The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

I spent the whole week bouncing back and forth between the Yuba and Feather Rivers. The Yuba was in decent shape with most days hooking about 15 fish. Most of the fish were still coming on eggs patterns and mayfly nymphs. There were a handful of PMDs, March Browns, and Gray Drakes buzzing around. However there still wasn't enough bugs to get the fish to rise. Im still hoping for some of those big PMD hatches to get all of the fish looking up in the flats. Im in need of a good dry fly day. To much time staring at indactors is not good for a fly fishermans soul.

Actually this week I had a first that had never happend to me since I have been guiding for the last 4.5 years. I had a solo client for three days that absolutely refused to fish an indicator. She said that she would rather not catch any fish than have to catch one nymphing. Well to be perfectly honest she must not enjoy fishing California that much because it seems that a lot of our fishing is subsurface. The first day we spent swinging on the Feather and landed 3 nice spring steelies. The second day we spent swinging streamers and throwing dries blind on the Yuba. Then the third day we were back swinging on the Feather where we got another couple springers. I thought that after not having tons of success that she would eventually give in but I was impressed by here stubborness to stick with the more technical styles of fishing. It was awesome to watch those springers wack her bug and then fly about three feet out of the air. I must admit there is nothing better than a streamer grab especially when it is from a steelie.

The news on the Feather is that there are some fish in there. Most of the spring steelhead are in the 16-20 inch range with a few really nice adults mixed in. There were a couple fish hooked this week in the 5-8lb range. If you hook one of these spring big boys good luck in landing it. These big fish act just like fish on the coast and rip you a new one every time. It is pretty hard to land those big guys on 3X and 4X. The majority of the fish came on san juans and caddis patterns in the faster water. The Feather should keep fishing until the first week of May for those of you looking for some steelhead options.

Tight Lines!