Reports, Rock music, gathering of the tribes...fresh and unedited.

-->

So here we are the second of February and once again I am writing my blog post on the eve of an apocalyptical storm. After a week or so of FREEZING cold weather here in Northern California were expecting BIG pine apple express style storm over the next few days. It should drop a TON of water and even worse melt a BUNCH of low elevation stow compounding the affect on our rivers. I imagine most rivers and lakes will blow out but who knows…there was supposed to be big storm hitting us this last weekend and it was sunny and cold all weekend without a drop of moisture. All we can do is plan for today and today is good…many life lessons to be learned from this thing called fly fishing.

Personally I haven’t been out on the water much that last week as I got a wicked cold/virus and basically canceled all of my plans except breathing, eating, sleeping, disposing of human waste, and watching obscure sci fi Netflix – yes even the ones that most people think look really good and then play episode one and the whole thing is in some foreign language and uses subtitles which then makes them scowl and turn it off after about 30 seconds. I am proud to say I have watched whole seasons of post-apocalyptic goodness via subtitles.

That said I have been out a bit before the viral coma I went into for a few days and as I have sense come back to life I have talked to some buddies about the fishing…

Lower Yuba River – Most of my trout fishing this time of year is on the Lower Yuba River and the Lower Yuba has been fishing pretty darn good lately. Flows on the Lower Yuba River got bumped up to 3350cfs yesterday from about 2200cfs and Deer Creek is flowing at 250cfs. 3500cfs is about the top end of where I will float the Yuba and guide it. That said the river channel has changed a bunch over the last few years and widened in a lot of spots making it much easier to fish and float at higher flows. What I assume is happening is they are dumping water to make room for the low elevation snow melt and rain that is coming. This is not a bad thing as Englebright, hopefully will not over flow and that any color that comes down from Deer Creek will be heavily diluted and pushed down the system pretty quickly helping the river recover and become fishable much quicker. My hope is that the heaviest rain is supposed to fall mid-week and Maybe just maybe we may get to fish this weekend…maybe.

I have heard there are some skwalas out but with the high water and off-color conditions it is mainly a Rubber legs, egg, worm, and attractor nymph game the last few times I have been on the water. Also!!! Swinging flies on light spey or switch rods is a good option this time of year when the clarity is off and the flows are high. Fish move into the edges and soft that are easy to target with a swung fly or even a light streamer fished on a single-handed rod.

Winter Striper Fishing – Seems a lot like winter steelheading this year but that is normal when we actually have a normal winter. Timing is everything. If you can get a day when the river is fishable the fishing can be good. We have not been getting the HUGE fish of previous winters as the river has a lot more 5-10lb fish mingling around this winter that came up river from the Delta is my theory BUT we have been getting some trophies when the conditions are right and people put in their time. The river is still the best striper fishery on the west coast I believe but it is also INCREDIBLY dynamic in how it changes from season to season and year to year.

March and the arrival of the migratory fish is right around the corner and summer/fall season will be here before you know it so if you are looking to get in my boat reach out and get a date on the books as they will fill up.

Lower Feather River Spring Steelhead season is coming up and I only have a few dates left…I guide this for the months of March/April. It is primarily a swung fly fishery as these fish eat the swung fly better than any steelhead in the valley in my experience. Great opportunity to use light spey, trout spey, and switch rods.

Open Dates Spring Dates

March 9

April 19, 20, 27,

Music…

My band Royal Oaks has been working on some new demos to prepare for recording our second album…going to be a 5-6 song deal. We are really pumped about the new songs and will be releasing some of the demos via our sound cloud page…Also we will be announcing some spring and summer shows throughout Northern California soon as finalize them. Check out the sound cloud page, our last album on apple music or bandcamp or really any music streaming service or follow us on Instagram or facebook.

https://soundcloud.com/hogan-brown

https://royaloaks1.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/RoyalOaksBand/

Instagram: @_royal_oaks_

Also, been listening to the new Pedro the Lion album. First in a few years he recorded and wrote with a full band so it is a much fuller developed sound. That said it is Pedro the Lion so rainy cold damp downer weather is a must for listening. Also bend listening to a new band to me called Blank Range from Nashville Tennessee. There new album In Unison was just releases and is pretty damn good so far.

Upcoming Events…

The annual gathering of the tribe at the Pleasanton Fly Fishing show is coming up on February 22-23 at Alameda county Fairgrounds. Cast Hope will once again have booth there and I will be in the booth all day Saturday as will the Barbless Podcast crew doing some interviews and talking fishing. Ryan J will be in the booth Friday and Saturday and I am sure Chuck Ragan will be meandering around the booth as well.

Cast Hope will also be hosting our Annual Pleasanton Fly Show After Party on Saturday February 24^th at the same location as always – New Name Club House Bar and Grill – Tickets are $20 and free for show vendors with a vendors badge. This event we put on the best raffle and auction we put together ALL year! It is truly FULL of stuff…guide trips, flies, sporting event tickets, full on destination trips…ALL SORTS of cool stuff. PLUS, BEER AND APPS for all!!!!...Plus some new cast hope movies, presentations, stories, and just all-around good times.

Also, the Cast Hope Pyramid Lake Tournament is coming up. We have totally re-invented this event this year and titled it Chasing Giants…it is a BIG fish tourney this year and will have a full-on fireworks display, pool tournament, and all sorts of cools stuff attached to it. If GIANT fish and desert lakes are your think this is a fun tournament.

Fishing Reports, Events coming up, and Music.

