10 Years to Milton

10 years ago in High School a friend and I made our way to Milton Reservoir just west of Jackson Meadows Res. on the middle fork of the Yuba. My friend caught a pretty nice brown back then in the spill way of the dam and I’d not made it back until this past Sunday. I took my wife, daughter and sister out there for a day of sitting on the edge of the water and relaxing. More than anything I wanted to see if I could ignite a spark of passion for the sport of fly fishing in my wife and I think I accomplished that. Alyssa got some good casts in even though she didn’t hook up with anything. I only got to fish for about an hour and ended up hooking a small brown on a red #18 Tungsten John. The water was extremely high and extremely clear, so much so that it made judging depth difficult, proved by the half gallon of water I took into my waders at one point while I was trying to get some distance from the shore line. The fish were hitting midge and mayfly emergers until about 1pm and then they kind of shut off. This is the type of lake you would definitely want to break out the float tubes, extra water and sun screen because there is the potential to catch some nice and unpressured browns… for the time being anyways. I feel like this is going to be a very productive place to spend the weekend, there’s not a lot of people on it and the majority of people that would venture down the old dirt road are off road vehicle enthusiasts or shore fisherman. Bring your light fluorocarbon tippet, small natural and attractor patterns and figure out if there are any 5lb + browns cruising around before the rooster tailers find out about this body of water!... Oh, and if you don’t have or forget to bring your float tube take the time to hike to the south side of the lake and fish because the north side is very difficult to cast on… Enjoy!