I had an opportunity to drift the Lower Yuba this past Monday with friend and colleague Mike Folden. It was great because it was just the two of us and I got some much needed time on the oars. The fishing was slow.
Mike landed a fish on a crazy October Caddis pattern. I don't know how he chose that fly but it worked.
I finally picked up a few fish on a #18 Prince. I had been fishing green caddis pupa and small PT's for nothing. We fished under indicators all day.
We did throw some dries also but with no luck. There were some #18-20 BWO's hatching throughout the day and also some sporadic #12-14 tan caddis. Their bodies are green. Some of the fish were slamming the fluttering caddis which was awesome to see.
I crashed at a friends house on Monday night and then fished Scotts Flat lake with Yuba guide Keith Scott and Plumas County ninja Jon Baiocchi. Jon has this awesome technique for trolling that I had never done before so I was pretty pumped to learn something new, apparently he kills it on Lake Davis.
We stuck a ton of fish trolling small wooly bugger/seal bugger like flies although they are different. I can't remember what he called them.
We only fished for a few hours and then Keith had to go so I drove back down to the Yuba on my way home. I was tired of indicator fishing from the day before so I just strung up my 105 Beulah Switch rod and swung caddis for a couple hours. I went 1 for 3. Great way to end the day!
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
2 1/2 hours on the LT
Jordan and I went to Truckee this weekend to hang out. I figured I'd get a few hours of fishing in and then we'd go skiing on Sunday. We didn't get the snow we expected on Saturday night so we skipped skiing on Sunday and now I'm at home writing this post.
She dropped me off at the last parking lot along the LT below Stampede dam at about 11 am on Saturday. I fished a few holes for 3 landed small fish and one fish I lost that was a little bigger than the rest but it was such a short hookup I never got a good look at it. All fish were hooked on size 20 bwo nymphs.
The river was crowded as always which is why I never fish it. I should have fished the Truckee instead but I wanted to fish some really small stuff just because I hadn't for a while. I really was hoping for a nice BWO hatch but it never happened. At least not between the time of 11am til 2pm. It was a really great day to be out though. Check out the pics.
She dropped me off at the last parking lot along the LT below Stampede dam at about 11 am on Saturday. I fished a few holes for 3 landed small fish and one fish I lost that was a little bigger than the rest but it was such a short hookup I never got a good look at it. All fish were hooked on size 20 bwo nymphs.
The river was crowded as always which is why I never fish it. I should have fished the Truckee instead but I wanted to fish some really small stuff just because I hadn't for a while. I really was hoping for a nice BWO hatch but it never happened. At least not between the time of 11am til 2pm. It was a really great day to be out though. Check out the pics.
Western Rivers Conservancy and Henry's Fork Foundation
This past week I was fortunate to be a part of fundraising events for both of these great organizations.
On Wednesday night Jim Cox and Henry Little of the Western Rivers Conservancy came to Orvis and gave a talk on the goals, and accomplishments of Western Rivers. On Thursday night I was invited to the Henry's Fork Foundations annual event.
Western Rivers is a small, nimble group that basically buys property that needs to be rescued. They are committed to making it available for public use. For more information go to http://www.westernrivers.org/pages/main4.html
You can probably guess what the Henry's Fork Foundation does. I have never fished the Henry's Fork of the Snake River but after hearing how passionate these people are about preserving this world class piece of water, its higher on my fishing bucket list.
http://www.henrysfork.org/
Most of the people at these events were people that I would otherwise probably never come in contact with as they mostly fish with guides, or on private water. I admit, I have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder regarding that type of fisherman, but after seeing the amount of money they donate to keep the waters we all know and love clean and safe for the future, I can tolerate them a little more.
On Wednesday night Jim Cox and Henry Little of the Western Rivers Conservancy came to Orvis and gave a talk on the goals, and accomplishments of Western Rivers. On Thursday night I was invited to the Henry's Fork Foundations annual event.
