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.

Here we go...

GO IRISH!!!!! Finally we beat USC...on the road non the less with our barely 18 year old freshman back up QB. Love it!!!! Should get a decent bowl game and even maybe the bowl that they have at AT&T Park which would be sweet as then I can go and not miss much do to travel time.

In other news Guided the Lower Yuba yesterday and the weather was all over the place...Pissing Rain...freezing winds...periods of warm cloud cover...and then all over again through the cycle. Scratched out about 12-15 hook ups amongst huge swings in light conditions, air temperature, and rain. Over all a tough day and I don't think we caught more than one fish on the same fly. Baetis would get active for 10-20mins then the air temperature would drop or the wind would come up. Over all tough day but good day of winter trout fishing. We did see some big steelhead role but couldn't get them to eat and there is still salmon moving up river below the dam so winter should be good.

Other than that not a lot going on. Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving and got out to fish over the short break here. Take care.

Quick report

It has been COLD...I have spent an afternoon fishing on my own on butte creek and day guiding the creek along with a few days on the feather. here is the reports:

Butte Creek flows have been all over the place lately but seem to have stabilized around 139-160cfs. This is a low but good flow. I spent an afternoon fishing and covered alot of water to catch two adults. I fished a ton of holes that if there is significant numbers of fish in the river should hold fish and didn't. I did not spend any time in the lower creek so maybe there are more fish down there. I caught all my fish on egg patterns. Guiding the creek we found a bunch of small half pounders and 3 adult fish but we COVERED A TON of water to do it...I think some more rain and more fish are needed to make the creek a bit more consistent.

I also floated 2 days on the feather. one day from town down to palm and then another did town to the outlet twice. Both days the river was pretty crowded but we managed to hook 2 adults both days. Not huge numbers but all 4 fish were fresh winter fish and were well over 20". Conditions were tough as it was very cold, windy, and clarity in the high flow was not very good. Either way not bad for winter steelhead fishing. Over all I think most of the adult fish are up above the hwy 70 bridge and fishing come Jan 1 when that stretch opens should be pretty good for a few weeks. Back on the water tomorrow.

Lack of posts...so here is a meaty one...so meaty

So I haven't been on the water in about 2 weeks as last weekend I took Wednesday-Sunday off and went back to Notre Dame with my father. It was Senior weekend and my father who has coached high school football sense leather helmets has a player on the team who starts at Tackle. Not only was a great weekend but the game was amazing as the Irish defeated Utah soundly and with a win today at Yankee Stadium against Army will become bowl eligible. Granted we may get like the south Dakota chamber of commerce bowl or something it is the extra 15 or practices that the team will get to set up next year that are important.

In other news I will be back on the water tomorrow through thurs. then sat and sun again on the Lower Yuba, Feather, L. Sac, or Butte Creek depending on what this storm does that is moving through. Didn't drop much rain last night or this morning but it has gotten really cold here in chico. Massive Reports to come over the next week.

In other news Idylwilde has released pictures of my new 2011 flies so here is a few snap shots of what is coming out.

Hogan's Lil' Bastard: A small midge/baetis pattern I came up with last winter on the L. Yuba but I fished it a ton through the summer up on Hat, Fall, and Baum Lake. This thing has caught fish all over for me and is my go to small baetis fly. comes in #18 and #20

Hogan's Petrified Pupa - New caddis pattern I came up with last spring when people started fishing my Yuba Pupa alot....gotta stay ahead the game. Comes in tan and olive

Hogan's Slow Guy - PMD and BWO: Came up with this fly to fish right before or during PMD and Baetis hatches when the nymphs are starting to swell with gas underneath the exoskeleton and getting ready to emerge. Fished this fly all last winter and spring on the Yuba and the L. Sac then fished it a ton on Fall River and Hat Creek.


Hogan's Fastwater caddis: This bad dog was born on the freestones of the sierras (N.F. Feather, N.F. Yuba, Pit River, Burney Creek...Deer Creek, Butte Creek...etc.). Stiff krystal flash legs to give the illusion of a scrambling egg laying caddis. Peacock butt to immitate an egg sack with a hackle head and beefy elk hair wing to keep this thing afloat as you high stick it through the chop.


Hogan's Golden Child and Hogan's Indigo Child: I have fished these flies for year and with the success of the Red Headed Steph Child I decided to release them this year...you know where to fish them.


Also Look for new Yuba Pupa Colors this year as well....

Now if that wasn't enough to chew on there will be reports coming soon...along with some tails of my exploits in the mid west