Fishing Report 01/22/11

With this spring like weather and consistent flows on the Lower Yuba I've been trying to get down to the river as often as possible. It seems like we often get this warm stretch of weather in January, it just seems right to take advantage of it. That and the fact the Skwalas should start really showing up soon.

Friday 01/22/11

I made it back out on Friday with Mike Williams and his son Todd. I had offered to help Mike get more comfortable rowing the river in his Hyde drift boat. My plan was to sit in the rear seat and coach him down the river, help him line up correctly for the drops through riffles and shoots, maneuver around the corners, coach oar strokes and such. I did, but I also fished more than I was planning on. The fishing was pretty darn good.

We had been picking fish up on rubberlegs and trout beads about equally last week, with an occasional fish on a Copper John, Prince, or similar attractors, but on Friday it was definitely the rubber legs, about 4 to 1. The fish continued to be holding in the runs, further below the riffles in walking speed water. This was the main target area.

We spent about 2 1/2 hours hiking and walk and wade fishing and then floated in the afternoon. We had success wading but the float fishing and side drifting was the most productive.

As far as fish numbers, which I'm not very good at counting, lets say it was about as good as you could ever expect on a January day. No fish was landed over 19 inches and no obvious steelhead, just a bunch of healthy looking fish.

Weather: The weather was clear and warm enough that you didn't need a sweater. There was really no breeze to speak of and seemed more like a warm spring day than a day in January.

Flows : 3000 out of Englbright and about 175 out of Deer Creek for a total of 3175 +/-

Color: Blue-Green with visibility of about 5 to 6 feet

Bugs Seen: A handful of BWO's, a handful of Skwala's in the drift

Skwalas: A few Stonefly cases in the rocks below the riffles, not many, a few crawling around the stones or in the bushes. Again just a few.

Flies: The best producer: Brown Superfloss Rubberlegs
The Rest: Natural Troutbeads, Copper John's

Rigging: Deep Indicator Nymphing with heavy shot. We were having enough success with nymphing that we didn't really try a dry rigg with a Skwala Dry much.