Fishing The Yellowstone - Mayors Landing to Pig Pen

A trophy Yellowstone Brown taken on the Mayors Landing to Pig Pen Float


The Waters Below Livingston

When selecting a section of the Yellowstone river to fish, and if you're thinking trophy trout heading to the river below Livingston is a good bet. The river below Livingston holds less trout per mile but makes it up in poundage. In early summer after the runoff you'll be casting streamers to the bank or above and below mid stream boulders, convergent flows where side channels and the main river come together. You'll dead drift streamers with nymph droppers along rip-rap banks and in big pools. Hoppers will come into play later on.

You will find Brown Trout, Rainbows, an occasional cutthroat and not so many whitefish on the water below Livingston.

The Yellowstone below the town of Livingstone takes on the characteristics if a major river. It is big, wide and can be somewhat brawling in the early summer. The river itself is characterized by, long runs with good bank water, riffles and tailouts, deep pools, huge eddies, and many braided side channels. There are some major wave rides, some big drops over in-stream boulders the size of a house, (although you can easily avoid them). I felt very comfortable in my Fishcraft raft, but would have been extremely uncomfortable in my low side Hyde drift boat. This section of the river is mainly class I and class II water if you scout the river properly. Class III in a couple of areas if you don't and make a mistake.

I am speaking from the experience of running about 12 miles of river from Mayors Landing in Livingston town to a take out called "Pig Farm". I was told it was named after an old farm that raised pigs at the site of the takeout and also that the run above the take out holds some of the largest trout in the river, earning the title "Pig Farm". I like the second story.

Fishing Techniques

I fished this section with my Mom and Dad when the river was running about 5500 cfs. and the visibility was about 5 to 6 ft. It was a bright day and you could clearly see the bottom in the 4 to 5 foot runs and the tailouts. We concentrated on the sanctuary water and holding areas. There are a banks that have rip-rapped banks to stabilize the banks. These banks have been stacked with angular boulders and are steep and deep. There are holding areas all along these banks. This creates a brown trout hotel. We had great success firing our flies to all the pockets all these banks. A fish would dart out of it's lie and slam a streamer and then when hooked dart back into the rocks. We hooked but then lost quite a few really large fish using this technique. We also landed quite a few.

Rigging

We rigged up similar to the way we rigged for the "Bird Float" with streamers with droppers. We beefed up our tippet expecting larger fish.

Leader - 7 1/2 foot 2x tapered leader

Indicator - Large Thing-a-ma-bobber

Shot - 1 or 2 AB's 3 to 7 feet below the indicator.

1st Fly - 10 " of 3x fluorocarbon Streamer patterns, McCunes Sculpin, Rubber Legs with Marabou tail, Whitefish Minnow

2nd Fly - 20" of 4x fluorocarbon, beadhead PT's, beadhead yellow stones, beadhead lightning bugs, caddis nymphs/emergers

Techniques

I rigged up for bigger fish and we concentrated on techniques that would give us a chance to hook larger fish. We would alternate between streamer techniques and dead drifting techniques.

By rigging with a streamer and a trailing nymph we could fish using streamer techniques or dead drift the streamer/dropper in the runs and pools. We used streamer and dead drift indicator nymphing at the same time.

The deeper bank water with holding lies out of the current was targeted as we floated down the river. We would cast to these spots and actively strip the streamer out into the current, pick up and cast again to the next good looking spot. These are the money spots.

The alternative technique was to fire a cast into likely looking holding water at the bank, strip it out and if there was no takers, throe an upstream stack mend and dead drift the rigg along the bank 2 to 4 feet off the bank.

Both techniques were productive.

Mayors Landing to Pig Pen Photos



















This is a photo of my "Fishcraft" raft. It is the perfect boat for exploring new rivers and is safe in almost any Class I to Class III water.


















The river gets big below Livingston and the banks are lined with willows and
cottonwoods.



















