North Fork Yuba River Fly Fishing Report

Jon Baiocchi / Baiocchi’s Troutfitters Reports on 9.14.2015

After last week’s heat wave, my guests and I switched gears and concentrated on the upper watershed again. Last weekend the bite was on fire, the best I have seen it since the second week of July. To put it plainly, one guest said he had never caught and released so many trout in his lifetime. Flows are still low but have stabilized, and those springs just keep pumping cold water into the system. Water temps at 8am were 54 degrees, rising to 61 by 2pm. Fishing pressure has been heavy on the weekends between Downieville and Sierra City. On my beats, we have yet to run into another angler, and that says much after 36 trips since July 7^th. The further one hikes into the abyss, the least likely you’ll encounter company.

The tiny BWO spinner fall is short lived with the warmer air temperatures, it’s over before you know it. Terrestrials still dominate the menu, ants and hoppers are plentiful. I did find a large burnt yellow mayfly which I have yet to identify. The occasional Golden stone fly has been seen as well. There has been a few false October caddis (aka The Cinnamon caddis) ovipositing on the water, but no trout have been keying in on them for now. The False October caddis is much smaller than Dicosmoecus, and hatches out before the real big bug of fall does. Conditions will be changing quickly in the weeks to come, so if you want in on this fun fishery, get it now.