Yuba River

Some Dry Flies & A Lot of Luck

Winter Flats

After a bit of sporadic on again off again rains the Yuba is stable and sitting at 1,200 CFS. I have a bit of a tough time nymphing and swinging at flows above 1,000 CFS so I focused on catching risers instead.

BWOs were the game as they emerged through the tail-out I was standing in. Throughout my time there I stood and watched as fish rose around me. I stalked the risers for several minutes to make sure they were comfortable in their feeding lanes before I made my first attempt.

My patience payed off as I finally rose and landed one of the nicest dry fly Yuba fish I’ve ever caught. It seems like this day the smaller fish liked the duns and the big fish liked the emergers. I rose a few other fish after my first but a couple of false sets and they were gone. There were two hatch times, the first at around 9am and the second at around 1pm. The earlier hatch had a lot more fish rising than the latter.

Dry fly fishing the Yuba is spring creek levels of challenging which is both exciting and fun. Winter is good.

Small BWO Emerger
Big Yuba Dry Eater
Emerger Eatin’ Yuba Bows