Latest Yuba update 1/14

[yubaman]

I ran up to the Yuba with a friend yesterday, and we fished about the entire private property above the bridge. Water conditions are great at 1350 cfs. Water has slight color to it, the beginnings of steelhead green, which I am sure will be chocolate by this time tomorrow. All in all, the flow and water conditions were about perfect.

Fishing activity seemed to be in that post-egg bite, pre-skwala holding stage. Fishing was pretty slow for us, we landed 5 between us. All very healthy fish in the 12"-15" range. I think the bruisers were holding in the deep tanker holes until the skwala's come out to play. There was a hatch of PMD's, orange and pink, for about 10 minutes somewhere around 1 pm. Nothing big, but it was very cool up there yesterday too. I think once the river clears after the storms, and it warms up a bit, it could be game on.

It seems to take a lot less people to clog up the runs on the upper river these days, as the river has been pushed into long straight feature-less runs with a scattering of riffles. People fishing have to head for the few riffles for the better fishing. I long for the riverbed to fill in a bit and have some personality ground into it.

Fishing one of these riffles yesterday, I am about 30 yards from the head of the riffle, when a guy jumps in front of me about 15 yards ahead??? I was flabbergasted. I just kept on casting and moving at my same pace, and in about 2 minutes I am right on his tail. I tell him I am not trying to pinch his water, but you jumped in RIGHT in front of me, and directly to where I was working. He says he "just wanted to get a couple of casts in"???? I say, "Funny, me too!" I was about as polite as I could be under the circumstances and he gets the message and moves out. What was this clown thinking?

On the other hand, I am hoping these storms begin moving some steelhead into the coastal rivers

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Calm foggy winter days are good for mayflies like BWO and March Browns..

Sunny afternoons are good for adult stone flies.


When we have winters with no big flooding we get winter insect activity.

The Trinity river and Lower Yuba river are both famous for winter bug activity catching Steelhead and trout.

[Mr T]

Thanks for the report- yeah it does seem to be even less riffles these days on the Y.

Glad you got some at least.

[PV_Premier]

The Yuba was great a few months ago before everyone finally remembered the fish were still there after all the big flows. Now it sounds like a goat rodeo again

[yubaman]

Not terrible, you just won't have runs to yourself. I think the real test will be if the river has a good Skwala- March Brown-PMD hatch. If that happens I think we'll have the real test . . .

[Rossflyguy]

And that’s why drifting it is the best way to fish it.

[yubaman]

Ya know, I would not have agreed with you 2 years ago. There was so much good wading that you would fly by or over in a boat or raft. Today, I think I am beginning to agree with that.

[Gamecox09]

Without giving your spots away, is there public access above the 20 bridge by foot? I’ve only been at this for one year and have stuck to within a quarter mile hike from Hammon grove park access.

[Ron B]

Without giving your spots away, is there public access above the 20 bridge by foot? I’ve only been at this for one year and have stuck to within a quarter mile hike from Hammon grove park access.

Yes, you can access the river on foot immediately above the bridge on the north side. Most folks park on the shoulder of the road in front of the quarry entrance and follow the trail down to the river. You can also access the river downstream of the bridge. There is a road that parallels the river on the south for quite some distance with places to pull off and walk/drive to the river. The road isn't well suited to vehicle with low under clearance.

Google maps is your friend. Spend a few minutes in satellite mode and you'll figure it out.