As you float below Livingston you will come to these bluffs with great pools and undercuts at the base. These offer great holding water and is where deep indicator nymphing is productive.


















My Mom with a nice rainbow caught dead drifting along the rocky banks.

















My mom, Geri, with a trophy, fish of a lifetime for most people, caught on a beadhead Lighting Bug which was trailing a McCunes Sculpin. We had been fishing the bank water and I was scouting the water ahead when I saw a side channel converging back to the main channel. There was a spit of gravel bank running to a point and where the waters converged it created a long vee with glassy slow current, The water was about 4 to 6 feet deep. I said to my mom who was in the front of the boat, "Hey, Mom, cast into that slack water on river left into that vee, that the type of water where fish like to hang out". She turned and put here rigg in and the next thing I knew I saw this huge fish come busting out of the water. My eyes about popped out of my head. As she kept tension on the fish I rowed back to the river right and found some slower water to attempt to land it. With a keystone cop atmosphere and the boat continuing downstream we managed somehow to coax the fish into the net. Geri's smile tells the rest.

Summary

So if your in the Bozeman/Livingston area and decide to give the Yellowstone a try, don't forget that there are options other than fishing the waters of Paradise Valley. Maybe do like we did and fish different sections of the river from below Gardner, in Paradise Valley, but don't forget below Livingston.

Fishing the Yellowstone River - McConnell to Corwin Springs

Each summer I spend a couple of weeks with my family in Bozeman, Montana enjoying the area, and of course fishing. This summer we concentrated on the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley and below the town of Livingstone.

The Yellowstone River has many access points for putting in and taking out your drift boat or raft. The river changes character as you move down stream from Gardner to the river below Livingston. We fished different runs from below Gardner to about 13 miles below Livingston.

Upper Yellowstone below Gardner - McConnell Landing to Corwin Springs

The river between Gardner and Yankee Jim Canyon which is a stretch of about 13 miles is characterized by some whitewater , flat water, occasional small rapids and riffles. We chose to float the run from McConnell Landing to Cinnabar which is near Corwin Springs. This run is about 5 miles which makes it a leisurely float. The stretch of river provides fishing for rainbow and cutthroats. It offers a great opportunity to cast attractor dry flies like hoppers, yellow stones, trudes and caddis patterns. This section has many boulder gardens with nice pocket water to target as you float on by.

The river has some class 2+ rapids with big waves but no obstacles to speak of, some large boulders but no boat eaters. This float can be accomplished with intermediate rowing skills even with big water in early season. The float has varied water types and is also a very scenic float that I highly recommend.

We rigged up with 7 1/2 foot 3x leaders and two hoppers, a large one and a smaller one, or similar attractor patterns. We had good success casting to the bank and behind boulders catching rainbows, cuttbows and yellowstone river cutthroat. The fish are aggressive and this is an excellent float for beginners and seasoned veterans alike that are yearning to try their luck casting dry flies.

Upper Yellowstone Photos















McConnell Landing Access














Zack with a Yellowstone Cutthroat
















Yellowstone River above Corwin Springs


Yankee Jim Canyon

We elected to not run the 3 1/2 mile section of Yankee Jim Canyon with it's class III water. I scouted the river and it has two large mid stream boulders with large holes behind them. These obstacles are not really that difficult as long as you scout the river, make a plan, and then execute that plan. The "Montana Afloat" map states "This segment contains three major rapids and should be attempted only by experienced white water floaters especially during periods of high water". I plan on floating this section one of these days when I have confident and brave passengers. The fishing is stated to be very good early season.

