Exploring the Mud with Andy

[Tony Buzolich]

For those of you who have been chasing stripers up in my neck of the woods you've been having trouble finding good water in the Feather. The Feather above town is fine if you can deal with all the snags and water fluctuations. But once you hit the mouth of the Yuba where it comes into the Feather it's been pure chocolate for months. This in turn has dirtied the water in the Feather all the way to Verona and the Sacramento River.

I'd been hearing about an orchard and some dirt banks caving in upstream in the Yuba and wanted to see for myself. Last Friday Andy came up with his G3 to chase some stripers and do a little exploring at the same time. He's got the perfect boat for the rivers around here and we decided to go up the Yuba and find out what's making all this mud. With less than a foot of visibility you really had to watch the snags and up-swellings to stay on course.

Finally, we get to a wide gravel area with several channels coming together in the main river. On the north side was the county dump and the water turned green like usual. On the south side, opposite the dump, the water was still brown like the rest of the river. We motored up a ways further and could look back and see what was causing the muddy conditions.





Notice the color change in the water.



I can't imagine how many trees and acres of dirt got washed away from the high waters but it sure is appearant why. We continue our upstream journey until we reach DeGuarre Dam. Along the way we took several new channels that weren't there the last few years. The heavy water flows have carved new paths to get upstream.



After a short lunch at the dam we start working our way downstream and pick up a nice schoolie at Hallwood. A little farther down and we reach Messick's ranch and the dump, and now the dirty water again. So much for the Yuba and we take out and head down the Feather to Boyds Pump. Even with the dirty water again Andy hooks up to another nice schoolie.



The stripers are here as all the bait guys know, and if you can find your favorite muddy water fly and want to chance a few snags it's time to get out and go.
Tony

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks for another great post Tony.....with wonderful photos too.

[Andy Guibord]

I fished the Feather and the Yuba the last 2 days. The waters have greened up nicely since our time together fishing for stripes in the valley last week.. My fingers are hurting from all the fish landed these last two days. I broke off a stripe today that freight trained me well into my backing. Thanks for fishing with me.

[Mark Kranhold]

Andy you’re not supposed to let that happen to you! Your supposed to tame the beast...Striper Sensei! Thanks for the report Tony and Andy.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

April, May, June is the timing for the big spawning migration up he Valley rivers.

Sounds like they are in all the rivers.

Time to get out there.

[Bryan Morgan]

Last spring we actually saw a Sturgeon porpoising about half way up River. Careful heading up this river.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

If you have never been standing in a boat with Polarized glasses drifting on the clear Valley rives like the Lower Yuba or Lower American it is a thrill to see fish mid-day.

Stripers are usually easy to spot....

There was a big Sturgeon that was laying right below the Watt Avenue Bridge a few years ago.



I would rate the average mid-summer clarity like this:

#1 Lower Yuba River

#2 Lower American River

#3 Lower Feather River

#4 Lower Sacramento River

Some of the Valley rivers south of Sacramento are pretty clear.