Chico has been in the high 90s to 100s this past week and its looking like there is more hot weather to come. With California in a drought this heat wave is going to wreck havoc on everyone. Fishing is still good if your brave enough to try and beat the heat. To Deer Creek, Big Chico Creek, Yuba River, and Ellis Lake we go!

Deer Creek
Manda and I finally went camping up Deer Creek and I fished a bit here and there. I caught some smaller bows anywhere it looked trouty on a dry although they weren’t very big. I then wet waded to a hole and found some bigger bows sitting in lanes picking off what ever they could find. The biggest I caught there was around 14” which is pretty big for that creek. There was a spring run salmon hanging out in the pool holding to spawn in the fall as well, very awesome. The water was still high but according to websites that track flow, it has become extremely low.

Big Chico Creek
The warmer weather seems to have created some bigger smallies since the last time I fished there and its all good as I believe they are pound for pound the hardest fighting fish I’ve encountered. Nick and I went and caught some nice fish. I’ve been working on a top water fly for the creek and have yet to find one they can’t resist. The only thing I would look out for are swimmers. I dislike finding a nice hole to myself and then having some people start jumping in and splashing around.

Yuba River
Although the flow is up and nice, this river is still a mystery to me. I managed to hook into some fish but just small 8-10 inchers. I believe it has something to do with the hot summer season but hooking up into anything there is an accomplishment nonetheless. I flipped over some rocks to see if I could find any stonefly nymphs and I did not find a single one, just small mayfly nymphs which is what I caught the majority of my fish on. I believe I missed the golden stone hatch by a few weeks. I didn’t cover very much water so I wasn’t fishing to my fullest abilities but there are fish there that are willing to take despite the heat wave. The fall will be the prime time to hit the river and catch the big ones again.

Ellis Lake
I fished the lake in the early evening to about sunset and couldn’t catch a fish worth bragging about just some small bluegills and a rare bass or two. There are still lots of small baby bass everywhere which hasn’t helped me as much as I hoped to match the hatch and catch a trophy. Nothing much on a fly here except hot weather.

I’ve been aching to do some more fishing but this weather is just too hot. The big fish are at the bottom and I don’t really have the gear and patience for all that. Hopefully it starts to cool down some so I can get back on the water. We shall see.