Collins Lake, North Fork Feather River, Yuba River

Waiting For Rain

Big Yuba Steelhead

We need rain. Despite the lack of any falling water, I’ve been able to somewhat catch fish here and there. It’s been pretty slow but now that its been warming up (a lot near 70s for the past few weeks) spring is fast fowarding. Although I believe there won’t be any rain soon I’m hoping the spring turnover will happen quicker this year.

North Fork Feather River
The North Fork flows have been pretty low around 250 CFS. I caught my first fish of the year there and tried again the following weekend with no success. We will have to wait to see how this is going to affect the future hatches that are going to be coming soon.

Yuba River
The Yuba River is also low around 750 CFS and I read that Englebright dam is the only dam that has a significant amount of water in comparison to the other reservoirs around here. I have been fishing the same spot and constantly hook up at least once of twice in the day which is better than I usually do on this river. There seems to be a lot of fishermen focusing above the bridge which is ideal in theory, however due to the low flows it can be hard to find a decent spot and a fish that is willing to take.
We’ve been getting bright sunny days for the past couple of weeks so its best to fish early in the morning or later in the afternoon. There were a few skwalas laying eggs in the afternoon and the dries were working. Not a lot of people on the river yet, once the skwalas are in prime there will be fishermen everywhere.

Yuba River Skwala Dry Eater

Collins Lake
Manda and I went camping at Collins Lake and I was hoping to hook up with some fish for dinner for the weekend. Despite my best efforts I went home empty handed and was saved my the extra food my girlfriend packed. I didn’t see anyone catch anything the whole time there except a one person who had a springer with a trout on it. There were quiet a few fishermen on the banks and boats everywhere. One of the few reasons I’m not too big on stillwater fishing.

The website posts a fishing report of people hitting the limits there. Collin’s Lake wasn’t always known as a great fishery but really? Ramble ramble ramble.

Butte Creek, Yuba River

Christmas Time Fishing

Fishing has been pretty slow. Winter flows are showing with low flows and no rain. The weather had a hard freeze warning for a week and we even got snow, but still no rain for the upcoming year. I’ve been tying flies mostly focusing on nymphs, good stuff.

Butte Creek
I’ve caught one fish here not counting a pike minnow and thought I’d give it a try again but the flows were very low. I believe around 98 CFS when I was there. I fished below the HWY 70 bridge up to the dam and saw a few salmon hanging around. There was a small hatch of BWO in the afternoon which was pretty cool to see but no rises at all. I will have to try again when the flows are right.

Yuba River
Christmas Eve and Christmas are the days I fished this river and manage to catch something. The flows are also very low at 740 CFS. I fished up the HWY 20 Bridge with no success. The fish were rising the in afternoon to some cream-colored PMDs but they weren’t interested in what I was throwing at them.
Next I fished below the bridge covering a ton of water but with no success. After I thought about why I wasn’t successful, I moved to a deep pool and tight-lined nymphed it with a take that I lost. I tried again and was about to give up when I finally hooked up a fair-sized fish. The next day I went to the same spot and hooked a nice pounder.
Found a few skwala adults and a fair amount of nymphs on the banks. Can’t wait for spring.

First fish I’ve caught in a while
Yuba fighter
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