Western Rivers is a small, nimble group that basically buys property that needs to be rescued. They are committed to making it available for public use. For more information go to http://www.westernrivers.org/pages/main4.html
You can probably guess what the Henry's Fork Foundation does. I have never fished the Henry's Fork of the Snake River but after hearing how passionate these people are about preserving this world class piece of water, its higher on my fishing bucket list.
http://www.henrysfork.org/
Most of the people at these events were people that I would otherwise probably never come in contact with as they mostly fish with guides, or on private water. I admit, I have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder regarding that type of fisherman, but after seeing the amount of money they donate to keep the waters we all know and love clean and safe for the future, I can tolerate them a little more.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Lower Yuba
I was excited to get back to the Yuba. It had been a while since I last fished this river and its my favorite river to fish. I got to the river around 8 and gave a lesson then started fishing at about 2pm.
I'd been following Tom Page's reports. Tom owns Reel Fly Anglers shot in Grass Valley. I also keep up with reports from guide and friend Keith Scott and it sounded like small egg patterns were still producing.
The weather was perfect. No wind, mostly sunny and about 55 degrees during the middle of the day. With every cloud there was a little BWO hatch and sporadic size 12/14 Caddis, I think Hydropsyche.
The fishing ended up being slow but the fish were active so maybe everyone was using the wrong flies. I committed to swinging flies and after an hour with no fish decided to start dead drifting some flies, nothing. At around 330 pm the fish started getting really active, jumping out of the water and I thought they must be chasing emergers. I continued swinging flies with my 10-5 Beulah and finally hooked up with a nice rainbow about 15".
My buddy was fishing a stone fly and green caddis pupa under an indicator and hooked up with a beast of a rainbow. The fish jumped after about a 5 second fight and easily broke his 4x tippet. That was his first fish of the day. The only other fish he hooked was an 18" sucker. He landed that one. It also took the green caddis pupa.
Monday, November 5, 2012
American River and Truckee River
This past Saturday I gave a nymph and swinging demo on the American River to about 10 people. My friend and co-worker Sebastian and I met everyone at Riverbend park at 8am. The river was really crowded, mostly guys swinging big treble hooks and sinkers trying to snag salmon.
The demo went pretty well. Everyone said they learned something but there aren't really any Steelhead in the river yet.
Around 1pm I got to do some fishing of my own. I went down river a ways and fished a favorite spot for some half pounders. I hooked one really nice one that got off after a nice fight. He was hooked swinging a #16 green birds nest. I hooked two more fish in the same run on the same fly.
There are a lot of salmon in the river. Most of them are dark and dying. It never ceases to amaze me how powerful those fish are. Sebastian hooked a couple swinging a big egg pattern and even in their depleted state they were difficult to land.
I drove up to Truckee late in the afternoon and met up with some friends. We fished Herschdale road the next day. I caught fish on a bunch of different patterns but was most successful with caddis soft hackles dead drifted. I'm sure any caddis or mayfly nymph would have worked but the key seemed to be moving around. The fish were found in pockets. I would fish 100 yards for nothing and then hook 2 or 3 in the same hole.
I also swung a streamer. I used a sculpin pattern from 9-about 1130 for only one grab and one small follower.
The weather was great. 75 degrees and sunny. No wind. I would post pics but my phone was wrecked when I fell head first into the chilly Truckee water. Complete submersion.
The demo went pretty well. Everyone said they learned something but there aren't really any Steelhead in the river yet.
Around 1pm I got to do some fishing of my own. I went down river a ways and fished a favorite spot for some half pounders. I hooked one really nice one that got off after a nice fight. He was hooked swinging a #16 green birds nest. I hooked two more fish in the same run on the same fly.
There are a lot of salmon in the river. Most of them are dark and dying. It never ceases to amaze me how powerful those fish are. Sebastian hooked a couple swinging a big egg pattern and even in their depleted state they were difficult to land.
I drove up to Truckee late in the afternoon and met up with some friends. We fished Herschdale road the next day. I caught fish on a bunch of different patterns but was most successful with caddis soft hackles dead drifted. I'm sure any caddis or mayfly nymph would have worked but the key seemed to be moving around. The fish were found in pockets. I would fish 100 yards for nothing and then hook 2 or 3 in the same hole.
I also swung a streamer. I used a sculpin pattern from 9-about 1130 for only one grab and one small follower.
The weather was great. 75 degrees and sunny. No wind. I would post pics but my phone was wrecked when I fell head first into the chilly Truckee water. Complete submersion.
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