Wow how things can change when water falls from the sky…It started raining Thursday and has only really let up for about 12 hours sense (today being Tuesday). Forecast shows clear skies by Wednesday and then another storm coming in for a few days around Feb2. Who knows though. With rain comes some interesting fishing reports. We should see some improved fishing with the changing conditions. Most of the valley rivers blew out and are now coming back into shape, so there should be some fresh winter steelhead. The trout should be a little more energetic with cloud cover and some colored water. The coastal rivers got a huge dump of rain so that should get the coastal steelhead season going or as I like to call it the, winter casting season, sense few fish are actually caught but guys get really good at casting.

Least the river wasn't blown out
With regards to the I-City crew The Deeler pulled out of town and headed to Vegas for a weekend of debauchery with his missus. Ryan J decided that the fishing was in such need of rain that it was a good time to take a break and have surgery of a minor nature, but which will still lay him up for 3 weeks. KP….who knows. I have no KP sightings to report. Though I imagine he made an appearance at the Sacramento ISE show this weekend and the English Beat is playing at Aces in Sacramento so that most likely will be a likely KP stop. I have driven by Sanchez’s house a bunch in the last few weeks and his truck has not moved and his raft still has a hole in it so I imagine he is taking in the bar seen via his bike. I did see someone looking like Sanchez at a gas station by his house but I am pretty sure it was his doppelganger Kumar.
Lower Yuba River – With the heavy rains on thurs and Fri the Lower Yuba came up from 750cfs then up to 972 from the 22 jan – late Jan 23 evening. It has sense come up to 1393cfs. This is not a problem as a normal summer flow is 2500-3500cfs. I fished the river on Sunday at 972 and the clarity was very good, about 4-5 feet in places. Deer Creek, the main trib, has blown out twice in the last week. It blew out Saturday going from 24cfs to over a 1000cfs then crashing back down to around 20cfs late Saturday night. It blew out again the evening of jan 23 up to 1120cfs but has crashed back down to 59cfs. The creek is what brings in the color and I imagine that last pulse of water should clear out here over the next 24-48 hours. We caught plenty of fish on Saturday on standard winter/off color water patterns and even ran into a great baetis hatch and had the opportunity to fish over consistently rising fish for about 35-40minutes. With no rain in the forecast for the rest of the week I would imagine the Yuba will be in great shape soon. Fish big attractor flies, worms, and eggs. Nothing fancy and something they can see.

Trout fishin should improve as streams clear
Butte Creek – The creek has blown out twice in the last few days as well. Going from 130cfs up to 1200cfs and then back down to around 300cfs then back up to 1240cfs and now back down to 337. This is great for the creek and will really clean out the debris and move some winter fish up into the system. I am hopping to get the raft out on the creek both days this weekend. Hopefully the water holds at around 350cfs and we get some low elevation snowmelt to give the river a nice tint.
Lower Sacramento River – Most every trib to the lower sac blew out with the last storm so the only stretch that was really fishable, as the flows out of Keswick did not change was the top half float or so. I have not heard anything from up there but I imagine with the Trinity blowing out as well the upper stretch was packed.
Klamath Report from guide Isaac Roman from the snowy Siskiyou county area, edited by me – The rivers and creeks are swollen willy wonka style and fish are taking advantage, not much word down the Klamath river, but the iron gate stretch is dropping and is fishing like it should right about now. Decent numbers of fish are being caught most fish are averaging 18 inches, but a few 5 to 7 pound adults can be found with a little perseverance. The coho and kings are done spawning, so the steelhead have free reign of the river and are taking advantage. Covering water is key and mixing up bugs and presentations is best. Indicators set around 7 ft. with a Jimmy Leggs in black, brown, or peacock with an attractor nymph dropper is working well in the tighter water. Fish can still be caught swinging a cone head silver hilton, brindle bug, green butt skunk, and other standard winter patterns. Fish do not move as well to a swung fly this time of year but the grab is worth the work. The pressure is minimal and the fish are hungry, go north.

Booze report - well….. I am still working on a 1.75 litter bottle of Vodka and Jameson plus a case of Sierra Nevada Rye from the holidays. I did fill up my growler with Sierra Nevada Dunkelweizen from the tap room. Kinda banana nut bready with some nice spice. Amber color and really a darker version of the Kellerweis they have been bottling for a while. I also had a bottle of the Ovila Abby Ale Quad and Saisson. These are both collaborative brews with the local New Clairvaux monastery and winery. These are about $12 a bottle but some amazing brews if you can find them. check out this website dedicated to this venture www.ovila.com.
Music Report – Ok so I finally bought the new Black Keys Cd “El Camino”. This thing rocks like a collection of vintage fuzz pedals and bell-bottoms. The CD is much more rock then Brothers. I have by no means any indie street creed as I became a Black Keys fan via Brothers so say what you may about the “old” stuff and how “they have changed”….Bottom line there is some head bobbers on the new disc that rock!

I steelhead fish too!
Also picked up the deluxe copy of the newest Wilco disk “Whole Love”…not sure about this disk yet. There are some good songs but not sure what I think of it as an album. I was not a fan of “Wilco the album” and this is better but still digesting it. My favorite albums are still “Being There”, “Yankee Fox Trot Hotel”, and “A Ghost is Born”. In tour news Wilco announced its west coast tour and will be stopping in Davis, CA…good news. bad news it is on a Wednesday…rough but must rally.
Sports Report – Pitchers and Catchers Report Feb 18, First work out Feb 19, Position Players report Feb 23 First Full Work out Feb 24…enough said.
TV News – 3rd season of East Bound and Down has been announced and a few teaser videos are up on the web…mark off Feb 19th as national Kenny powers day.
“I am the type of guy that has always chased the trains to the edge of the horizon. I have seen it all. Highs and lows. Ups and Downs. When I look at you I see a little bit of myself in you.” – Gospel of Kenny Powers
hogan brown
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