Belated Report and other random news

Lots going on in Northern California…Spring seemed to be here and then Tornados, Hail, Rain, Wind, and Snow rolled in for a day or two. Pretty typical late winter early spring February fishing though really, when the weather is nice 60-70 with now wind fishing is good. When the wind, cold, rain, and what ever else gets cooked up moves in fishing can get tough. I spent a few days over the last 2 weeks on the Lower Sac and Lower Yuba Rivers. Fishing was good, great, and tough on various days or all of the three in one given day as the weather changed. Here are some reports and observations.

Lower Yuba

The Lower Yuba fished fair I would say, but like I said above very dependent on what the weather conditions were and more importantly what water was open. Bottom line the river is really crowded. Which is funny as I have worked my tail off to put fair to good numbers of fish in the boat over my last few trips and most of my fish are coming in water that people can’t wade fish. Fish to me seemed to be podded up as a result I think of getting pushed out of a bunch of water by wade fishermen. This Saturday there was wade fishermen in almost every run they could get into.  I don’t have a problem with a crowded river but it does push the fish around.

Most of my fish came on small may fly and midge patterns. I got fish on the new S&M PMD, Better Baetis, brown and coffee black jimmy legs, and quasimoto PT’s. In the back swirls and back waters there has been TONS of midge schucks from midge hatches so I had a duh experience and tied on a zebra midge…next pass both clients hooked fish.

Midge Schucks on the Lower Yuba

Even More Midge Schucks

Lower Yuba Bow

There are also a few small PMD’s when the sun is out and a few baetis when the clouds role in and temperature drops.  I have seen ovipositing skwalas around, but if there is a fish in the river that has not seen or been fooled by a skwala pattern I would be surprised.  I even grabbed one and dropped it down a run that I was pretty sure there were fish in and either there wasn’t fish home or no fish were interested. I found fish podded up in deeper water, swirls , and deep runs. That said I didn’t get a chance to really fish any true riffles as those are where wade fishermen usually congregate.

Fishing should continue to improve over the next few months as weather warms and becomes more stable. Some of the best dry fly fishing of the year is coming up with the PMD, PED, and Caddis hatches.

Lower Sacramento River

The Lower Sac has been good to great on those nice 65-70 degree days. Key is no wind. On the cooler and/or windy days fishing can be a bit tougher. On the warm days the caddis can come off and fish get really grabby that said clarity is still an issue but the lower one goes in the river the better the clarity is. I am still catching good numbers of fish on attractor eggs and stoneflies but over the last few days I have seen more and more fish come on bugs, mostly amber wing caddis, a black Fox poopah with amber wings, S&M PMD Nymph, and bigger flash back PT’s.

I have been spending most of my time between Bonnie View and Anderson and Anderson to Balls Ferry but I know that a few people have done down low from Barge to Bend and had some great days. I think that as the upper stretches get more crowded and the Trinity guides come back on over to the Sac I will move down lower and lower.

Fishing should continue to become more consistent over the next month but can fluctuate with wind and air temps.

Lower Sac Trout

More Lower Sac Trout

BOTTOM LINE

Spring fishing is about to get really good as the weather stabilizes and moves into nice warm spring weather. Fishing on both the lower Sac and Lower Yuba along with the Lower Feather is going to be getting really good. I have a few dates still open in march and april.

March 16, 17

April 3, 6, 7, 13, 14, 21, 28

In other News

The Giants first spring training game is coming up on Feb 23 this coming Saturday…This marks the official beginning of baseball season in my book. Daily games and reports on players. It is hard to catch spring training games as they are all day games for the most part but I DVR the ones I can and listen to ones on KNBR 680 when I can. I was a bit surprised but not to surprised when Bochy named Cain the opening day starter before spring training games ever began but who could argue the decision.

