Lower Yuba report...

[Fats]

It was HOT! Temperature that is... I'm glad we decided that wet wading was the way to go!

My wife and I jammed up on Sunday afternoon to fish the evening and to spend the night and fish in the morning. We've never made it to the Yuba before so it was a chance to check things out.

We stayed at Sycamore Ranch... (thanks for the tip) It is a lovely campground although the only bathroom facilities that were up and running were the porta johns. No worries, my wife and I were traveling lighter than normal due to the shortness of the trip. We were the only tent campers (It was 108 in the shade!) We decided on taking the camp spot right by the crossing to the river (Mistake! It is a high traffic area!) While were were pitching out tent we heard a vehicle coming up from the river. It was a Jeep Cherokee (minus the front bumper) that was gunning the engine running over the river rocks. He came pounding down through the river crossing and proceeded to suck water up into his air intake... right on cue! He claimed the batter just go wet but... it was entertaining. I found a wrench in my truck (he didn't have one...) and he tinkered a bit. He came back up and asked if I had any rope (50 lbs parachute cord... sorry) He wandered off and found a guy with a jeep that was willing to tow him out if he could get a tow rope. About a hour into this entertainment... I remembered I have a pair of tow straps tucked into the back of my cab of the truck. I loaned them to the guy (apologizing that I had forgotten about them) and after a manner they got the jeep pulled out of the crossing. Mind you, they almost got the tow straps hooked on the sign that said "No Vehicles Beyond This Point" I figured it was more of a guideline than an actual rule. (Oh... during the process... the driver pointed to the place where he tore off his front bumper jumping off a small knoll of river rocks!) Like I said it was amusing!

Anyway with the first act over, we rigged up and set out to the River. We fished the run right at the campground. We were nymphing, but saw fish periodically rise to something (never figured it out). My wife hooked and landed a 12" rainbow on a Deep Sparkle Pupae. I started with a nymph but switched to an assortment of dry flies... Nothing for the evening for me. It was a decent introduction to the river... We've been treated far worse the first trip out.

When we got back to camp, a large family was busily setting up camp (Three tents, a canoe, a large diesel crew cab and an mini van with two dogs) They were kind of noisy but... it's camping. My wife and I made dinner and turned in to escape the bugs. As we were reading we realized that we could hear just about everything that was going on next door. At 10 pm we turned out the lights and tried to get some sleep... At 11 pm we realized that Bob Seger and Journey were not the easiest thing to sleep through. At midnight when they fired up the Diesel to drive the 60 feet down by our tent to go fishing... I'd had enough. I had some choice words with the folks... go one feeble "We paid our money to go camping here too..." and went back to sleep after they wheeled around and parked the truck. They still kept going into and out of the minivan (probably had a DVD player or something inside)

Anyway, the good news is that they finally turned in around 3 am (no more music!) Getting up in the morning was a chore but we went out and fished the campground run again working a little further upstream. I hooked one rainbow that was about 13" that fought very well... she had a wonderful pink blush to her silvery sides.

After we broke camp we moved up to the Rt 20 bridge. I was able to make it across the riffle just up stream from the bridge although the river was pushing hard. I saw a bunch of fish in one of the deep back waters milling around. The water was clear enough that they saw me as well. I'm telling myself they were probably suckers... (they looked a little too trout like but... I'm sticking with suckers) My wife fished down below the bridge.

No fish, but I really like the water! At that point it was getting on near 1 pm and was getting stupidly hot. Soft serve Ice cream was sounding better and since no one was paying us... we packed up and drove home by heading up to Grass Valley and taking the longish route home.

Very fun trip... and the River has my curiosity peaked. Just how much pressure does this river get? How good is it? What are it's secrets?

[medfly]

this water is well known, so i dont mind posting my experiences and favorites. i generally fish from the rt 20 bridge. i like going up river, but going down river can be good as well. if you go upriver park on the north side of the bridge, if going down stream park on the south side. i have little experience with this river come may through the summer, generally traveling farther to shasta or mammoth area. i prefer the lower yuba, in the winter, especially the skwala stone hatch. come the skwalas, and soon after some mayflies and caddis, and i have seen some epic hatches on the water above the 20 bridge from around 11 to 3 pm during feb and march. in can be amazing fishing and thus lots of pressure, but if you can hit it on the weekdays, you will be sharing it with few other fisherman. hope this info finds you well

[Mike R]

The Yuba sees lots of anglers. It can be pretty crazy at times. Over the last couple of years I've seen a few cars in the river because some knuckleheads thought they could dirve their lowered honda civic through the river. Entertaining doesn't even begin to describe it! Glad to hear you had a good trip.

Mike

[troutbm]

Couple years ago I witnessed a guy try to drive across the yuba upriver from the bridge. The current washed the truck downriver and wedged it against a bridge piling. The trucks cab was almost under water so the 2 guys climbed into the cab, One jumped in the river and barely made it to shore the other guy actually had to be lifted out via a helicopter. I bet that was an expensive lesson.