RJSFLYTRIP
05-03-2011, 10:14 AM
April has been a great month! After a long March with high water conditions April set up to be one of the best months that I can remember. The Lower Sac was awesome and the Feather was full of fish! Never have I seen an egg bite happen in April. Those of you who were fortunate enough to hit it were rewarded with great fishing for three weeks with beads and sucker spawns. On top of all that I had an 11 year old girl name Olivia CATCH THE BIGGEST RAINBOW I HAVE HAD A CLIENT LAND ON THE RIVER!!!! You cant ask for much more than that. Plus you throw a couple trips in each week chasing those spring steelhead on the Feather and it has been a ton of fun to guide.
Keep your fingers crossed that water conditions stay stable on our river sheds so that we can continue to have good fishing through the rest of the month. Hopefully we will have a couple more weeks of spring before summer hits.
In this report you will detailed reports for the Lower Sac, Feather, Openings before I leave for Idaho, and 1 discounted trip for this Saturday, May 7.
My Openings are below:
May 7 ($275), 17-18
June 7, 9, 16-19
Lower Sac:
The Lower Sac has fished really well the entire month of April. From the bead bite, to the sucker spawn grab, and now to the pmd hatch it has been hard to go wrong on the river. Almost every day on the river the last 3 weeks has been spectacular. We have had lots of 30+ boated fish days with many more than that lost. The key right now to the Lower Sac is being on the river at the right time. The river is in its normal spring trend with most fish being caught from the morning time until about 3PM. After 3PM you can still catch some fish but things definitely tighten up. The last week
I have been spending the majority of my time between Anderson and Balls Ferry but talking to friends fishing up in town is also producing well. The hot flies lately have been sucker spawn, rubber legs, mercers pmd, and Hogans S&M.
Expect the Fishing to stay solid on the river for the next 3 weeks as long as water conditions stay stable. I expect that this is going to be a high water summer on the Lower Sac. But we are keeping our fingers crossed that they dont have to go above 25,000 cfs. If they keep it between 20,000-25,000 it could be a great summer of catching lots of big rainbows on the river as these are great flows. A lot will depend on the weather in May. If the weather gets really warm in a hurry then we might see higher flows sooner than expected. However if spring continues for the next couple of weeks then the Sac will be its normal self.
Feather River:
The Feather has had a great April as well. I have been guiding over here 2 days each of the last four weeks and there are plenty of fish in the system. Most days we are hooking 10+ spring steelhead on the river. There has been a strong mix of half pounders and adult fish in the system. It seems like depending on the day you are there what kind of fish that you run into. One day you get a lot of fish between 16-19" and one big fish and then the next lots of fish between 20-22" and a couple big fish. Either way it has been hard to go wrong on the Feather. There are fish spread out throughout the entire Low Flow System. Lots of fish up by the Hatchery and Bedrock Park. So anyone going to wade up there can expect to do fairly well. The hot flies have been tan birds nest, prince nymph, dirty bird, and Hogans S&M. One tip over here is to fish a looser drag than normal. Since these fish are so hot and fresh a looser drag will prevent those small trout flies from being ripped out of their mouth.
Expect the Feather to fish well for the next couple of weeks. So if you want to get in on the action then you better plan on getting up there soon. Because by the third week of May most of these fish will leave the system due to increasing water temperatures.
Yuba River:
Well I don't have a lot of current info on the Yuba. I actually have not been over there for 2 months now. It seems like when flows finally stabilize over there I'm on the Sac or Feather. Then once I have a couple Yuba trips come up then the flows get jacked up again. I have to admit it has been a frustrating spring over there with water conditions. Im keeping my fingers crossed as I have a couple trips on the Yuba later this week. I can tell you that I have heard good things from a handful of people. It sounds like there are fish being caught during those small windows when the water has been stable. I know the last 4-5 days water conditions are good to go again for those that own a drift boat. If you head over there try Rubber Legs, San Juans, Copper Johns, Sally Nymphs, and Golden Stone Nymphs.
