Just back from three days of fantastic camping. Stayed at Sycamore Ranch on Highway 20(sweet spot, just bought by the county)4 miles downstream of the bridge. Happened to meet a guy who was a guide up north who invited me to accompany him and his girlfriend in the drift boat. My karma must have been maxed. Floated bridge to campground twice with just a few fish, seemed to be on the slow side by all accounts. Saw success with Golden Stonefly nymphs(stoneflies were abundant during the day), tan body E.H. caddis(16) and tan caddis pupa(the cased caddis there seem mostly tan as opposed to the green caddis at Putah), yellow Stimulators, Flashback PT nymphs. The first evening had an amazing caddis hatch accompanied by some serious splashy rises. One fish porpoised about a rod length from me and would guess 26+. Also headed up 49 to check out the north fork, hooked an incredibly spotted 10 inch female upstream from the bridge where 49 first crosses NF. A great trip to some new water.
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"There is no place I fit in so well as a stream...Fishing ties me into the world of water and animals it contains, into mystery and something so primitive and valuable inside me."---Seth Norman
Cool to see you on the Yuba. My first trip. Nothing at the camp ground for us. I was nymphing, pretty much all I do. We headed up to the bridge where it was slow as well. My budy called me from up the river a few hundred yards to let me know he landed a nice 18" fish on a elk hair caddis. I switched myself to a caddis like stimulator and after about 20 minutes Wack! Got to say, my real first fish on a dry. I've had little 6-7 inchers on dries before, but this was the real thing. Now I get it!
That was it, so we left at 5 because I had an appointment in Sacramento at 6. Well I was late and called the client to let him know and he suggested we reschedule. So we headed back up to the Yuba for a sunset session. At just about dark, tons of fish started to rise to some bugs that that looked like little May's. I couldn't see my fly, it was so dark. My buddy told me to watch my line. Landed two nice fish. Then I couldn't even see my line. I started setting the hook by sound! Landed three more and missed as many.
First trip to the Yuba and first time landing desent fish on a dry. Friggin awesome!
Cool seeing you as well Jason, nice job with the dries. I had a similar experience as it got dark on my last night. Fish were splashing on top ,couldn't really see the fly. I heard a splash where I figured my fly was, set the hook about a second late and felt the tug, tug, spit. But still pretty exciting. Now i know I can still fly fish even as the sight goes. Provided I still have my hearing.
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"There is no place I fit in so well as a stream...Fishing ties me into the world of water and animals it contains, into mystery and something so primitive and valuable inside me."---Seth Norman
