Mid week reading material to get you through Hump Day.
So, spring is swinging in and out with some really beautiful
mid 70’s to Low 80’s weather and then some cold pouring rain…and then 90+
degree weather by the end of this week…wow that will throw things for a loop. I
have been on and off the water a lot lately. Fishing on my own trying to get a
bead on fish and guiding a lot as well. Lots to talk about so here goes….
Lower Yuba River:
I finally got over to the Lower Yuba this last week and was
surprised as I checed the flows the night before to see that they had come up
to over 1250cfs!!!! Low and behold they scheduled some pulse flows to push out
steelhead and salmon smolt. As of today the flows are starting to drop back
down to assume 5-700cfs. I was a bit concerned that the flow jump may mess with
fishing but it didn’t one bit. Fishing was good to very good the days I was out
there. There was a tint to the water, which always helps, and 1250cfs is a
great flow. There was a few gray drakes, caddis, PMD’s, and little yellow
sallies flying around but few to no fish feeding on them. I didn’t throw a dry
fly at all one day. Fish were keyed on the corresponding nymphs though and as
one but would get active the fish would key on it. I caught fish on Olive
Amigos #16, a red bad PT, Copper Johns, and a few new lil’yellow sally patterns
I have been working on. We fished rubber legs, various caddis patterns, egg
patterns, and some general attractors with limited success as well. Mainly the
fish wanted the smaller mayfly nymphs and a #14 mayfly/stonefly imitation. I am
thinking with the coming heat spell the river is going to blow up with
hatches…mainly caddis and sallies.
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| Fin clipper...took a wrong left turn on his way down river |
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| Nice Wild Trout |
Lower Sac Bass,
Stripers, Shad:
Largemouth on the river are getting active but the colder
weather of late last week and weekend slowed things down a bit. The warm
weather this week should get the Largemouth and Smallies going again as well.
Sight fishing for fish feeding over weeds in the sloughs and sitting on beds
was pretty decent early last week but I could tell that the fish were just
getting active for the spring. We have hooked a few smallies but they are not
on the grab up in the shallows yet in any number. Stripers are hit and miss
with the fluctuating weather but the warm weather this week should get them
going. There have been some nice double digit fish caught this last week by a
few of my buddies but personally we did not spend much time chasing them. Shad
should really get going in the next week or two as well with the warm weather.
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| Working some back water on the Sac |
Lower Sacramento
River Trout:
Fishing is still good from Redding down to Bend. I have not
been on the river trout fishing much but I know most of the redding guides have
been doing well. The upper stretches can be finicky this time of year but I
tend to find the lower stretches below Balls Ferry even down below Red Bluff
tend to have some pretty grabby fish.
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| Not bad for his first trout...ever |
Trout Opener News…
Fishing most places from what I have heard has been pretty
good, with warm weather and limited run off most things are fishing like early
to mid June…That means early to mid June is going to be like mid to late
August. Connect the dots and go NOW to your favorite stream or river.
Appearances:
I will be at the Reel Anglers Fly Shop in Grass Valley, CA
this weekend for their 2nd Annual BBQ and Fair. I will be there with
the Cast Hope Booth but also promoting some guiding and such. I will be giving
a presentation on Striper and Bass fishing on the Lower Sac at 12:30-1:30pm and
tying some flies from say 11am to noon. Check out the list of speakers and
Tiers below and come get some free food, spend some money on some great sales,
and see all the new gear from various manufacturers.
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| Come check it out... |
Sports News
The Giants are fun to watch this year…while the fact that
some of our big hitters are not performing …
Pablo .162
Pence .197
Posy .227
With some padding in the line up with Morse and the Hot
start but rapid cooling of Belt and the surprise rise of Hicks has created some
cushion that wasn’t there last year for Pablo and Posey…even scarier is that
Posey is only hitting .240 sense last July. All that said the bull pen is doing
amazing with the 2nd best Bullpen ERA (2.06) in the biggs, just
below the Padres (1.86). The national league avg is 3.33 to give some
perspective. Either way I am looking forward to a nice road trip starting
Friday so I can get to bed before 10:30pm…Love those 4pm starts. The Braves are
hot, the Pirates are struggling, and we may run into Kershaw on the end of the
trip when we head down to LA for 4…going to be an interesting trip.
Beer News…
Not much new for me here. Been spending a lot of time on the
river so I have been drinking Sierra Nevada Summer Ale and Pale Ale in
cans…pretty simple and good river brews. Funny thing though is how just a bit
different the can beer tastes then the corresponding bottled version. Not bad,
just different. I will say with the new heat margarita season is quickly approaching and I have a nice list
of Margarita recipes I want to try so I am thinking this Friday or maybe even
Thursday will be the official opening day of the 2014 Margarita Season at the
Brown Casa.