Yuba madness!!

[esummers]

Fished both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Lots of heads in the slicks around mid day, but they sure had me scratching my head. I figured they had to be on BWO's, but I couldn't get them to take one for the life of me. There was also a size 14/16 mayfly, kind of creamy/orange colored. I had the perfect match, but they didn't want that either. Tried PMD's also - no luck.

I was working a downstream drift on a 10ft leader down to 6x. My presentation should have been good enought to get the job done IMO.

Here are my conclusiong (guesses)

1. Maybe they were on midges
2. Maybe they were on emergers - lots of tails and dorsal fins, but a few heads poking out on occassion. I tried greasing a few nymphs, but no luck.
3. Maybe I'm not that good. I've fished many spring creeks, but I found the YUBA tougher than those this weekend. That being said, I love that place. I'll gettem when the Skwalas come out (didn't see one of them this weekend - cold and cloudy conditions dominated)

Any advice would be appreciated as I noticed some new gray hairs this morning.

[bclem81]

one thing i do suggest is throwing skwala nymphs from size 6-10. i have been doing very well on them. also 6x tippet will break like a hot knife through butter. best bet is 3x and 4x tippet. or just straight 3x fluro tippet. i did get broken off one time last week on 4x but this was a mid 20" fish, and from the looks of it a fresh steelhead. chrome as chrome can be.

the yuba is starting to pick up, but who knows how it will look after this lil storm we will be having this week.

tight lines

[nightgoat]

I fished the Y on Sunday. There was a bunch of different mayflies coming off between 1 and 2:30 or so. It looked like a tiny sailboat armada floating down the river Emergers were the ticket for me. Hooked about 6 fish during the hatch, but managed to lose every one (this has been a common theme for me lately ) I switched flies several times, but had the best luck with this one:



Sorry for the crappy pic. I suck at photo's.

Nymphed a couple of runs below the bridge in the morning for nada. Not even a bump. So I was pretty excited to see all the risers.

[peterkoistinen]

Good job getting them to eat. I tried last week but couldn't solve it.

Is that hook a TMC 2487?

What size?

What kind of hackle arrangement is that?

Thanks,

Pete

[Kevin Goding]

I recommend tying you're standard dry fly (matching what you've seen) with less hackle, no wings, but add in some flash with the hackle and fish it just below the surface and see what happens. Usually works for me when you see lots of heads and tailing fish, especially in the shallow spots. Depending on water clarity, use the lightest/thinnest tippet you can.

[nightgoat]

Yep, that's a #16 2487. Tail is Z-Lon, body is olive turkey biot, dun hackle tied "hackle stacker" style, thorax is BWO superfine dubbing. There is a tutorial for a "hackle stacker" here: http://stevenojai.tripod.com/insthacklestack.htm

I tie mine more as an emerger, thus the 2487 and Z-Lon shuck.

A word of warning: this fly is a pain in the butt to see on the water. Usually, I try to cast to a spot and if I see a rise near that area, I set the hook and hope!

Joe

[peterkoistinen]

OK Thanks Joe

It looked like a hackle stacker I just wasn't sure.

Kevin, how do you "fish it just below the surface".

Thanks,

Pete

[esummers]

Good advice Kevin, Thanks. I'm thinking the incoming rain will be a good thing. The water clarity on the Yuba right now is amazing. Very clear and pretty low. Maybe a longer leader was necessary as well due to conditions. Maybe a 13-15ft. leader instead of the 10 I was using. Gotta love fishing - they've got me pulling my hair out.

[Hogan Brown]

fishing in the slicks on the Yuba when fish are eating small mayflies is the toughest fish I have ever found on the river. There are many times where I pull up in the boat and clients do every thing right (just like you) and don't rise a fish, other times we lay waste as there is nothing that we could do wrong. A few things to think about:

I have always had better luck on a straight shank dry fly versus a curved shank dry when fish are eating duns on the surface.

Watch rise forms - head to tail means they are eating the duns - swirls with a dorsal outta of the water and no bubbles they are eating cripples or emergers in the first few feet/film - tie on an emerger or non bead head nymph about a foot off the back of your dry fly.

Look for fish feeding in a seam - this will concentrate the fish on the seam - many of the fish in these flats that have a steady current but no concentrating seam will cruise not necessarily staying put (I have watched this when I have snorkeled the river). This can make for a lot of frustration as you see a fish rise, present a perfect fly to that location and little do you know that fish has slid over, moved down river, or what not. Look for smaller flats or calm areas that may be channeled in by a faster current or the bank - this corals fish - big open flats at time with a few fish feeding can be like a needle in a hay stack.

Anyhow my 2 cents. Good luck

[esummers]

Wow - good stuff Hogan and thanks. I never considered the "cruiser" theory. I wonder if that's what was going on. During clear water conditions, what size tippet are you using in the slicks - how about length of your leader. I've fished silver creek in idaho a few times and it's called for a very long leader.

Thanks again for the advice.