Fished the Yuba for a couple hours down below diguere on Friday, only one fish, but I didn't really fish that hard either (my brother was with me who didn't have waiders so I couldn't really get to fish all my favorite spots). Drove up below parks bar mid afternoon to see if any hatches were going on, none that I could see, just a few skwalas floating in the water.
On Saturday went up above parks bar and two of us landed 5, fished from about 11-3.All fish were on nymphs, and most came in what I would consider frogwater (still think the fish havn't got back to their normal lies yet). Flows are still about 500 CFS too high for my liking. I havn't fished the river much this year so I'm not sure if I missed the skwala hatch, or if it just hasn't started yet. On saturday only saw a couple skwalas, and only two rising fish, which were coming up to small may-flies. All in all pretty slow, but then again I didn't fish very hard either. Most people we talked too had the same results, slow.
As far as the amount of people on the river, it's a zoo.
Two of the 6 fish caught between monday and friday came on the swing, so It might be worth swinging a streamer if you decide to go out and bear the crowds.
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all of a man's addictions end and begin when he learns to fly fish
I was out with lilwhippersnapper and rgloft on friday as well. Fished around the bridge area. Saw a few skwalas coming off, lots of midges and mayflys, and a bunch of fish hitting the surface. One of which that was pushing 30"!!!!!! Richard hooked a fish on an olive wooly bugger right off the bat. And eric hooked one later on in the morning but all were ldrs. Richard found out how cold the Yuba was while Eric found out how crazy Richard was. I do believe they hooked up with 1 or 2 more fish throughout the day, but not 100% sure on that. By mid morning I finally hooked and landed 2 fish in a slot that has never produced for me which was nice. Walked down below this slot and decided to do some swinging of my own, and had 3 solid tugs right off the bat and that was it. So I converted over to nymphing and thats what I did for the rest of the day. I couldnt complain for being the first time hitting the yuba this yr. Had 2 fish well over 20" on, but both broke me off on 4x after a few minutes of fight. 4x was the way to go though, I only used 3x on my skwala. In the morning I had 3x on all flys, with not a single hook up. Switch to 4x and hooked up right away. So 4x stayed on the rest of the day, lost a few fish cuz of it, but thats fishing. 3x just didnt cut the cheese. By the end of the day 2 big fish lost and a handful of nice yuba fish landed.
Great day to be on the water, not to many people above the bridge, most stayed below, while a lot did float it. A few more days like this and the skwalas should come out to play.
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Fishing isnt about catching fish, its not about who caught the most, or who caught the biggest, its about the experience that you have on the water, and the life long bonds you make with others on the journey to becoming a better person inside.
I was on the Yuba Saturday with Oneweight and my buddy. A couple of fished hooked but none landed. It was crowded for sure, Diablo Valley Fly Fishers were having an outing and they were everywhere.
Get this, late in the day we were attacked by a cougar and her kitten!
Not on the Yuba but at the Viking Bar in Marysville......that's a whole different story.
It was definitely a tough day. One of those days where the opportunities were going to be limited and you had to make the most of them. Unfortnately I was not on my game and lost all 3 that I hooked. One was a very nice fish that showed itself on two aerial leaps.
We made the smart move and crossed the river in my secret spot, where you can still cross during these high flows. We had the YOA side of the river to ourselves and watch the wagon train of fly fishermen crawling all over the north side of the river. Sadly, we weren't able to take advantage of our circumstances and left with a white stripe down our backside. First in a very, very long time.
There wer some really small midges on the water in the AM, and a couple of Skwalas on the rocks in the PM, but that was it. Given the weather, they should have been all over the place. I believe that the high water has put a big dent in this hatch.
We went to the Happy Viking afterwards to load up on their excellent hot wings and a couple of beers. The time we had there made us forget all about our day on the river. This evening put the Bar of America run 2 summers ago to shame. It's best left at that and the laughs that the 3 of us shared all the way home!
Man Im gonna miss the Truckee trip this yr. But ill make sure to get a few Alaska rainbows on my line for you guys.
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Fishing isnt about catching fish, its not about who caught the most, or who caught the biggest, its about the experience that you have on the water, and the life long bonds you make with others on the journey to becoming a better person inside.
The Yuba is blown out. At Parks Bar its around 3500, below Diguere is 4000. I havn't been to the river in the last two days but Deer Creek was at 1800 yesterday (that is alot of water coming out of their...) Suprisingly, Deer Creek has come back down to around 400, after the huge spike, but I would expect that to rise again with all the rain forecasted for today, tonight, and tomorrow.
Could be until later next week before the Yuba starts fishing again (maybe earlier with a drift boat).
With all of this water coming in, the Stiper fishing should be epic in the sac valley rivers this year. Ready for March already
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all of a man's addictions end and begin when he learns to fly fish
Ive already had to cancel 3 trips next week on the Yuba because of it being blown out. I love rain, but sometimes it comes at the wrong times. Or just to much at once.
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Fishing isnt about catching fish, its not about who caught the most, or who caught the biggest, its about the experience that you have on the water, and the life long bonds you make with others on the journey to becoming a better person inside.
With all of this water coming in, the Stiper fishing should be epic in the sac valley rivers this year. Ready for March already
I still haven't had any major luck with striper fishing in the Bay area. I have tried a few different venues in the East bay but have yet to venture into the Delta and Sac valley rivers specifically targeting stripers. I have a friend who used to work for the Department of Fish and Game, in Sac. He tells stories of spotting truly massive stripers at Nimbus dam during Snorkelling surveys for salmon carcasses (record breaking fish).
I would be very keen on having a crack at a few of these fish, so if anybody from the east-bay or bay-area is willing to show an out-of-towner some regular bass haunts I will be more than willing to do all the driving.
Regards,
Denis....... Sorry Hijacking the thread.
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Fly fishing is so enjoyable, it should be done in bed.
I'm not familiar with fishing for stripers when they're in the river systems (e.g. AR, Feather, San Joaquin, the upper Lower Sac), but I know how to fish them in the delta. I usually fish Mildred Island (off highway 4 in tracy) because it's not as packed as frank's tract, but that area doesn't fish very good this time of year. It's good in the fall, but once the water temp gets below 50 degrees the bite shuts off and that's when I switch to duck hunting. There might be stripers in dicovery bay right now, but I haven't checked any reports lately, so don't quote me on that.
