Keep Calm and Fly Fish

Earlier this year in February the Yuba River watershed experienced an ecological diaster after the failure of the Colgate powerhouse penstock pipe failed. The broken pipe sent an incredible amount of water rushing down the hill carving part of it away before it was shut off. Thankfully no lives were lost but tons of debris and oil was washed down into Lake Englebright. My son and I had just fished the lake the week before the disaster and were hoping to get on it for the rest of the month but the lake was closed until further notice for cleaning. The lake reopened in mid-March and we were finally able to give it a try after finding some time in mid-April.

The lake was surprisingly clear with just a small tint of murkiness. We were fishing an overcast day just before a front so the fishing should have been great. Prior to our visit I had checked the DFG website for stocking schedules as Englebright was supposed to be stocked the week before but records didn’t show any history of stocking so I assumed they cancelled due to the disaster. With no new fresh fish in the system we found the fishing to be somewhat slow.

Flies were the hot ticket the last time we fished Englebright and they were just as effective this visit. We went three for four with three fish on flies and one on a trix worm. We saw a pretty good amount of surface activity throughout the lake and all of the fish we caught were at depth between 5ft – 8ft. The fish were looking pretty beat up this time around and all but one of the fish we caught had copepod and ich sores all over them. Reports from other anglers who fish the lake are also experiencing a high infected fish rate. My theory is that the fish became extreme stressed during the Colgate disaster due to the sudden water chemistry change which disrupted their immune system making them more susceptible to diseases and parasites. This phenomenon happens often in the aquarium hobby and it seems like it’s happening on Englebright at a much larger scale. A lot of people will tell you that these fish are healthy but I disagree. A healthy fish should appear bright and clean as they can easily fight off both diseases and parasites. Although not completely healthy I do feel like these fish are okay enough to eat.

My daughter and I made another trip to Englebright later in April and fished calm and sunny conditions that later turned into gusty wind. I think I’m starting to get a feel for trolling now as I cycled through different depths and lures until I found what was working. The depth part of the equation is a bit tricky right now since I don’t have a fish finder yet but through being observant seeing absolutely no surface activity, I guessed that the fish were deeper this day. My guess paid off correctly at 10ft and we managed to pull in four fish in three hours. My son and I fished it again the first week of May and it appears like the trolling has slowed down for the year. The conditions were perfect, overcast with an incoming cold front, and we only managed to get three takes in 8 hours. There were very small bite periods in the afternoon with several fish breaking the surface that would end after about 15 minutes. I adjusted and swapped set-ups several times and found that an orange trolling fly top lined were what the fish wanted. Englebright is in the process of turning over as the water has become warmer and bass can be seen cruising along the banks. It looks like it’s time to put away the trolling rods and break out the bass and fly rods.

I’ve been working on trying to figure out how to properly troll from a boat for trout and so far all of my trips have only to Collins Lake. Prior to the Christmas storm that filled up Collins I felt like I was making progress but after the storm muddied up the lake it’s been extremely tough. Fishing guides and Collins Lake.com’s fishing report will tell you the fishing is great but anglers fishing from the shore and on boats will tell you otherwise. From my experience, fishing in low clarity water usually means you have to hit the fish on the nose in order to get a grab unless you’re fishing bait. It was no surprise to me that baiters were out fishing trollers out there in mud. I felt like I hit a wall, a $30 paywall with nothing to show for it. The skunk and slow fishing had me questioning whether I was doing something wrong or whether it was mother nature calling the shots.

Englebright Lake is known to be a bit of a sleeper lake here in Northern California. Other lakes nearby such as New Bullards Bar, Collins Lake, Lake Oroville, and Scotts Lake Flat outshine it in many ways making it a less popular lake to spend time on. In my opinion the most limiting factor to Englebright Lake is its accessibility. Englebright is primarily a boater’s lake due to its limited shore access. The lake is also relatively narrow making it difficult for activities that need wide open spaces. Despite the problem of accessibility, one of Englebright Lake’s more unique features is the opportunity to camp at one of its many boat-in campsites between May and October. The day-use fee for Englebright Lake is $10 and can be paid at the toll booths near both boat launches.

My son and I set out on Englebright Lake on a weekday to give the lake a try. I purchased an America The Beautiful pass which acts as an annual pass for Englebright (which is a federally managed lake) for $90. I saw a lot more value and potential in this annual pass versus Collins Lake’s $300 pass. We trolled for about 6 hours and only saw three or four boats throughout the day. The lake was full at 95%, a beautiful dark green with about 15ft of clarity, and the water surface temperature was 48 degrees. These conditions were a huge difference when compared to Collins Lake.

Throughout this journey I’ve been researching different methods of trolling and recently found the Jay Fair method. I’ve always known about Jay Fair and his legendary exploits on Eagle Lake but never really looked into his techniques. Jay Fair was a truly an innovative angler adopting many different techniques from all different styles of fishing. Jay Fair created what was essentially a sink-tip line that could fit on a conventional trolling reel by connecting 15ft of 18# leadcore to fly line. The fly line was floating running line that helped him and his clients see where the line was in the water. I thought this idea was absolutely genius. Instead of piecing the right lines together myself I bought a premade spool from trollingflies.com. I had previously tried Cal Kellog’s hybrid leadcore line, a great set-up, but found it a bit too bulky for my liking.

We started out the day by trolling past the dam to the cove across the lake. We trolled a pair of Jay Fair flies on the Jay Fair line and a trout trix worm on a downrigger set to about 6ft. All the information I gathered said that most people will usually start fishing once they get past the first bend heading up the lake. That information held true as we got our first fish not in the coves but about 50ft off the bank past the bend. The first fish took an orange Jay Fair fly. It wasn’t long until we got another grab on the Jay Fair fly this time on the olive. Flies seem to be the hot ticket this trip so I took off the trout trix and tied on a pair of buggers on the downrigger and we were getting grabs all morning until it slowed down in the afternoon. Most of the fish we caught were about 12-14″ with the fish of the day being about 2lbs and 18″. I tried several different lures throughout the day just to experiment but the fish weren’t having it. I also tried Jay Fair’s line jig where he draws a circle with the rod to impart action to the fly but the fish preferred no action this day. My son and I had a blast reeling in fish all day and it was nice to finally have some success on the boat.