5th St. Bridge

October is usually the month I begin catching less bass. Although the current day temperatures are still pretty damn hot, the water is a lot cooler than it was a month ago. I haven’t figured out how to fish the Feather River in Yuba City for bass yet so I decided to go out and try to unlock some secrets.

Anglers have begun to amass below the bridge in efforts to try and hook a salmon. Mostly snaggers using heavy jigs. Although the salmon are in, they weren’t biting.

This was my first time fishing below the bridge on the Yuba City side. There are tons of rock piles along the levee on this side of the Feather which are perfect spots for bass to hold in.

A Few Smallies

Judging from all the trash, I presume this side of the river receives a heavy amount of pressure. A low profile and the correct fly selection was critical if I was to be successful here.

The bass in the Feather are very finicky. I’ve notice that the spotted bass in the Feather always chase my fly but never eat it. Weird. The smallmouth are usually my main takers which I don’t mind because they put up the better fight. I caught a few but not enough.

Litte Crayfish Eater

Throughout the day I kept switching flies and leaders to try and figure out what these bass like. Nothing I tried was successfully enough for me to say I learned something new. The best clue that I found this trip was a small 8” smallmouth with an entire crayfish in its mouth.
I switched to a brown woolly bugger to see if they would go crazy for it but I kept getting the same results; a few eats but mostly follows.

Hardheads Too

I did some research and read that smallmouth switch from feeding on crayfish during the summer to minnows in the fall. The shad eggs hatched a few months ago so maybe a shad pattern will work….