Yuba 9/12

[Big Jim]

Spent a half day on the water yesterday afternoon. Saw few people and fewer bugs. A few hoppers still around. Was hoping for some wind to blow them around and get the fish keyed on them but no luck with that. Didn't see any salmon or any redds either. Used to be Salmon everywhere this time of year. Didn't have time to cover much water so maybe I just missed them. Tried egg patterns anyway but not luck with that either. Anyone seen any salmon yet?

I have to say, besides the hoppers on the bank and some bees in the willows, I saw not a single bug flying, floating, hatching, or anything. Been noticing this more and more on the Yuba these last few years.

At one point I was swinging a caddis pupa and kept getting tap-tap-tapped at the end of the swing. Felt exactly like fishing a steelhead run where there are lots of smolts who tap at the fly but dont often hook up...

Flows at 850 cfs and water very clear and fairly warm - I wet waded all day and never got cold.

anyone else been out there recently? I would like to compare notes.

best,

Jim

[Jaybinder]

I was there on Friday. Swung steamers till about 11. Fishing was good till about 10. I didn't see any salmon or reds. I'll be there early on Friday, should be cooler. Maybe the fish will stay active a little later.

Jason

[Big Jim]

Alas...sounds like morning is the time to be there. some cooler weather will help. Did you see much in the way of bugs?

Did you find you needed to be deep-ish with your streamers? I messed around swinging wets on the spey rod at dusk with a floating line to no avail...

Jim

[Hogan Brown]

here is my report from the weekend that I am going to put up on my blog this evening...

Spent the weekend over on the Lower Yuba, like most weekends lately and to come. Fishing was fair to good. I look at the numbers and size of fish at the end of the two days and fishing should be ranked as good to really good. Both sets of clients commented that they had their best days ever on the Yuba, but I felt like we really had to work for our fish. There was dry spells, lots of fly changing, lots of back rowing, but some places where we really stacked numbers towards the end of the day. We caught fish on jimmy leggs, red copper johns, a new fly I am working on wichi is basicly a big attractor, and beads lower in the river. We hooked some nice fish in the 16-18” bracket and hit a few pods of NICE and HOT half pounders lower in the river along with a few 18+” fish that busted us off on the jump or run. Most of the migratory fish we found right above the dam so they should be moving up over the next week.

We even went and poked around below the diversion dam in the first few runs with limited success. Caught one trout. Did watch a ton of colored up salmon jumping and messing around in the wash of the dam…many looked pretty beat up and like they may not make it up the fish ladder to spawn in the upper river. Not a big deal as many spawn below the dam each year. Also saw a few half pounders jumping around in the wash as salmon chased them. Pretty cool.

Over all the river is slowly coming to life this fall. It should get really good right on time towards the end of february but I am still a bit concerned about the lack of salmon I am seeing the in deeper holes. I talked to a few DFG survey’ers who were putting in at the same time with a jet boat as I was and I asked about the lack of salmon I was seeing. They said they are stacked up above the bridge in the deeper holes and should start spreading down stream soon to cut redds and drop eggs. Good news but still I usually see a bunch of fish in the runs and riffles right now…may be like most things this year, a bit late.

[Jaybinder]

Alas...sounds like morning is the time to be there. some cooler weather will help. Did you see much in the way of bugs?

Did you find you needed to be deep-ish with your streamers? I messed around swinging wets on the spey rod at dusk with a floating line to no avail...

Jim

I didn't see any bugs come off but I did see a lot of hoppers in the bushes. If the wind picked up I would have fished hoppers. No risers at all.

I cast a little up stream into the fast water to get deaper. All the hits were as the fly swung into the slow water. I'm new to swinging flies so I'm not sure how deap is deap enough. I used a heavy fly, green color and a sink tip.

