NEVADA COUNTY SPRING SUMMER TROUT MATCH THE HATCH

Brown trout above and rainbow below

When attempting to fish for trout in the spring time in the Yuba, American, Feather or the Truckee river, I have found color choice can be significantly different. The theory I administer is if the river leads to the ocean use silver where as if the river does not, go gold.

Fly fisherman match the hatch all the time. They will often look for bugs in the water or in the air and then try to use that type of fly. Spin-casters need to use the same philosophy.

Rivers that go to the ocean such as the Yuba, Feather and American use silver. Salmon, Steelhead, Shad and Strippers are all silver in color and so are their smolt. Again match the hatch. Small in the spring and as the season moves to summer get a little bigger. Use the life cycle chart (left) when selecting size. 

Early in the season when fishing the Truckee I use either the largest gold single hooked swim bait or I go very small. Brown trout spawn in the fall, therefore the bait fish in the river in the spring time and early summer are small browns, which are gold in color. Match the hatch. As the summer rolls on your offering should get larger and you would be surprised as to how large you can go and still catch fish.

It is up to you to know where to go and when but if you follow these very simple concepts you may be more productive. Please use the search feature above for other fishing articles and advise.

TRUCKEE AND YUBA RIVER FISHING GEAR LIST

I have fished the North Yuba river many times as well as many of the Truckee river's water sheds and recently I failed to take all the necessary equipment. Now I have a list, so I will not forget something, again. When you make a two hour drive to a trail head followed by a 4 mile hike to the river as I did, you don't want to forget something that could blow the entire day. As I have.

Here is my list and I now check things off as I load the gear into the car.

Fishing License and regulations
Rod and Reel
Fly box with the special flies
Back up line
Sunglasses
GPS unit
Weight/split shot
Fly fishing vest
Hemostat
Tippet
Floatant
Strike indicator
Sunscreen
Bug repellent
Hat
Food
Water
Pliers
Back up reel with line
Jacket
Cellular phone
Fire

If you feel I missed something please let me know as I don't want to find out when I'm at the river's edge.