The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Saturday, March 13, 2010

I just got done guiding the Lower Sac, Yuba, and Feather in three days with the same guys. It was a great trip as all of the rivers were on FIRE. This is truly a special time right now in the North Valley. Bruce and his son Kevin had never fished any of the rivers and by the end of the weekend I think they had a new appreciation for their home fisheries. Below you can find a report from what I saw out there.

Lower Sac (Day 1): Fished the Lower Sac from Anderson down to Balls Ferry. River was incredible. Boated over 40 rainbows. But lots of little fish that day. The majority of the fish were between 10"-14". However we were lucky enough to find a big guy that went 22". The hot bugs were the normal spring flies with rubber legs, yellow eggs, prince nymphs, pheasant tail, etc. Expect the Lower Sac to fish well through the end of April. For those of you waiting for good reports: NOW IS THE TIME!

Lower Yuba (Day 2): Well the Yuba doesn't get much better than it has been the last week. I have been floating from Highway 20 down to the Rod/Gun Club. Lots of numbers and quality fish. The nymphing has been crazy good. Every standard spot has been holding fish. Currently most days we are hooking 20-25 rainbows. Plus each day we are getting shots at 20" fish. The hot flies have been SJWs, flashback pt, copper john, Hogan's S&M, and Hogan's Clinger. I have not been getting that much love on caddis yet. The dry fly fishing has been hit and miss depending on the pmd hatch in the middle of the day. Check out the nice double Bruce and Kevin pulled off.

Lower Feather (Day 3): Went and checked out the Feather with my clients to see if those springers were in there yet. Had a good day catching trout sized quarter pounders. Hooked 18 little guys between 10"-15". The biggest fish we found was only 18". No adults hooked. The hot flies were SJWs, olive birds nest, prince nymph, and Hogan's S&M. The Feather should get better and better over the next two weeks. Expect those big fish to start showing up real soon.

All in all we had a great three days of fishing. The trifecta was good to us.


Tight Lines!

Hey RJ, I don't think it is legal to target the Springers anymore, even catch and release. Check out the new regs.

All Central Valley anadromous waters that are listed as "closed to salmon fishing and no take and possession of salmon" in the district or special regulations are also closed to any catch and release fishing that results in hooking or attempting to hook a salmon.
As a reminder, Section 1.80 defines take as "Hunt, pursue, catch, capture or kill fish, amphibians, reptiles, mollusks, crustaceans or invertebrates or attempting to do so."
There will be no allowance for any catch and release fishing that targets salmon when the river or stream is closed to salmon fishing.

I'm pretty sure he was talking about spring steelies, not salmon.

Yep. SacProGuide is correct. We are chasing spring steelhead. To be honest I wish there were a lot of spring salmon. I know there are a few out there but don't see them to often. So rest assure there is no poaching going on. But thanks for being concerned.

Tight Lines!

Right on dude, I didn't want ya getting pinched on a new law. Great weather for the next 2 weeks, fishing (and catching) should be good! Tightlines, Brian