Winter Forecast and available dates

Winter is here….Sorta…we haven’t had much weather but hopefully we get some rain soon, but not to much. There is some great fishing happening right now and coming up over the next 2 months. Here is what to expect:

Lower Yuba is entering into its Winter stage. Baetis hatches are getting going providing some dry fly fishing on any given day and there are still some winter salmon around so fish are still eating eggs. The fall crowds have disappeared and fishing should continue to be strong through January. With some rain we should see some winter steelhead moving up river as well.

Lower Sacramento River is fishing well in the middle to lower river. Winter fishing is getting going on the Lower Sac as well. The baetis hatches are getting going, even providing some dry fly fishing on various days. There are still good numbers of half pounders and a few adult steelhead in the lower river and the big trout up through town are starting to feed again as well. Winter fishing on the L. Sac can be very good as this is when some of the biggest rainbows of the year are caught.

Butte Creek is fishing fair to good. We really need some rain to bring the flows up and move some fish up river. That said the creeks is fishing fair for trout and a few early steelhead. Floating the creek is tough at the low flows but not impossible. With a good rain storm this creek will really start to turn on.

Winter is a great time to get out and fish as the fall crowds have disappeared and the fish have to keep eating!!!

Available dates:

Dec: 16, 17, 20, 28-31

Jan: 2-8, 16, 21, 22

Last few days....

With a week off of school I have been guiding the last four days. I spent days on the Lower Sac, Butte Creek, and Lower Yuba. I floated the Lower Sac from Red Bluff to Los molinos looking for trout and steelhead two days with mixed results. Both days we hooked adult steelhead and a few trout but fishing was by no means off the hook. One day the wind came up after lunch and kinda shut things down but the second day the wind stayed away and the baetis hatch came off pretty solid. We had, as you can have some days, good dry fly fishing during the baetis hatch. One client wading a flat hooked and landed 6 nice fish on small baetis dries. Most of our fish came on small mayfly nymphs and egg patterns.


Butte Creek so far has been really low. It needs rain to bring the flows up and bring some steelhead up the river. While there are resident wild trout in the creek they are not the main attraction for most. Sense the flows are so low I opted to walk and wade with my clients. We hooked one nice adult fish and a handful of resident rainbows. Not a bad day but I prefer to float the creek and will probably wait until we get some rain before I head out there again.


The Lower Yuba fished good as well. Lots of grabby smaller fish and a few bigger fish. Most fish came on egg patterns, small mayfly nymphs, a caddis pupa later in the day. Fish seem to be holding in traditional bug water and have moved out of the shallows where most anglers look for them eating salmon eggs this time of year. While we did catch fish on egg patterns they were more attractor style egg patterns and not beads.

Over all winter fishing is getting into swing on all the rivers and I still have some Dec./Jan. dates available if anyone is interested shoot me an email.

New Nor Cal Report

New Nor Cal Report on the Idylwilde Blog...check it out and consider yourself informed when done.

http://idylwilde.com/wordpress/

Reports and what is coming up...

Been fishing all over the place recently as there is a lot of places fishing well and the weather has most definitely turned from Indian summer/fall to winter. Here is what has been going on...

Lower Sac - I have been from Aqua Gold down to Los Molinos over the last few weeks and fishing has been good to fair to tough through out the river. I still have not run into much of an egg bit and I think most have written it off for this year...again. Most of my days have been down between Red Bluff and Los Molinos chasing trout and steelhead. Fishing has been pretty good. When ever we fish down here you are taking a few less trout in exchange for the opportunity of getting into a steelhead. Over the weekend we caught good numbers of nice size trout, fin clipped half pounders, and two adult steelhead. Most fish came on small flies which can make those bigger fish tough. A few fish came on eggs but most were on smaller mayflies and attractors.

Feather River - Feather remains fair as there are still plenty of salmon on redds down to Palm Ave and good numbers of steelhead in the river. That said there are alot of people chasing them. We got into a few half pounders and a few adults over the weekend on egg patterns. Nothing to get totally excited about but I was happy with our numbers based on the crowds on the river.

Lower Yuba - I am thinking of heading back over to the Yuba soon as the baetis hatches are starting. Ryan Johnston was over there this weekend and said that he had good numbers of fish but most were pretty small. He did get 3 fish on dries which is pretty cool. I would like to see a bit of rain add some color to the river and maybe kick up the flows a bit before I head over again but I may just say screw it and see if I can get into some dry fly fishing over there.

Butte Creek - The creek opens up Nov. 15 and as of now flows are LOW but that is pretty typical for this time of year with no real rain. I did see on the long range forecast that there is some serious rain coming in over the next few weeks which should help. The raft is ready and I am getting pretty pumped for a good Butte Creek season.

I think salmon season is about over...

