On Friday my buddy and I (Drifter) decided we would hit up the North Fork of the Yuba on Saturday. The plan was to wake up super early on Saturday, fish all day, and return that night. Well....of course we got together with some college buddies Friday night and that getting up super early part wasn't happening the next morning. By the time we woke up, got rid of the headaches, detoxed and then made the drive up there it was 2:00. Oh, well...we booked a room at Bassett's in Sierra City and just turned it into a fishing weekend.
Never been or fished up in that area...I must say it is really a nice place. Reminds me of Tahoe, but without the crowds. I remember ONEWEIGHT saying you can fish all day without seeing another fishermen and he was right. Didn't see anyone else fishing all weekend. We fished just up near Bassetts on Saturday and then between Sierra City and Downieville on Sunday (I think in the wild trout section). The fishing was great. We caught fish non stop on both days. Just about all were 4"-6" bows, but I did catch 3 on Sunday that went 10"-12" and one 4" brown. I nymphed the entire time with a prince and red copper john dropper and Drifter threw dries the entire time (elk hares and parachute adams). It was really fun watching the fish smack the surface, especially once when Drifter set the hook on a monster 2" and threw it back into his face. Sucks getting "fish smacked".
Great trip overall. Learned a little bit about that area. Next time I plan on fishing below downieville creek where the flows are a little greater and fishing down from there (hopefully finding some bigger fish). One last thing, on Saturday night we took a quick drive over to the MFF. I've never fished it, but we stopped just a mile or two down from Grae Eagle. The water was really warm and there was a ton of algae bloom. We ended up catching about 10-15 fish, all 4"-6". It was nice to catch fish, but I was wondering if where most people fish the MFF...maybe much further down? The water just seemed to small and warm for this great river that I always hear about.
Great to hear you made it up there, it is pretty. The larger fish in the NF Yuba tend to be from Sierra city downward. I had the same experience a couple weeks ago, lots of small ones. The biggest I got were a couple in the 10" range. It seems like the bigger fish come out later in the summer/ fall. We also hit the MFF the same weekend. I fished exactly where you are talking about, Two Rivers area. I caught fish as large as 18" there on Memorial Day. I could not believe the chage in flow 5 weeks later. The water was just a trickle. I think it will be tough conditions there the rest of the summer.
. Oh, well...we booked a room at Bassett's in Sierra City and just turned it into a fishing weekend. 