking heads on TV called the storm of the century the Lower Sac jumped from 7000cfs'ish to 15,000cfs'ish. Not a bad flow but this is a standard summer flow not a late December flow. The Lower Yuba was cranked up from 1500cfs to 4000cfs. This is the top of the "I'll go fish it" flow chart. The feather stayed stable. Then the rains came...

The Lower Sac has stayed stable down to about Cow Creek. I spent a few days fishing Posse Grounds down to RV and fishing was fair to good. When the wind was blowing the rain side ways fishing was good. Nothing spectacular but good winter fishing. Flows remain stable and fishing should improve with some consistent mild weather. I do imagine though that they will drop the flows back down eventually so keep an eye on that.

Lower Yuba blew out Saturday. The river peaked around 19,000cfs and is now dropping steadily to around 8000cfs. Deer Creek peaked around 3000 cfs and is now down to around 300cfs. Once Englebright stops spilling over the river should stabilize and get down around 3000cfs which is high but fishable. With deer creek dropping clarity should be fishable sooner than later. I expect the river to fish really well as soon as it comes into shape. Hopefully we won't get any more significant rain and I can get back on the river next week.

Feather River is fishable but most fish are up by the hatchery in the closed zone that opens Jan. 1. Should be good up there when it opens. I wouldn't brave the first day but the following weeks will provide some good fishing if everything else is blown out.

Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for Christmas. I gotta go brave the shopping crowds today as I have put off every facet of my christmas preparation until last minute.

Yuba Weekend

The flows on the Lower Yuba have settled down after the rain of the last week, hovering around 1300-1400cfs. Great flow. Good water moving through the flats still wadeable in spots and not in others. Clarity is about 2-3 feet and perfect for off color flies and for fish to get a bit grabby.

Spent the weekend with a good client of mine who has fished the Lower Yuba a ton with me. We hooked +25 fish both days and lost a few nice steelhead...so fishing was really good. That said most of the fish we were hooking were not in water that a wade fisherman could get to so if you are thinking of going to wade the river keep your expectations realistic. I did see a few wade fisherman hooked up though so that was positive. Also saw a lot of guys throwing switch rods and swinging flies...though I didn't see any of them hooked up the river was in perfect shape to swing streamers on sink tips. We found most of the fish in deeper runs and in riffles hanging at the drop offs. Best flies were egg patterns, Jimmy Leggs, and san juan worms. In the lower river there was a few caddis and baetis hatching and while we did hook some fish on Yuba Pupa's and Olive birds nest we didn't hook any on baetis nymphs or see any fish eating flies on the surface. All in all a great few days on the Lower Yuba. finals this week then Christmas break.

Weekend/mid Week Report

Guided the Lower Yuba and Butte Creek this weekend. The Lower Yuba fished very well. Lots of fresh 16-18" half pounders and good numbers of mid size trout eating. Most fish came on egg patterns, san juan worms, and small mayfly nymphs. That said with the rain on sunday the river has now blown out. River is up over 3000 cfs and Deer Creek is dropping but still over 100cfs. Can't imagine the river will come back into shape by this weekend as it is raining now and more rain is forcasted over the next few days.

Butte Creek fished pretty slow. Water conditions were perfect but just didn't find any fish. I know there was a big salmon kill this summer and I am seeing the results on the river. Usually there are a few redds around, spawned out salmon, and dead salmon...I haven't seen any of these things. That said I haven't floated the creek yet but it isn't looking good. The creek did blow out but is now coming down but who knows what is gonna happen with the rain coming in. Lower Sac up through redding is holding in shape as well as the feather so if you need to get out those are solid options.