It was a beautiful out yesterday on the Lower Yuba River,
air temps reached the 70’s and fishing pressure was very light. My guest for
the day wanted to concentrate on being better at dry fly fishing, and swinging
flies. The blue wing olive hatch was very light yet still yielded a small pod
of working fish. Perfect presentations and dropping down to 5x was needed.
These fish were being extremely selective to say the least. Water temperatures
ranged from 53 to 56 degrees and visibility was very clear.
Most of the spawning salmon are done dropping eggs, and so
many of them looked really beat up. It won’t be long before they die and give
back to the ecosystem with nutrients. The turkey vultures are having a field day
eating the rotting salmon, they like to sit in the trees next to the river and
when all is clear they fly down and feed. Some areas are pretty stinky. Pegged beads
are still taking some nice rainbows that hover behind the salmon redds. Coating
your eggs with pearl nail polish makes them look fresh and milky. Some anglers
even put on a thin coat of Gorilla glue on them to make them appear freshly
milked. As always stay clear of any redds whether they be from salmon or
steelhead, and do not walk through them. The amount of salmon in the Lower Yuba
River was light this year. I talked with an old timer from the rock quarry and
he told me the amount of salmon in the 70’s was thick, and the numbers of them
going up Daguerre dam was staggering. I can only imagine how prolific the run
was before the white man appeared.
As the egg bite comes to a close there will be a transition
time of the resident rainbows switching back to consuming aquatic insects as
their main staple. Also consider having some salmon fry and fingerling patterns
in your box for swinging purposes. I’ve caught my bigger fish during this time
when the fingerlings are pushed down by the currents of the Lower Yuba. Remember
the section of river upstream of the Parks Bar Bridge opens December 1st. Enjoy the current weather while you can, a very cold air mass will be dropping down into Northern California bringing snow to the foothills Tuesday through Thursday. See you out there, and good luck.
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