Feather River

Fly Fishing The Feather River Parkway

by Matt
Feather River Parkway

The Feather River Parkway is a relatively new recreation site on the Yuba City side of the Feather River. The Feather River Parkway opened in 2013 and continues to provide a safe and clean area for river recreation. This was my first time visiting and fishing the park.

The Feather River Parkway is about a five minute drive from my apartment; quick and easy. Although I was skeptical of driving on a road that crosses the levee, the signs directing to the Parkway assured me that this place was legit.

Parkway Map

The Parkway consist of a big parking area, several hiking trails, and a nice gazebo area. I felt safe to leave my car parked in the parking lot which to me was important considering the area. The Parkway was pretty clean with little signs of homeless people vandalism.

First Fish = Largemouth

Armed with my 2wt, I started fishing in a marshy area where I found several bass holding. My first fish of the day was a nice largemouth that put a pretty nice bend on my little rod. Immediately after I landed my bass, there was a small boat that decided to low hole me after seeing that I had caught a fish. These guys literally anchored twenty feet below me.

What do you do to anglers who low hole you? You low hole them back! I got out of the area I was fishing and began fishing thirty or forty feet below them. For about an hour and a half they watched without a single nibble as I hook and landed a bunch of smallies and spotties.
If your not catching fish why not fish somewhere else? You’re on a boat and you have access to the whole river why stick around here? Beats me…

All Day Smallies

Obvious structure is obvious. The levee is full of areas where fish like to hold. There are quite a few bass along these areas, although mostly smaller fish they aren’t stupid. The colder water is making them lethargic so a slower presentation with a few twitches is working the best.

The only way to hook up on these bass is to sight fish for them. They will suck up and spit your fly out in a blink of an eye if you don’t set the hook.

Lots Of Fishes

I figured out that fishing pressure is what turns these fish on or off. Certain areas will fish better than others due to this factor alone.

There a few people who call the levees home so be alert when wandering around out there.
I’m okay with people being homeless, I just don’t like the fact that they leave trash all over the place. Here’s to good karma!

Clean Up Karma
Yuba goldfields, Yuba River

Indian Summer Days On The Yuba

by Matt
Couldn’t Believe How Bright It Was Today

The Yuba is pretty much fishing the same as it was this summer probably a little worse due to the lowered flows. From my experience fishing the Yuba over the past few years, I’ve found that Indian summer days are the most difficult conditions to fish the Yuba. Something about cold mornings and hot afternoons put these fish down in a bad mood.

Poor reports have kept anglers away from the Yuba these past few weeks. The fishing is slow and the bugs aren’t doing much. The fish are still around and willing to eat but they’ll make you work hard to catch them. It’s not a numbers game this time of year.

Although the salmon are around in particular runs and tail-outs, I must have counted less than fifteen today. The water is too warm for them to start dropping eggs so it’ll be a few weeks before the egg-bite starts here.
How warm is the water? I wet waded the entire day. The water is not cold enough.

I started below the bridge pitching nymphs with no indicator. After going through several different flies and fishing the run for about four hours with no takes I gave up nymphing. It was streamer time.

Gin Clear

I like fishing streamers because I can cover a lot of water and find the most aggressive fish. When nymph fishing I feel stagnant and slow. By the time I’m done fishing a run, several hours have passed with not even a nibble. Very frustrating.
Streamer fishing is the most hook-up/time efficient way for me to fish during tough conditions. My Hero Sculpin always does the trick.

My day ended with four hook ups but none landed. They felt like two nice size fish and two smaller ones. Not too shabby. I’ll get them next time. My recommendation is not use 8# mono as your leader off your versileader when streamer fishing. Its too flimsy and the slightest bit of slack will lose you a hooked fish.

I’m going to wait until fall truly gets here before I head back the the Yuba.

Yuba Goldfields
I am sad to say that largemouth bass season is officially over for me. After fishing Secret Pond for a bit, I found no takers. The fish are usually closer to the bank but they have migrated down and become lethargic.

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Keep Calm and Fly Fish™