The lower Yuba River was fishing really well with the
continued success that I have been getting my guests into for the last few months,
then heavy rain slammed the northern California region and the river blew out
big time. On the 14th the Yuba got up to 7,627 cubes, while Deer
creek reached 2,859 cfs adding a whole bunch of muddy water. Typical with this
type of storm, Englebright spilled over and the river has been running high
ever since and currently flowing at 4,737 cubes. Just like last year I’m rescheduling
a bunch of trips, I just want to thank my guests for understanding that Mother
Nature has full control of the situation.
So let’s recap the conditions on the Lower Yuba River just
before the blow out. Skwala stone flies were in the phase of waning, there were
still adults in the drift during the late afternoon, and of course the fish
were still aware of them. Strong hatches of PMD’s and the trout were on them. A
few March Browns, seemed like there was more the first week of March, but you
know how every day is different. Little green stones were out, a really cool
and relatively unknown stoner. A little bigger than a yellow sally, with a
medium green color in a size #12. The neatest aspect of this stone fly is that
it mostly emerges mid-stream, and not on the rocks. I learned all about this
bug years ago on the Middle Fork Feather River where it typically hatches in
May into June. Yep, conditions were awesome, and my clients still were not
using nymph rigs; Confidence and dry flies, with the total visual experience.
We are going to get slammed again this coming week starting
on Tuesday with heavy precipitation. You can see in the flow predictions for
the Yuba River (above) that it will be running even higher. Records are going
to be broke after this next storm, and March of 2018 will be the snowiest one
on record, and beating overall monthly snowfall of January 2017. 6 to 8 feet of
snow fell from the last storm in the upper elevations, we got lucky this year.
Speaking of high water, in the April issue of California Fly
Fisher I wrote an extremely informative article on “Tactics for High Water” It’s
a recap of last winter and how we relearned to fish gigantic flows with Short Line
Nymphing, and Streamers. You’ll learn about leader formulas, equipment, water
to target, techniques, and flies. The article is definitely a keeper that you
will be referring to over and over. Check it out. Looking forward to getting
back on some moving water and good hatches, seems like it will be later than
sooner…
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