I’ve been out a few times the past month and haven’t had much luck on the winter bite. With the good amount of rainfall passing last weekend and a warming trend of 70 degrees, a lot of the plant and wildlife have woken up. It’s been quite beautiful out there and I’d be punching myself in the face if I didn’t spend sometime outdoors.
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| Fish On! |
Ellis Lake
I’ve been tracking the pattern of the lake and so far the fish aren’t active yet. I fished during the storm which wasn’t the brightest idea. I was also on the lake a week after the storm and with the warming trend passing through I was hoping a few prespawn fish would be active. I was wrong.
As I’ve observed before, the first bedding bass usually don’t start becoming active until March. I will continue tracking the pattern for the lake in hopes of finding some quality bass in a not so quality place.
Yuba Goldfields
I fished around the ponds today and found a few active fish. Definitely prespawn bass. There are a lot of small fish, bass and bluegill, hanging around vegetation while the bigger fish are either in deeper water (which I did not have luck fishing) or in flats near potential spawning beds. The water was relatively warm despite a few wind gusts here and there. The fish were pretty grabby which is a good sign. I tried a bunny leech in purple this time and it did pretty well. I’ve always had a lot of luck with the color purple when it came to bass. Its still a bit early but I know more fish will start becoming active as spring approaches.
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| Preggo Prespawn Bass |
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| Purple Leech Eaters |
Yuba River
The flows are a good 750 CFS with good color as well. I think we got what we needed here; the conditions are ideal for fishing. I didn’t cover the river as much as I usually do but I did go 2/3 in one riffle and anyone who fishes the Yuba knows that’s a good day. There were A LOT of cars on the Parks Bar side of the river so I don’t know how well that part of the river is fishing, either really good that everyone is fishing there or really bad because everyone is fishing there. Below the bridge there is less pressure which is more enjoyable both in tranquility and in fishing. The fish I caught took a rubberleg and an S&M nymph. Super strong fish despite their size. I was using 4x and 5x tippet so it took a bit maneuvering to get them in.
I didn’t see any skwalas while I was there. I did see a few risers and quite a few midges and brown mayflies.
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| Yuba Native Beauty |
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| This One Kinda Looked Like a Frog |
Butte Creek
The creek is closed now and unfortunately the flows were a bit too high to fish productively before it closed. I fished my usual holes and found it difficult to wade in spots I usually had no trouble getting to. The steelhead most likely just raced up with the flows being around 400 CFS.
The almond trees are blooming and the plants around here are starting to bud. Spring is around the corner and I can’t wait.