Yankee Jim Canyon Photos
















Yankee Jim Canyon looking upstream towards Gardner
















Yankee Jim Canyon Middle Section















Yankee Jim Canyon looking downstream towards Paradise Valley

Fishing the Yellowstone River - The Bird Float

One of the most popular floats on the Yellowstone River is the "Bird Float", named for the put in at Grey Owl and the takeout at Mallards Rest. This float is about 10 1/2 miles. I have fished portions of this float over the past three years, mainly Grey Owl to Loch Leven which is about 7 miles. This float is characterized by flat bank water with a few riffles and large mostly submerged boulders. This float is an easy float and a good one for beginning rowers. It is almost all class I and II water.

This stretch of water has rainbows, brown trout and lots of whitefish. We experienced a blanket caddis hatch on a cloudy afternoon which really got the fishing going.

The fishing in this stretch is mostly casting to the bank from a drifting boat with shallow indicator riggs or dries once the river lowers and clears and hatches are apparent. We fished this stretch one day this year, when the river was flowing at about 5400 cfs and had about 4 to 5 feet visibility. We fished it with indicator riggs. We got lots of practice setting, hooking and landing fish, mostly whitefish.

When nymphing you will get acquainted with the Montana Whitefish which are aggressive to small nymphs. Many anglers concentrate using dry flies, casting to the bank to stay away from the whitefish. Although I must say that fishing with indicator riggs and hooking and landing whitefish is a fun and memorable experience for beginning anglers. It is a great way to get the hang of dead drifting, setting and playing fish.

Rigging

Leader - 7 1/2 foot 3x tapered leader

Indicator - Large Thing-a-ma-bobber

Shot - 1 or 2 AB's 3 to 4 feet below the indicator.

1st Fly - 10 " of 3x fluorocarbon Streamer patterns, McCunes Sculpin, Rubber Legs with Marabou tail, Whitefish Minnow

2nd Fly - 20" of 4x flurocarbon, beadhead PT's, beadhead yellow stones, beadhead lightning bugs, caddis nymphs/emergers

Techniques

The technique for fishing this stretch is mainly casting to the bank and dead drifting your rigg to the color transition area, mostly two to three feet off the bank or to current tongues and nervous water. This technique mainly targets the rainbows and the plentiful whitefish and not so much the brown trout.

When targeting the brown trout it is best to watch the banks for brown trout holding water, undercuts, root wads, boulders, eddy water, just any obstruction that creates a good lie for the trout to get out of the heavy flow and be stationed to look for a meal floating by.

As you drift down the banks and as you lock onto and target holding areas, you fire a cast to the bank or even on the actual bank and start long, quick 12" strips back into the main current. You can get strikes from the second the fly hits the water to any time as you are stripping. If you don't get a strike you throw a quick upstream mend and dead drift your rigg until you see the next likely holding spot. Pick up your rigg and fire another cast back to the back. Sometimes you can see the browns charge after the streamer patterns. This is fun active fishing and will produce the larger fish in the river.

Bird Float Photos















"Bird Float" Bank Water
















Boulders Along the Banks















Afternoon Thunderstorm















Typical "Bird Float" Brown Trout

Fishing Soft Hackles

When summer comes around here in Northern California and the caddis get busy I look forward to fishing soft hackles and emergers. This means I can forget about worrying about a dead drift presentation for a while. Well, sort of anyway.

I look forward to heading down to the Lower Yuba River in the late afternoon, usually about 5:30 or so and fishing until dusk. What I'll look for is a run that is below an active, semi-bouncy riffle with a run below it that has depth of 4 to 6 feet. If it has a distinct dropoff at the bottom of the riffle that's even better.

On our local Lower Yuba River we can get a mixed hatch on most evenings. We can have micro caddis, larger summer caddis, mayflies, spinners and PED's late.

Rigging for Fishing Soft Hackles

When rigging for fishing the summer evening hatches I want to give the fish options for what it wants to eat. I rigg to offer the fish different options with a visible dry or cripple as my first fly, an emerger or pupa for the second fly, and a soft hackle for the third, bottom fly.

The rigging method is as following.

(1) Rigg a 9 foot tapered leader off your 18" to 24' butt section off your fly line.

