Lower Yuba and Lower Sac Fly Fishing Report

Hogan Brown Reports on 10.6.2016

Lower Yuba River - I spent a few days floating the Lower Yuba River the last week. Fishing has been fair I would say. I am sure the there is the opportunity for really good fishing on the Lower Yuba River if you are in the right place at the right time…that could be said about the Yuba at any time though really. The river is low, around 750cfs, this creates a tough atmosphere for floating the river as both wade fishermen and drift boat anglers are battling for the same water and in true Yuba fashion the river was pretty crowded. There are salmon redds from the bridge down to about the “big island,” but not a ton…1-3 in areas where usually I see 10-20, so just starting.  I did not see one salmon on a redd, but we caught fish off redds on beads. Usually this means the salmon are coming up in low light situations and cutting their redds then backing off into the deeper runs during the day. This also means that they have not started to actively spawn or lay eggs. I did see a few fishing the deeper runs milling around but again not a ton. This  usually means the salmon are still up in the deeper water above the bridge and have not dropped down river to spawn or that fish are still moving in the system. Who knows as in general salmon runs seem to be late this year across the valley.

Lower Sac Striper Fishing - Striper fishing remains fair, fishing slowed a bit with the cooler weather this weekend and pressure changes associated with the rain and storm. Fishing should improve as air temps are creeping back up this week to the mid 80’s. Fishing is best midday this time of year and we are starting to see the big fish in shallows on a permanent basis as the salmon, salmon boats, and water temps are pushing them out of the deeper pools and runs. October can be a great month on the Lower Sac for striper as salmon fishermen thin out moving up river and anglers focus on trout and steelhead.