Yuba report

[yubaman]

I was able to fish the Lower Yuba today, as well as 9 days ago. Flows are 1000 cfs, great wading flow and the water is gin clear. There were some BWO’s and PMD’s flying during the day, not many, but some. I did see a couple of rises during the day.

When I was up 9 days ago, it looked like the start of the egg bite. Salmon were in the system, pairing up. Redds were being dug, etc. Not a ton of salmon, but a start. Trout were eating egg patterns very aggressively! Well 9 days later . . . Very few fish in the system ??? What? I thought things were just getting going? The DF & W fish biologists doing the salmon carcass recoveries were out and about, and I got a chance to speak with them. Their feeling was, put a fork in the Yuba salmon run for 2024 😵*💫. They felt that we were seeing the end of the run and that it was a small, quick run for the Yuba this year. Sad news.

Great sunset on the river this evening though . . .



Fishing was very slow for every other fisherman I spoke with today. Time to look forward to the Skwala hatch it seems . . .

[Rossflyguy]

I thought the Yuba starts to see salmon end of August or beginning of September?

[yubaman]

I remember about 12 years ago the big push of fish was the week after Labor Day. Every year it seems to push back about a week. Apparently this year the first salmon showed up the last week of October. The run was very small and one quick push according to the DF & W staff on the river today. Again, today was very slow. The DF & W creel counters were out today. They congratulated me for being high catch count on the river today with those they had surveyed . . . With 1 fish!

There were some risers today. I could not see what they were eating. I would guess something in the film, possibly just something tiny that I could not see. I tried BWO’s, Baetis, PMD’s and could not get them to eat anything.

[Rossflyguy]

Maybe more salmon above the bridge and the trout/steelhead followed.

[Ken Kondo]

Has anybody seen the water clarity of the Lower Yuba after December 1? Any information on it will be appreciated before I make a 3-hour drive from the south bay.
Thanks,
Ken