The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

I have spent the last seven days on the river. Equally spent between the Lower Sac and the Yuba. This last week I have been on the Lower Sac four days and the Yuba three. Needless to say that we are having some wacky weather for this time of year. Start of the week I was layering in fleece but by the end the sun was frying the the legs as the shorts came out. Looks like this next week things are going back to normal. I guess global warming isn't here to stay just yet. To be honest I'm not ready for those 100+ degree days.

So whats the word on the fishing?

The Lower Sac continues to fish well even with the off color water. Most days we are boating 25+ rainbows. Every time they increase the flow there has been some major fluctuation in the clarity of the water. The first 2-3 days after a flow bump the clarity has been going down to 2-3 feet of visibility. Currently there is about 3.5 feet of visibility on the river. With the off color water those fish are really wanting the rubberlegs and the yellow eggs. It has been really hard to get those fish dialed into one specific small bug. Some small bugs to try are amberwing princes, pheasant tails, and tan pupahs. It seems like to me that you just have to get the flies in the trouts face to get a grab. If you bump them in the nose they want to eat it!

The Yuba has been hit and miss this week. I had two solid days in a row on Wednesday and Thursday with about 20 fish hooked each day. Then the Yuba did its great humbling trick on my clients Monday with only 9 fish hooked. Just like everyone else sometimes I have a love hate relationship with this place. I guess everyone once in a while gets their butt kicked on the river. The cool thing is that on Monday we were able to raise a couple of rainbows on caddis dries. Throwing dries gets me pumped up for my summer in Idaho.

The fishing should remain good for the next month before the real hot weather of June shows up. Expect the lower stretches of the Lower Sac from Barge down to Bend to start fishing really well with the warm weather and the higher flows. This is the time of year when the lower river really starts to turn on. Also expect some great caddis action on the Lower Yuba in the evenings. This is the time of year where you can have epic days with the dry fly rod.

I hope everyone is getting some good fishing in!

Tight Lines.