Hamilton Branch, Lake Almanor

Exploiting the Drought at Hamilton Branch

by Matt
The end is were the lake starts

California is without a doubt in a drought and the fish are really feeling it the most. Hamilton Branch at Lake Almanor is an outlet that releases cold water to the lake. In late summer to fall the fish are literally stacked at the mouth of Hamilton Branch. I was told by two people that the fishing was awesome and like
anyone else I was excited to check it out and catch some big fish. This trip was not what I was expecting.

Hamilton Branch
I woke up at 4:30am and left Chico at around 5:00am to get to Lake Almanor. The drive was pretty quick and I managed to get there at around 6:30am. I’ve never been to Hamilton Branch before so I didn’t know what to expect. There was a parking lot access along Hamilton Branch that I parked at and after gearing up I hiked down the trail. The outlet to the mouth of the lake was about 150 yards and the water in this area was pretty still. The banks were lined up with about 5-7 anglers. I had heard a report that the fish were on midges so I rigged my fly rod with a blood midge pattern and started casting.

Wanting to avoid the crowds, I explored upstream a little bit only to find that there weren’t any fish around. While wading through the water and pushing bushes away, I saw that the area was heavily fished as fishing line, garbage, cups, and bait littered the banks. That was the first red flag.

Spin anglers amassing at the outlet hole

After finding nothing upstream I waded back down to where everyone was fishing. To my surprised there were hundreds of fish all 16″+ just holding in water that was probably about 3 feet deep at the most. After I set up and switched through a few flies, I finally hooked a nice 16″ fish. Now I know what an 16″ bow should feel like, they run your line, fight hard, and you had better set the drag. This fish hardly pulled any line and I was able to strip it in super easy. Second red flag.

The fly came off after I landed it so my first fish was a quick release. There was no fight left in these fish and there were so many of them there’s was no sport in it. I made the call that I’d catch one more and then I’m out of here. Only about an hour had past.

Guilty face

Not five minutes later I hooked another 16″ bow. I was using 6x tippet and a size 18 hook so it gave the illusion that the fish was fighting harder. Being the only fly angler it seemed like I was the only one hooking into any fish. There were about 14 anglers fishing now and it started to get a bit crowded. I landed the fish with no problem took a few photos and noticed that the fish had a hook still stuck in its mouth. Third red flag.

While handling the fish, I noticed that it’s belly had some red sores on it but overall it was still a good looking fish. When I finally revived and released it I took apart my rod and left.

Now I’m not a PETA activist nor do I think catching and eating fish is wrong, but there is a time when we as anglers need to draw the line between when its right and when its wrong to fish. If you’re a fly angler looking for a good fight then look elsewhere. Leave these fish alone and come back in the fall. Don’t exploit nature.

These fish need the cold water to survive and they wouldn’t be here if they didn’t have to be. Hamilton Branch fish were lethargic and just plain sad. Shooting fish in a barrel isn’t as fun as you’d think.
I just left and didn’t look back.

Big Chico Creek, Hex, Lake Almanor, Sacramento River, Thermalito Afterbay, Tiechert Pond

Shad, Hex, Frogs, Smallies, and Great Memories

by Matt

Summer has arrived and with that comes the legendary hex hatch. I’ve been fishing a lot since graduation and have gotten into some pretty nice fish these past few weeks. Even in a drought the fishing has been pretty nice, I hope it stays this way until we get some water. Here is a huge report of what I’ve been up to!

Hexagenia Limbata

Sacramento River:
The shad run is still running but the numbers have dwindled down a lot since mid May. I actually had the opportunity to fish a slow run outside of Chico a few times before the crowds started to arrive. I caught a few and boy are they fun to catch on a fly, so many jumps! I came back a few times to find that the same spot was completely full of people thus finishing my season for shad. No combat fishing for me thank you.

Chico Sac River Shad

Hex Hatch – Almanor & Afterbay:
This year is my first time fishing the hex hatch and damn it is amazing. I invited a buddy of mine who has never fished the hex hatch to tag along. Although he didn’t catch anything except a small panfish, we both realized that nothing beats fishing at dusk for big fish that will rise for a dry. I caught a big squawfish and steelhead at the Afterbay as a practice run for the ultimate hex hatch in Almanor.

Landlock Steelie
Giant Squawfish

After work, Amanda and I drove straight to Alamnor to try and catch the hatch. Although I didn’t have any success nymphing in the early stages, I manage to redeem myself by catching a fat 18 incher on a dry fly. There were several old timers out there cheering me on after I hooked and landed my first brown and that’s a memory I will never forget.

First Brown

Tiechert Pond
When I first arrived there with my float tube and saw how weedy the pond had gotten I told myself, “I will either catch nothing or catch the biggest bass of my life.” I came pretty close to catching the biggest bass of my life. I floated around throwing frogs all over the place and didn’t catch anything until sunset. There were two other anglers throwing frogs from the shore that managed to hook into some big bass. One of the anglers caught an 5-6 pounder which pissed me off cause it was the only water that I wasn’t able to cover before he got there. I hooked and landed a 3-4 pounder later in the day on a frog fly but that was it. I floated there the next day hoping to catching that big fish. I didn’t get her but I managed to hook into some nice size bass. It felt good catching fish on my tube because everyone else was on the bank. There was a huge advantage in paddling around like a duck in heavy weeds throwing frog flies to where the fish were rising.

Frog Eating Pond Bass

Big Chico Creek
The lower part of this creek is a biological disaster. It was probably once prime salmon spawning territory hundreds of years ago, but now it is an invasive species throw down. There are bullfrog tadpoles that get huge because of the lack of predators and a bunch of smallmouth that most likely devour a lot migrating salmon fry in the creek. As one of the few undammed tributaries of the Sacramento River in the valley you would think DFG would take better care of it like Butte Creek. What ever the reasoning, it doesn’t really matter because the smallie fishing there is great. I must have caught over 50 fish in a day on the same fly with visual hook ups 90% of the time. Its a good place to just hang out and catch a bunch of fish, especially if your using an UL fly rod.

Big BCC Smallie
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Keep Calm and Fly Fish™