Pleasanton Fly Fishing Show is coming up this coming weekend as well. Cast Hope will be there with a booth and a great raffle. Stop by say HI to Ryan and the crew and buy a raffle ticket. You may win something cool. I am going to try to make it on Sunday but I might have to work all 3 days of the show. Simms fishing products will also be there showing all the new Fall/Winter products. Stop by and see John Sherman and the simms guys to look at the new products…make sure to look at the Kenai Shirt, Windstopper Soft Shell Hoody, and the Cold weather Shirt, these are my must have’s for the fall/winter/early spring.

Booze News: Got a bottle of Makers Mark from the Deeler and have been hooked on Makers, soda water, and a lime. Also been drinking some of the Sierra Nevada Tumbler and the Ovila Abby Quad…so good but not cheap. The New Big Foot ale is out but I have not had a chance to have any yet. I gotta have an evening where I can get a good buzz working to have the Big Foot.

Super bowl Sunday report

Guided the Yuba yesterday. Ryan Johnston has been on it a bit this week and said the dry fly fishing had been decent and the nymph grab was good as well. He also said it was crowded...like someone put up a "free beer" sign crowded. Couple this with Yuba County Water cutting the flows Friday morning from 1700cfs to 1400cfs because it was the 2nd driest January in the last 106 years I was a bit skeptical about how fishing was going to turn out. I had expected to be fishing with an armada of drift boats and blow up toys but when I got to the put in there was one boat in and me...I saw 3 other boats and pontooon throughout the day so not to bad. TONS of wader fishermen though, every run up and down the river it seemed. Flows at 1400cfs though are still high enough where there is room for both boats and wade fishermen, but there was some spots that were a bit cramped.

There was some sporadic bursts of PMD's and a few baetis hatching throughout the day. I have yet to see one skwala flying around but I did see a bank angler hook a fish on a skwala in a swirl behind a rock. I had my clients fish skwala dries and some PMD dries over likely spots with no success and most of the people around in boats and on the bank were throwing dries so I stuck with nymphs most of the day. We hooked fish on small nymphs for the most part, the S&M Pmd nymph was the best with a few fish coming on egg patterns, rubber legs, and PT flash backs. I would say the fishing was, "good winter trout fishing", we hooked some nice fish and got grabs in most spots, but by no means hooked any monsters or had ridiculous numbers.

Fishing should just get better as the weather gets warmer and we move into march. This time of year can be pretty up and down as the weather changes. Look for hatches of PMD's, March Browns, small caddis and maybe some skwalas.

In other news it is super bowl sunday and I took the day off to hopefully enjoy a "Good Game"...I am not a huge NFL guy but Ryan and the Johnston family are coming over as well as my parents to watch the game and have some food. To all the Niners Fans I wish them good luck and enjoy the day.

In music news...if you haven't ever bought a Ryan Adams, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, or Whiskey Town Cd do your self a favor and get one...really anything with Ryan Adams is good. Pretty mellow on the verge of spring but you know there will still be some rainy and gloomy february and march days to come.

Beer News...Cracked a bottle of Sierra Nevada Hop Harmony last night. This is a big American IPA brewed especially for the Hop Growers of America Convention a few weeks ago at the brewery. Pretty sure it was only given out to attendees...I did not attend but I know people.

Post Weekend Report

Spent a few days on the L. Yuba this weekend and fishing was fair. Good numbers of fish and a few nice ones mixed in. Flows have been stable at around 1900cfs though are going to drop to 1700cfs the morning of Jan 24. Clarity is 4-5’ and only in the deeper water is there any remaining color to the river. I found the fish to be spread out in their typical winter haunts. Most of our fish came in the flat water or slower water below runs. As the skwalas get active they should move into some faster water…that is assuming there are still some around after the sustained high water earlier this winter. Most of our fish came on attractor egg patterns, smaller rubber legs, and small mayfly nymphs like S&M’s, Flash back PT’s, and such. I did fish skwala dries for a few runs midday and rose one fish. I did see a handful of fish rise through out the day, but they seemed to be in more May fly water …. Flats and slower water. I did see some smaller baetis flying around, but nothing that I would call a hatch. I did not see one skwala and even got out and turned some rocks over looking for them with no success. That said it is a bit early ESPECIALLY with all the cold weather. I think with these warmer days the hatch should get going in the next week or so.

