I worked the Lower Yuba River today for a special guest who
wanted a private one on one pontoon workshop. It was a glorious day with
sunshine and beautiful cumulous clouds lining the north eastern skyline, and
highs in the lower 60’s. The flows were running at 1530 cubes, and the water
clarity was surprisingly good after the onslaught of our last big storm. It had
a nice green tint to it with about 4 feet of visibility. Fishing pressure was
very light, I saw a total of 4 other anglers, and one drift boat.
Conditions have changed dramatically in the last two weeks
on the Lower Yuba River, there is way more salmon in the system, and many redds
in the tail outs. I realize that I and others keep preaching this, but it is
important for walk and wade anglers to be able to identify the redds of salmon
and steelhead, and not to wade through them. It’s best to completely avoid them
at all costs as the offspring is the future of the river’s ecosystem. If I had
my way the river would be completely closed to all fishing and boat traffic
from Duguerre dam up to Englebright dam from August 31st to January
1st. The health of the river is far more important than our needs
for fishing, guiding, and running a business. That’s just my opinion.
The resident rainbows are definitely locked in on the “egg
bite”, we had a huge BWO spinner fall for a half hour today and only one rising
fish in a known productive part of the river that always holds big numbers of
trout, and rhythm risers. Indo rigs and short line high sticking techniques
with a combination of bacon and eggs is ideal right now. Don’t forget about the Flesh Juan worm, red is not always the best color to present.
It was busy on the river today, and I’m glad the goal for my
guest was learning all the parameters of safely drifting down a big valley
river in a personal watercraft, and not numbers of fish. SRYCL had one of
their “Salmon Tours” today after cancelling their original October 15th date due to weather. I like the idea of the tours as it raises awareness on how
important the salmon are to the Lower Yuba River, explaining the complete life
cycle from egg, fingerling, juvenile, to adults returning after a period in the
salt. To make things even busier, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife had a research vessel out with both biologist, and aids counting salmon,
and marking redds with GPS equipment. I realize the importance of their job,
but they do disrupt and push resident trout away from prime feeding areas when
they buzz by and zig zag all over the river.
Once again I got to see Outcast’s Pro Stealth frameless boat
in action, and it’s time to retire my 19 year old Camo Cat 9 and buy this
craft. The ease of inflation, and setting up the boat for the river is remarkably
quick and easy. It has less contact on the water’s surface making it a faster
and a more maneuverable machine. It’s got plenty of room for cargo as well. For
those inclined to float still waters, or rivers, you really need to check out
the Stealth Pro. I’m impressed.
After 7 months of grinding it out, I finally get a small vacation starting this Friday as I head
up north for a guided trip with Jason Cockrum of Clearwater Lodge on the Trinity River. Reports
before the storm revealed very little steelhead in the system, I sure hope the
big storm drew some good numbers of them upstream. When you book a trip a year
in advance you get what you get, I know I’ll be enjoying myself and making the
most of it, that's for sure. Tight lines and I’ll see you on the water…
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