The Yuba is fast becoming one of my favorite rivers. Not so much for the amount of fish caught, because frankly I can catch many more elsewhere. It is probably for the challenge. I think the fish in this river are smart. That, or I just get a case of the stupids every time I get on this water. Just yesterday, I decided to push my luck once again and give her a try.
The Yuba is farther away from me than I'd like it to be. It takes me almost three hours to get there. That means waking up at 3AM if I want to get there by sunup. As you can imagine, I did exactly that. In fact, I was there at least a half hour before there was any light whatsoever.
I parked under the 20 bridge and headed upstream. No one was around. I had the river to myself for at least an hour. I stepped and swung through the same run a couple of times trying different flies on each pass. I've caught fish here before, so I figured I'd give it another shot. This time, I crossed the river to get a different look at it.
Within the first ten to fifteen minutes, I had a bite. After some fighting, I pulled in and landed a 20 or so inch nice looking rainbow. Possibly a steelhead that has been to sea. He had some brightness to him. Hard to say for sure because I didn't get him out of the water. I cradled him under his belly and took the hook out. He had plenty of fight left and he swam away quickly. He gave me the finger on the way out too. My face was soaked from his splash.
This guy was caught on a 5 inch long egg sucking bunny leech with a stinger hook. I tied it just the other day on a whim. It was fished on a 7.6ips sinking poly leader in the heart of a run near the end of a swing. What a day this was going to be! Or so I thought.
The Yuba has a way of taking it away from you. That was the last activity I'd have for several hours. A guide and his drift boat came by to unload his clients. I was down at the end of the run about to go back to the top to start over. But alas, they had stepped in. Some of you fly fisherman, and you know who you are, don't move. Sit and cast till your arm falls off. Since I didn't feel like waiting around, I went upstream for greener pastures.
Several hours went by and I fished various runs pretty thoroughly. Various flies were tied on to no affect. Smaller soft hackles, winged wets, hair and feather wing steelhead flies, you name it. Stupid me, I put that egg sucking leech on my baseball cap to dry and when I bent over at one point, it flopped into the water. I didn't have another. What I did have were some other marabou flies I have recently tied. They were tried too.
As I was about to leave a run, the shooting head was being brought back in. When it got within 15 feet of me, I was startled to see a good size salmon well over 30 inches chasing my fly. Keep in mind I wasn't trying to catch him. I had no idea he was even there until this moment. At the last second he turned and darted away. My heart jumped just seeing him. Never mind if he took.
After witnessing that guy, I realized a few more salmon were in this run. They were moldy looking and had to be near the end. I hope they had the chance to do their business and make lots of babies.
Eventually I walked upstream a ways as the crowds started rolling in. For a Tuesday, I was surprised to see so many people. The primo spots were being sucked up by the squatters, and I needed to find empty water where I could step and swing down the runs.
It was now early afternoon and fish were starting to rise. Skwalas were landing on my arms and face driving me nuts. However, I don't think the fish were keyed in on them. They looked to be chasing smaller bugs on the surface. I tried everything in the book to catch these guys and couldn't do it. I saw small and large fish rising. I also saw some 24+ inch rainbows cruising the slower water. They all ignored my offerings. Really smart, or I went really dumb. Take your pick.
Nearing the end of the day, I went back downriver and tried some spots from earlier. I caught some smaller fish with soft hackles. I witnessed a large, perhaps close to 30” rainbow leaping out of the water a good three feet. He would leap once, twice, three times in as many seconds. It was crazy. He was no more than 10 feet away in shallow riffly water. I worked hard to get him, but it just wasn't meant to be.
I love the Yuba. Even though it wasn't an impressive day as far as catching fish. It was another great experience on a very warm sunny day.
The Yuba is farther away from me than I'd like it to be. It takes me almost three hours to get there. That means waking up at 3AM if I want to get there by sunup. As you can imagine, I did exactly that. In fact, I was there at least a half hour before there was any light whatsoever.
I parked under the 20 bridge and headed upstream. No one was around. I had the river to myself for at least an hour. I stepped and swung through the same run a couple of times trying different flies on each pass. I've caught fish here before, so I figured I'd give it another shot. This time, I crossed the river to get a different look at it.
Within the first ten to fifteen minutes, I had a bite. After some fighting, I pulled in and landed a 20 or so inch nice looking rainbow. Possibly a steelhead that has been to sea. He had some brightness to him. Hard to say for sure because I didn't get him out of the water. I cradled him under his belly and took the hook out. He had plenty of fight left and he swam away quickly. He gave me the finger on the way out too. My face was soaked from his splash.
This guy was caught on a 5 inch long egg sucking bunny leech with a stinger hook. I tied it just the other day on a whim. It was fished on a 7.6ips sinking poly leader in the heart of a run near the end of a swing. What a day this was going to be! Or so I thought.
The Yuba has a way of taking it away from you. That was the last activity I'd have for several hours. A guide and his drift boat came by to unload his clients. I was down at the end of the run about to go back to the top to start over. But alas, they had stepped in. Some of you fly fisherman, and you know who you are, don't move. Sit and cast till your arm falls off. Since I didn't feel like waiting around, I went upstream for greener pastures.
Several hours went by and I fished various runs pretty thoroughly. Various flies were tied on to no affect. Smaller soft hackles, winged wets, hair and feather wing steelhead flies, you name it. Stupid me, I put that egg sucking leech on my baseball cap to dry and when I bent over at one point, it flopped into the water. I didn't have another. What I did have were some other marabou flies I have recently tied. They were tried too.
As I was about to leave a run, the shooting head was being brought back in. When it got within 15 feet of me, I was startled to see a good size salmon well over 30 inches chasing my fly. Keep in mind I wasn't trying to catch him. I had no idea he was even there until this moment. At the last second he turned and darted away. My heart jumped just seeing him. Never mind if he took.
After witnessing that guy, I realized a few more salmon were in this run. They were moldy looking and had to be near the end. I hope they had the chance to do their business and make lots of babies.
Eventually I walked upstream a ways as the crowds started rolling in. For a Tuesday, I was surprised to see so many people. The primo spots were being sucked up by the squatters, and I needed to find empty water where I could step and swing down the runs.
It was now early afternoon and fish were starting to rise. Skwalas were landing on my arms and face driving me nuts. However, I don't think the fish were keyed in on them. They looked to be chasing smaller bugs on the surface. I tried everything in the book to catch these guys and couldn't do it. I saw small and large fish rising. I also saw some 24+ inch rainbows cruising the slower water. They all ignored my offerings. Really smart, or I went really dumb. Take your pick.
Nearing the end of the day, I went back downriver and tried some spots from earlier. I caught some smaller fish with soft hackles. I witnessed a large, perhaps close to 30” rainbow leaping out of the water a good three feet. He would leap once, twice, three times in as many seconds. It was crazy. He was no more than 10 feet away in shallow riffly water. I worked hard to get him, but it just wasn't meant to be.
I love the Yuba. Even though it wasn't an impressive day as far as catching fish. It was another great experience on a very warm sunny day.
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