Upper Sac Fishing Report

6/21/2019

OPEN DATES – IF YOU WANT TO GET ON MY CANCELATION LIST SHOOT ME AN EMAIL AS THERE ARE INEVTIABLY CANCELATIONS THAT COME UP.

July 10,

Aug 3, 31

Striper season is off and running and conditions are shaping up, as it seems every year to be different then the last. We have “high” but nowhere near abnormal or blown out water. The river is hovering around 10K CFS and clarity really varies depending on where you are in the river. Nowhere is “blown out” by any means, but there are areas with 3 feet of visibility and there are areas with 6” of visibility and knowing where color comes from throughout the river is key to finding good fishing.

Last year we dealt with COLD water and this year it seems we may, believe it or not, be dealing with warm water. While dirty water heats up faster then clear water water temps are still WARM. The last week taking off at Butte City water temps had reached 68-69 by the end of the day where the water never got that warm ALL summer or fall last year. While this doesn’t turn off or on the bite it just changes it. The one thing it will do is DRASTICLY and negatively affect salmon fishing as the good salmon fishing we had last year was due to the much colder then average water temps.

Lower Yuba River – Finally seems to be dropping, today it is down to 5100cfs and looks to be dropping each hour…who knows what the plan is. That said it is getting to a safe floatable flow here as my take out is right above the diversion dam so the higher flows are a bit dicey taking out RIGHT at the lip of the dam. That said clarity is awesome as anglers are hammering shad below the diversion dam and people are floating the public stretches of the river and getting some trout above. I am sure July – the fall are going to be great fishing on the Lower Yuba for trout.

Truckee River 

Kinda rolling right into summer on the Truckee River. 

Flows were slowly coming down. That opened up a lot more fishable water down the entire river. It was about 1,700 k here in the Hirsch. High, but a lot more user friendly than 4000 k. 2000 k here this morning. Up a bit again.

I would bet on an average snow year flows right now would be, 600-800 cfs. So we still gotta ways to go, but we ain’t that far off. Give it about 2-3 weeks. Good wading flows are like 300-600 cfs. That opens up the whole river.

Lots of bugs flying about. You may get lucky and have the stars align and have an epic dry fly fishing day. I feel the flows are still high for that, but you never know. Wait ’till them caddis pop. It’s a few weeks behind right now, but man, they’re gonna explode here soon.

Remember, trouts feed about 90 precent of the time sub-surface. Get into their World, and you’ll catch some fish. Truckee River Trouts like it down and dirty. Just the way it is.

Weather is still really nice. Not so hot yet in the afternoons. It’s coming, enjoy the perfect weather for now.

Delta Fishing Report:

Striper fishing in the Delta has slowed a bit as Spring Striper season winds down. Still getting sone smaller fish with some medium size fish mixed in but we are having to work for them & larger fish are tough to come bye. The good news is weather has settled down & we are seeing many sunny days as we approach 98 degrees. This means Topwater Largemouth Bass are starting to happen! As water temperatures stabilize above 70 degrees the Largemouth Topwater action will keep getting better! For Largemouth I focus on higher tides in the am or pm hrs. Smallmouth are still a ways off as we wait for the rivers to go down from runoff & warm up to 70 degrees or so. For Stripers sub surface I continue to use 1/0-3/0 “Steve Adachi” style rattle Clouser flies in various color combinations. For Largemouth I like Topwater frog patterns in various sizes & patterns. 

Eastern Sierra Fly Fishing Report

It’s summertime, folks.. That means there are a lot of options to get out and get after trout with a fly rod. Our main squeeze: the Lower Sac is currently on the drop and is expected to stay steady at 10k cubes this summer. This is the PERFECT flow for the Lower Sac in the Summer. Summer is the most underrated time of year on this powerhouse tailwater. Yes, the days can be hot but this only means one thing: Big afternoon and evening Caddis hatches which equate to some very, very good trout fishing. This is a great time of year to step outside of the box and fish the river with a few different techniques and approaches. Dry fly fishing is a real possibility late in the day during strong Caddis hatches.. getting out of the boat and swinging emerges pre-hatch can be very fruitful. Shallow water dry-dropper and even “tight-line” nymphing can be very productive in the right spots.

Matt Koles reports on 6.14.19

Not a better time to be up on the Truckee River.

Weather-wise, it’s perfect. Still cold at night, about in the 70’s during the day. Not too hot, not too cold. It’s always either way hot here, or way too cold, or windy. Almost never like this.

Fishing, well, flows have actually come way down. Almost under 2000k here in the Hirsch. It’s been up, down, and up again, and down again. 2000 k is much more mellow than 4000 k, but she’s still raging. It does open up a bit more water, but honestly it ain’t much different than it has been for the last 4 months. Under 1000 k and we’re in serious business. Think first week of July, last week of June.

You here some guides and folks talking about bugs and things, and yes, there has been some. Look, you ain’t gonna get any fish on top until these flows drop. We will miss the green drakes and pmds and all that stuff. We will have caddis to look forward too, eventually. The water is high and cold, that sets back the hatches. Usually right now it pops for all those bugs. Going into the second week of June is prime time. This week would be it. They will eat the nymphs, but don’t look for any good dry fly fishing just yet. Hopefully, I’m wrong.

So for now, same as it’s been. Get yourself away from the guides and other anglers and find some trouts. Hirschdale is shell shocked. These fish have PTSD. Think outside the box and maybe you’ll get some fish. Fish are spreading out and they’re all over the river. 106 miles of it.

The Tight Line Nymph Clinic is sold out. I’ll have one more in July, and some other cool classes going into fall. Mainly the Advanced Fly Fishing Clinic.

Just to let you guys know. I am almost completely booked this month. The first week of July too. I do have 2 other guides I am now working with, so if you need a guide, call me and I can set you up.

Richard Loft reports on 6.14.19 

The Grass is always Greener
It seems like every summer mid-day fishing slows down; temps spike and the new underwater grass growth make doing any serous nymphing problematic as flows ramp up. On the good side, the days are so much longer and that means that much longer time to seek and catch beautiful rainbow trout. On the tougher side, you need more and more weight with longer leaders and then, of course, I start picking up tons of new growth grass. So, in these summer months, I sometimes start my fishing sessions later in the day while fish are relatively active or and using a balanced amount of weight to lessen dragging the bottom and getting all that grass. I see this every year. As a guide I am obligated to fish under conditions that aren't always optimum but by persevering I still usually find a fish or two willing to play ball regardless of temps, flows and other adverse conditions including heavy fishing pressure but all these can and do affect the bite so I am starting to bring different rods and a good selection of heavier flys to get into sections of pocket water not easily fished with an indicator. Not that I don't bring my usual rod I do but it pays to have a few tactics and a willingness to fish in spite of the current heat and higher flows, 500 cfs as of today.

I've included a picture of one of the fish of my clients hooked and landed and was caught around 3 pm in the afternoon during the hottest time of the day so that just goes to show a great example of those surprises that I love about fly-fishing.

The grass is here to stay as long as we have spring and summer it actually helps the fish by providing cover for fish habitat for bugs and is just part of a healthy river and ecosystem; furthermore, it forces me to explore sections of the river I would otherwise pass over.

If you want to get out there, feel free to give me a call or email