So, we have entered into the normal Nor Cal winter…Big storms that blow out the rivers followed by a few weeks of beautiful false spring weather followed by another storm…with some fishable conditions mixed in, but usually not fishable long enough to make a fishing report of much value after a few days. So this post has a limited value…short window of accuracy and may be outdated very quickly.

The weather and conditions have been beautiful the last week or so.  Rivers have come into shape and midday temps are getting into the high 60s in some places. That said the forecast changed up a bit this morning with rain forecasted for Wednesday and more rain this Friday-sunday. With the reservoirs filling up and much of the ground being saturated any amount of rain will blow out or began to affect the clarity of most of our river’s - so it goes. 

So here are some reports as of today and some other interesting things going on in life…

Lower Yuba River – I have been guiding the Lower Yuba recently by far more then any other place. With new private access and good conditions it is has been a good option for me. I use to split a lot of my time in the winter between fishing the Lower Sac for trout and the Lower Yuba, but the reality is I have come to favor the diversity and options on the Lower Yuba for trout…The sac will always have bigger fish, but the dry fly fishing, ability to get out and dry fly fish or swing the switch rod are real options this time of year  on the Yuba – as well as running nymphs out of the boat or wading. Lots of options and everyday seems to be a bit different.

The last week clarity has been an issue as there had been a bunch of low elevation snow that melted and muddied up and blew out Deer Creek which dumped into the river. Clarity as of this weekend was good enough – about 18” up by the bridge and clearing to about 2’ by the time you get down by Sycamore and even clearer at the dam. One tip I would give to people is that if you show up to fish and if you don’t have confidence in the clarity when you pull up to the bridge go down river. It literally gets better every mile or so as you go down river most days.

With regards to flies and such…last few days I have been out it is purely off color water flies. Rubber legs, eggs, #12 -14 attractor nymphs with red and flash mixed in. There are a few skwalas and mayflies around, but nothing that has inspired me to pick up a dry fly rod for a client. That said as the river clears these next few days I am sure the dry fly fishing will improve.

Photo by Chad Alderson - pretty colors on the winter yuba fish

Photo by Chad Alderson - Fish have grown healthy over the last 6 mos

Foothill Bass fishing – this is prime time for all the foothill spotted bass lakes like Oroville, Bullards, Englebright, Shasta, and MANY more! Now through April is when we start to get some of the bigger fish and even on Bullards began to touch some true world records. My buddy Chuck Ragan WILL I am convinced catch a world record spotted bass on Bullards this year…weather he takes all the steps necessary to register it is another thing BUT it will happen.

Winter Striper Fishing has been OK this week so far as the water on the river has cleared every day but with rain coming Wed-Sunday it looks like  the river will blow out again. It is in that phase where any rain blows it out and muddies up the river as everything is full and saturated up river. That said good spring migratory fishing should start up March/April and with good water we should see another good year with fish up through Colusa and Princeton areas. I will be guiding the migratory run starting in mid – March assuming fish show up.

Open Guide Dates:

Feb 16

April 19, 20, 25, 27

May 18.

Other cool stuff happening…

Events – I will be down at the Pleasanton Fly Fishing show most likely starting Friday night (Feb 22) and then in the Cast Hope booth all day Saturday prior to the Cast Hope after party. Should be another great year and the show should be really cool as I know that many companies like Scott Fly Rods and such are coming back to the show. The Cast Hope booth will have the Barbless Podcast crew in it Saturday most likely interviewing industry peps and doing podcasting as well just hanging out. Make sure to check out the flier for the Cast Hope After party and get on out to the show and party. Always a TON of fun and cool stuff to see.

Cast Hope is also hosting the Fly Fishing Film Tour this year in Nevada City at the historic Nevada Theater Again! This year we are really going to blow this thing up. The raffle and auction are going to be silly and we are even going to be throwing an AFTER PARTY at Coopers Bar just down the hill – walking/stumbling distance from the theater. After party is going to have ANOTHER raffle live music and just fun times to the keep the party rolling! More to come on the after party as line ups and details get finalized.

Click LINK to see Trailers

Cool Event that I finally get to go to…But good friend and now Co Worker at Cast Hope Conway Bowman and near legend status artists, designer, fly tier, and just all round good dude Al Q have run for a number of years a Carp Tournament at Lake Henshaw outside of San Diego called the Carp Throwdown www.carpthrowdown.com.  I have wanted to go to this tourney for YEARS as Henshaw is a legendary carp fishery!!!!! One of the few places where catching carp on dry flies is a pretty established reality…they eat hoppers here!!!!! Well with Cast Hopes expansion down to SD Conway and Al have decided to make Cast Hope the beneficiary of the tournament so Ryan and I will be heading down this year to hang out and fish. If you are down in SD or So Cal this is a GREAT tournament super fun event from what I have always heard so check it out!

Going to be FUN!!!

Music…Royals Oaks has been recording demos and getting ready to go into the studio again as well as booking some local chico shows for the spring so stay posted on all that. Check us out on social media for more info.

Check us out on Instagram @_royal_oaks_

Check us out on Facebook @RoyalOaksBand

Check us out on Bandcamp @royaloaksband1 

Listening wise been running some oldies but goodies…I have been listening to a lot of Lucero and Gaslight anthem as well as some John Moreland…AND even dug out some of the older Death Cab for Cutie albums like The Photo Album, Transalticism, and Plans…really all the albums until Chris Walla left..Chris was so damn good as a producer, multi instrumentalist, and just all around guitar, synth, what ever player I think they had to add 2-3 dude to do all that he did by himself. He is the king of awesome simple fills and back ground noise…while playing lead guitar and all that other stuff he did. I hate to say it but DCFC is not the same with out him.