I spent the last few days on the Lower Feather and Lower Sac. Fishing was good to fair on both. Lower Feather has been fishing pretty good and has decent numbers of jumbo half pounders in the river with a few bigger adults. Still about the same numbers of salmon up on redds in the areas that I fished. Most fish came on beads or smaller attractor nymphs. Fishing should continue to be about the same could use some rain to mix things up over there and move some fish around.

Lower Sac fished fair. The egg bit is a myth and while we caught a few fish on eggs one day the other day I didn't even fish them. I didn't see one salmon on an active red. There are few salmon up in the shallows and we did catch a few fish behind them but all on bugs. If it was any other time of year I would say the fishing was good but the expectations for the 3rd week of October on the L. Sac are pretty high and we no where near reached those expectations. Most fish came on birds nest, Caddis poopahs, and S&M's. The caddis hatch midday was pretty good and fish got on the bigger caddis patterns later in the day...Not sure what to expect from the L. Sac going forward.

Update

Mid Fall Fishing is shaping very nicely in northern California and winter fishing is right around the corner. Here is what has been happening and what is coming up.


Lower Yuba - has come back down to earth after fishing lights out for the last month. Fishing has been very good from about mid September until very recently. I spent Saturday guiding the river and fishing was good but we had to work for our fish and there were some dry spells at times. Fish are up on the reds eating eggs and usually the first guy through the reds is going to catch the easy fish after that you are going to have to work a bit for your fish. This is pretty typical for the lower Yuba as the flows are low this time of year and guides in boats and wade fishermen are all fishing the same water and the fish are getting a bit weary. Most of the fish we caught were on egg patterns but when I fished water I knew had been fished I switched up to finer tippet and some smaller flies as the fish usually drop back off the reds once a few have been pricked.

COMING UP - Yuba is usually up and down for most of the end of October and early November. I usually head back over in late November once the crowds disperse, the winter fish start to move into the river, and the baetis hatch gets going. Mid November through Mid January is a great time to be on the L. Yuba as you have opportunity to hook a winter steelhead and fish dry flies over a baetis hatch if the conditions are right.

Lower Feather – Spent a few days on the Lower Feather this last week as well. This is where I usually move once the Yuba gets tough. There is a ton of salmon in the feather and good numbers of half pound and jumbo half pounder steelhead in the river. I spent most of my time down in the high flow and fishing was good. Most of the salmon in the high flow are still hanging in the deeper holes and staging in the riffles. A few reds are popping up but over the next few weeks good numbers of fish should move up into the riffles to spawn.

Lower Sacramento – I have not moved up to the Lower Sac yet as all my buddies that have been guiding up there are kind of grumbling about the fishing. The egg bite doesn’t seem to have really gotten going with all the salmon that we were seeing in the lower river earlier this summer. Many of those fish may have gone up Battle Creek to the hatchery and not on up into the upper river. I have heard of some guys have good days down lower in the river but I have also heard the same guys struggling down low so….who knows. I am waiting to hear of some consistent fishing before I move up, but I am getting a little anxious to move up to Red bluff to start looking for some steelhead down low personally.

COMING UP – it should be a great season over the feather from Oroville down to Gridley. The end of October through the middle of November is usually prime time down through the high flow to Gridley. This year with the number of salmon in the river it should be a great year on the feather. I am pumped to fish over here over the next month.

Butte Creek – Opens Nov. 15 and should have a great winter season. I will be doing walk and wade and floating the creek this winter. This is a true winter steelhead fishery minutes from down town Chico, ca in a beautiful river canyon. A great place to spend a winter day nymphing or swinging flies for steelhead and trout.

As always check out my blog for the most up to date fishing reports and ramblings. I still have winter dates available if any one is looking to get out.

Dec. 3, 4, 10, 11, 16, 17, 20-23, 27, 31
Jan. 2-8, 21, 22, 28, 29
Feb. 4, 5

Feather

Spent the weekend over on the Lower Feather River. Was gonna go back down to the Yuba but Ryan Johnston said the place was a zoo friday so no bueno. I love the yuba but inevidably every year around the first part of october the crowds arrive in form of wade fishermen and other guides. So time to move on for a few weeks....

The Lower Feather is full of salmon right now, possibly explaining and confirming the theory that is where many of the Yuba salmon are. A few runs in the upper low flow after loosing a few rigs I deamed unfishable because the number of salmon. The salmon are just starting to pair up and a few, I mean like one or two a riffle, have cut redds. During this time the salmon get pretty aggressive, chasing most steelhead out of the riffles and even aggressively eating eggs that are not of their spawn. That said we hooked limited numbers of fish. In the low flow we hooked 4 legitimate fish and landed one. All came on egg paterns in deeper water. The High Flow is cranking...I would not recomend trying to get a drift boat through the outlet as I did...a little sketchy. That said we hooked a few half pounders in the high flow but nothing great and with all the water fishing is tough. I probably won't go down there until the flows drop to around 2500-3500cfs.

That's the report now go make some of your own.