I'm headed up to the Nimbus dam in the morning for a last run poke at the salmon. There should be a few fresh fish with the recent full moon. I'll report back.....
Sorry for the late reply, boy was I way off ! The salmon have all but disappeared. There were a small fish hanging around but they were already spotted. I land a fat rainbow (24")on an egg pattern. A couple guys were hooking small steelies bouncing beads.
Another update...They have raised a few of the gates at Nimbus and the fish are moving in. Hooked 4 hot salmon, no spots!!! I saw two fish on stringers and both were very light in color. There were also plenty of small steelhead in the river over the weekend. Fishing should pick up from now until the flows blast off.
Hey there rich i havce been wanting to try the american, sounds like now might be a good time. I'd like to try for steelhead because i simply dont own a flyrod that can handle salmon. Thinkin about getting up there early friday morning, hoping that there may be less people on a weekday, last time i was up there, bout 10 years ago i tried the nimbus damn area and it was like a freakin neoprene jungle and thats not really my idea of a good time. So ya got any suggestions on what fly's i might need, i have alot of beads and egg patterns, but no steelhead specific fly's, and what area's should i try? I pretty much would be heading up there completely clueless but i like a challenge, also is a 6 weight rod gonna work? The largest river i have fished with a flyrod is the lower yuba, can i expect a river of similar size, Should i expect to be casting long distances? And is the river pretty wadable at this time? As always info is greatly appreciated.
A fly called a "strung out beach bum" has worked real well for me. Also bright yellow marabou with a tough of fluorescent green works too. I'm headed up there some time this week as well. Later in the week is bad. Let me know if you want to go earlier. I used a 6wt last year and took a 49lber. It was a long hard fight though. The area is very wadable. You'll never get more than waist deep. (the bead drifters will yell at you if you do). The steelies have been on the small the small side so the 6wt should be fine. I've got an extra 9wt if you'd to hook up for the the big guys. Again, let me know if you'd like to go earlier.
Hopeing my local fly shop has a beach bum, also lookin to get plently of egg sucking leeches, boss's, and hiltons, these are supposedly time tried patterns that work, any opinion on these. The anticiapation of a trip is half the fun....fissssssshhhhhhhhhhhh ooooooooonnnnnnnnnn!
Update...The steellies were in and bitin! Hooked 5 landed 2. A guy named MARK took some photos for me; I'll post here as soon as I get them. The fish were beautiful ! Chrome and Black and spotted tails everywhere on the flat. I caught one fish that was 26" long and 28" girth. Looked alot like a rainbow to me. Who knows, F&G says its a steelie though The flows were up just enough to make the fish turn it on. Flys of the day were Polar shrimp and green-butt skunks. I had a few hits at the beach bum but no takers. Be sure to loosen those drags...I broke off two fish with 15# tippet.
sounds good man, what area of the river were you fishin, If i can kick this damn cold im headin up tommorrow morning, most likely start at the sunrise blvd area. Were you dead drifting under an indicator? I want my first steelie hookup, i dont care if i land em. Ya according to f&g any raionbow trout over 16 inches found in a river with ocean access is a steelhead...not sure how true this is. Looks like were gettin some pretty good rain do you think the river will still be in good condition to fish? UH OH ....you were fishin #15 tippet, im heading up with a 6 weight rod and 4x leader, i might not land em but i'll sure as hell try !!!!!
Yeah, i seriously screwed up and did not know that the river was closed from the hazel ave. bridge down. Got up there at the ass crack of dawn, paid my $4 for parking and then saw the no fishing until the 1st sighns doooooohhhhh . So i shot up to the damn area and of course by then all the prime spots were taken. fished about an hour in a spot i knew most likely would not hold anything, did see a few salmon caught by guys chucking lures. So i went over and checked out the fish hatchery, HOLY CRAP !!!!!!! that place is packed with HUGE steelhead, some of these guys had to be pushing 15 to 20 lbs. its unreal. With that many fish already in the hatchery the river must be packed with em as well. Anyways i scouted out some good lookin spots around sunrise blvd, and then some prime lookin spots below the hatchery, anyways i'll be up there bright and early on the 1st. I got a few pics. of the steelhead in the hatchery but they didnt turn out well, but you can make out a few. man i cant wait to hook into one of those bruisers!!!!!
. It was a long hard fight though. The area is very wadable. You'll never get more than waist deep. (the bead drifters will yell at you if you do). The steelies have been on the small the small side so the 6wt should be fine. I've got an extra 9wt if you'd to hook up for the the big guys. Again, let me know if you'd like to go earlier.
The flows were up just enough to make the fish turn it on. Flys of the day were Polar shrimp and green-butt skunks. I had a few hits at the beach bum but no takers. Be sure to loosen those drags...I broke off two fish with 15# tippet.
. So i shot up to the damn area and of course by then all the prime spots were taken. fished about an hour in a spot i knew most likely would not hold anything, did see a few salmon caught by guys chucking lures. So i went over and checked out the fish hatchery, HOLY CRAP !!!!!!! that place is packed with HUGE steelhead, some of these guys had to be pushing 15 to 20 lbs. its unreal. With that many fish already in the hatchery the river must be packed with em as well. Anyways i scouted out some good lookin spots around sunrise blvd, and then some prime lookin spots below the hatchery, anyways i'll be up there bright and early on the 1st. I got a few pics. of the steelhead in the hatchery but they didnt turn out well, but you can make out a few. man i cant wait to hook into one of those bruisers!!!!!
