North Yuba and Middle Feather Conditions?

[Troutzilla]

I'm going to be in the Downieville, Graeagle, Truckee area in 2 weeks. How are thing conditions right now I was hoping for a day on the North Yuba and a day on the Middle Feather but was concerned the water was high and cold still.

[mattv-mcfly]

I was on the Middle Fork for two days and the water level is a bit high but close to it's normal flows. The water temperature was nice. By the time you get there it should be perfect. The fishing was a bit slow but then again we fished cruddy windy conditions. Only nymphs and a few hits on streamers.

[TyV]

I fished it right after the wi ked heat wave for two days on Wed. And Thurs...the MFF that is. Fishing was very slow...except for the evenings. Had some great action on #6 Chubby Chernobyl's...tied Golden Stone\Salmonfly in #6. Water was higher but warm...weird for me. Very little action on nymphs or streamers. I barely saw 1-2 rises per evening...that weren't for my flies...and the big chubby was almost all I could get action on. All the standards you van think of didn't produce...para Adams, ec caddis, elk hair caddis, royal wulff, sparkle duns, humpies, you name it. No love. I did get a single rise from another salmonfly pattern and a single rise on a chubby sally...its a yellow sally version of the Chernobyl. It was gorgeous and relaxing...even with unproductive fishing most of the day...that last hour or two put a huge grin on my face! Hatcheswere pretty sparse too. Occasional yellow sallg,tan caddis, golde. Stone, pmd\ped...prstty sparse. I fished in and around Nelson Point trail and the other access near there including Nelson creek proper didn't provide any love either. Damn that creek, water and canyon are gorgeous though.

I bet the water is down a bit and the fishing is going off...all but midday in two weeks....lower, not up near grayeagle...that might be done for the year by then.

You won't know if you don't go. Its worth it even if it isnt great fishing.

Have fun.

TyV

[TaylerW]

John Baiocchi is the man for that area, id highly suggest giving him a ring. He stays pretty in tune with the rythyms around those parts.

[VinceThompson]

My young son and I fished the NF Yuba below Sierra City. Fishing was slow, flows a little high but coming down. The gal at the hardware store said it's a big transition time and should get better as the water warms up.
Best fly for us was a yellow humpy.

[cdevine]

My young son and I fished the NF Yuba below Sierra City. Fishing was slow, flows a little high but coming down. The gal at the hardware store said it's a big transition time and should get better as the water warms up.
Best fly for us was a yellow humpy.

Jon is the man. He does a great job on his blog and social media to inform the community of conditions on Lake Davis, Truckee, Yuba, MFF. Good call on that.

This should be a good week to get out before the next pulse comes down impacting flows. Heat wave that is. Check out the gauges over the last few days. Most freestones are down 40% or so. Goodyears bar was 1000 10 days ago and now in the 500's. I think in 2 weeks you are going to be on the early side of a great season. July and August are going to fish really this year.

[Jeff F]

I'm going to be in the Downieville, Graeagle, Truckee area in 2 weeks. How are thing conditions right now I was hoping for a day on the North Yuba and a day on the Middle Feather but was concerned the water was high and cold still.

Eric and I fished the MFF last weekend. Saturday, we ventured down into the abyss on the Oddie Bar Trail. 1,700' of elevation in 1.3mi. Going down was cake. Coming back up.....well, I'm sure you can imagine. Anyway....the river was still too high down there to fish effectively. We caught some fish, but all little guys. There were zero hatches going on down there. Very surprising.

Sunday after recuperating, we took it easy and fished the upper Two Rivers area. Lots of small-ish rainbows (8-10"). Again, hardly any bugs coming off at all. There was a very quick sallie hatch around 2pm. But not enough to get the fish looking up. We did raise a few fish on small stimi's, but the dry action was pretty nil. Ended the day upstream of Layman at one of my favorite runs. I hooked a real nice fish (18"+) on a biot stone, but it came off. Saw him though. It was a beauty! Then got another nice fish (16") on a rubberlegs. Both rainbows. Couple more dinks, then called it a day. Surprising lack of bugs around for this time of year.

The water above Nelson Ck has about 2 weeks left before it gets too skinny, especially above Jamison Ck. Jamison is flowing pretty good though. So I'd fish below there if you do go. The canyon section, if you dare, may be better in a couple weeks when it drops a bit. But that hike is no joke. But if want to fish in a truly wild place with truly wild fish and no one else around......that's the place to go. Make sure you tell someone where you're going though. I wouldn't go alone. You get hit by a buzzworm, or break an ankle, you're toast. (nice buzzkill, huh?) :)

Have fun and post a report when you get home.

