Lower Yuba Fly Fishing Report

Capt. Hogan Brown reports on 11.26.18

Lower Yuba River - Spent a few days guiding the Yuba the last week in the rain and fishing was good. Most of the fish are a healthy 12-14" with a few bigger fish in 17-18" bracket. I am sure there are bigger and smaller fish around, but that is what I have been finding. Flows with the rain have been hovering aroud 900-1000cfs and clarity is a dirty martini'ish…not clear but clear with a hint of olive juice. There are still salmon on redds throughout the river so be careful wading around the banks and riffles. There are some really fresh salmon still around and cutting reds so fish are still looking for eggs around acitve salmon. That said I did have to really work to find the egg patterns they would eat on a given day. It is not October egg bite where they eat anything round. There was also plenty fish feeding on the surface between heavy rain. Most were eating emerging baetis in a size 16-18 dropped off a hackle stacker in size 16-18. On a side note - that last few times I have been on the Yuba I have seen some of the most consistant dry fly action and consitantly looking up fish then I have seen in years…good time to throw dries on the Yuba. I love the Yuba in the winter and all the changes and new water from the last flood are really taking shape and creating some really cool water to fish.

Winter Striper Fishing has been good. We are hunting big fish and finding them on occasion, but what is really cool is as most winters we are fishing for a few big grabs this winter we have been getting good numbers of 4-8lb fish to fill in the gaps between big grabs. Winter fishing is challenging though and requires patience, persistence, and a lot of hard fishing, but it pays off at the end of the day usually with a bag of quality fish and a maybe even the fish of a lifetime. As long as the river stays fishable winter striper fishing should stay pretty steady but river conditions fluctuate a lot this time of year with rain and weather so it can get spotty.