On the Lower Sac the caddis should start getting going with a few more weeks of warm weather as well. Spring is getting close!!!

I have a few days open over the next few weeks if anyone is interested in getting out on the L. Sac or Lower Yuba.

Jan 26

Feb 2, 9, 16

The Good and the Bad...

We will start with the bad news…As many may now know local California tier, guide, conservationist Bill Carnazzo passed away early this week. While I would not consider myself one of Bill’s good friends I would consider us long time acquaintances…well over a decade. This industry is small and if you work in it for any amount of time you run into everyone at one time or the other. Bill was a huge advocate for out sport, he taught tons of people how to fish the freestone streams of the Sierra Nevada’s and inter mountain region. His tight line nymphing technique is one of the best ways I know of to fish rivers like the North Fork Yuba, North Fork Feather, Upper Sac, Pit, McCloud, and really any river with big rocks, fast water, and trout. I remember the first times I met Bill were when I was working at Nevada City Anglers. He would come in with groups of people he was taking up fishing on the North Fork of the Yuba River. He seemed to be always sharing the sport and what he knew with people. He will be missed but I am sure never forgotten as long as people keep sharing what they learned from him.

In Good news …. Bill wrote a great piece (I think maybe one of his last) for his Fly tying column in California Fly Fishers on my Red Headed Step Child. If you have ever wanted to learn how to tie this fly check out the Jan 2013 issue of California Fly Fisher. Bill convinced me to spill the beans….

Also I have a feature article in the Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Northwest Fly Fishing on the North Fork Feather with some great photography by Kienes employee and my good friend Adam Grace. I have always said the north fork feather is the best-kept secret in the state of CA.

I also signed on to film a show of Fly Fishing the world with Conway Bowman this spring. Should be fun to take the Mako Shark king out trout fishing. More to come on how this goes and when the show will air

Sense we are on the trend of media I down loaded the new Pinback CD this week “Information Retrieved” from I tunes. I love these guys. They are a truly original band and one that while being very original is very accessible and has some catchy tunes. They play this Sunday at Harlow’s in Sacramento and I am going to try to get down to see them but we will have to see how things go with guiding and such. May have to rally as they are from New York so this is a pretty rare west coast non bay area appearance. 

Winter and Early Spring Guiding up date

The onslaught of late fall / early winter storms seems to have passed and the rivers and creeks are settling back to normal and getting on with winter fishing. There is plenty of water, and we are not seeing the low flows of mid winter that we have in previous winters.  With no big storms on the forecast winter hatches and fishing should be consistent for the next few weeks if not months.

The Lower Yuba has been stable for over a week now at 1900cfs and the clarity is perfect with a bit of color. There are a few winter steelhead in the system and with the higher then normal flows more and more should show up over the next 2 months. Skwala Stonefly hatches should start to get going as the weather is suppose to
warm up over the next week and the baetis hatches should get going as well with maybe even a few early march browns. This is a great time of year, as long as the weather stays stable, to swing flies, nymph, and fish dries all in the same day.

The Lower Sacramento River is back to fishable clarity and cranking out its normal big winter fish. I have spent a fair amount of days over the last month on the upper floats on the sac and hooked some of the biggest rainbows of the year. We are
not hooking huge numbers of fish but plenty of action throughout the day with some big fish in the mix. Fishing should remain good over the next few weeks. If we start to get some of that early warm February weather the spring caddis hatches will start up and move into March,which is one of the best months of the year on the Lower Sac.

Butte Creek will remain open until Feb 15 and with any rain the river will jump up again to floatable flows, but for right now the flows are at perfect wade fishing flows. There are good numbers of fish throughout the creek and fishing so far this season has been very good.