[Big Jim]

Hogan.
I do hope the DFG guy is right, that the salmon are stacked up above the bridge and will disperse throughout the river to cut redds etc. I feel that the river and its fish need that yearly influx of super protein and fat and nitrogen that the salmon bring. Without it I think the ecosystem and the fish and insect populations will suffer. I think I see a decline in insect and fish activity on the river which corresponds roughly to the poor salmon returns we have been experiencing. I am sure you have a better perspective as you spend a lot more time there than I...do you notice this? People have been talking about the major high water events we have had in recent years as the cause of this, but I suspect it has to do with salmon as well (although the high water events could have hurt the Salmon also).

You mention finding fish lower in the river... by that do you mean below sycamore? Reason I ask is that I have never floated below sycamore as I do not have access to the take out lower down...what is the water like below sycamore? Generally speaking, would you think it would be worth it for an average joe like me (maybe 10 floats on the Y per year) to look into getting a key, if its even possible?

Thanks.

Jim

[amoeba]

There's nothing yet to say about the timing of the run:

It's not late for salmon on the Yuba; while spawning can occur as early as the beginning of september (of the spring run, whatever it is), the typical spawning peak (for all salmon, mostly fall run, and by "mostly" I mean 95+% of the run) is around November 1. The migration peak for those fall fish is around October 15 on that river. It can start as early as early september, and end in December. True - some spring fish come in March-April, but not many. DFG has a device that counts fish coming through the Daguerre ladders and in spring you're talking dozens of salmon, maybe a few hundreds at most, and not many steelhead.

As for fish in the pools and how many - again - nothing to speculate about; unless there has been a full-river census. I suspect alot of fish were drawn upstream beyond where the guides begin their floats.

Give it a few more weeks, and some rain; the fish will come is my guess - and hope.

[Hogan Brown]

Jim - I agree that the river and fish need the salmon run each year. I am not a fisheries biologist so I don't know the specifics about how it impacts bug life and the fish. I have my theories based on my observations and that is all I can share, so take what you want from them.

With regards to bugs I would say sense the high water this spring hatches have been down or non existent. That is to be expected as gravel gets moved around and riffles and runs get covered with new gravel (all that white clean gravel you see in the river) many of the buggs are covered up and die off. Enough though are usually left that they can repopulate pretty easily. Just may take awhile and I am sure the decaying salmon carcuses don't hurt this process. I have seen this happen 3 times now in my life 95, 2005, 2011 and everytime the river comes back, though the bugs and hatch make up are a bit different each time. hatches come off in different runs or spots, some hatches are stronger,others weaker...and some disappear for good. For example prior to the 95 flood there was an epic isonychia hatch on the upper river. not anymore.

With regards to numbers of salmon returning the last two years I have seen more salmon redds then the previous years. Last year especially.

With regards to the lower river access. tough call if you are on the river 10 days a year. That stretch of river is about the same as the other stretches nothing super different with regards to style of water. There are times of the year where it fishes really well and there are times of the year where it doesn't fish that well at all. I have had great and terrible days, on and in, every run on the river so I don't think one stretch or run is better or worse then the other. For an average joe it is an extra mile or so of river...that isn't a bad thing for anyone if you can afford the access fee.

Hope that helps. Feel free to email if you have other questions.

hogan brown
hoganbrown@hotmail.com

[amoeba]

where I see Isonychia, are flatlined, low, slightly warmer, summer flows, like the way Pitt 3-4-5 used to be operated (150 cfs, no matter what), or the way the Belden reach is currently on the Upper north fork feather (and that will change, when the new license gets its water quality certification).

It's appearance on the Yuba was probably a consequence of the extended drought that preceded its last observation. A fun bug/hatch, but not necessarily indicative of overall fish forage/habitat quality.

[Ralph]

Spent most of the day with the Monster Fish crew filming below Daguerre Dam. No sturgeon (our quarry), but about 300 Chinook, 100 steelhead/rainbows, 50 stripers (a few over 20#), and a big school of shad (yeah in mid September). Never ceases to amaze how few fish we can actually touch with a fly. The big surprise of the day: a humpy.