~Jeff

[PV_Premier]

I will be scouting the NFYR on Sunday and will post a report. The initial things I have heard from friends up that way have been good. Think small streamers right now...dries will catch fish to be sure, nearly all year, but streamers will get into the numbers at this time of year.

I think Gregg is going up there this weekend as well and may bring back some intel too.

If you will be in the Truckee area, I would consider fishing the big river and the LT, both are doing pretty good.

[Troutzilla]

Thanks for all the tips and advice, I appreciate it and am looking forward to going in 1.5 weeks. PV__remier, let us know how you do.

[PV_Premier]

Just back from the North Fork.

I arrived at Carlton Campground at about 9ish AM. Quickly got two on dries in pocket water, then things really slowed down.

I worked my way up to Downieville, then Sierra City. By 1pm I was ready for a lunchbreak and had caught 8-10 fish. Unfortunately nothing over 10".

Fished my way back down hitting 2 or 3 of my favorite spots in the afternoon. Things seemed to be a bit better in the afternoon, in total I caught between 20-25 fish today, but nothing of size.

Flows were manageable for wading in most areas, but I would like to see it down another 100-150cfs personally just to make it a bit easier and concentrate the fish a little more. Water temp was between 52-55 all day. I didn't wet wade today but it won't be long.

Honestly the top fly was a psycho prince dropper sz 16 which probably got half the fish. The other half were a basically even split between a size 14 P. Adams and size 12 orange stimi. One thing I like about the NFYR is that 90% of the time you can fish it with the same 3 flies (see above).

I missed a real nice fish along one of the undercut banks in the trophy section, looked to be a 16-18" rainbow. I also had a giant brown (20-25") come up and take a look at my stimi, but he didn't grab. Tried swinging a bugger to him on my 3wt and 4x (LOL) but no dice, i'm sure he saw me when he came up for a look on top.

All in all a really nice day and it should be a great summer up there. Give it 2-3 more weeks for things to come into more classic form. I will be out there again next weekend with my fly club and will post an update, we will also fish some of the feeder creeks if flows permit.

[cdevine]

Just back from the North Fork.

I arrived at Carlton Campground at about 9ish AM. Quickly got two on dries in pocket water, then things really slowed down.

I worked my way up to Downieville, then Sierra City. By 1pm I was ready for a lunchbreak and had caught 8-10 fish. Unfortunately nothing over 10".

Fished my way back down hitting 2 or 3 of my favorite spots in the afternoon. Things seemed to be a bit better in the afternoon, in total I caught between 20-25 fish today, but nothing of size.

Flows were manageable for wading in most areas, but I would like to see it down another 100-150cfs personally just to make it a bit easier and concentrate the fish a little more. Water temp was between 52-55 all day. I didn't wet wade today but it won't be long.

Honestly the top fly was a psycho prince dropper sz 16 which probably got half the fish. The other half were a basically even split between a size 14 P. Adams and size 12 orange stimi. One thing I like about the NFYR is that 90% of the time you can fish it with the same 3 flies (see above).

I missed a real nice fish along one of the undercut banks in the trophy section, looked to be a 16-18" rainbow. I also had a giant brown (20-25") come up and take a look at my stimi, but he didn't grab. Tried swinging a bugger to him on my 3wt and 4x (LOL) but no dice, i'm sure he saw me when he came up for a look on top.

All in all a really nice day and it should be a great summer up there. Give it 2-3 more weeks for things to come into more classic form. I will be out there again next weekend with my fly club and will post an update, we will also fish some of the feeder creeks if flows permit.


Nice report. Nothing wrong with 2 dozen + fish. Do you think we will see some more pulse flows this week with the 100 degree temps? Maybe the last real runoff of the season.... July should be epic out there.

[PV_Premier]

Do you think we will see some more pulse flows this week with the 100 degree temps? Maybe the last real runoff of the season....

Honestly I am not sure. There is not much snow left on the Sierra Buttes, but I did not go all the way up to Yuba Pass so I am not real sure what the situation is there. I didn't get a chance to see the flow on Salmon Creek, ran out of time yesterday...I may have some time on Saturday to take a look at it.

There was a big pulse on Saturday, but I think that had to do with the rain that fell the previous couple of days. I am hoping that things continue to stabilize with the flow this week and it starts kicking into high gear.

[cdevine]

Honestly I am not sure. There is not much snow left on the Sierra Buttes, but I did not go all the way up to Yuba Pass so I am not real sure what the situation is there. I didn't get a chance to see the flow on Salmon Creek, ran out of time yesterday...I may have some time on Saturday to take a look at it.

