Yuba Shad

[Dick Wood]

Any news on the shad movement on the Yuba?

[Grampa Spey]

Bob Pauli arranged a Shad outing via Herb Burton's crew on the Yuba yesterday for 9 Spey casters or wannabee Spey caster.

The river was high and cold. We had a strong North Wind most of the day.

The morning was very slow. I had a high fish count with 4. Many good casters had zero fish.

During the morning, the guides took some casters to an area that was normally good, and I think one Shad was taken.

We could see the Shad from the shore from 20' out to 60' via their silver flashes in the morning. It seemed that we caught one small male out of a pod, then the pod suffered lock jaw.

After lunch we went up stream. The guides divided us up into 2 groups. My group was the second group and went higher up stream. Shortly after casting in this area, Paulie and I caught small male shad. Then, they went into lockjaw. The rest of the group caught a few more over the next few hours. A lot of water was covered with Spey casts. I finally called it a day at about 4 pm, and one more small male was caught.

Our two guides, were good and worked up and down the river from the shores and in their boat trying to find the fish and help us find the fish. Our results would probably been lower if not for their constant work and effort.

The other group had a better afternoon with totals of about 4 to 6 fish per caster. They were in that area earlier and later than us.

Bob has been doing these Shad Trips with Herb's guides for years, and he has never seen the fish count so low.

The guides worked hard, but the Shad had lock jaw in the cold, fast and high water, with the North wind. The only thing missing to make it worse was a full moon the night below and a cold rain the night before and during the day.

[Dick Wood]

Thanks for the post. Nice to hear you saw fish though. Sounds like we need the water to warm up. Please post again if you make another trip. I will do the same. Sometimes it's hard to get Yuba reports.

[Grampa Spey]

After 10 AM, until noon, I saw flashes of silver on a regular basis. I prefer to see the Shad and put the fly into where I see them/where they are. That just didn't work Wednesday.

Also, in the AM, we never caught more than one Shad in each location. In past years, when I have found them, I keep dropping/mending the fly into the same area and usually get more fish until I quit or they quit. That didn't work yesterday.

The water was cold, high and moving rapidly down stream. I probably should stay home when the water has those 3 parameters plus a strong North or East Wind.

Thanks for the post. Nice to hear you saw fish though. Sounds like we need the water to warm up. Please post again if you make another trip. I will do the same. Sometimes it's hard to get Yuba reports.

[Tony Buzolich]

You're right on about the lockjaw and the cold water at 54 degrees. Frank Alessio and I went all the way up to the dam yesterday just to take a look. There's normally a rock that is painted with a 250' mark saying "No Fishing" that is a couple of feet under water.



We saw tons of shad at every stop but only managed a couple all morning. Got down to Hallwood and Frank's motor crapped out and had to drift the rest of the way home with only his electric. Couple of tense spots below Simpson Ln. bridge and going through the pilings above the Hwy.70 bridge. Didn't want to get sideways at either of these spots.

[Ned Morris]

Back in 2003 around Memorial Day through 2nd weekend in June it was 30-50 even 70 fish days on the Yuba below the dam (even a couple stripers & a trout too!) Flows were around 3000-5000 cfs at Marysville and that water was freezing! However it was damn hot during the day and the fishing would shut down at 10:00am and then it would get super hot starting around 5:00pm until dark. Now flows have been awesome in 2005, 2006, 2009, and now in 2010 on the Yuba for Shad. It just seems like in all of those years a good day is just a mere 10 fish (fishing the bluff and riffle below the dam). What the hell happened????

[Grampa Spey]

Tony, sorry your trip was like ours.

At about 10 am, I/we and the guides could see flashes of silver from close to a good Spey Cast. The water was well covered with flies that worked in the past with very poor results.

A young guide, who is back in Oregon now, and I talked in past years about the high flows and cold water in previous years with trout, steelhead and shad. He had the college background re fish management and years of guiding in Oregon, Alaska and N California.

He felt that the combos of high and cold water forces the fish into holding patterns to conserve their energy. Basically you had to put the fly into their mouth to get a response.

There were times below the dam in Putah creek, he and I would be in the midst of some hot fishing. Then, the dam operators would increase the flow. So the water levels when up and the temps fell with the colder water from the lake.

The fish went from striking to nothing like an off switch had been thrown. He and I had seen that response in many of our rivers with the above species. Winter steelhead in cold rainy times seem less impacted with the higher water and colder water, in fact that may stimulate them

You're right on about the lockjaw and the cold water at 54 degrees. Frank Alessio and I went all the way up to the dam yesterday just to take a look. There's normally a rock that is painted with a 250' mark saying "No Fishing" that is a couple of feet under water.



We saw tons of shad at every stop but only managed a couple all morning. Got down to Hallwood and Frank's motor crapped out and had to drift the rest of the way home with only his electric. Couple of tense spots below Simpson Ln. bridge and going through the pilings above the Hwy.70 bridge. Didn't want to get sideways at either of these spots.

[Grampa Spey]

Any news on the shad movement on the Yuba?

My friend, Bob Pauli, got this message from Herb Burton re a scheduled 2 day Shad camp/trip on the lower Yuba for this week:

"The Yuba's water is cold and varying in level, the shad are not grabbing."


Shad Blast Plan B for June 22-23 is cancelled. In Herb's words, "your time will be better spent elsewhere."

[ErikB]

My friend and I also tried the Yuba Saturday with pretty much the same result.
Had a few grabs and only managed one nice hen. Water temps at 53 degrees and did see quite a few fish just seemed they did not want to play.Had a few moments of excitement when I set my rod down for a moment when that fished decided it would finally take the fly. Nothing like watching a $1000.00 going flying out the back of the boat. All in all a nice day on the river just wish for more catching.