Chips Creek, Middle Fork Feather River, Yellow Creek

Exploring Somewhere New and Somewhere Old

by Matt
Chips Creek

It’s finally happened… The first heat wave of the year and right on time. This weekend Manda and I set out to explore Chips Creek, a tributary of the NFFR, and visit the MFFR. The water is running a bit high throughout Plumas County but more is better than less.

Chips Creek
Chips Creek is a small tributary along HWY 70 that feeds the NFFR. The access to the creek was good but with the higher flows it was hard to get around. I wasn’t able to go as far as I would have liked upstream but I did manage to find a few good eats here and there on nymphs. I heard that there are some big fish in this tributary and after hooking one and losing it I can confirm the rumors are true. Chips Creek was a fun stream to explore and I look forward to fishing it more when the flows go down.

Chips Creek Bow

Yellow Creek
Yellow Creek is one of the most well-known tributaries of the NFFR. Unlike Chips Creek, Yellow Creek has a dedicated trail that parallels the creek as you hike upstream. Yellow Creek rainbows seem to prefer dries over nymphs. Each time I visit the creek it seems like a good drift with a dry fly produces more fish than dead drifting nymphs. The fish here aren’t very big but they fight like strong wild rainbows.

Yellow Creek Flows

MFFR
My visit to the Middle Fork during last year’s Memorial Day weekend was such a great experience that I tried to relive it again this year. The flows were much higher this year due to the run-off and made parts of the river unwadeable. Although I wasn’t able to get very far into the canyon, I managed to hook into some of the baddest and wildest rainbows I’ve ever hooked on the Middle Fork.

Nelson Creek

Most of the fish I hooked were less than ten inches but the two that were above sixteen inches fought like wild steelhead. The first biggie I hooked was on a streamer and it was not happy when it got hooked.

There were an assortment of caddis and midges in the air and the fish were on them. The fish of the day was found when I observed an adult caddis get smacked as it skipped across the current. It was dry fly time.
My first cast with a fresh EC Caddis and I get the take. At first the fish didn’t look very big but once it ran downstream into a pool where I could see it, I saw that this fish was at least eighteen inches. The fish of the day would not stay out of the current and after a few minutes of play it threw the hook. Bummer but at least I know that big fish is still out there.

The Only Fish That Would Stay On At The MFFR
Middle Fork Feather River

Feather River Middle Fork: Fall In Full Effect

by Matt
Majestic Middle Fork

In the Sierras the transition between summer and fall happens much quicker than it does in the valley, one day you’re in indian summer the next day you’re in what feels like early winter. It was truly fall in Quincy, California and on Monday I took the opportunity to fish the Feather River Middle Fork.

I started at Nelson Creek and made my way downstream. The flows were much lower than they were when I last visited in the spring.  The water was also much colder. I opted out of bringing my waders because I wasn’t planning on fishing the Middle Fork. Impulse trip! Each step into the water was mind numbing.

As the day progressed the air temperature went up a few degrees which helped warm up some of the areas in the Middle Fork canyon. This little bit of warmth kept me from getting hypothermia this trip.

Pretty First Fish of the Day

I had a lot of fun throwing streamers my last trip on the Middle Fork so I used the same tactics. My Hero Sculpin and Zonker Buddy caught several nice 10″ – 14″ aggressive, wild, and native rainbows. These fish really commit to their strikes which makes fishing streamers fun and effective.

16” of Steamer Eater

Most of the fish I caught were holding in runs and riffles about 2-3ft deep. I didn’t find very many fish in the deeper pools or shallower water.
Once I figured out where the fish were, I had to hike, boulder hop, bushwhack, and wade to get to the right spots. Easier said than done! Fly fishing is definitely keeping me in shape.

The hike back to my car was a killer. Up and down on narrow trails and across frigid waters, I timed the hike back to my car at 1hr 20mins.

Can You Find The Trail?

If you want to plan a day trip fishing the Middle Fork definitely make time for the hike back. There is still more to explore on the Middle Fork but it may be necessary to make it a backpacking trip if I want to go deeper into the canyon. Tough access but well worth it.

MFFR
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