There was a big pulse on Saturday, but I think that had to do with the rain that fell the previous couple of days. I am hoping that things continue to stabilize with the flow this week and it starts kicking into high gear.


Gotcha the reason I asked is I was over in the Kirkwood area last week doing some crickn' and I was amazed to see so much snow still up in that area. So if you are thinking that area expect some runoff still through July. Places like east carson, west walker, little walker, silver fork American, etc. No complaints here. Actually a nice surprise.


Did you get over to Haypress Creek? Curious how its flowing.

[RaffiB]

Was up at MF Feather area yesterday, fished the MF between Two Rivers and Layman in the afternoon. Water is definitely warming up fast on the MF. Lots of algae starting to bloom. Didnt see much bug activity, but got a few on a small crystal stimi but most were on the dropper....prince, small stone, and Black AP. most were 8-12", but my buddy got a nice 16" on a dry

In the morning, we dropped into the canyon stretch of one of the feeders of the MF and it was no joke, one of the toughest in's and out's I've had in a LONG time. Ended up having to stomp through what seemed like miles of thick Manzanita on the way in and out and we have war wounds to show. The feeder creek was still a bit high and water was pretty cold. No big activity at all down there, in the air and very little in water. Managed about 4 beautiful 8"ers and the scenery was amazing, till the long uphill hike out

Raffi

[PV_Premier]

Did you get over to Haypress Creek? Curious how its flowing.

I didn't looks good in Gregg's photos in the other thread though.

I will fish either Haypress meadows, Lavezolla, Pauley, and/or Salmon on Monday and will bring back a report.

[cdevine]

I didn't looks good in Gregg's photos in the other thread though.

I will fish either Haypress meadows, Lavezolla, Pauley, and/or Salmon on Monday and will bring back a report.

Really appreciate it. I love the small 2-3wt stuff. The hiking and adventure is sometimes better than the fishing in terms of reward.

[PV_Premier]

Really appreciate it. I love the small 2-3wt stuff. The hiking and adventure is sometimes better than the fishing in terms of reward.

I agree completely, I am a creek junkie, we should get out there together sometime...Gregg enjoys it too and is always up for some stomping around in the woods.

[PV_Premier]

Some new intel from the NFYR...

I'll be honest it was slower than I expected it would be this weekend. Did OK yesterday morning, got 3 or 4 in a 90 minute session with several more strikes. Afternoon was rough, not many fish eating dries so went down and dirty with a golden stone/prince combo and pounded out a few fish. Lost one very nice one on a red copper john dropper under a stimi, got a good look at it probably 17" or so.

Got bored with that so went to Haypress and fished dries in pocket water for an hour before dinner. Got 6 or 8 in that amount of time, typical 6-10" Haypress rainbows.

Today a group of three of us went into one of the feeder creeks outside Downieville. Those canyons are not for the faint of heart as most here know. Flows were great the water clarity was awesome. It was almost like fishing in NZ except that the fish are not nearly as big here...LOL. Managed a nice 12-13" right off the bat on a P Adams, and in 3 hours of work probably caught about 15 more between 6-12". Each of the other two guys caught 10-15 fish as well and we even caught a couple brookies.

All in all a fun weekend getting some line in the air on the 3wts. I hope it picks up a bit going forward, I really thought after last weekend that it was gonna be a big numbers day on the main river yesterday.

[Troutzilla]

I made it out to the NFYR on Friday morning and afternoon. In the morning I fished around Ladies Canyon Creek. I got 5 fishing a #14 Orange Stimulator with a #16 Copper John dropper, most fish came off the dropper. In the afternoon I fished Wild Plum and there were large Orange Stoneflies coming off, I would swear they were Salmonflies as they were 2-3" long. There weren't many but enough to keep the fishing looking up for a large meal. They didn't want the Orange stimulator, but ate the largest Chubby I had (even through it was yellow). I fished that with a #16 Copper John dropper and managed another 15 fish, half off the drop and half off the dropper.

I didn't fish again until Sunday morning, returning to Wild Plum. I managed 8 fish, fishing a #14 Orange Stimulator with a #22 Zebra Midge dropper, 7 came off the dropper.

I was happy with the trip and thank everyone for the advice and reports

[grnwtrs]

There is a good trail, steep, but clear down to the confluence of nelson and the mf.

From 2 rivers to the cemetary is ultra good fishing and a nice way out to he hwy

regards,
gene

[Gregg]

I agree completely, I am a creek junkie, we should get out there together sometime...Gregg enjoys it too and is always up for some stomping around in the woods.

I'm always down to battle heatstroke and blackberry bushes and poison oak and rattlesnakes for some 4" fish