Hey all,

Been a long time since I posted some useful info here on the Yuba River, or any other subject LOL. Time to share again...

Fishing closure: First off, there is a ban on fishing and other non essential activities from Yuba-Sutter Health Officer Dr. Phuong Luu. You can read the article here: https://yubanet.com/regional/yuba-su...ay-home-order/ Apparently Ca DFW is supposed to meet on this subject and come to a decision soon. The state of Washington already went through with a fishing ban across the entire state weeks ago. Whatever...I'm still going fishing.

Flows: I receive dozens of emails a month regarding links to flows for the Yuba River, and how to decipher them. I've posted this several times on my blog which is always a great source for accurate and honest fly fishing information without trying to push my business. Let's start with Englebright dam releases here: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/jspplot/jsp...cookies=cdec01

Next, Deer Creek which is THE major sediment producer due to a very long watershed that has historically seen decades of hydraulic mining and other related activity. When you see a very quick rise in the flows in a short period of time, you can expect the Yuba to blow out. During last weekend's storm it reached 4,291 cubes: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/jspplot/jsp...cookies=cdec01

This gauge combines Englebright and Deer Creek together. It is located upstream of the Hwy 20 bridge on the south side of the river at the tail out of the Toilet Bowl: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/dynamicapp/QueryF?s=ypb

The gauge for Englebright Reservoir can be found here, just scroll down. I look for the percentage of capacity to see if the dam is spilling over. Last weekend it reached 100%. I also look at the inflow CFS: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES

Here is the forecast flows from Yuba Water Agency's website, this is a great source of info regarding future releases. It changes often and they don't always go with their schedules due to weather: https://www.yubawater.org/190/River-Conditions

Here is a cool graph for river level predictions from NOAA, sometimes they hit it dead on, other times they are way off. That's a forecast for ya: https://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/graphicalRVF.php?id=MRYC1

Best weather site ever from my buddy Bryan for the winter season, be it fishing rivers, or slaying the pow: https://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/graphicalRVF.php?id=MRYC1

That's pretty much all I use to gauge how current and future conditions will be on the Yuba River. Make sure you reload the pages for the most current data.

This winter was the best Skwala hatch I've ever seen, even better than 2014 which was a really good one. I saw my first Skwala adults on December 29th (the fish were already on them) and they were still out on Friday just before the last storm hit. For close to a 100 days my guests and I fished Skwala patterns 85% of the time successfully, the other 15% were on BWO and PMD dry flies. Out of 57 trips I only had my guests fish indo rigs 3 times, and that was only in the late morning before heads started to show in the foam lines.

I could go on and on about this special river, but that's what my blog is for - to share my knowledge and passion for fly fishing. Take care, stay safe, be well, tie flies, and hopefully I'll see you on the river soon. - J.