Katie's Sightings

Neighborhood News

North Yuba River — 11/29/23The weather has gotten a lot colder, down to 27° at night and in the low 50's during the day, and it's been quite blustery this week. Just a few trees and shrubs still have some fall color, but most of the leaves have dropped off. We got .10" of rain on Thursday night, and more is predicted for this weekend. Up in the Lakes Basin there are patches of new snow in the woods, and icy snow on part of the Gold Lake Road! Winter is definitely here!

Howard Meadow — 11/25/23My husband and I drove out to Howard Meadow last Saturday and it was freezing! The wind was blasting, the puddles in the road were totally frozen, and there was a slippery inch of icy snow on the road! It was still lovely to be there and see the "winterized" meadow! We also, tried to drive up the Gold Lake Road to the trailheads, but long sections were covered in an inch or so of packed icy snow, so we turned around and headed back home. That might be our last visit to the Lakes Basin for a while!Rainbow Trout — Onchorhynchus mykiss irideus

Since the cold weather kept us at home, I walked a lot in my neighborhood this week. Three days in a row I saw several large Rainbow Trout in the river below our bridge! They looked like they were 15"-18" in length! Wow! I haven't noticed any big fish in the river all summer. Maybe they're showing up now that the Common Mergansers (major fish eaters) are almost all gone! It takes about 1 year for a trout to reach a length of about 6 or 7 inches. At about 2-3 years of age they will have grown to around 18 to 20 inches in length and become mature adults, ready to reproduce.Rainbow Trout — Onchorhynchus mykiss irideus

The most common fish in the North Yuba River are Coastal Rainbow Trout, which are native to California, but have been planted locally. There are also non-native German Brown Trout, that swim up to spawn from Bullard's Bar Reservoir. Occasionally you might also find a non-native Brook Trout that has flowed out from a higher elevation lake, during the high water of Spring.

Your questions and comments are appreciated. Please feel free to email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!