Swinging on the Lower Yuba lately?

[Jaybinder]

Any recent reports? I'm planning to go early next week. Flows are at 1k. Do you guys think this weekends rain will bump it up much?

Let me know if you have any other suggestions. PMs welcome.

Thanks Jason

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

Hubby and I were out last Sunday - and so was everyone and their grandmother! :confused:

We didn't have any luck swingin', but each managed a bite - me on a nymph (LDR) #-o and hubby on a dry (missed) #-o - late in the day.

You might have better luck on a weekday.... :-k

One of these days I will land a Yuba fish! ](*,)

[DAVID95670]

caught a small rainbow on a wet fly, beautiful day to have been out there .... i did not see anyone else where I was fishing; saw three people leaving as I arrived at 2 PM had a stretch all to my self not that it mattered from a fishing perspective 8)

[Jaybinder]

Thank you for the information and the PM's. I'll be sure to pass on info to you guys in the future.

[Jaybinder]

SKUNKED! Next time it'll be better? Maybe???

[BigKahuna]

I was on the Lower Yuba with two friends last Sunday giving a drift boat rowing lesson. We weren't fishing just rowing. The nice thing for me was getting out from behind the oars and really getting a birds eye view of the river. I'm usually too busy to pay a lot of attention.

The river was crystal clear and the salmon munbers were pretty scattered. We only saw a couple from Parks Bar and down the first few miles. We did see some nice trout. I guess they just sensed we weren't fishing. We floated real carefully and as quiet as we could in some of the deeper clearer runs and saw quite a few fish and some nice ones.

It was an overcast type of day a real BWO day but didn't see a bug. About noon it started to shower, enough that we had to put on rain gear. This was right below Hammon Grove and between Sycamore Ranch. The BWO's started coming off in pretty darn good numbers. An actual hatch. I've been on the river a lot and this was the first actual hatch I've seen in awhile. There were bugs on the water and fish up and feeding. Go figure, this is the only tine this year or for the past 10 years or more that I've been on the river without a rod strung up. We stopped dead in our tracks anchored and ate lunch and savored this moment. As we ate fish steadily rose and picked off the duns and emergers. There weren't many big heads just a lot of excited hungry fish.

The river is re-generating as it always does slow but sure. After the high waters this spring and through most of the summer it was good to see an actual hatch. Hopefully there will many more to come this winter.

Clay Hash
www.flyfishingtraditions.com
or
www.flyfishingtraditions.blogspot.com

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

Guess we should've been out LAST Sunday! Despite the fact we nearly had the river to ourselves all day, we got skunked today...

Saw some stoneflies drying themselves in the sun once the fogged burned off. We tried everything we could think of, but to no avail. :confused:

Still trying to land one on the Yuba!

[thekid]

r u positive that they were stoneflies? The timing doesn't seem right. U never know on the Yuba?

the kid

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

r u positive that they were stoneflies? The timing doesn't seem right. U never know on the Yuba?

the kid

Positive they were stoneflies? YES :nod:

Do I know what species? NO - definitely not golden stones or yellow sallies. Maybe a REALLY early skwalla? They were med to large, darker nymphs drying themselves on the rocks in the warm afternoon sun. Several shucks from the day before's hatch too. The weather was right for it, even if it isn't Jan/Feb yet. Cold, foggy morning, followed by the warmer afternoon after the fog burned off.

The timing definitely seems off, and hubby and I were surprised to see them. But, just two weeks ago we saw grasshoppers and little frogs too, in NOVEMBER???? :confused: .

[BigKahuna]

What you are seeing may be Slate Drakes,“Isonychia" Nymphs. A large mayfly that hatches into October. With the way this season has gone who knows how the bugs schedules have been scrambled. This is a guess as I've been drifting the river in my drift boat and not crawling around on the rocks along the shoreline. The Isonychia nymphs migrate to the rocks below riffles and crawl out just like stoneflies. They are as big as some stoneflies. When they do you will see cases on the rocks near the shoreline. We have been getting fish on hares ears. Any coincidence? With the warmer weather they may still be some around. You can read an article and view a hatch chart for the Lower Yuba River at;

http://www.flyfishingtraditions.com/patterns/gray-or-slate-drake-mayflies (http://http://www.flyfishingtraditions.com/patterns/gray-or-slate-drake-mayflies)


Clay Hash
www.flyfishingtraditions.com (http://www.flyfishingtraditions.com)
or
www.flyfishingtraditions.blogspot.com (http://www.flyfishingtraditions.blogspot.com)

[Terry Thomas]

Seems like we have this discussion every year about this time. Ralph is the expert in this field, however, I believe you could be seeing the "winter stone." I recall that this insect is a member of the capnia family. I believe that some call it the "little black stone."

