Yuba Report

So the Rains came and went. Last weekend the Yuba came up from 730 cfs to 900cfs for a day and half and then jumped up to 1393cfs for 2 days before dropping to 1200cfs for a day and then dropping Jan 27 back down to 730cfs. Lots of flow changes in a week. I guided the river last saturday when it was at 900cfs. The clarity was perfect just a tad off color where we could fish what I call "off color water patterns" like big stonflies, attractor patterns, and eggs. The fishing was really good. No huge fish or big winter steelhead to report just really good numbers of hot cookie cutter yuba river rainbows. We also hit a great baetis hatch with some of the best numbers of fish feeding on the surface that I have seen all fall and winter. My client rose multiple fish but he was new at the small fly down stream feed game so none got to the net. Saw one skwala flying around and that was it for last weekend...Sunday I changed venues

This weekend I was out on the river Saturday and the river had just dropped to 730cfs and clarity was about as dark as would like it and still feel confident about catching fish. It was about 1-2" feet visibility on the banks but the runs seemed pretty dark, but I am sure will clear over the next few days once the flows stabilize, though I am not sure what the clarity in the lake is. That said the bugs we were fishing were "off color water patterns" for the most part. The good news was there was bugs out...the warmer water has kicked some bugs into gear. I saw about a handful of skwalas flying around, Baetis hatching, PMD's hatching, and caddis. No march Browns. I saw a few bank anglers hooked up while fishing dry flies but I never stopped to fish any as I had more confidence in nymphing with the off color water. I imagine once the clarity improves over the next couple days and we get some nice consistent mid to high 60's the skwala hatch is going to go off and the other bugs will follow...bringing the fish to the surface. We caught plenty of fish and lost plenty of fish on nymphs and even managed some nice 16-18" fish to the boat.

I would expect the Yuba to get pretty good over the next week or so but who knows it is the Yuba...

If anyone is interested I still have some dates available in Feb
Feb 5, 11, 13, 18-20

Update....

For my weekly rant and banter on fishing check out the Idylwilde blog Nor Cal Report at http://idylwilde.com/wordpress/ along with other very informative posts...

Also I will be speaking at the Jan 12 Granite Bay Fly Casters Meeting (this coming thurs.). I will be giving my presentation titled "Trout Flies: From Imitation to Creation" where I talk about my simplified idea of understanding the 3 basic insect hatches (caddis, mayflies, stoneflies) and how I use that knowledge to create flies. Pretty practical and useful knowledge for any trout fly fishermen or fly tier. Meeting starts at 7pm and anyone interested can check out there website for directions or more details. http://www.gbflycasters.org

In reports...Not much is going on. I feel like I live in Phoenix AZ day time highs have been in the mid to high 60's, no rain for weeks, I have been having to water my lawn in the first week of Jan, and the rivers as low and clear as August. Scary. The Lower Yuba has been fishing good but it really needs some rain to move fish around and get rid of the low and gin clear conditions that can turn fish off on any given day. I had 3 days out there last week and we had good days, not great but good.

The Deeler and I fished Butte Creek twice this week as well and it is LOW and GIN CLEAR. It hasn't been above 300cfs all year and is sitting at 130cfs right now. I don't think you could even get a pontoon boat down it right now let alone a raft. While we managed some trout and what seemed to be a half pounder or two the fishing was slow as we had to cover a ton of water to scratch out a few fish.

Other then that just been tying some flies and enjoying some time off. Keep rain dancing.