Breaking In My New TFO Rod

With a good flush from a winter storm the Yuba is fishing pretty good. I managed to sneak out with my Christmas present, a TFO Finesse 5WT, and tested it out on some fatty Yuba bows above the bridge. The river is sitting at 590 CFS and the conditions were bright and cold.

Parks Bar

The TFO Finesse casts like butter. With very little effort, my presentations were super smooth and delicate. How can it get better than this? I’ve been looking for a good dry fly rod for rivers and wider streams and this is it. Not only does the rod cast extremely well, it is also pure fun to have a fish bend it in half. I am ecstatic to add this rod to my arsenal.

Nymphs that worked this trip were primarily San Juan worms, BWOs, and midges. There was a nice hatch of BWOs at around 1-3pm but I couldn’t find any risers. From what I observed this trip, the recent storm was able to trickle in some fresh salmon. Eggs anyone?

If landing one fish on the Yuba is considered a good day by most anglers by that logic I had an awesome day.
The fish were still pretty concentrated in certain areas but the bigger fish were active. Quality over quantity this trip. Cover water and don’t stay in one spot too long.

18” Fatty

I was able to find some risers at last light the following day. They looked like they were eating on top but they ignored every drift that I threw at them. With less than ten minutes left of sunlight, I switched to a smaller pattern in hopes of hooking up. I couldn’t even see the damn size 20 fly and I had a feeling that it wasn’t floating. After a few casts with no luck, I slightly delayed my recast and a fish hit it. Emergers!
I swung my dry fly like a wet fly and got two strikes with one landed. I love it when I figure something out by pure accident!

Last Light Fatty