Lower Yuba Fly Fishing Report

Jon Baiocchi Reports on 11.3.2016

The Lower Yuba River has been fishing spotty, good for a few days, then slow. I talked with two guide friends today on the river and they were working hard for a few fish after covering miles of water. The flows have been stable bouncing around 1,140 to 1,150 cubes for the last week, they did come up a notch late today though. Pretty good bwo spinner fall in the late morning right below the riffles with a few heads coming up, which was cool to see. Not too many anglers out today and I could definitely find my own water and solitude. The salmon are still doing their thing and there are even more redds. On the other hand I’m starting to see more spent salmon in the back waters and the sides of the river.

Bacon and eggs under a bobber has been the top producer by far, good egg colors to run are peachy roe, peachy king, and natural roe. The flesh Juan has been good in the last week and I tied some with a copper bead and it seems to be working better than ever. Small caddis pupa and baetis nymphs also work well with your nymph rigs, when the salmon cut their redds many aquatic insects are flushed out and are in the drift. After taking samples after the 3 major high water events that took place last winter, it was these two bugs that were impacted the least. Swinging softies like baetis and caddis emergers has been picking up some fish as well. Swinging flies is incredibly easy and very effective. Check out RIO’s “How To” video episode 1, “How to fish a soft hackle” with Simon Gawesworth - https://vimeo.com/187902335

I expect conditions to remain the same for the next few weeks, there is a slight chance of showers Saturday night and Sunday but it looks weak. My weather guy on Donner Summit, Bryan Allegretto of opensnow.com is forecasting the next two weeks as dry. Regardless of the weather, it’s time to fish. See you out there.

Jon Baiocchi