Spring is coming

Spring is coming! While it is officially spring on the calendar spring weather seems a few weeks off. There is still plenty of fishing and plenty of fishing coming up. Here is what is going on and what is on its way.

Lower Yuba is coming down and clearing up from the recent storms but once it clears it should be game on for spring/summer fishing. This is the best time of year to be on the river for dry fly fishing. With hatches of PMD’s, PED’s, March Browns, Gray Drakes, various caddis, Little yellow sallies, and golden stones the fish began to focus on the surface to feed. Flows should be increasing due to run off and summer irrigation so the flats and bigger riffles will be tough to wade making a boat mandatory.

Lower Sacramento River is low and fishing is hit and miss with the weather but as soon as we get some stable spring weather the caddis hatches and PMD hatches should get kicking March and April should be good this year and June –July are always great months to be on the river as the spring crowds thin out and many days we can have the lower floats all to ourselves.

Lower Feather has a good number of spring steelhead in the system with the standard 18-20” chrome springer “half pounders” and a few larger adults. The fishing should remain good through April and into the first part of May. This is great place to swing flies on a switch or spey rod as these fish will chase down caddis or attractor patterns swung through the riffles.

North Fork Feather should have plenty of water to start trout season and with the less then average snow pack run off should not be as big. I will be running float trips on the NF Feather this year and this is a great wild trout fishery for the more adventurous angler. Great dry fly fishing and nymph fishing through mid July.

Shad and Stripers should start showing up around the first week of May with shad fishing peaking mid May to mid June and Striper fishing stretching from May through September.

Bass are starting to wake up and I have added a few new private bass fisheries to my list of places as well as local reservoirs, lakes, and rivers. May through July is great for Smallmouth, Largemouth, and spotted bass.

Lake Almanor – I will doing some trips up on lake almanor and various Plumas county lakes for both trout and smallmouth bass during the annual Hex hatch and throughout the summer. Call or email for more details.

Clearwater Lodge – I will again be spending some time working up at Clearwater lodge guiding the fall river, Pit River (#1 and #3, #4), Lake Britton, Hat Creek (upper and lower), and various other lakes and ditches. For more details on packages and guiding up at the Lodge give me a call, drop me an email, or check out www.clearwaterlodge.com.

We should finally have a more normal spring this year with plenty of fishable water. Give me a call or drop me an email regarding open dates April - August.