Yuba Status?

[Sheepdog8404]

Well since the American will be offline for a little while during this new flow change, I am looking to get out and touch some different water while I have a few days off school. I'm particularly interested in the Yuba. I've heard rumors that this warmer weather might get some bugs moving and turn the fish on. Does anyone have any info regarding the conditions of the river at this time? Flows, Clarity, hatches? Any help is always appreciated!

Tight lines,
Gary

[mattv-mcfly]

Jon Baiocchi just reported a new update on his blog.
http://jonbaiocchiflyfishingnews.blogspot.com/2016/02/lower-yuba-river-fishing-report-2102016.html

[PV_Premier]

visibility 3' and continuing to improve (on Saturday it was 18-24" at best)
flows at about 800-900cfs
bugs are not abundant but they are around
i have not seen a lot of risers but others have caught fish on skwalas and BWOs
nymphing is sporadic at best IMO

fishing should continue to improve over the next 2 weeks if the weather continues to be warm and sunny, with more hatches and more fish on top. starting early next week i am planning to spend a lot of time on the water.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Dry fly action?

Mayflies action is good on humid/foggy/overcast days and caddis and skwala / stones like warm afternoon sun.

760 cfs is a nice low flow....

I think you might be able to cross it in places at that flow?

.

[Jake O]

Visibility must be better down low. Above the bridge vis is no where near 3 feet. Just got off the river

[Sheepdog8404]

Thanks for all the replies! Hopefully conditions will continue to improve over the next few days.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

If the river stay low for a while with not much more rain this time of year is great for hungry fish on dries.

[Jake O]

Thanks for all the replies! Hopefully conditions will continue to improve over the next few days.

This is my hope, but I doubt that the river will clear up quickly over the next couple days. I can only speak to the water above the bridge (as that is where I have been fishing) but I did not see a dramatic improvement in clarity between last sunday and yesterday. When engelbright gets muddy, it tends to really screw with clarity for at least a couple weeks--seen it as long as three to four. No doubt the clarity is better down stream, and probably much better below hamond grove where you have a creek pumping some additional water into the river that is relatively clear.

[PV_Premier]

Visibility must be better down low. Above the bridge vis is no where near 3 feet.

it is, but at least for me it is not helping the bite at all. it's been terrible for me since January 1st on all fronts (nymphs, swing, and dry). honestly i've only hooked up twice this year, lost one and the other broke me off. :mad: honestly starting to get impatient and sorta PO'd, and that obviously won't help my success.

the big rain coming tonight/tomorrow is not going to help matters.

[Troutstalker55B]

it is, but at least for me it is not helping the bite at all. it's been terrible for me since January 1st on all fronts (nymphs, swing, and dry). honestly i've only hooked up twice this year, lost one and the other broke me off. :mad: honestly starting to get impatient and sorta PO'd, and that obviously won't help my success.

the big rain coming tonight/tomorrow is not going to help matters.

Don't be PO'd, those fish can feel it, I really believe that. I just posted a fresh report, as well as Hogan has. Click here for Hogan's take; http://hgbflyfishing.blogspot.com/2016/02/fishing-reports-skwala-rant-vinyl-not.html

- J.

[Sheepdog8404]

Sounds like some mixed feelings on the Yuba. I had plans to jam up there after class tomorrow since I have the rest of the day to myself after 0830. This storm has me thinking otherwise now though... Might be a total waste of time with the rain it is bringing. On the other hand, maybe a day fishing in less than optimal conditions on a river I have never fished, by myself without the aid of someone who is familiar with it is better than not fishing at all??? I'm on the fence about it...

[mattv-mcfly]

Don't be PO'd, those fish can feel it, I really believe that. I just posted a fresh report, as well as Hogan has. Click here for Hogan's take; http://hgbflyfishing.blogspot.com/2016/02/fishing-reports-skwala-rant-vinyl-not.html

- J.

Haha I second that. If you aren't on your A game out there they'll know and everything that could possibly go wrong will go wrong. I was out there this afternoon before the rain started. The water was the clearest I've seen it in a while but now with this storm it'll probably mud up again.

Hooked four in three hours below the bridge. The fish were only eating PTs. Fun stuff.

[PV_Premier]

Yeah I need to get my head back in the game. When you get on the skunk it's easy to get in a hurry and not be thorough and that has been the case for me since mid January. I had an awesome 2015 so it's a bummer to have the year start this way. Hopefully things improve soon!

[PV_Premier]

As of this morning, there has not been a change in flow on the Smartsville gauge, despite about 2" of rain ovenright just upstream of Englebright. Perhaps this bodes well for the continued improving clarity on the Yuba...

[Sheepdog8404]

Interesting. Do you have a temperature by chance?

