Smallies in the Lower Yuba?

[JAWallace]

I have yet to fish the Feather up from the mouth for smallies, and given the low water am thinking it might be difficult to navigate this year with a prop boat.

It's occurred to me that there should be a population of smallmouth bass up from the mouth of the Yuba, and from the satellite views it looks like the river should be navigable with my small outboard skiff several miles upriver.

I know there are smallies in the American as I have caught them, including my personal best smallie just over 5#, but not many and not enough to target them. I haven't heard of their presence in the Yuba, and am hoping someone can confirm, deny, or provide some advise. PM if you wish, thank you very much. ~John

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

There are SMB from the mouth of the Feather River all the way to Gridley.

Friends of mine who guide and fish the lower Yuba River for decades said there are no SMB in the Yuba.

There are lots of SMB in the Sacramento River from Red Bluff down into the
Delta.

There are SMB in many small tributaries in the Valley.

.

.

[JAWallace]

Thanks, Bill. I've only fished the Feather for bass from Live Oak to Gridley, and just assumed they'd be up the Yuba at least a mile from the mouth. Looks pretty bassy to me. Oh well.

[Darian]

Check with Andy Guibord of Kiene's or Tony Buzolich, board member. Each of these guys has knowledge of the Smallmouth Bass fishery in the Feather and Yuba Rivers. :cool: If all else fails, check out Johnson's Bait & Tackle in Yuba City:

http://www.johnsonsbait.com/

[Jake O]

There are small mouth in the first mile or so of the Yuba. I personally wouldn't waste my time fishing it much past the bridge that crosses over from Linda to Marysville and the Feather river is a much better bet.

[Tony Buzolich]

I have to disagree a little with some of the comments made about the Yuba specifically. I hesitate a little because no one has been able to give me a clear cut identification of the bass that "I call" smallmouth. I still think they're smallmouth and shall continue to call them such until some one can give me a better identification.

The smallmouth in the Yuba are for the most part ,,,,,,,, small. A two pounder would be quite a trophy but most seem to be under or around 12 inches.

They are definitely NOT largemouth and have no horizontal dark bar along their lateral line. All seem to have the characteristic gold hue to their color and definite vertical bars or stripes across their face and gill plate.

I've caught them while fishing for stripers with large clouser patterns, on shad flies while fishing for shad, and even on streamers while fishing for steelhead. This I have done all the way up to De Guarre dam and above on the Yuba. Above De Guarre I believe the water is a bit colder for them but I have not doubt they are there too.

A few years ago I wrote a small piece for Bob Clouser's new book at the time "Fly-fishing for Smallmouth in Rivers and Streams". I mentioned then about the Yuba and the gold field ponds upstream of the mouth.

As for boats on the Yuba, Bill's boat or any small jet would be perfect for most of the river. But with these low water conditions even a jet ski will draq bottom in some places.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/008_zpscbfcf8ad.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/buzolich/media/008_zpscbfcf8ad.jpg.html)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/FeatherRiver3-25-13012_zps1956f140.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/buzolich/media/FeatherRiver3-25-13012_zps1956f140.jpg.html)

Here's a couple of what I call "smallies" taken on the Yuba in the above pictures.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/002_zps9efef74d.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/buzolich/media/002_zps9efef74d.jpg.html)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/006_zps273f8d5c.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/buzolich/media/006_zps273f8d5c.jpg.html)

These last two pictures I believe to be either juvenile largemouth or spotted bass.
Tony

[JAWallace]

Thanks, Tony, for the detailed response and the pictures. My limited experience fishing for smallies intentionally on the Feather is consistent with your remarks on size. You need a 3 wt. or lighter with some backbone to enjoy it. My old Orvis Superfine 1 wt. is perfect. If you hook a striper….I dunno. Hope the rod has a good warranty.

The second fish is probably a smallie, given the position of the end of the mouth. I have caught many without the clear markings of the first fish. The third is 99% a spot. The belly lines and broken but clear lateral line give that away.

The size is pretty typical of Western river smallies. I understand it's hard to find much over 8" in the John Day now, but you can hook 200 a day. I am off to Maine shortly and hope the rivers there produce something a little better.

[jerry from sac]

A buddy of mine and I used to target smallmouth in the Yuba and at times did fairly well.

I've fished for smb for many years and still put in time fishing for them.

I posted this outing (not the Yuba) awhile back and I think I know how to recognize them.

http://www.kiene.com/forums/showthread.php?26201-This-smallmouth-stream-is-not-bad.

Last year I fished this stream again and caught good numbers of fish but not as big.

[Loomis 1]

The problem now is the only 2 ramps (Riverfront Park in Marysville and Yuba City Boat ramp) are pretty much useless for anything beyond a canoe. If you do get launched, about up stream of Yuba City (on the Feather River) is a train trestle. If you go beyond the trestle in a prop boat I highly recommend at least one spare (prop). Tons of snags and the channel moves quite a bit year to year.

[JAWallace]

Thanks for that update, Loomis. This is not sounding like something on the bucket list for this year ;-)