Feather River spring steelhead fishing usually gets going in March and if the fall run was any indication of how the spring run will be it should be a great year. Spring is a great time to swing flies on switch rods or light spey rods along with nymphing. I have both Scott and Echo switch and light spey rods for anglers to use if they want to try this style of fishing.

I have raised my rates for 2013 to $425 for a full day and
$325 for a half day and I still have a few winter and early spring dates open:

Jan 20, 21, 26
Feb 2, 3, 9, 16,
March 16, 17, 23, 24, 31

Pre Weekend Report

I spent a few days out over the last week on the L. Yuba and L. Sac.

The lower Yuba has been stable for over a week now around 1900cfs and clarity is improving everyday. These are great flows and with a little color fishing is better then if the water is gin clear. At this flow there is some wade water open to wade fishermen but not a ton.

Fish seem to have adjusted to the flows and moved into normal holding water though are still not keyed on the normal bugs for this time of year. Most fish we caught were on egg patterns, rubber legs, and worm patterns. I fished smaller mayflies and such with no success. I am sure though as the water clears and the baetis and skwala hatches get going smaller mayfly nymphs will start to catch some fish. I know a few guys have started throwing skwala dries with no luck but I am sure it is going to be getting going soon.

The Lower Sac is back in good enough shape and fishing was good this past week. Not huge numbers of fish but great size. The clarity is still marginal up high but the lower you get down the river the better the clarity gets. We ended up hooking some really nice trout on egg patterns and rubber legs. I tried to fish some smaller mayfly nymphs and caught a few fish on Hunch Back PT's.

Both the lower Sac and Lower Yuba should start to stabilize and with no significant rain in the forecast should stay stable for a while. Winter fishing over the next 2 months should be really good on these rivers.

Butte Creek is stable around 360-400cfs and clear. These are great wading flows but a bit low to float so I have not been on the creek recently.

Notre Dame did a bit worse then I expected ... When your team gets slaughtered on national television like mine did you take some flack. I was dissapointed, but I was not expecting to win the game. I thought it would be close, but Alabama would win out in the end...I did not think we would get steam rolled. Bottom line is we were un-ranked going into the season and 8-5 the last two years so going 12-1 and losing the national championship game is a huge improvement. I watched the whole game and will be a fan my entire life any fan rides the ups and the downs that is what a fan does. Furthermore, I never would of thought that the Giants and the Irish would be playing for their respective titles in the same season...Great year for my teams.

Here is some fish porn from the last week ...

Sac piggy

Sac Trout

Deep Sac fish

Nice Yuba fish

Butte Creek...

The one place I get to fish the most in the winter is a little local tributary to the sac that gets a decent steelhead run and has a fair native trout population in various stretches. It is roughly 5-10mins outside of chico and can be waded or floated in a raft depending on the flows. It is a true steelhead river where flows rise and drop with rain and can do so pretty quickly so timing like most things in life is everything.

Yesterday I had the day off due to a cancelation and I have been wanting to try the lower float on the river which requires a bit of a sketchy take out, so I called a good friend of mine and we headed to the creek with raft in tow about noon. River was gin clear and had been dropping steadily for about a week. Our goals was to float the lower stretch to the diversion dam and hopefully run into some fresh fish that moved up over the dam with the last rain. Fishing started slow but by about half way through the float we started to run into some fish and it seemed for about 5-7 runs we hit a fish every run. By the end we had to row through some of the best runs as I had promised my wife a nice steak dinner for new years eve and light was getting at a premium. We ended up landing 5 fish and all hovered around the 16-20" range and one was a nice female full of eggs. Ended up BBQing with my head lamp but it was a great way to spend the afternoon and the take out was easier then I had thought...though it does require two people. Here are some pics...

Pretty special Place

Nice Fat Male

rowing can be a little dicey with all the obstacles but all part of the fun

Nice Female

Continue on my friend