(2) Add a 24" of 4x fluorocarbon tippet to the tapered leader with a surgeons knot leaving an 8 inch tag on the downward side.

(3) Tie your dry fly or cripple to the tag end. My favorite fly is a Quigley's Cripple for this one.

(4) Add another 36" piece of 5x fluorocarbon to the 4x tippet, leaving another 8" tag on the downward side.

(5) Ties your emerger, pupa, or floating nymph that matches the hatch to the tag end. This selection will change depending on the hatch sequence and what the fish are locking into.

(6) Tie your favorite soft hackle at the end. I have been tying my soft hackles with a beadhead so the soft hackle gains depth during the drift and then sweeps up at the end of the drift.

Presenting the Flies

The goal when presenting the flies is to spot rising fish and preferably an individual fish to target. The fish typically are focusing on the emerging bugs and not the bugs on the top. You want to position yourself a good ways above the fish, 30 feet more or less, and about 10 to 20 feet inside of the fish. Careful and stealthy wading is important to gain the correct position.

First Option During the Drift

(1) The presentation cast will be across and slightly downstream to quartering downstream at the most. The best presentations will be quartered downstream.

(2)Target a spot about 10 to 15 feet above the targeted fish.

(3) Deliver your presentation cast and immediately make a big upstream mend. It also works well to cast the flies further than the line you want to fish and pull them back to just where you want them.

(4) Adjust your drift and them make another smaller mend.

(5) Dead drift your flies down to where the targeted fish is located.

(6) When you reach that zone, be alert for a take on the dry, a flash of a fish, or the dry to disappear like an indicator.

(7) Raise the rod tip smoothly if you see of even suspect a take.

Second Option on the Drift

If there is no obvious indication of a take try the next option.

(1) Present your flies as per the First Option.

(2) Throw small upstream mends from time to time to slow the drift of the flies.

(3) When your flies are in the zone, clamp of the line with your rod hand loosely with your finger tips.

(4) Leave a loop of line that is about 10" below the rod.

(5) Let the flies swing and rise in the water column. This is when to expect a time. If you feel a tug just let the loop of line slip out of your fingers and raise the rod tip. If you set to hard you will "rip the lip" or bust off.

(6) If there is no take let the flies swing to the point directly below you. let the flies dangle in the current. This is another point where fish will follow and then take.

Remember it is always best to carefully wade into a position where you can make a quartering downstream presentation rather than extending your cast to reach the fish and casting more directly across stream. Sometimes though your don't have a choice if you are fishing right at a dropoff and the fish are up and feeding.

Using this technique is one of the funnest ways to fish an evening hatch and can bring you some of the most memorable fishing of the summer.

Good Luck!

Bugs - The Hydropsyche, "Spotted Sedge," Caddis

Bugs - The Hydropsyche Caddis






Each year I always look forward to summer and the hydropscyche caddis hatches. This bug is also commonly referred to as “the summer caddis” the “spotted sedge” or the “net spinning caddis”. On the Lower Sacramento River the bug takes on a brown or cinnamon cast. On the Lower Yuba River the bugs tend to have a green cast. The summer evenings will find active feeding fish willing to take caddis emergers and soft hackles. It is my favorite hatch of the year.

Ralph Cutter in his book “Fish Food” states that Hydropsychids are one of the most important of all insects for trout fishermen to know and understand. He also stated that despite this the Hydropsychids are one of the least understood and are poorly replicated. Almost no one fishes them correctly.

Hydrophsyche Facts

1. They are one of the few types of caddis that do not free roam in search for food.

2. The net-spinners build web retreats and let the food come to them.

3. They build funnel- shapped silken traps or span seines across gaps between rocks and sticks.

4. The uncased Hydropsyche is continuously exposed to trout, and ranges in size from 8-16 mm and can cycle through two or more generations in a fishing season.