[PV_Premier]

i didn't take the water temp last time i was out (Monday). middle of last week it was around 50. Jon might have a more recent reading.

[yubaman]

Unfortunately the Yuba mudded up from Deer Creek today. We fished it late yesterday for a couple of hours and fishing was very, very good. The water had that great green tinge to it. Today, Deer Creek got up to 132 cfs, and the river got very murky as the day went on. Color went from green to mostly a brown. Fishing was not good today. I suspect it will need a couple of more days to clear.

BTW, the 30k flows moved a lot of gravel around the river. Some of the runs have changed pretty dramatically. With all of the gravel movement, very few bugs under the rocks. Could be sparse for hatches this spring.

[Sheepdog8404]

I guess its a good thing I didn't drive over there then... Maybe next week I'll make the journey! Thanks for the report, yubaman!

[Ralph]

There was a good landslide up near Mushroom Hole (Middle Fork) in January. I think silt will be the rule rather than the exception this season.

[yubaman]

The color was pretty good Wednesday, that great green tinge and about 30" of clarity. I'll take a little color in the water any day on the Yuba. I feel when the Yuba is gin clear, that I scatter many fish walking the elevated banks of the river. Also, I've noticed that on many days in the last year and a half, I am catching fish on the Yuba, with a bug that has never produced much in the past on this river. Every trip, it's a different bug. One time it's a size 10 Prince, then it's a size 8 Golden Stone dry, then it's a size 14 Hotwire Prince? Bugs other than the old standby's have really been out-producing the Rubberlegs, Golden Stone nymph and S & M 's. Maybe it's the fish seeing something different?

To this day, the largest fish I have caught on the Yuba is a 24" beast, on a size 8 bushy Salmonfly dry that I had only previously thrown in Montana . . . you just never know what you might stir up with something new on a slow day.

[Morgan]

11702

We floated the river yesterday. It was my buddies 2nd day on the river and my first. The fishing was a bit slow for us. Missed one grab on a dry and stuck the other 2 on small bugs. Not much going on yesterday. One decent bow in the high teens and a small hatchery buck. It was my pups first float and he couldnt have done better.

[John Sv]

I drove past on 20 on the way to the feather. Counted 6 boats from the bridge at however fast I was going. Was it mobbed?

[Rockman]

How was the water clarity and flow?

[Morgan]

How was the water clarity and flow?

It was my first day on the water...but to me it looked like a dirtier steelhead green.

It didnt seem to busy. BUt we put in late to avoid being in the mobb of morning boats.

[John Sv]

I just noticed the dog licking the fish- nice photo!

[mattv-mcfly]

A hatchery fish on the Yuba is quite the treat. I landed a 28" hen a few years ago there, huge surprise.

I was below the bridge yesterday and counted eight that drifted by me in about two hours. A mix of pontoons, drift boats, and yaks. Clarity was really good in comparison to the mud we were fishing a week ago. I didn't spend much time fishing the river but hooked two on small mayfly nymphs. Swung a streamer later in the day for a few minutes and got one short strike.

[Sheepdog8404]

Thinking of heading up on Thursday after class. Hopefully the crowd will be a little thinner then! Probably going to primarily be streamer fishing unless I see some surface activity. It'll be my first time on the Yuba so we'll see how it goes.

[Troutstalker55B]

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i424/moto55b/Yuba%20River%20Jon%20Baiocchi%20858_zpsobitib5a.jp g (http://s1093.photobucket.com/user/moto55b/media/Yuba%20River%20Jon%20Baiocchi%20858_zpsobitib5a.jp g.html)

They are out there, with a few keen fish aware of the adult, but we need more. They like a full moon phase.

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i424/moto55b/Yuba%20River%20Jon%20Baiocchi%20862_zpsfgolfprn.jp g (http://s1093.photobucket.com/user/moto55b/media/Yuba%20River%20Jon%20Baiocchi%20862_zpsfgolfprn.jp g.html)

Click here for a complete report; http://jonbaiocchiflyfishingnews.blogspot.com/2016/02/lower-yuba-river-fishing-report-2232016.html

Confidence, good presentations, and a hope go a long way. Best of luck to you all. - J.

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i424/moto55b/Yuba%20River%20Jon%20Baiocchi%20863_zpsw05fxf71.jp g (http://s1093.photobucket.com/user/moto55b/media/Yuba%20River%20Jon%20Baiocchi%20863_zpsw05fxf71.jp g.html)

[Sheepdog8404]

Great Report John! That sure is a fat bow in that picture. Would have been nice to see the 22-24 incher your guest raised! Did you get my PM by chance?

[Troutstalker55B]

Got it, check your PM - J.

[Sheepdog8404]

Got spanked today... Only one bump on a big articulated streamer. Didn't see a single fish rise. Lots of people on the water today too. Seemed like there was an angler in every run... I need to take Jon and Lance's class If I have any hopes of finding some fish up there.

