If you can get up the very clear lower Yuba River in a jet boat soon it
is the premiere West Coast American Shad experience.
Some years the flow is too low but it is good this year.
June is normally the prime month but it is probably
running into July this year.
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About 40 years ago I was lucky to be able to go up to the lower Yuba River with some old timers who are all gone now.
Joe Patterson, George Martin and Henry Starr took me up there to the Gold Fields on the south side of the river.
We paid $5.00 for the car load and these guys complained about it too.
We were able to drive right up to the south side of the little Daguerre Point Dam and park.
We then walked down stream some because the fishing was restricted for 250 feet below the dam.
The water was "gin clear" which makes the Yuba so special.
We caught a bunch of beautiful Shad and even saw some big Rainbow trout jumping for adult dragon flies.
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During the drought years of the late 1970s Jimmy Potter tied the first really small Shad flies we had ever seen, for the Yuba.
It was on a size 8 or 10 Mustad 3908C Nickel hook which have been discontinued.
It was just some large flat red thread for the body, with a small flat silver tinsel wrap and small white marabou tail.
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Herb Burton of the Trinity Fly Shop at Lewiston on the Trinity River has had a "Shad Camp" on the Lower Yuba River for many years.
https://www.trinityflyshop.com/tfs_shad.html
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Maury Hatch has taken clients up on the Yuba for a long time now too.
http://www.firsthatchguideservice.com/
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Andy Guibord has taken some of my friends up there for a wonderful experiences too.
https://andyguibord.wordpress.com/guiding-instruction/
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In that clear, shallow water you can sometimes see and occasionally catch Stripers that are predating those schools of Shad.
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Here is a video I just found that shows how small, shallow and clear the lower Yuba is for Shad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_uG6uhJnFk
