Lower Yuba 6/18

Fished down river from hwy 20. 1800cfs. Sunny, clear, 90 degrees. Started around noon. Got two near the bridge right away on the Red Headed Stepchild. Then didn't get a grab until later in the evening. Met up with Kieth and went way down river. Hooked a few swinging a natural Birds Nest #16 and a few more on a #18 Film Critic. Really big PED and Stone Fly hatch starting around 6pm and going until dark. Hardly any caddis seen.

Yuba

Drifted from hwy 20  bridge to Sycamore Ranch. Caught fish on hoppers sporadically. We fished nymphs also and didn't get anything. Used black stones, various mayfly nymphs and some caddis subsurface for nothing. Fishing was fair to good. We got a lot of looks and refusals, I think the dry fly action will get better in the next couple weeks as fish start looking up for hoppers.
Fished for stripers for a few hours in the evening. Tom caught 1 at about 19".

Cheap Beer, No Crowds....Wisconsin

Ahhhhhh....for a brief 4 days last week I was back home in Madison. We fished for bass in lake Wingra, fished for nice brown trout in the driftless, got sunburned, drank some beer, and I probably only spent $40 the whole time.  The bass were taking top water and we were one of only 3 boats on the whole lake...and we rented our little boat with a trolling motor for $25 bucks! We fished for over 5 hours! That 5 hours included me falling in the lake.
There were a few cars on one of the trout streams we fished but it was Saturday. All of the cars were from Illinois. I won't get down on trout fisherman from IL, it's probably not their fault they live in that shit hole to the south, and if I was stupid enough to move there, I would be coming to WI to fish also.

Small but ferocious

Preparing

Fishing

Fish

Rain, Snow, Oil Change, Truckee, Radiator, Big Fish

Thursday:

• Oil Change 
• "you have a small leak in your radiator, we fixed it"
• Pick up Sebastian, drive to Truckee
• Arrive at 1130pm. 
• Watch "Superbad"

Friday:

• 6am - Wake up
• Sunny but cold
• Bacon, Eggs, Coffee...more coffee
• poo
• Nymph with new two handed 10 foot rod
• Fish, fish, fish...snow...wind...cold..fish...big fish....
• Swing big streamers...no fish
• Drive to Little Truckee
• lots of snow
• Drive back to Truckee
• Big fish
• Safeway
• Huge Hamburgers
• More Coffee
• Snow. Lots of snow
• Drive three hours 
• Blow up radiator
• Push car to side of street
• Drive Sebastian's truck home
• Sleep

John Rickard - The McCloud River

I was fortunate to be able to fish with John for a couple of days this past January. It was two of the best days of fishing I ever had and it wasn't just because we caught a lot of big fish. John is a true ambassador for the art of fly fishing and has blended his passion with an amazing photography project.
Please support his effort to get this book published.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnrickard/the-mccloud-river

Yuba

Finally made it back to my favorite river after a couple month hiatus. Started fishing around 10am and walked up river from Parks Bar Bridge. There were a couple guys fishing in some of my favorite spots but I picked up fish at every hole. Size 18 red headed stepchild was the most productive fly for the morning.  

Weather was perfect. 85 degrees and sunny.

Took a break at about 1pm and then fished again from 230 - 5. This time I walked down river.

Swung a #16 Birds Nest for 3 nice fish. Lost one of them after a good hard fight.

Hooked up a couple more with a #16 FKA Prince high sticking seams.

Fish ranged from tiny dinks to the biggest that I farmed at probably around 18 inches.

It never fails to surprise me how strong these fish are. The 16 inch fish in the pic below felt like a 20 inch fish in any other river.

Yosemite Small Creeks