[mattv-mcfly]

I caught a tiny fish on a skwala fishing the pockets this afternoon. The fishing was tough as hell today.

[TigerLilly]

Floated the river each of the last three days. Not much happening. Saw a very few skwala sputtering about but nothing like a "hatch" and far too few to initiate a rise. Guides posting photos of skwala and subliminally promoting the Yuba skwala fishing right now are not outright lying, but are planting the seeds of misconception. I floated various flies right over the heads of trout and they never looked up but continued to eat small nymphs along the bottom. Pumped a few and they are packed with unfishably small backswimmers and midge pupae (if you look closely along the river's edge you'll see hundreds of micro backswimmers jerking about). Saw some rather glum clients at the Sycamore take out. They were expecting more. Fish are taking the random nymph and swung streamer but it is NOT the kind of fishing you would pay $450.00 for. Give it a few weeks for the caddis to start. Even then, don't expect fantastic things. It looks like the January pulse cleaned out a lot of bugs. The most bugs, by far, seem to be at the lower reaches of the river.

[Jake O]

Pumped a few and they are packed with unfishably small backswimmers and midge pupae (if you look closely along the river's edge you'll see hundreds of micro backswimmers jerking about). .

This is an exact replica of a few year ago IMO. Every time this happens (which seems to be at least once every five years) it seems to take at least a year for the bugs to come back in force. Sure, some bugs will be around, and sure, you will still catch fish, but the Yuba will be even more fickle than she normally is this year. Once the river gets clear the fishing will get increasingly tough with lack of big hatches. I will still fish the Yuba this year as its my favorite water, but my expectation will certainly be lower than in a "normal" year. Shouldn't be too long before the fish start to look a little snakey like they did a few years ago with the lack of quality bugs.

[PV_Premier]

Yeah it's brutal out there. Swung a streamer for 3 hours again today with not even a bump. Also tossed around a skwala and copper John dropper in small sections of holding water that will nearly always yield a fish or two, again nothing. I'm done with the river for awhile I think, guess I will head to the T tomorrow.

[VinnySteel]

It's a bummer to hear how tough the fishing is on the Yuba right now. I haven't been out there since before the big flows, but I was really looking forward to the Skwalas! Maybe I'll take a scout trip to the lower Stan or something this week.

[cyama]

Floated the river each of the last three days. Not much happening. Saw a very few skwala sputtering about but nothing like a "hatch" and far too few to initiate a rise. Guides posting photos of skwala and subliminally promoting the Yuba skwala fishing right now are not outright lying, but are planting the seeds of misconception. I floated various flies right over the heads of trout and they never looked up but continued to eat small nymphs along the bottom. Pumped a few and they are packed with unfishably small backswimmers and midge pupae (if you look closely along the river's edge you'll see hundreds of micro backswimmers jerking about). Saw some rather glum clients at the Sycamore take out. They were expecting more. Fish are taking the random nymph and swung streamer but it is NOT the kind of fishing you would pay $450.00 for. Give it a few weeks for the caddis to start. Even then, don't expect fantastic things. It looks like the January pulse cleaned out a lot of bugs. The most bugs, by far, seem to be at the lower reaches of the river.

Guides posting photos of skwala and subliminally promoting the Yuba skwala fishing right now are not outright lying, but are planting the seeds of misconception. I agree completely. Plus the fish are starting to spawn. A good guide would just back off the upper river. I like the fish with a skwala dry half way stuck in the mouth of a fish….

[yubaman]

I fished it way up high yesterday and ditto, it was brutal. Got into 4 decent fish on Skwala dries and one on a nymph. The 4 on dries were all in one little side run and were caught in about 5 minutes. It was 7 1/2 hours of nothing and about 6 minutes of real fishing. And when I say nothing, it was flat ass dead.

I saw some baetis in the am, about size 24 or 26, very tiny. There were 2 Skwala's that I saw, a couple of Yellow Sallies, a few Mayflies and that was it. In turning over dozens of rocks, the bottoms were barren and clean, no bugs. I agree, the 30k flows cleaned out the river. I think it is going to be a very quiet spring on the Yuba for any real dry fly fishing. All the nutrients in the water now really have the underwater vegetation going though.

[bigfly]

I've noticed over the years that fishermen will complain about things not being easy on their water.....instead of figuring it out.
I might suggest, it's not always the fish...or the bugs......
Mastery takes time...and easy fish dont help....
Both the Yuba and the T require study.
But dissing fisheries for them not being fishy, is to infer there is work to be done......
I've spent 25 years on them both, and still get stiffed....but I take the blame when it happens.....
If you want easy fish...move to Idaho.
I missed the T the whole summer, because challenging fishing teaches...
The fish are in there.........and they have to eat....




