Gold Country Fly Fishers Moves to Protect Wild Yuba River Salmon and Steelhead

September 3, 2025, Grass Valley, California

The Gold Country Fly Fishers (GCFF) club has been in the Grass Valley area for almost 40 years. The club meets on the first Tuesday of the month at the Nevada County Fairground in the Ponderosa building. The club's purpose is to promote the art of fly fishing and promote and support the conservation of fisheries, with particular emphasis on the “Catch and Release” ethic. GCFF members work to publicize and promote fly fishing, fly casting, fly tying, and related subjects.

GCFF’s main outreach programs have been focused on youth by hosting or supporting countless kid’s fishing outings, fishing derbies, fly casting instruction, fly tying instruction and helping with local Scouting and educational programs. GCFF offers monthly fly casting instruction from the very beginner basics to advanced level casting skills for adult members and guests. Fly tying skills and fishing information are also available to help get both new and experienced fishers out fly fishing in a family atmosphere.

GCFF is participating again in the annual Yuba Fest at Sycamore Ranch Park off Highway 20 east of Marysville on September 6, 2025 from 8 am to 4 pm. Yuba Fest is open to the public and is a celebration of the Yuba River for all people who fish and recreate on the river and to celebrate the people and groups that work to preserve and enhance the Yuba watershed.

This year, the Yuba Fest theme takes on a more significant meaning because of the proposed Nature Like Fishway (NLF) at Daguerre Point Dam (DPD). The fishway, estimated to cost about 60 million dollars, will allow all fish species to navigate upstream of the dam. This will include striped bass that eat growing salmon, steelhead and trout and American shad that compete for resources and eat fish eggs and small fish. There are concerns that allowing striped bass and shad above the Daguerre Point Dam will further threaten the endangered wild salmon and the wild steelhead and trout fishery.

The lower Yuba River above Daguerre Point Dam is a wild salmon and steelhead sanctuary, a world renowned destination wild steelhead and trout fishery, a California Fish and Game Commission, “Designated Wild Trout Water,” and is a critical part of wild salmon and steelhead recovery on the west coast.

The DPD was rebuilt in the 1960’s to include two fish ladders on either end of the dam.  The dam was built to retain remnant hydraulic mining sediments and provide irrigation diversions. While the ladders still work when cleaned and maintained, the design is old and causes migration delays, particularly for wild spring-run salmon. The US Army Corp of Engineers operates the dam, but has not consistently maintained the ladders or planned for upgrades. Currently the fish ladders at DPD prevent the upstream movement of sturgeon, striped bass, and shad.

In 2014 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) salmon and steelhead recovery plan listed, “Passage impediment at Daguerre Point Dam affecting adult immigration and juvenile outmigration” and “Predation of juveniles” as two key stressors on the lower Yuba for these endangered fish. In 2018 the NMFS green sturgeon recovery plan identified DPD as a migration barrier for sturgeon. In 2015, CDFW identified Pacific Lamprey as a Species of Special Concern and listed passage barriers like DPD as a key threat. Based on these plans, fisheries agencies have been focused on Daguerre Point Dam for modifications. Unfortunately, the NLF project does not yet plan to manage predation issues.

The sturgeon recovery plan calls for two rivers supporting a reproducing sturgeon population and the Sacramento River currently supports only one. The plan indicates that the portion of the Lower Yuba above DPD is the only river reach that might meet the criteria for a second reproducing sturgeon population.

GCFF took the lead to protect the lower Yuba sanctuary above DPD from the introduction of non-native predators. As a result of an April 2024 letter, two public meetings with agency representatives were held in April 2025. These meetings led to members of GCFF being included in technical team meetings to address predation concerns resulting from the NLF project. GCFF is working with an enlarged stakeholder group and NLF project leaders to include a predation monitoring and management program as part of the project goals and operations.

Come to Yuba Fest on September 6 at Sycamore Ranch Park to learn more about the Daguerre Point Dam Nature Like Fishway project, its impacts on the Yuba River and how to get involved in protecting this world renowned wild steelhead and trout fishing destination and take the opportunity for you and your family to pick up a fly rod and try a few casts.