South Fork Yuba River

South Fork Yuba River Smallies

by Matt

Summer is around the corner and I’ve been itching to find new spots for my favorite bass, the smallmouth bass. Big Chico Creek has always been my go-to creek for smallmouth fishing due to the ease of access and abundant bass population however the drive is a bit much unless I have other plans in town. For the past couple of months I’ve been doing research to find smallmouth streams that are closer to home and now that the weather has warmed up I can finally get out there to take a look.

Smallmouth bass can be found throughout many of the major watersheds in California occupying low elevation rivers and streams that run warm and have rocky structure. Although I can technically fishing for smallmouth in town out on the Feather and Yuba River my favorite places to fish for them are small creeks. There’s nothing quite like summer wet wading in a clear freshwater stream fly fishing for small yet strong smallmouth bass using poppers or streamers.

The South Fork of the Yuba River is the one of the rivers that I’ve been hoping to check out. The drive is relatively short and I’ve seen pictures and read articles of anglers catching plenty of smallmouth out there. I’ve scouted the SFYR at Bridgeport with my small family back in January but the water was a bit high and dirty. I didn’t fish it that visit however I am curious to know if there are any resident trout from Lake Englebright that run up the SFYR to spawn.

I typically don’t find bass until the water gets warmer in late May or June so after chasing trout for past several months I was finally able to do a warm-water fish trip. The SFYR was much lower this visit and looking crystal clear. We hiked about a half mile downstream and settled for a beachy spot. After playing with the kiddo, catching tadpoles and stacking rocks, I lined my fly rod with a woolly bugger to try and find some smallmouth.

The water was nice and warm however there was a strong wind that rippled the surface making it hard to spot fish. I found a pool below a small riffle that had tons of hardhead stacked up and caught one on my first cast. Seeing as the hardhead were in the moving water I waded upstream and found a slower pool where I caught my first SFYR smallmouth. There were periods throughout the day when the wind died down and the surface calmed where I was able to spot several more smallmouth in the 6” – 10” range. I tied on small popper and was able to get two grabs before the wind started up again.

I wasn’t able to explore this section of the SFYR as much as I wanted to however I was happy to have found what I set out to find. I know that the SFYR at Bridgeport can get pretty busy over the summer so I’m hoping I can figure out days where there are less people and enjoy a bent fly rod.

North Fork Feather River

My Last Outing Before Becoming Essential

by Matt

I’ve been on paternity leave for almost 8 weeks now and next week my work life resumes. It’s been great being able to take care of baby and things around the house without worrying about going to work. All good things must come to and end but before it ends I needed one last fishing outing that would satisfy my thirst for adventure. Somewhere new that had fish…

Martis Lake was my first choice. I had prepped tons of new stillwater flies that I wanted to fish but as I was prepping the evening before I thought about the access possibly being closed. I quickly googled whether not it was open and was disappointed to find out that it was closed. Go away coronavirus, no one is scared of you anymore!
Plan B popped into my head spontaneously after a few minutes of thinking where I should go instead.

The North Fork of the Feather River.

It’s been a few years since I’ve had the chance to fish the NFFR. For the past two years high flows have kept me away from my second favorite river. With a somewhat dry winter this year I figured it would be a good time to try and fish it again in addition to exploring some new areas.

Golden Stonies

Although I haven’t fished the NFFR in quite a long time I frequently travel through the Feather River canyon to get to my in-laws in Quincy. The past few of times I’ve driven through the canyon in late spring and summer I’ve noticed a huge evening caddis hatch. The bugs were so thick one night that I needed to use my windshield wipers to see the road. It appears that the caddis population has exploded since the flood of 2017.  I had my fingers crossed that I would find the same number of bugs during this visit.

Flip Flop Fish

I arrived at my destination at around 10:30am. Flows below Rock Creek Dam were around 170 CFS, below Grizzly Creek 200 CFS, and below Poe Dam 346 CFS. I would consider these flows perfect; there were still plenty of fishy spots and I was able to get around the river relatively easily. The water was nice and cold and the spring creeks were still running. The wind in the morning was a bit gusty but once it began to warm up the wind died down a bit making it easier to cast.

Solid Dry Fly Action

The fishing on the NFFR has been the best I’ve ever fished it. There were tons of caddis in the morning and the fish were taking caddis dries and nymphs throughout the day. I was able to catch one of these fluttering caddis and noticed that they had a forest green abdomen. After a bit of research I found the specific species as apple caddis.

The bows in the NFFR like to hang out in heavy current and deep pockets and I found them where they should be. I forgot how strong these fish pull, many flies were sacrificed to the river gods.

Even Hardheads Willing To Play
1 2 3 … 6