5. Despite the fact the Hydropsyche builds a web retreat, it frequently strays and is commonly found roaming about streambed, draping strands of silk behind it in the cobbles. The silk not only works as a leash should the larva loose it’s footing, but it is also used by the caddis as a rappel line to lower itself across gaps between the rocks.

6. The larva are earth toned and difficult to see against the streambed background. By contrast the silk strands almost glow and are easily visiible from a distance. Trout have learned to key in to this luminescent line and frequently graze on the silk lines whether they have attached larva or not.
You can lighten the tippet for a foot or so above the larva imitation with a white grease pen, such as a Mean Streak marker.

7. When it comes time for pupation, the Hydropsyche entombs itself inside a dome of gravel. If you peel one of these cases off a rock, you’ll see that the bottom of the gravel dome is a sheet of silk through which you can view the evolving pupa.

8. With the exception of the Rhyacophilla, all other caddis pupa will be completely surrounded by sand and gravel.

Hydropsyche Habitat & Behavior

The preferred habitat of the Hydropsyche Caddis are riffles and runs. They often drift in the current, so where there are large populations, trout will feed on them year-round. A larva pattern dead-drifted near the bottom can be effective very effective in spring and fall, and even in winter.

Like all caddis, net-spinners pass through four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Most species require one year to develop from egg to adult. A few species pass through two generations in a single year.

In general, hatches are sparse in the spring. By June, activity increases. The heaviest activity often occurs in July and August.

Behavioral Drift




The larvae of net-spinning caddis periodically crawl out of their shelters, let go, and drift downstream 40, 50, or even 100 feet. This activity occurs on a daily cycle, and peaks near sunrise and sunset. Entomologists call this "behavioral drift" and speculate that it functions to disperse insect populations, thereby relieving competition and allowing the colonization of underutilized areas.

For the fishermen, it means increased food for trout, making nymph fishing during periods of peak drift very effective.

The Hydropsyche’s Life Line – A Gary LaFontaine Trick

Some hydropsyche caddis larvae throw a twist into normal drift behavior. Instead of simply letting go of the substrate, they attach a silk thread to the bottom and lower themselves downstream on a "life line." In his book Caddisflies, Gary LaFontaine discusses his increased success fishing with net-spinning caddis larva patterns when he colored the last 18 inches of his leader white to suggest this silk anchor line of the natural.



The Pupae



Once the larvae are mature, they seal themselves inside their shelter and transform into pupae. The pupae remain sealed inside until ready to emerge into adults. The complete development of the pupae typically requires four to six weeks.

When ready to emerge, the pupae swim to the surface, which is perhaps the most vulnerable period of the insect's life cycle. Trout feed selectively on the rising pupae, and imitating them is one of the most effective methods to use during a caddis hatch.

Peak emergence activity occurs in the late morning or early afternoon during the spring and fall. In mid-summer heavy hatches occur in the late afternoon and evening.



Hydropyshe Adults

Adult hydropsychids spend most of their time hiding on streamside vegetation. Mating occurs on the foliage, and unless a wind blows them over the water they are unavailable to fish.

Once egg laying begins, however, their vulnerability increases dramatically. Large swarms of gravid females congregate over the water from afternoon to late evening. To lay their eggs, they dive into the water and swim to the bottom, where they deposit strings of eggs on the substrate. Once egg laying is complete, they swim feebly back to the surface.

Such behavior makes them easy targets for feeding trout and an important stage for fly fishers to imitate. On streams like our Lower Yuba River, some of the fastest and most consistent fishing of the season occurs during the last hour of light when the hydropsychids lay their eggs.

Fishing Techniques

During a hatch, dead-drift a pupa pattern near the bottom in riffly water or just below riffles. An unweighted pupa pattern can also be drifted near the surface, or you can present a Soft Hackle with a wet-fly swing. Another good strategy is a dry fly with a pupa pattern as a dropper or trailer; the dry fly acts as an indicator and sometimes is taken by the trout.

After the hatch, errant and unlucky adults fall onto the water, and a dry fly is the right choice. Bankwater downwind or downstream from overhanging trees is a good place to cast your dry.

Females swim or crawl underwater to lay eggs. You can fish a dry at this time, or go subsurface with a Soft Hackle or Diving Caddis pattern.

Summary

Take some of these points to heart and you find out what a hammered take on a soft hackle is all about.

Flip Video "Fishin' the Yellowstone with Nathan"

Here's a flip video of the day Zack and I spent the other day on the Yellowstone River.

If you're ever in Bozeman and are looking for a guided day on the river, you couldn't go wrong contacting "The Rivers Edge" and asking for Nathan Caffey.

Fishing The Yellowstone

Whenever we make it out to Bozeman, Montana, I make a point to call Nathan Gaffey, a guide who works for The Rivers Edge. Zack and Nathan hit it off really well and a good time is had by all. This will be the third year in a row we've made it out with him.

The Yellowstone River is still running high at this time which is abnormal. The flows up around Emigrant are about 5500 cfs and lower on the river at Livingstone they are about 6300 cfs. Big! Clarity is about 3 to 4 feet. The river is just now getting into shape. Nathan recommended that we float from Livingstone down to "The Pig Farm" which is below where the Sheilds River comes in. This float is about 12 miles.We would avoid the crowds and mostly the whitefish that everyone was catching upstream around "The Bird Float". Nathan boated over 30 whitefish and one trout the day before up around Emigrant. When floating the Yellowstone when it is this high you need to be careful and on top of your rowing game. The eddies are just huge and nasty. Some of them look like they could just suck your boat down to the bottom. We were up for it!

The rigging method for the day was with a Thing-a-ma-bobber about 4 feet above a single lead shot, a pretty small one, Nathan tied on a new rubberlegs pattern which is similar to the one's we've all been using except marabou has been substituted for the rubberlegs at the tail. He stated that the green ones have been working. We used assorted beadhead nymphs tied approximately 2 feet off the hook bend as a trailer. During the day we tried other patterns as well including a matuka styled fly that imitated a juvenile whitefish, various beadhead softhackles, (blue, orange-ish red), and pheasant tails.

The fishing methodology was primarily fishing to the bank and searching out water that was slow enough to fish, eddy corners, insides of the riffles and the banks on the slower side of the river. With the river flowing at 6300 cfs or better there is a lot of river that is just not fishable yet.

One of the odd things was that most of the fish hooked or netted were rainbows, which is unusual for the water below Livingstone which is know for its brown trout. I've been thinking about that in retrospect and I think that the water is just running too high and fast to get the flies in front of the noses of the browns. Rainbows are know for there quick striking and I think that the bows were just more aggressive than the browns with the water flowing so fast. I believe that using more weight to get down would have resulted in more browns. It would have also resulted in a bunch off lost flies. It's sort of a risk vs. reward thing. Who knows it was just odd.


This Brown took the rubberlegs just as I said to Nathan, " I think the browns will be in the soft pockets behinds the rocks". Boom, fish on. I had cast to a small eddy pocket 2 feet by 4 feet long behind a bush and wham the fish shot after it. with the flows as high as they were it was hard to hit these types of spots.


Zack managed to hook and bring to the net this 14" cutthroat. It's pretty unusual to find cutthroats below Livingstone. A surprise and treat for Zack.



This was the average sized rainbows of the day. They were feisty and almost everyone hooked would go airborne a number of times. They were vigorous fighters and a challenge to land in the high flows.


You can sort of see the clarity of the water in this shot of landing a rainbow. It was sort of a milky green, good for stealth but just a bit too high and fast.


The train running down the tracks over the bridge sort of brings you back to an older time where the train was the main means of transportation in the west.

I had a great day exploring new water with Zack and Nathan, caught a decent number of hot fish and enjoyed the Montana country side. Another day to enliven the memory banks.

Another Tradition to revisit.

Clay

Montana Time

As I've stated before this blog is about life and fishing. This post is about life and spending quality time with family.

Laura, Zack and I have been in Montana for a little over a week now and we've mainly been occupied with chores around Laura's family home here in Bozeman. It always seems like there's a list of things to take care of.

With chores for the day taken care of, there are always fun things to do around this area. On one hot afternoon the decision was made to cool off down on the river. We headed out with Laura's brother's family, Mark, Connie, Isaac, Natalie and Gabriel and floated the Lower Madison River, below the Bear Trap, which is the innnertube and beer float. We floated the river in my Fishcraft raft with Mark and Connie using their 2 person kayak. The raft is like the mother ship with the kids, cooler, lunches, extra clothes towels etc. We hit the river at about 4:00 in the afternoon and floated until about 7:30 or so. The temperature was hitting the low 90's and we were all ready to cool off. There's just something about floating down a scenic river that soothes your soul. Zack and Isack often jumped into the river and floated on down the river along with the raft. We loaded up our gear and drove the back way home through Three Forks and stopped and had an absolutely great dinner in Willow Creek. BBQ ribs to die for.

On another day we headed up to Hyalite lake which is about 25 miles into the mountains from Bozeman. We loaded up the kayaks to tool around the lake. Hyalite is a pretty alpine lake where most of the Bozeman folk head to when it gets hot. It's mostly a scenic lake with decent fishing some times of the year. We left our fishing gear at home and just enjoyed the day enjoying the scenery and the water. Kayaks are a lot of fun for all ages. Try it, you'll like it.

Issac ready to try out Zack's kayak.

Laura and Connie back from a your around the lake.

Natalie with a feather see found.


Zack and Isaac pouring it on!

Summer Day on the Lower Yuba

I've been fishing the Lower Yuba River in the evenings for the last week or so and decided to try floating the river from above Parks bar Bridge down to the Marysville Gun Club. Frank Rinella and my son Zack came along. Frank stated that the flows were about 3200 cfs. We set up our shuttle and got on the river about 11:00. The temperature seemed to be in the low 80's.

We were floating the river in my Fishcraft cataraft as I was taking it on a test run for our trip to Montana next week. The front and the rear of the raft arch up so that when rowing it rows more like a cat and is more responsive than most rafts. It has plywood floors and is a very stable and quit platform. With that said it is 3 times as hard to row physically that my drift boat. My arms are feeling it today. It's a great boat for more than 3 people and when rowing unfamiliar waters. It's pretty bomber.

The first thing I noticed was that the river was clearer than it's been in awhile, I'm talking spring creek clear. With a bright day this usually means stealth is of the utmost importance. In most of the runs there is a dark line running along each bank and the center portions of the river have been washes clean from the high flows. In some stretches in is literally like black and white. The high flows have scrubbed the river clean. Does this affect the bug life? I'm thinking that it does. To what extent I don't know. We didn't see a bug on the water until late in the afternoon and then there where only a few. I expected a PMD hatch late morning but not a bug to be seen.

The fishing was real slow with a few hookups from morning until about 3:00. We ran into Keith Scott at about 2:00 with two of his fishing buddies and they had picked up two fish to that time. At about 3:00 the sky became a little overcast and the fishing immediately picked up. To me this is an indication of how tough the Yuba can get mid-day in bright sun. We ran into Keith at the take out and he had picked up a really nice rainbow during this period on a dry. This fish would have been a fish of a lifetime for most anglers. Good job Keith!

We did manage a few fish to the boat along with a number of LDR's.





We were contemplating sticking around for the evening hatch but were just too tuckered out from a long day in the sun.

Zack jumped in the river many times during the day and kept cool. I wish I had that kind of gumption.







All in all a fun day on the Yuba, where the number of fish to the boat is kept in perspective. It's all about the joy of spending time with friends and family.

Evening Rise on the Lower Yuba

I've been waiting for the conditions to be right to try a late afternoon to dusk fishing outing on the Lower Yuba. We had a couple of scorching days last Sunday and Monday and the flows had settled down to about 4,000 cfs. Blake Larsen and I made it out on Wednesday, June 30th. Our intention was to hit the water about 5:30 and fish until dusk. Work got the best of us and we put the boat in and started fishing a little after 7:00. We hoped to fish until about 9:00 or 9:15.

Fishing the Runs and Tailouts

With the Lower Yuba flowing at about 4,000 cfs it is very difficult to wade the river without transporting yourself to the prime fishing spots in a boat. The methodology at this time is to use deep indicator methods with lots of shot when side drifting the runs, targeting all the "inside" water, this is water running at a walking speed or slower.

When fishing the tailouts, we target the softer edges of the tailouts, loose some weight and use tight line techniques. The indicator is really just that an indicator of the takes. The goal is to straight line cast the rigg and roll the flies through the tailout. Fish have been hanging in the buckets of the tailouts.

We also sometimes strip the indicator off and tight line through the holding water. We have found that sticking with the indicator rigg is more productive. You just have to change your methods of presenting with an indicator and keep playing with the amount of shot.

Fishing the Evening Rise

When looking for the spots to get out of the boat and fish the evening rise when the flows are running over 3,000 cfs I want to find a spot where there is a shallow riffle 18" to 24" where it drops off into a deeper softer area. Believe me trying to find these spots are not easy as there are not many prime areas with the higher flows. This is another reason that fishing from a boat is the way to go. It is impossible to wade the river to cross to reach a prime spot.

We found a good spot and just as we got situated the hatch started coming off. It was a mixed hatch with large and small mayflies and some caddis. Probably more mayflies than caddis. When watching the rises the fish were up in the riffle right below the dropoff and looked to be focusing on the caddis.

I rigged up with a setup for swinging emergers and soft hackles. When rigging for this method I like to set up a 3 fly rigg as following;

• 9 ft. standard 4x leader
• Add 2 ft. of 4x fluorocarbon tippet
• Add another 2 ft. of 4x fluorocarbon leaving a 6" tagg to tie on the 1st fly.
  
• Tie on a dry of choice to the that is buoyant and has good visibility, a Quigley's cripple is a good example.
  
• Add another 24" of 5x Fluorocarbon leaving a 6" tagg to tie on your 2nd fly
• Tie of your favorite mayfly or caddis emerger to the second tagg end.
  
• Tie on your favorite soft hackle at the end.

Technique

I position myself upstream of the rising fish and cast at a 90 degree angle straight across or as far downstream as quartering downstream. I fish the first portion of the drift dead drifting the rigg downstream as if you were fishing a dry, if there are no takers I then start throwing big mends up stream to slow the drift and start swing the rigg down below me. This is typically where most of the takes happen. Swing the flies up in the water column and then to directly below you. The takes can be hammering.

The hatch lasted from about 8:00 to about 9:00 and that was that. Time to head for the takeout. We fished for a little more than 2 hours and had a good evening toasted with a couple of Fosters "Oil Cans" at the take out. Can't beat that.

Here's a "Flip" video of our evening on the river.

Clay





Frank Rinella and I made it back out on Friday, July 2nd to try the evening hatch again. I didin't mention earlier that until about 7:30 or so didn't hardly see a bug. Once the bugs started coming off we saw yellow sallies, larger and small mayflies and some caddis. The mayflies were the most predominant.

The last few time I have fished the river we have seen salmon "Springers" . With that in mind we have been adding an "troutbead" egg as one of our 3 fly nymph rigg. The egg has been the best fly the last two times we have been out when using deep nymphing methods or fishing tight line in the tailouts.

The time from 8:00 to about 8:40 was fast and furious once again.

Here's a small clip from July 2nd with Frank.