Rapids Riffle

Who would have thought that a simple afternoon of fly fishing would become a close encounter to danger? Today I took some time to check out the Yuba River. The river is currently sitting at 2,900 CFS which is twice the regular flow at this time of year. The river is clear and looks great but the flows made it very difficult to find fish.

So Much Water

The last storm event in March that blew out the Yuba at 25,000 CFS has changed many parts of the river. Although it is a bit hard to read right now with the current flows, there have been changes to some contours of the river, primarily the banks. Many of the runs that I’ve enjoyed fishing before the big storm have turned into deep holes and many of the deep holes that I’ve never fished have turned into runs. It will probably take some time before the fish acclimatize to these new areas therefore fishing will probably be tough for a while. Time to learn the Yuba all over again.

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers

I was able to find two takes in a spot where the river was not too deep and not too fast. Both these fish were over 16” which was good, however they were the only fish I caught the entire time I was there. Not good…

Nice Spring Yuba Bow

As I was hiking upstream to my next spot about a mile above HWY 20 bridge I heard something rustling in the willows. For some reason I thought it was a turkey but I took a few seconds check out my surroundings. Oh crap…. a deer carcass. I made myself big, grabbed a good stick, began making noise, and started to back out. No thank you.

Well that was an interesting experience. Every fly angler probably experiences a mountain lion at least once in their lifetime though right? How about thugs?
After I decided to call it quits because of the high flows, I started walking towards my car and notice that there was a white van parked behind my vehicle. As I kept walking I notice that there were people going back forward from my car to theirs. Oh crap… these guys are going to break into my car. I started to speed up my pace and went over a hill where I lost visual of the suspicious group. The next thing I hear is a crack. “No, no, no, no….” As I came up the hill again, I looked and found that there were two individuals throwing rocks at an aluminum pipe. Thankfully another vehicle came down the road giving me a few extra seconds to catch up. Once I got about halfway to my vehicle, the group started getting into their white van. After I had finally got to my car they made a U-turn and drove off. Bastards…

Keep safe out there and don’t leave valuables in your car.