The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Does anyone have any recent reports on the Russian? Last I heard the flows were to high to tackle with fly gear.

Just from on line

http://wat...sgs.gov/nwis/uv?11463000

http://wat...sgs.gov/nwis/uv?11467000

Good luck....

On the Russian it is not generally the flows that hamper success, it is TRYING to get a fly to sink in that infernal mud created by all the vineyards that abound, unregulated properly, that is most detrimental.
....lee s.

If you are thinking this weekend and the rain comes as predicted, forget it. The water is not especially high right now but it is still really colored for all the reasons Lee S gave. Another four or five days without rain and it might have been perfect for flies. Oh well.

That said, I have caught a lot of fish in the Russian with conditions that exist right now with really LARGE #2 and 4 Wooley Buggers in Black or Fl Orange or Black and Fl Orange on a 4 or 6X Long Shank Hook, heavily weighted and fished dead drift at the tail outs of pools and in against the edges of the banks....sometimes in really skinney water!!!! That's known as a HINT folks.

Thanks for the info and flow links. I figured the Russian would likely get blown out again with this weekend's expected rain. Its been pretty frustrating waiting for good fly fishing conditions. It seems like a storm rolls in literally days before the river reaches a flow level that allows wading. I didn't realize the the vineyard run-off was laden with so much sediment. I figured enough vineyards had been fined (read recently that KJ was fined) for discharges that they had started implementing better storm water pollution controls.