The Lower Yuba River is fishing well for hose that seek the
dry fly game, unreal conditions with an abundance of bugs depending on the day –
And that’s just it, every day is different. Currently the flows are dropping.
The Yuba peaked at 1,597 cubes early this morning and Deer creek maxed out at
554 cfs. Water clarity will be dirty for a few days. Before this last storm
blew through, the water was slightly stained with about 3 feet of visibility.
The hatches have been great on most days with many different
players involved. BWOs, PMDs, Gray Drakes, a few Skwalas, and I found a March
Brown adult last Monday. The trout are totally keyed in on the Blue Wings in a
size 18. Sparkle Duns and Puyon’s Loop Wing parachutes have been the most
effective patterns. A good rule to follow is to expect mayfly hatches on cloudy
drizzly days, and when the sun is out with warmer weather, the Skwala is more
active – They love that. The dry fly fishing has been so good that my guests
and I have not even fished a nymph rig, or made swinging presentations.
Last Monday, Lance Gray and I held our first Yuba Tour for
2018. During the entomology class we were quite surprised at the abundance of
the sampling. It was the best sampling in the last 3 years. Baetis, PMDs, March
Browns, Epeorus, Skwala, Golden, and Stub Wing stones, and a freshwater shrimp.
Amazing.
As soon as the river comes back into shape it will be game
on again. There are some bigger fish in the system as a guest of ours hooked
into an 18 incher during the Tour. The rainbow ate a BWO parachute. By the way,
Lance and I have opened a new date for a Yuba Tour, It will be March 1st.
Contact Lance if you want in. Can’t wait to get back on the water and hunt some
heads. See you out there…
2 comments:
Thanks so much Jon for the info on your blog! On short notice I fished the Y on Thurs, 1/25, about 1/4 mi above Hwy 20 bridge. Started out cloudy, but eventually rain, wind and fog all swept in. Nice BWO hatch from 1-2 and the trout were hitting like crazy, but for some reason the fish all laughed at my presentations :( After the hatch I switched over to a nymph rig and finally hooked one about 3 PM....a giant 24" rainbow (could it have been a steelhead?)that barely fit in my net. It took a #14 beadhead pheasant tail nymph and caught two smaller rainbows on the same fly before darkness sent me home.
Those rainbows can get picky on the small mayflies, try a fly first presentation, and downsize your tippet. The only sure way to tell a steelhead from a resident rainbow, is to sample it's scales to see if it went to salt, something a fisheries biologist would be able to decipher. Good luck on your next trip!
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