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

You can read an article and view a hatch chart for the Lower Yuba River at;

http://www.flyfishingtraditions.com/patterns/gray-or-slate-drake-mayflies (http://http://www.flyfishingtraditions.com/patterns/gray-or-slate-drake-mayflies)

I love your hatch charts Clay! It was actually one of the first places I checked when I was trying to figure out what these guys were.... Still pretty sure it's a stone of some kind. Hubby [paulegan81] actually pointed them out to me to begin with and he's been tying flies longer than I've known him, LOL.


Seems like we have this discussion every year about this time. Ralph is the expert in this field, however, I believe you could be seeing the "winter stone." I recall that this insect is a member of the capnia family. I believe that some call it the "little black stone."

I was wondering about those too, but these things were 1 - 2" long.... Not sure that qualifies for 'little' :-k

I'll post a picture as soon as I have my camera back 8-)

[Ralph]

I think you are seeing female stub wing stoneflies - Classinea subulosa. They peaked about three weeks ago but will still dribble out into mid December. The males have really short wings and can't fly. They (as well as the females which can fly) spend most of the day hiding under rocks. They are pretty nocturnal so anglers don't see them much, but the fish do see them a bunch. We did pretty well a few weeks ago fishing paralyzers and large dark stimis on top. Pretty sure the trout thought they were stub wings.

This is a picture of a male. The girls' wings are about the length of the body.

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

I think you are seeing female stub wing stoneflies - Classinea subulosa. They peaked about three weeks ago but will still dribble out into mid December. The males have really short wings and can't fly. They (as well as the females which can fly) spend most of the day hiding under rocks. They are pretty nocturnal so anglers don't see them much, but the fish do see them a bunch. We did pretty well a few weeks ago fishing paralyzers and large dark stimis on top. Pretty sure the trout thought they were stub wings.

This is a picture of a male. The girls' wings are about the length of the body.

Hmmmmmm - I dunno :-k. You're saying those are nocturnal and there were several around on the rocks about 4-6 ft from the water's edge all the way down the lower river. These weren't 'hatching' either. Hubby thinks the larva/nymphs are active because the water temps are right, but not hatching properly cause the air temps are not... Most of the shucks we saw weren't split open like a hatch.

Aaaaaaaaaaah - the mystery continues..... :D.

[Ralph]

They are much more nocturnal than most stoneflies, but that doesn't mean a percentage of the population isn't running around during the day. Most anglers way underestimate the numbers of stub wings that are about. Unlike Skwala or little yellow stones that conspicuously fly around and cavort in the riparian foliage, stub wings will hatch on a rock then scuttle under the cobbles, out of sight out of mind. They live for about a month, so even if a "hatch" isn't underway or is even completely done, they are still on the water ovipositing and available to trout.

The only way a stonefly or mayfly can get out of it's exoskeleton and leave a shuck behind is by pulling itself through a split on the thorax. Except for the final molt where the nymph morphs into an adult, all the molting is done underwater. If you see shucks on the rocks, there was a hatch!

[Jaybinder]

All right people, this was supposed to be an oppertunity for me to whine about not catching any fish. Instead I end up learning something?? Not cool.


Jason

(for those of you who don't get sarcasm, I'm just kidding.:p)

[Troutstalker55B]

Ralph,

Your right on the money, and man those stoners can run across the water - who needs wings!

Jon.

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

I didn't realize its body and legs had stripes...

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f97/Tggr514/Yuba_River_Stonefly_Nymph.jpg

Still a stub wing stonefly nymph? :-k

[Ralph]

Bingo!
Pretty hard to tell from the image, but combining the size, locale, and date, there aren't really any other contenders. Got an email from a friend who found seven adult stub wings under a single rock at Parks Bar today. I'd be fishing dark stimis at dusk. Be sure to give them a swing or at least a twitch because, as Jon says, they can definitely motor about.

[DAVID95670]

Ok we have found the bug....

Has anyone caught any fish in the last two weeks on the yuba?