Tony Buzolich
04-21-2011, 01:14 PM
If you've been watching the Ca Dept of Water Resouce Board and looking at the flows they've really been jumping. Last night the Feather jumped to 8000cfs at Gridley and the Yuba went to 8000cfs as well. Then, add in the Bear at 1600cfs and the combined flow on the lower Feather is more than the SAC.
So, what does this mean? First off the river has come up almost two feet and is hiding more and more of the snags that are eating my flies. Just when you start to figure things out the water changes,,, high, then low, then high again, then warmer, then colder. Whewwww! every day is a different day and now with the snow pack starting to melt these rivers are going to be going up and down like crazy. Last year was like this too making it hard to schedule trips when things get blown out.
So, this morning didn't start out with optomistic expectations. Usualy a big change like this shuts the bite off for a few days until things stabilize. We got on the water at 6:00am and could see that it was moving fast and was several feet higher on the boat ramp. We got to our first starting spot and began our drift as usual though moving slightly faster than normal. I make my first cast, FIRST CAST mind you and get slammed hard. Straight under the boat, around the boat, back and forth again as I'm trying to get control of this fish. Meanwhile Jim makes two casts and he hooks up as well, a double! And we haven't been here two minutes. Jim gets his fish in first while I'm still playing mine and gets the net out. Wow, an easy 8lb-9lber along with Jim's in the first couple of minutes. What a way to start the day when you're less than thrilled with all of the high water.
We continue on along our usual paths moving back and forth and hitting several of our favorite runs a couple of times with each pass picking up a nice new fish. By 7:00am we already had six fish in the boat. We continue on and Jim is up next with solid 10lber. We take turns(not on purpose) picking up a couple more in the 4lb-6lb range with only a few dinks in between. Things have slowed a bit as the sun hit the water so we decide to go back and hit our starting point again. Jim get tight first this time and his fish takes off straight upriver and gets him on the reel immediately. "Better fish" Jim says and stays deep finally turning and coming back under and around the boat. My turn to take the net this time and we've got a fat 12lber in the boat. A few more nice fish end the morning before Jim has to go to work and we pull out a little after 10:00am.
Not a bad morning. Not bad at all. Maybe this high water brought more fish in. I would say that todays weight averaged around eight pounds with Jim's 12lber being the big fish so far. Hope this high water keep 'um comin',
TONY
So, what does this mean? First off the river has come up almost two feet and is hiding more and more of the snags that are eating my flies. Just when you start to figure things out the water changes,,, high, then low, then high again, then warmer, then colder. Whewwww! every day is a different day and now with the snow pack starting to melt these rivers are going to be going up and down like crazy. Last year was like this too making it hard to schedule trips when things get blown out.
So, this morning didn't start out with optomistic expectations. Usualy a big change like this shuts the bite off for a few days until things stabilize. We got on the water at 6:00am and could see that it was moving fast and was several feet higher on the boat ramp. We got to our first starting spot and began our drift as usual though moving slightly faster than normal. I make my first cast, FIRST CAST mind you and get slammed hard. Straight under the boat, around the boat, back and forth again as I'm trying to get control of this fish. Meanwhile Jim makes two casts and he hooks up as well, a double! And we haven't been here two minutes. Jim gets his fish in first while I'm still playing mine and gets the net out. Wow, an easy 8lb-9lber along with Jim's in the first couple of minutes. What a way to start the day when you're less than thrilled with all of the high water.
We continue on along our usual paths moving back and forth and hitting several of our favorite runs a couple of times with each pass picking up a nice new fish. By 7:00am we already had six fish in the boat. We continue on and Jim is up next with solid 10lber. We take turns(not on purpose) picking up a couple more in the 4lb-6lb range with only a few dinks in between. Things have slowed a bit as the sun hit the water so we decide to go back and hit our starting point again. Jim get tight first this time and his fish takes off straight upriver and gets him on the reel immediately. "Better fish" Jim says and stays deep finally turning and coming back under and around the boat. My turn to take the net this time and we've got a fat 12lber in the boat. A few more nice fish end the morning before Jim has to go to work and we pull out a little after 10:00am.
Not a bad morning. Not bad at all. Maybe this high water brought more fish in. I would say that todays weight averaged around eight pounds with Jim's 12lber being the big fish so far. Hope this high water keep 'um comin',
TONY