Ellis Lake, Yuba River

Beautiful Spring

by Matt
First Crappie of 2014

Spring is in full fling as my allergies have been killing me this last week. Regardless, I am still out doing what I love to do; fly fishing. Its been really windy and warm which basically means I feel miserable which therefore means that I am not really enjoying being out as much as I would like to. I’m still chasing carp at Horseshoe Lake and managed to hook a few but no landing as of recently. I’m currently on sort of a mini vacation at home and fished Ellis Lake and the Yuba river.

Ellis Lake
The weather today was pretty warm and windy. I was hoping to find some carp like I did last week but were no signs of carp anywhere. Nick and I fished around twice, once in the morning and later in the afternoon with no luck on anything big. The bluegills were taking every fly we tossed in front of them though. The only fish worth bragging about were the two crappies that I hooked. For some reason the bass are not very active still. I’m guessing their in early lockjawed postspawn. I’m going back tomorrow to see if I can get into some bigger fish.

Orange tips and tiger stripes
2nd Crappie

Yuba River
The water is low around 761 CFS. Nick and I fished a honey hole and I manage to hook into a nice rainbow. Although Nick didn’t land anything, he learned how to truly fly fish which was pretty cool to watch. He did get some takes but no hook ups. I probably won’t spend too much time on Yuba due to the low flows and spooky fish.

Yuba River Trout

More updates on my mini vacation coming up soon…


2nd day min-vacation
Nick and I hit up the Yuba River again and there were a few guide boats out. I managed into hook two small trout before we left. The river and weather was beautiful but the fish just weren’t hitting as well as I had hoped.

After a small break I decided to go fish Ellis Lake before heading back to Chico. I was there for several hours and managed to be there during the bread hatch. The carp were feeding on the bread that people had thrown in hours back. I managed to hook two but the first one snapped off and the other one spit the hook. These carp learn fast and refused my fly several times.
Needless to say I was disappointed but that’s fly fishing for you. I’m hoping to get back out there soon and land another Ellis Lake monster carp.

Pine Creek, Tiechert Pond

Wind Is Not My Friend

by Matt
First float tube fish

The rain and cold is finally gone and the spring warming has begun. Last week was a pain. It was windy, rainy, stormy, snowy, and all of the above. Its going to be sunny and warm for the next few weeks, hopefully that means the warm-water fish will turn on and local fishing will get better. The sun and wind has brought a lot of activity with people everywhere outdoors. The wind is not my friend and has been frustrating to fish with. I will conquer this fear and catch fish but its always more comfortable to fish without the wind blowing my hats off.

Pine Creek
I was hoping that it would be warmer but the cold front hadn’t passed yet. It was cold and windy when I was floating and that being said I was skunked. The stream thermometer was reading around 50-55 degrees. I’m thinking it will start to fish in late April on but until then I am going to avoid this slough.

Pine Creek Slough

Teichert Pond
This is a local pond that was created during the building of the highway in Chico. Its pretty inaccessible to anyone without a floating device and is great for those with one. I floated the pond for a bit in the afternoon and hooked a few on streamers. It was warm but as mentioned earlier, the wind was not my friend. There were a couple of people out there that got skunked but I managed to catch my first fish on a float tube and some small bass. Not as great as I had hoped but its better than nothing. It will only get better and I’ve heard that there are some big bass there.

Little Mouth Bass
Teichert Pond

I definitely want to master catching bass on the fly rod as I feel I am pretty good at catching trout. Its going to be a challenge and I am looking forward to catching more warm-water fish this year on the fly.

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Keep Calm and Fly Fish™