stripers, Trout, baseball, and beer...knowledge
It is the heart of summer here in Chico, CA…with weather to prove it. It has been a hot few weeks up here. Weather in the triple digits and high 90s have been the norm. With that comes good striper fishing, the opening of salmon season, and exoduses to the mountains or coast to escape the heat for most people….myself I embrace the heat and go striper fishing.
Striper fishing – Mid summer is prime striper time! I try to spend most of July –September chasing stripers on the Lower Sac from Butte City up through Los Molinos. Fishing so far has been good. There are plenty of “shakers” and “keeper” size fish with most days an angler on the boat will get a shot at a 10-20lb fish whether that is getting the fish to chase the fly to the boat, pull the fly out of the fisheses mouth right at the boat, hook and loose the fish, or if we are lucky land one. It just depends on the day it seems as to how the big fish behave.
Salmon season opens this coming week and that should change a few things on the river. From what I have heard the salmon run is going to be late this year with the low water which means warmer water, which from what some the guides I know have said will be a later run as the fish wait for colder water temps to move out of the day and up the river.
I am going to be taking the next week off and heading to Santa Cruz with the family as no matter how the fishing is or what the predictions are the river will be CROWDED for a few days until people realize there are no fish in the river yet. I will be back on the river on July 23 to see what is happening out there. As the salmon show up though most years we began to get more and more shots at bigger fish so if the beginning of the season is any indicator it should be a good year.
Trout Fishing…Lower Yuba: I did spend a day on the Lower Yuba this last week and it was a nice change of pace to get out and trout fish for a day. I would say the fishing was fair. The hooking of fish seemed to be fairly spaced out as we hooked fish in most runs. Seemed to hook smaller fish in the morning in the top part of the float and bigger fish during the afternoon lower in the float, I got no idea why. Fish seemed to be in the riffles and shallower water, we didn’t have much luck in the flats, most fish were up in the riffles or in some of the deeper slots. All our fish came on nymphs, S&M PMD nymphs, Brown and Coffee/black rubber legs, Hunch Back Flashback PT’s, and Olive Birds nest. I did have my clients throw some hoppers in a few of the best “hopper runs” I know of on the river and didn’t rise anyone. River is just about high enough to possibly move some fish into typical hopper water but I didn’t see one hopper. I also got out of the boat in a few spots I usually see hoppers most years and didn’t see any…I am not really sure how the whole hopper life cycle thing goes to be honest I just know that some years are really good hopper years on the Yuba some are terrible. Feast or famine for both the fly fishermen and trout.
Beer Report – I have been busy with the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp 12 back. Full of 12 different beers brewed in conjuncture with 12 different breweries. 12 different brewers came to Sierra Nevada and brewed these 12 different beers….I have been trying to drink 2 a night and take some notes on them…here is here I am so far.
Myron’s Walk a Belgian Style Pale Ale brewed with Corriander brewed with Allagash Brewing Company – This is the first beer I tried and I won’t lie…it didn’t do much for me. Tast like the title…like someone mixed a pale ale with a Belgian ale. Had a nice fruity after tast but I though there might be a bit more furit flavor to it. On first taste it is nearly impossible to detect. Makes me wonder what those east coaster are doing and what they consider a good beer.
Yvan the Great a Belgian Style Blonde brewed with Russian River Brewing Company Now this saved the first tasting from mediocrity. This thing is good. Nice Belgian style fruitieness but not enough to linger and a nice hoppie finish. Pretty obvious these guys have the IPA American Grown Hop brew down to a science. 2 beers in to the 12 pack this thing is going to be hard to beat. I would buy a 12 pack of this and could drink this session style or with a meal.
Chico King Pale brewed with 3 Floyds Brewery – Not bad…tastes like a milder Sierra Pale Ale with a little more fruity finish instead of the hoppy finish of Sierra Pale Ale…I would buy a 6 pack…maybe not a 12 pack. It doesn’t seem to have a lasting taste, good but not great.
Torpedo Pilsner Hoppy Pilsner brewed with Firestone Walker Brewing Co. – This one is a hoppy kinda fruity lager with a nice malt body to it. I really liked this one. The big deal on the label says that it uses New Zealand hops…not sure those taste but I like the beer. I could drink these a few in a row. Good beer.
Baseball – Yes I know the giants are struggling but they finished strong today by taking 2-3 from the AZ D-Backs. I could go on about all the giants problems but lets just keep it real and say on most nights they are down right terrible…like I can’t make it past 4 innings. The real thing that blows my mind that now ones talks about is that as bad as the giants are right now they are still holding pace with the Dodgers, only one game back from them in the NL West and tied in the National league wild card race with 3 other teams. Lets have a good All Star Break, get healthy, and make a run here July-Sept!
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