Lower Sac, Yuba, & Feather Report

**RJSFLYTRIP** · 10-25-2009, 04:54 PM

Well......it has been a while since my last post. Lots of days on the water has been keeping me extremely busy. So I thought that I would give you a quick update on what is going on in the rivers that I guide here in Northern California. Hopefully you can find this information helpful on your next adventure. All that I can say is this has been a very interesting October.

Lower Sac: This week I was finally able to get back on the Lower Sac after a week and half of blown out conditions. This is the first time that I have seen the Lower Sac blow out for more than a day during the month of October since I have been guiding the Sac. I have been spending my time on the lower river between the Balls Ferry and Bend Bridges. The trout fishing has been good on egg patterns, rubberlegs, and red copper johns. Not lots of steelhead to speak of yet but there are some swimming around. I had a client catch a beautiful 26" buck on the river yesterday on a egg pattern. But you I am not consistently hooking into one every day yet. Expect the steelhead fishing on the Lower Sac to continue to improve into November as long as the water clarity stays fishable.

Yuba: With the Lower Sac being blown out for more than a week I have been on the Yuba a lot. I fished the Yuba 8 out of the last 11 days. There are quite a few salmon on the Yuba right now. I would actually say that there are more salmon on the Yuba than the Lower Sac. Haven't been able to say that for a few years. It has been a lot of fun to fish out there lately. Most days I have been throwing two different egg patterns below an indicator. The fishing has been really good with every day resulting in 25+ hookups. The majority of the fish that I have been catching have been in water between 1-3 feet of water. Those rainbows are in those shallow riffles looking for eggs. I kept trying all different kinds of nymphs without much success. Seems like they would always go for the egg first.

Feather: There have been rumors of fish in the Feather. Seems like most of the fish being caught are in the Low Flow section. I guided out there last weekend to find an extremely busy river. Needless to say we got our butts kicked. Only landed 4 half pounders. We did lose a couple smaller fish but there didn't seem to be that many fish in the river. The ones that we did catch came on a small green caddis nymphs. Currently there are not lots of salmon in the river. Expect this fishery to start peaking in a couple weeks. Typically more fish will start to move into the system during the first couple weeks of November. I am excited for what this season is going to hold on the Feather.

Anyways.......that is what I have seen and heard. Hopefully this helps some of you figure out where your next fishing should be. For anyone interested I have a couple prime time availabilities during the next month (Nov. 16-18 & Dec. 4th & 6th). Call me ASAP if you want to get in on these dates.

Tight Lines!

**roostersgt** · 10-26-2009, 11:24 AM

Nice report. Thanks for the detailed river updates. I'm looking forward to fishing those rivers in the upcomming weeks.

Steve

**amoeba** · 10-26-2009, 09:10 PM

well, all I can say is that I was on the Yuba from 2pm to dark, yesterday (sunday 10/25/09), and I also focussed almost entirely on eggs - of which I surmise I have more patterns than most other fishermen times ten. I have two observations to report:

1. very light pressure. No boats seen. One car parked at 20 bridge (mine). One other fisherman in first two miles below bridge on south side; who was watching the water at dusk. That was it.

2. lots of salmon redds, but no bite. nothing whatsoever. Not on any color, size, weight, pattern, or place. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

The fishing stunk yesterday. At least for me, and the lack of pressure on a weekend at the Yuba - while perhaps related to baseball playoffs - was certainly unusual in the 20+ X I have been there this year so far, and maybe indicative of low success in general. I may go again mid-week; but I'd like to hear from someone else (besides a guide) on this location.

**SHigSpeed** · 10-26-2009, 10:07 PM

A couple buddies an I jammed into a boat and floated 20 to Sycamore today. Saw a few other boats (though I believe we were first on the water) and quite a few bankies. Buddy got a shaker early on an egg then nothing for a while. I finally got a hot 19" 'bow on a big 'ol orange GBH prince. Then lost another nice fish from behind the same redd that may have gone 17"? Busted off so I don't know if it was on the egg or nymph. Two other fish hooked and lost in the same slot. Couple other hookups, but not on fire.

I have no reason to doubt the guides and I have good reason to doubt my skills!

Rivers are a tough nut to crack for me. Stillwater is my gig I guess...

_SHig

**westslope** · 10-26-2009, 10:19 PM

Floated the Lower Yuba on Saturday from HW 20 to Sycamore. We hooked one fish right below the bridge that broke off at the boat and a few other takes but pretty slow overall. Three other boats took out at Sycamore with a few fish hooked/landed for the day. I agree with Ryan regarding the number of salmon in the Lower Yuba as opposed to the Lower Sac. There seems to be a good number of salmon on the redds. Curious to see what the salmon activity is in the upper part of the river this time of the year.

**amoeba** · 10-26-2009, 10:26 PM

well, thanks SHig and W-S for your scoops:

Maybe I'll give it another go late mid-week, after the windstorm tuesday.

**Ralph** · 10-27-2009, 08:10 AM

There are salmon throughout the system including some spawning on the gravel that was injected at the base of Englebrite (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfnAteKflAY) but most of the activity is below hwy 20. Probably for the same reason, most of the trout are on the lower reach also.

**Ned Morris** · 10-27-2009, 12:15 PM

This is sweet! I'm going up there and fishing at DaGuerre Thursday. Very glad to hear Salmon are in the river in what seems to be good numbers. Very windy and cold right now so I hope the weather changes by then.

**troutbm** · 10-27-2009, 07:56 PM

I did it right this weekend. Nymphs only ! I got fish. I'm not interested in the redd fishing thing.

**SHigSpeed** · 10-27-2009, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by troutbm

I did it right this weekend. Nymphs only ! I got fish. I'm not interested in the redd fishing thing.

C'mon 'Bum, this ain't the steelhead board, no bashing tactics!

If pretty plastic beads aren't your thing (I had 'em on, just got mine on the fly), what do you recommend throwing? Glad you could find those trout that weren't looking for an easy high-protein meal.

For me, gotta match the hatch since I have so little going for me as it is!