Feather River

Riverfront Park Take Two

by Matt
Feather River Riverfront Park Fun

This marks my second outing fly fishing the Feather River at Riverfront Park. The day was a bit breezy but the temperature was perfect for some good outdoor time. After doing a bit of thinking about what the fish liked and didn’t the previous trip, I tied a few clousers and a couple of carp flies in hopes of hooking up big. Since I know where the fish are already, I set out to refish the areas where I found fish and made plans to explore the northern end of the park.

The first half of fishing the areas that I knew had fish was very slow. The bass weren’t aggressive and the carp weren’t eating. I didn’t spend much time here since nothing was really happening. After about 30 minutes I left and started to explore above the bridge.

There is a run below the bridge where anglers target salmon. I’ve yet to see a salmon pulled out of there this year but the place gets hot and crowded when they are around. For about another hour the fishing still very slow. No flies seem to be the ticket as the fish would just follow them but not take. Although I had a few eats from a few small bass, the first decent-sized fish I manage to catch was a pike-minnow. There seems to be a lot of pike-minnow in this section of the Feather river.

A Lot of Hardheads

After doing some thinking about why there weren’t any fish eating, I concluded that it was must be the substrate that I was fishing in. The Feather River around Riverfront Park is primarily made of sandy beaches with some aquatic plant growth and fallen trees. The current is walking-pace and mostly wadeable from the bank. From what I’ve discovered, the small fish like hang out in the areas where there are plants or fallen trees despite the sandy bottom. The big fish like to hang out around rocky bottoms at a depth of about 2-3 feet. The bigger fish also don’t seem care whether there is adequate cover or not.

Beautiful Little Spotted Bass

Putting my theory to the test, I found a place where the bank and bottom was mostly made of boulders and rocks. After a few casts I found that the bite was hot and I caught several smallmouth here until sunset. Bing Bang Zoom! Right in the mouth! Although I didn’t catch any lunkers, I know they are there. Someday I’ll get one.

10” Nicer Smallmouth I’ve Caught Out There
Feather River

Riverfront Park’s Feather River Access

by Matt
Feather River At Riverfront Park

Riverfront Park is a recreational park below one of the bridges that connects Yuba City and Marysville with the Feather River separating both counties below. The park is maintained by Yuba County and is primarily used for soccer events. There is a small boat launch that was recently cleaned up and gives access to the Feather River upstream from Shanghai Bend. I set out to explore the banks of Riverfront Park in search for any thing that bites.

The species present in this part of the Feather are largemouth, bluegill, spotted bass, smallmouth, and trash fish like suckers, hardhead, carp, and pikeminnow. Although this section is better known as a warm-water fishery, runs of salmon, stripers, steelhead, and shad can also be found throughout this part of the river.

Feather River Largemouth

Armed with a sink-tip line and streamers, I fished downstream below the boat launch. I caught a few small bass on a clouser but overall nothing too exciting. During my bank exploration I was able to spot a few big fish that spooked into deeper water. A #6-7 pound spotted bass and several 14”+ smallmouth. The possibility of hooking into these big fish will have me coming back.

Little Smallmouth

After exploring a bit I also found a big population of 10+ pound carp just slowly cruising around. After about an hour of casting several flies at them, the closest I came to a take was a 1” refusal. So close and very frustrating.

Bridge Sunset

In the evening I returned to fish under the bridge. There were several anglers out trying their luck for salmon but they weren’t doing too well. While fishing the area, I found that the banks were riddled with weed growth about 5-10ft in making it difficult to give a good presentation without getting snagged. I managed to hook into a nice largemouth in the evening but only landed a big hardhead and pike minnow.  Sculpin patterns didn’t work well here.

Hardhead Streamer Eater

The access and fishing was pretty good. The only downside is that there are a lot of tall weeds and yellow-star thistles all over the place making it painful to bushwhack through in shorts and sandals. I am currently cooking ideas for patterns to use here on the Riverfront Feather River and will be back hopes of catching and releasing some nice bass and carp.

Big Ol Pike Minnows Too
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Keep Calm and Fly Fish™