Yuba River

Gonna Catch All The Fish

by Matt
Murky Yuba Day

The Yuba is still murky but continues to teach and reward those who learn. The flows are somewhat stable at around 1,000 CFS and the clarity is about 2ft – 3ft with clearer conditions in the shallower water. The skwalas are out but the tinted conditions are making it tough for the fish to see them. Nymphing is the name of the game.

Murky Water = San Juan Worm
I’ll Have a Worm On The Rocks

Veteran fly anglers will tell you that San Juan worms are “not real flies” and if you fish them you might as well be using bait. That couldn’t be any further from the truth. When conditions are wet, worms will crawl to the surface in efforts to try and move greater distances. Contrary to popular belief, worms do not come to the surface to avoid drowning as they can survive for long periods submerged underwater.
The majority of my hook ups were on red San Juan worms and after looking around a bit I found the reason why. Match the hatch!

Skwala Time of the Year

The skwalas started coming out in the afternoon but the fish weren’t on them. After nymphing most of the day I finally saw a fish rise and switched to a skwala dry. My first cast upstream and I get the take. A great rise but I wasn’t able land it; still, it was exciting to finally get a fish to come up and grab a big dry fly.

One of the Best Yuba Natives I’ve Landed

Looking for trout in murky conditions is like looking for hidden treasure. The fish in the Yuba only bite once a day therefore once you find and hook one it’s pretty much game over for that fish. Today I landed four out of nine; definitely one of my better days.

Rootitus
Rootitis is one of the most common afflictions of beginning nymph fishers, and it will seriously limit your success. How do you know if you have rootitis? If you find yourself parked in one spot fishing nymphs for 30, 20, or even ten minutes without getting a strike and not moving, you have rootitis. Many of the anglers I watched today on the Yuba have rootitus. Cover water and keep moving!

Strong Pretty Bows All Day
Ellis Lake

Attempting To Track The Ellis Lake Prespawn

by Matt
Almost Ready To Fish
Ellis lake is a tricky lake to pattern. The lake sees a lot of pressure during the warm months in the spring, summer, and fall and depending on the timing of the year, certain species will either turn on or off. With a week of warm 70 degree weather, the largemouth should have turned on but I haven’t found them yet.
Gear anglers who fish Ellis like to throw their lures and plastics parallel to the rocky sidewalk. They often throw pretty close to the bank targeting fish in the shallows about 1ft – 2ft deep. This strategy makes sense but I rarely see them hook up. Why is this?
A few things they may be doing wrong is covering water too quickly, not covering enough depth, or making the wrong retrieve. I enjoy observing and trying to understand why other anglers are or aren’t catching fish. If they aren’t successful I won’t imitate if they are I will copy. 
Testing My New S4 On Ducks
When I fish Ellis Lake I throw my flies perpendicular away from the bank rather than along it. Although it takes longer to cover water I can hit each depth column much more efficiently: throw my flies across, wait for it to sink, retrieve, take two steps, rinse and repeat. Fishing perpendicular can also help you avoid catching the smaller species that like to hang out in the snag rocks closer to the banks.
Fish Crack

The bank of Ellis is a sidewalk that is made up of broken concrete. Not every part of the bank is made the same way therefore different species of fish will hold in different locations. I have been fishing different depths using different retrieves in different locations with different flies but I haven’t been able to track the prespawn pattern. The bass should be turning on any time now and I will be there when they do.

My guess is that when I start catching or finding bluegills I will begin catching bass. As of right now it’s still a waiting game. 
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Keep Calm and Fly Fish™