Feather River, Horseshoe Lake

Officially In Spring Mode

That Lateral Line!

Its officially spring but it feels almost like summer. The weather is amazing with slight breezes and 80 degree air temps. Although we really need the rain, the time to really gather it is over now and we get what we get. Nevertheless the weather is beautiful and so is the fishing. Who’s arm is sore from catching fish? This guy.

Horseshoe Lake
It’s official. I finally figured out the secret to this lake/pond. I have been able to consistently catch fish and although a good day is one take, the fish are very quality. After many trips of trying several different flies and covering a lot of water, I have found what the fish like and where they like to hold especially the bass and cats.

While fishing the lake I had a hand jerking take and once it was fish on I knew it was a big one. Its first run ripped a bunch of line as it ran straight towards a sunken tree in the lake where it was going to try and break me off. Its actually amazing that the fish knew where it was going despite the zero clarity. I lowered my rod at a low angle to try and maneuver it out of point and was able to move the fish towards me before it could break me off. Now that I was in the clear for a safe landing I wanted to know what I had at the end of my line. I fought it for a couple more moments and high sticked my rod to try and get a glimpse of it. I saw that tail and immediately thought its a huge bass! Then I got its head out of the water, its a cat! Definitely one of the better cats I’ve caught out there. A little girl and her dad came by to check it out but I had already released it. Cute little thing.

Fishing the lake can be a pain sometimes with people yelling at their dogs, letting their dogs run around in water, and the occasional obnoxious people. It’s not the greatest place to go to get away from the world but a short trip is all worth it when you get that take and land a nice fish.

Quality Cat

Feather River
The spring-run are around but with hot days and blue bird skies, it can be pretty tough.
I would say the best place to fish the Feather river right now is the high flow but the low flow is producing as well.
The low flow was a shitshow near Outhouse Riffle Friday mid-morning. Three drift boats in that small section trying to fish around each other. I stood my ground and represented the wade anglers but not to my surprise I didn’t catch anything in this area.

Earlier I hooked a 20+ inch fish that looked around 4-5 pounds on a swing with my switch rod and damn was that an exciting fight. Once I tired the fish out it was stuck in the weeds near the bank. Instead of using my net to scoop it up, I tried to pull it out of the weeds by grabbing my leader. Mistake! The hook came loose and that beautiful chrome fish scurried away. Technically I landed and quick-released it so… It’s all good! Lets catch a bigger one next time.





Horseshoe Lake, Tiechert Pond

Mirror Mirror

John Montana Pose

There aren’t too many options in Chico when it comes to fishing during the off-season. The Sacramento River is the closest moving body of water that is open until the trout opener in April. In order to compensate for the lack of fishable moving water, I’ve discovered a few lakes and ponds around Chico that are difficult to fish but produce quality catches.

After fishing the Tiechert with no success I spent the rest of my day at Horseshoe and was finally able to get my first carp of the year.

Tiechert Pond
I fished the pond in the afternoon during a nice warm overcasted day hoping that the fish would be more willing to eat. I spent about three and a half hours float tubing the pond with just nibbles. There usually isn’t weed growth this early in the year but with the current warming trend the weeds were beginning to mat. I threw frogs at first then streamers but to no effect.

There were damsel flies hatching which had me thinking more like a fly fisherman. As I floated the pond, I watched a few bluegills and bass jump to try and catch those annoying damsels. The fish were definitely on them. I kicked myself for not bringing a few dries so instead I tried fishing a wiggle bugger. Nothing but small nibbles today. Needless to say I’ll be bring a few damsel fly patterns for the next time I’m out there.

Horseshoe Lake
After getting smacked with the skunk stick, I wanted to end the day trying one more time. I was targeting bass and catfish but I’ve found that they tend to be more active late morning to noon. I switch targets to carp for about 10 minutes before sunset. They were scurrying about in the shallows but I couldn’t tell if they were feeding or not. I tried and tried until I stopped to think for a second. Maybe I should just target fish that I see make ripples and I did just that.

I targeted several fish before I saw a new target about 20 feet away from my position. I crept over slowly to get a better angle and made my first cast. I slowly stripped my line in but no reaction. I made my second cast just about 6 inches away from her rippling. I slowly stripped my line in… I stopped my fly in the center of her ripple… My line tightens and she bolts off! YEAH BABY! I fought her for a few minutes as other anglers watched.

To my surprise it was a mirror carp, a subspecies I haven’t caught yet. Not the biggest carp I’ve caught but definitely exciting.

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