New Years Reports, Low Water Swinging, and Fly News & Big Fly Boxes
News Year Update…
So we are in the middle of a crazy drought…no secret there.
That said there are still fish to be caught. I have heard a few weather guys
talking that this high pressure that has been sitting over Nor Cal Keeping all
the storms north of us is going to be moving away soon and we should start to
see some rain. Here is a post from our local weather guy Chris Kupyer with some
good news…hopefully.
Long range GFS model is finally indicating a weather pattern
change in about a week and a half in the Pacific, with the jet stream returning
to California and bringing RAIN... starting around the 20th. Could be off &
on the whole week.
While it's still a long ways out... This is a GREAT sign!
So hopefully Chris Kupyer is right. Other then that Rivers
are low and clear making for some interesting fishing. Check the reports below and what is coming
up….
Open Dates coming up:
Feb: 1, 2, 10, 22, 23
March: 1, 2, 8, 9, 22, 23, 29, 30
April: 5, 6, 13, 18, 19, 22-27,
Lower Yuba River - Flows are around 725cfs and fishing is poor to good…kinda
all over the place day to day. I have had some decent days and some really
tough days. Any overcast days have the chance of being good but low flows,
clear water, and bright sun can be tough. Most of my fish over the last
few weeks have come on small mayfly nymphs and egg patterns. There has been
a good baetis hatch on most days and fish will pod up in various flats
sipping emerges, cripples, and duns…all at the same time or on some days
favoring only a very particular stage of the hatch. Typical Yuba picky dry
fly eating trout. I have been fishing size16-20's on 6x to these fish and
having some luck on most days. With the warmer then average weather the
first skwala stoneflies have been starting to hatch. While i have not
hooked many fish on stonefly nymphs I did rise a few fish to skwala dries last
time I was out.
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| Nice Lower Yuba River fish from the last week |
Coming Up… much of what is to come on the Yuba will be rain dependent but
the winter (skwala, March Brown) hatches will start early and the spring
hatches will be early as well. Fishing should be challenging with low and
clear water but as the days lengthen and warm the fish will start to eat
more actively making fishing a bit more consistent. Pray for Rain!!!!
Lower Sacramento River - is down to 3360-3000cfs which is low
but we have seen this flow the last few years. Fishing has been poor to good
depending on the day but fishing seems to be getting a bit more
consistent over the last week. There has been good numbers of steelhead
reported being caught all the way up through Anderson which can make a mediocre
trout day a lot better. Most fish are coming on small mayflies and eggs
with a few being caught on rubber legs lower in the river. With the low flows there
is plenty of wading opportunity for the walk in angler and most fish are
in the riffles and runs which make them accessible.
Coming Up… The Lower Sac should fish well through the spring but I would
imagine the spring caddis, PMD's, and March Browns starting a bit earlier this
year. I imagine flows will remain low no matter what happens from here on out
with rain and fishing should get more consistent as days lengthen and
warm…that said pray for rain.
Feather River - The flow in the low flow is 1000cfs and the flow in the
high flow is 1100cfs. The stretch of the Low Flow from the hwy 70 bridge up to
the fish barrier dam opened on Jan 1. I have not fished it myself but I
have heard it has been a zoo though people are catching fish. It is barbless,
and catch and release so it is limited but still have heard the crowds are
just ridiculous. I have not heard of any fresh winter fish moving into the
system though I am sure they are there.
Coming Up…Spring steelhead fishing on the Feather starts around early
March and if the fall run was any indicator should be a good run. We nymph and
swing flies on switch rods for these fish and even sometimes fish dries. They
are a ton of a fun and offer a great opportunity to fish many different styles
in a day on the water.
Coming up: Shad, Striper,
Large and Small mouth bass, and Carp…
The fishing on the Sac outside of
chico, mountain smallmouth lakes, and valley carp and largemouth
lakes will be very dependent on how the rest of the winter and spring shake out
with regards to rain. I imagine no matter what flows will be lower then
normal and lake levels will be down. That said water temps warm faster
moving bass on to the spawn sooner and making for a good shad year and a bit
spookier stripers. It is not to early to start looking at summer and
spring Shad, Striper, Large and Small mouth bass, and Carp dates if you are
interested.
Coming up: Clearwater Lodge…I will be guiding this spring/summer again up at Clearwater
Lodge. This is a great place for families or the hard core angler. The lodge
sits on the Pit River and is in striking distance of Fall River, the Pit River,
Baum Lake, Burney Creek, Lake Britton, and Hat Creek along with many other
secret spots…This is a truly unique corner and one worth exploring.
Sports Report: Talk and
a great college football season. With the National Title game wrapping up and
the final rankings coming out we can put a bow on the college football season
and call it done. The bowl season in my humble opinion was pretty damn good. Many
upsets and close games made for a great holiday season. I had a tough time with
regards to who to root for in the title game…I wanted FL St. to win as Notre
Dame plays them next year as part of their entrance into the ACC but lets be
honest I can’t imagine there are many student athletes on that team and how a
program like FL St operates is much of what is wrong and down right illegal
about big time college athletics. With that said I had moments where I was
hoping Auburn won but then I was drawn to the SEC logo on their jerseys and I
couldn’t root for them.
Pretty pumped on how Notre Dame
finished with the Pin Stripe Bowl but lets be honest Rutgers is not a top 25
opponent. Though beating them did push up up to no.20 in the final AP Top 25
rankings. I am bit concerned with the news of 4 underclassmen leaving for the
NFL Draft this year…The 2 D-Linemen make sense as they are top 10 picks but
George Atkins and Troy Niklas leaving are a bit weird, couple that with the
Coach Kelly loosing both his offensive and defensive coordinators leaves a lot
of things up in the air for the off season.
Winter Personal Fishing…over
winter I traditionally have some time to get out and do some personal fishing.
This last week with the low flows I got out on the L. Sac outside of chico to
swing some flies for some winter steelhead. Bait anglers have been getting some
nice fish drifting roe through the holes and with the low flows fish really
hold up in the lower river so it is always worth a try. I didn’t hook anything
but I did see a few unidentified salmonoid role through the run…could have been
small winter salmon or nice steelhead, who knows but it is enough to get me
back out there again.
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| Pretty Easy Walk out to the riffle |
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| Choice Run to Swing some flies through |
I signed my contract with Montana
Fly Co. a few months ago, Mailed off some Samples of new bugs, and started the
discussion about what new flies to do and what old patterns from Idylwilde to
bring over. We finalized the line up this last week and I can say I am pretty
excited about the line up of mine that Montana Fly Co. will be bringing out in
2015. I am sending my instructions, recipes, and samples off this week so
wheels are turning…
One great thing about working
with Montana Fly Co. is not only do they make flies they have a great line up
of fly tying materials and accessories. Their new “boat boxes” are by far the
best I have seen. I got the trout one in the mail and filled it up with a few
of my striper flies for the coming spring/summer. These things are pricey at
about $65 but they are well worth as they are incredibly durable and water
proof. I go through about 1-2 of the cheaper ones each year and the “cheaper”
ones are not cheap at around $35-50.
