Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 35

Thread: Yellow Creek

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    South Dakota
    Posts
    746

    Default Yellow Creek

    I haven’t been in a few years. Last time I was there it was a tough go but still a beautiful spot. It’s where I learned to fly fish. I’d like to take my dad up - he’s slowing down pretty good - just for old times sake. You can PM me but I’d like to know what the word is up there. Hopefully there’s been some improvement?
    There are few things in life more pleasing than the sublime marriage of form and function that is found in a well crafted fly rod.

    Rich Morrison
    Vintage Powell collector/dealer
    605-858-0800
    rich@classicpowellrod.com
    www.classicpowellrod.com

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Yuba City
    Posts
    67

    Default

    me too, campground open?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    South Dakota
    Posts
    746

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by beachjumper1 View Post
    me too, campground open?
    Well that I don't know. The council tasked with divvying up PG&E (who ran the campground) land gave the land back to the Maidu tribe in 2018.

    https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/calif...213494354.html

    I don't know what that means for the campground...
    There are few things in life more pleasing than the sublime marriage of form and function that is found in a well crafted fly rod.

    Rich Morrison
    Vintage Powell collector/dealer
    605-858-0800
    rich@classicpowellrod.com
    www.classicpowellrod.com

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    South Dakota
    Posts
    746

    Default

    In looking at the PG&E website the campground is listed on the map as "Temporarily Closed" but on the facilities list that shows proposed opening dates its no longer listed. I have a feeling its in limbo and not an option right now.
    There are few things in life more pleasing than the sublime marriage of form and function that is found in a well crafted fly rod.

    Rich Morrison
    Vintage Powell collector/dealer
    605-858-0800
    rich@classicpowellrod.com
    www.classicpowellrod.com

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    alameda
    Posts
    448

    Default

    I was up on YC last year in end of May-June the campground was closed and had no trespass signs. It did look like it was being used from the street so maybe the tribe is keeping it to themselves. The stream was 4-5' deep in many spots. I fished from below the campground upstream almost to the campground (had the place pretty much to myself). Fished for 5-6 hours no takes, saw a few bugs, a lot of butterflies and no risers. Had better luck on Butt Creek in the am. Left YC late afternoon and got to camp at almost dark. Camp was above Chester on the NFF river. NFF was also high but I caught a few there too. YC might have been better above the campground or down towards the canyon or maybe later in the year when the water came down.
    Last edited by tcorfey; 07-27-2020 at 02:38 PM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    South Dakota
    Posts
    746

    Default

    Sounds about like what I found several years back. I caught one down at the top of the canyon and had to work my rear off for it. There some nice light brown color drakes of some sort coming off - but no risers just like you saw. Looks like I will be up there in a week and a half. I'll report back.
    There are few things in life more pleasing than the sublime marriage of form and function that is found in a well crafted fly rod.

    Rich Morrison
    Vintage Powell collector/dealer
    605-858-0800
    rich@classicpowellrod.com
    www.classicpowellrod.com

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Redding
    Posts
    71

    Default

    Rich,

    I was at Almanor for Hex the weekend after the 4th of July. We went down to Yellow Creek at about 11 am just to look around. The PG&E campground was closed at that time but there were some sketchy looking folks camping there. Saw a few hoppers and no fish activity. The meadow is as beautiful as ever. I would fish early and late. We did not go back so no report on activity during the most fishy hours of the day.

    The PG&E campground was a spike camp for during the fire a few years ago. They appear to have made road improvements as the section of the last descent into the meadow used to be pretty rough.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    85

    Default

    It's hard to hear how Yellow Creek has declined. My father and his cronies used to fish there on opening weekend in the 50s if their Jeep could get them in over often snowy roads. We camped there as a family in the mid 50s and it's the first place I ever took a trout. On a salmon egg I'm sure. I couldn't wait to be 10 years old, the youngest age my father would let me fish down the canyon with him.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    131

    Default

    From what I understand fishing is essentially 'zilch' on Yellow Creek nowadays.

    There are probably many interlocking and complicated reasons for the situation but here is one possible piece of the puzzle.

    The trout conservation groups some years ago put up a fence along Yellow Creek to keep the cows out of the stream and improve the habitat. Great! It worked perfectly. No more cows and no more stream degradation and all the problems that come with large livestock smashing through small streams.

    However, our old friend, the Law of Unintended Consequences came to extract his due.

    That big, beautiful bovine-baffling barrier provided the perfect environment for our avian pals to gather for a picnic. All those fence posts and the long, straight wires between them just a few yards from the stream gave every insect eating bird a made-to-order perch to pick off any and all bugs that had the bad luck to get anywhere near the creek. It wasn't too many seasons before the insect population in Yellow Creek could no longer sustain itself and collapsed and that likely took the fish population down as collateral damage.

    Well, that's the theory anyway. I guess it just goes to show that sometimes well-intentioned, single-solution conservation ain't so simple.
    “Behind mountains, more mountains.” - Haitian proverb

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    South Dakota
    Posts
    746

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by loose_shoes View Post
    From what I understand fishing is essentially 'zilch' on Yellow Creek nowadays.

    There are probably many interlocking and complicated reasons for the situation but here is one possible piece of the puzzle.

    The trout conservation groups some years ago put up a fence along Yellow Creek to keep the cows out of the stream and improve the habitat. Great! It worked perfectly. No more cows and no more stream degradation and all the problems that come with large livestock smashing through small streams.

    However, our old friend, the Law of Unintended Consequences came to extract his due.

    That big, beautiful bovine-baffling barrier provided the perfect environment for our avian pals to gather for a picnic. All those fence posts and the long, straight wires between them just a few yards from the stream gave every insect eating bird a made-to-order perch to pick off any and all bugs that had the bad luck to get anywhere near the creek. It wasn't too many seasons before the insect population in Yellow Creek could no longer sustain itself and collapsed and that likely took the fish population down as collateral damage.

    Well, that's the theory anyway. I guess it just goes to show that sometimes well-intentioned, single-solution conservation ain't so simple.
    There are no wires. It’s a split rail fence. My dad worked on it. This theory is not remotely realistic. The lions share of the trouts food would come from the nymphal stages of the bugs life cycle. And with hundreds of thousands if not millions to one numbers of bugs to birds the birds would not have made an appreciable dent in the bug population.

    I believe whirling disease got into this water shed at some point and that hurt.
    Last edited by Rich Morrison; 07-28-2020 at 06:03 AM.
    There are few things in life more pleasing than the sublime marriage of form and function that is found in a well crafted fly rod.

    Rich Morrison
    Vintage Powell collector/dealer
    605-858-0800
    rich@classicpowellrod.com
    www.classicpowellrod.com

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •