Lower Yuba River Fishing Report
Capt. Hogan Brown
Lower Yuba River flows have been relatively stable around 1,088 CFS. This is a good flow, with water in most of the side channels, along the edges, and across the flats where salmon are spawning. However, there isn’t quite enough water to get a boat into all of these areas, so we’ve been getting out of the boat and doing some wade fishing.
There are trout holding around salmon redds, but not every redd has salmon on it. With the warmer days and bright sunshine, salmon have been moving into the shallows in the evenings to cut their redds, then backing off during the day. The trout seem to know what’s happening and what’s coming, and they’ve been holding around these areas. There are also a few spots where salmon are sitting on their redds throughout the day, and the water immediately below these areas has been holding good numbers of trout.
Where there aren’t spawning salmon or redds, the trout have been focusing on caddis hatches, along with a sparse hatch of small Tricos and Blue-Winged Olives (BWOs). Most of the fish I’ve caught eating bugs have been taking an olive caddis imitation in sizes 14–16. I’ve tried standard small mayfly nymphs, Rubber Legs, and other staple attractor patterns, but the caddis imitations have been the only flies producing consistent success.
As we move into mid-to-late October, the trout will likely focus more and more on eggs as the salmon spawn progresses. Hopefully, the number of salmon holding on redds will continue to increase, creating more opportunities to target trout feeding on eggs.
