Denis Peirce: Tough fishing in early February

The midday air temps are into the 70s, my apricot trees are in bloom and it does not get dark until well after 6 p.m. What’s wrong with this picture? The problem is the date on the calendar. We are not yet halfway through February. In the early afternoon you could be convinced the month might be March or April. The problem is the fish are acting like they know it is the second week of February. They are lethargic and have not been inclined to come out to play.

This is still mid-winter, almost six weeks until spring. It is the bluebird skies and lack of storm fronts coming through that get anglers wanting to get out on the water.

Local bass angler Ed Everhart fished three lakes Friday through Sunday last weekend. On Friday he fished Lake of the Pines. Water temps were high 40s and the bass were stuck with their bellies on the bottom in the grass. Ed did pick up a few fish, working very slowly along the outside edge of the weeds. The bass would not move more than six inches to eat something. You had to put your offering right on their nose to get their interest.

Saturday morning Ed drove across the valley to fish Clear Lake. The water temps were similar to Lake of the Pines and the boat electronics confirmed the bass were also glued to the bottom. He spent the day slow rolling baits along the bottom without much success. It was not until 4 p.m. that he began to get on to a decent bite. The best bet were areas with a rocky bottom. The bass he did land had red/raw mouths, a sign of feeding on crawdads by turning over rocks.

Ed did land a two pound crappie incidental to bass fishing. He noticed some schooling fish on his electronics suspended in the water column. His opinion is that these schools were crappie in a pre-spawn mode.

Sunday was spent on Collins Lake. The water temps were again in the high 40s and the water is a chocolate milk brown with limited visibility. I have fished many times with Ed and cannot recall a day without him landing a fish. But Sunday was one of those days for him on Collins. He knows the lake well and fished the points and back along the sides of the points. These are the high percentage locations for this time of the year.

There was a trout derby on Collins last weekend. The trout anglers fishing from the bank were the ones landing fish. Ed noted that many of the boat anglers beached their craft and were fishing with power bait from shore.

Bob Lively of Penn Valley trolled Collins Lake Wednesday of this week for an eight hour day. He marked fish on his electronics throughout the day. The schools of fish were suspended between 35 and 60 feet below the surface. Regardless of the variety of lures and bait he used he did not land a fish.

I have been fishing Bullard’s Bar during the last three weeks. The focus has been on trout with limited success. I have been concentrating on the upper ends of the main tributaries.

This past weekend I switched to bass fishing. The water in the main body of the lake was 49 degrees. If you go to the south facing banks in full sun, and have the breeze blowing onto this bank you can find water temps as high as 53 degrees. It was in these conditions that my son Colin and I were able to finally get into some bass. It was a slow presentation with a jig/fly suspended from a float that prompted some of the smaller bass to bite.

The best fishing prospects have been on the rivers. Although most rivers have been kept down to minimal flows there are some fish to be had. The Lower Yuba has continued to produce rainbows and steelhead for the experienced anglers. Guide Chuck Ragan floated the river with Justin Leonard recently and landed a 28 inch steelhead that was released back into the river. They also caught a number of the rainbows that have been plentiful for the last year.

The skwala stonefly hatch on the Yuba has yet to materialize in any great number. There are a few of these bugs around but not enough for the fish to focus on them.

For water flow, the Feather River has had a significant increase. During January the river had about 800 cfs. For the month of February the flows have been in the 3500 cfs range. This has coincided with the juvenile steelhead release from the Feather River Hatchery. These fish have been trucked down to the Boyd’s Pump launch ramp below the mouth of the Yuba. There have been some stripers in the area feeding on the steelhead.

I could not confirm a cause and effect relationship between the increased flows and the release of this year’s crop of steelhead. But it is higher water that really contributes to good survival of these young fish.

There is a modest sturgeon bite on the Sacramento River above the confluence of the Feather. The river is relatively low for mid winter. The flows have been steadily declining for the last month down to 5000 cfs. Word is that there are more fish in the upper Delta staging before a spawning run upriver. What we really need is wet weather and a rising river to bring this fishery on.

For those who follow the solunar tables, Feb. 4 through 12 have had the lowest possible rating. The good news is the ratings for next week are very good.

Each day there are more daylight hours, everyday is one more closer to our next rain and spring. Do not despair.

Denis Peirce writes a fishing column for The Union’s Outdoors section and is host of “The KNCO Fishing & Outdoor Report,” which airs 6-7 p.m. Fridays and 5-6 a.m. Saturdays on 830-AM radio. Contact him via his website at http://www.trollingflies.com