Jim

[thekid]

agree 100 %
we like to call it "good old fashioned ass kicking"
going to fish it tomorrow like it's the super bowl
bring it on....

the kid

[TigerLilly]

The fish are in there.........and they have to eat.... Jim

Nothing new there. The fish are still in the Yuba and with a modicum of patience you can watch them aggressivly feed nearly at your feet. The problem is that with the distinct lack of bigger bugs, the trout are keying very intently on micro backswimmers and TINY midge pupae that can dart through the eye of a #20 hook. A #26 Quicksilver pupae looks like Godzilla compared to what the fish are eating . . . and the fish react like they've seen Godzilla when you drift one of these little flies between their eyes. That is not to say that, for what ever reason, the random fish won't take the random fly, but it is very much the exception rather than the rule and "matching the hatch" isn't the game to be played now. At the take out my boat has a thick black scum line of midge husks the size of small poppy seeds. From pumping a few fish I KNOW that these flecks of backswimmers and midges are what constitute most of the menu. These fish are not lacking for chow, they are simply eating what you probably can't serve. The river is always changing and by tonight these same trout might be longing for terrestrials or deciding that baby salmon aren't really so hard to catch.

[yubaman]

Please don't misunderstand what I am saying as dissing the fishery. Just a description of a day. Changed bugs, maybe 30 times, weight about 5 times, depths every run, etc. I've put enough time on the Yuba over the last 10 years to know some days are good, some days are not. No matter what, any day on the water is a great one, even in the 105 degree Yuba summer heat. I gave up on blaming the fisheries a long time ago myself.

[SteelieD]

Nothing new there. The fish are still in the Yuba and with a modicum of patience you can watch them aggressivly feed nearly at your feet. The problem is that with the distinct lack of bigger bugs, the trout are keying very intently on micro backswimmers and TINY midge pupae that can dart through the eye of a #20 hook. A #26 Quicksilver pupae looks like Godzilla compared to what the fish are eating . . . and the fish react like they've seen Godzilla when you drift one of these little flies between their eyes. That is not to say that, for what ever reason, the random fish won't take the random fly, but it is very much the exception rather than the rule and "matching the hatch" isn't the game to be played now. At the take out my boat has a thick black scum line of midge husks the size of small poppy seeds. From pumping a few fish I KNOW that these flecks of backswimmers and midges are what constitute most of the menu. These fish are not lacking for chow, they are simply eating what you probably can't serve. The river is always changing and by tonight these same trout might be longing for terrestrials or deciding that baby salmon aren't really so hard to catch.

Hmmmm.... So little bugs you say? OK, let's go get 'em!

[TyV]

I've noticed over the years that fishermen will complain about things not being easy on their water.....instead of figuring it out.
I might suggest, it's not always the fish...or the bugs......
Mastery takes time...and easy fish dont help....
Both the Yuba and the T require study.
But dissing fisheries for them not being fishy, is to infer there is work to be done......
I've spent 25 years on them both, and still get stiffed....but I take the blame when it happens.....
If you want easy fish...move to Idaho.
I missed the T the whole summer, because challenging fishing teaches...
The fish are in there.........and they have to eat....




Jim

Jim, I miss your blog posts! You always tell it like it is. There are certainly days when the wind, barometer, thermometer, flows/clarity and other natural conditions turn off the bite...the more I fish, the less I find those things are truly the case though lol. Any chance you start posting to your blog again?

[TahoeChris]

The fish and bugs were there today. Get out and fish.

[bigfly]

As I reflect with age..
I remember fleeing frustrating fishing.
Just saying...that when I met the T, there was not going to be anymore of that run away shite.
I've said before...Ralph said "swim it", and I did....everything changed after that.
Wasn't trying to offend....just motivate.
Fishing hard water is frustrating even when ya should have it figured....
The blog will ride again....Guiding year-round can make it hard to keep all the balls in the air....
and honestly, I'd rather fish than talk about it.

Jim

[PV_Premier]

Here we go again. 16k CFS this morning and still rising at the Smartsville gauge.

[Jake O]

It was up to 26k at one point if you add in deer creek. Going to be a tough year on the yuba. And yes. I blame the fishery

[mattv-mcfly]

26,000 CFS! Game over man, game over!
By the way now that I think about it what is considered tough? Isn't the whole point of using barbless hooks with feathers and fur wrapped around it suppose to be tough? After "figuring out" the Yuba and being able to consistently catch fish there I find that all just prespective. But then again I'm still young and naive.

[PV_Premier]

Only hit 24k at the YRS gauge today *rolleyes*

With no more precip and a slow snow melt, the river might be fishable by 5/1 :(

[Jake O]

32 right now....