Hopefully I will have more info for you guys in a weeks or so. The good news is the last time the Yuba was this high for such a long extened period of time the summer fished lights out. So you guys could luck into a great summer of fishing on the Yuba. Expect great fishing on the Yuba in June and July!!!!
Hope this helps!
Tight Lines!
Keep your fingers crossed that water conditions stay stable on our river sheds so that we can continue to have good fishing through the rest of the month. Hopefully we will have a couple more weeks of spring before summer hits.
In this report you will detailed reports for the Lower Sac, Feather, Openings before I leave for Idaho, and 1 discounted trip for this Saturday, May 7.
My Openings are below:
May 7 ($275), 17-18
June 7, 9, 16-19
Lower Sac:
The Lower Sac has fished really well the entire month of April. From the bead bite, to the sucker spawn grab, and now to the pmd hatch it has been hard to go wrong on the river. Almost every day on the river the last 3 weeks has been spectacular. We have had lots of 30+ boated fish days with many more than that lost. The key right now to the Lower Sac is being on the river at the right time. The river is in its normal spring trend with most fish being caught from the morning time until about 3PM. After 3PM you can still catch some fish but things definitely tighten up. The last week
I have been spending the majority of my time between Anderson and Balls Ferry but talking to friends fishing up in town is also producing well. The hot flies lately have been sucker spawn, rubber legs, mercers pmd, and Hogans S&M.
Expect the Fishing to stay solid on the river for the next 3 weeks as long as water conditions stay stable. I expect that this is going to be a high water summer on the Lower Sac. But we are keeping our fingers crossed that they dont have to go above 25,000 cfs. If they keep it between 20,000-25,000 it could be a great summer of catching lots of big rainbows on the river as these are great flows. A lot will depend on the weather in May. If the weather gets really warm in a hurry then we might see higher flows sooner than expected. However if spring continues for the next couple of weeks then the Sac will be its normal self.
Feather River:
The Feather has had a great April as well. I have been guiding over here 2 days each of the last four weeks and there are plenty of fish in the system. Most days we are hooking 10+ spring steelhead on the river. There has been a strong mix of half pounders and adult fish in the system. It seems like depending on the day you are there what kind of fish that you run into. One day you get a lot of fish between 16-19" and one big fish and then the next lots of fish between 20-22" and a couple big fish. Either way it has been hard to go wrong on the Feather. There are fish spread out throughout the entire Low Flow System. Lots of fish up by the Hatchery and Bedrock Park. So anyone going to wade up there can expect to do fairly well. The hot flies have been tan birds nest, prince nymph, dirty bird, and Hogans S&M. One tip over here is to fish a looser drag than normal. Since these fish are so hot and fresh a looser drag will prevent those small trout flies from being ripped out of their mouth.
Expect the Feather to fish well for the next couple of weeks. So if you want to get in on the action then you better plan on getting up there soon. Because by the third week of May most of these fish will leave the system due to increasing water temperatures.
Yuba River:
Well I don't have a lot of current info on the Yuba. I actually have not been over there for 2 months now. It seems like when flows finally stabilize over there I'm on the Sac or Feather. Then once I have a couple Yuba trips come up then the flows get jacked up again. I have to admit it has been a frustrating spring over there with water conditions. Im keeping my fingers crossed as I have a couple trips on the Yuba later this week. I can tell you that I have heard good things from a handful of people. It sounds like there are fish being caught during those small windows when the water has been stable. I know the last 4-5 days water conditions are good to go again for those that own a drift boat. If you head over there try Rubber Legs, San Juans, Copper Johns, Sally Nymphs, and Golden Stone Nymphs.
Hopefully I will have more info for you guys in a weeks or so. The good news is the last time the Yuba was this high for such a long extened period of time the summer fished lights out. So you guys could luck into a great summer of fishing on the Yuba. Expect great fishing on the Yuba in June and July!!!!
Hope this helps!
Tight Lines!