Yuba River Fishing Report

Jon Baiocchi Reports on 10.27.2016

Current conditions on the Lower Yuba River have changed in a big way during the last 2 weeks. Since our first good storm that rolled through on the 16th and 17th there has been an increase in salmon populations hovering around active redds. There were way more in the system today than last week. Deer creek came up over 500 cubes during the last storm and remarkably did not muddy up the river that much. In fact on the following Tuesday’s trip the water had a slight green tint to it and looked perfect. The combined flows of the Lower Yuba River and Deer creek as of now are flowing at 1056 cfs. This will all change as we head into the weekend with a powerful storm creeping in this coming Thursday; expect heavy rain Thursday night through Friday with a chance of showers on Saturday and Sunday. I realize that I and others keep preaching this, but it is important for walk and wade anglers to be able to identify the redds of salmon and steelhead, and not to wade through them. It’s best to completely avoid them at all costs as the offspring is the future of the river’s ecosystem.

The resident rainbows are definitely locked in on the “egg bite”. My guest and I had a huge BWO spinner fall for a about hour today with only a few rising fish in a known productive part of the river that always holds big numbers of trout, and rhythm risers. That says much about how important the protein of a salmon egg is to these rainbows. Indo rigs and short line high sticking techniques with a combination of bacon and eggs is ideal right now; a flesh or red colored San Juan worm on top with a pegged bead on the bottom is hard to beat. Typical of the Lower Yuba River, one day you may reach double digits in catch rates, and the next day one, or none. It was pretty slow today.

It’s been busy on the river lately, along with the normal amount of anglers for this time of year, the South Yuba River Citizens League have been conducting their “Salmon Tours” for the public, and school students. These tours provide a guided tour while drifting down the river raising awareness on how important the wild fishery of salmon, steelhead, and resident rainbows are to the Lower Yuba River. Education on the resource makes a big difference to those that are not in the know. To make things even busier, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has had research vessels out with both biologist, and aids counting salmon, and marking redds with GPS equipment. Don’t be surprised if you get buzzed by them, and disrupt your peaceful fishing. Tight lines and I’ll see you on the water…