North Fork Feather River

Roaring North Fork Fun

Roaring North Fork

The North Fork of the Feather River has gone through many flushes throughout this year. Flushes that raise the flows from zero to a hundred can have a huge impact on the fishing if you don’t plan your trip accordingly. For that reason in addition to high flowing tributaries from the recent rain, this visit to the North Fork was pretty tough.

My first stop was in Pulga. It has been over a year since I’ve fished this section of the NF. A lot of new no trespassing and slow down for children signs have been added to the road; however, I didn’t have any problems accessing the NF from the usual location.
The water was low and cold which was a good sign. I hit my usual holes and was able to land two nice trout from this section. The rocks and plants were super slippery and after a painful slip I decided not to venture any further downstream.

NF Bow

The next stop I wanted to try for the first time was the small stretch at the Cresta rest-stop. As I worked my way downstream I quick-released two smaller trout. The canyon was a bit windier than I would have liked for tight-line nymphing so I had to put on an indicator for the deeper sections.

Rest-Stop Run

As I drove further upstream I found the NF too high to fish. Last year and the year before was much better in terms of flows. I’m thinking flows below 300 CFS would be better to fish from the section between Rock Creek Dam to Grizzly Creek.

Zebra midges were the only flies that the fish seem to be keying on. The NF can be a hit-and-a-miss but if you hit it just right the fishing can be incredible. Unfortunately this year wasn’t the best for the NF.

Middle Fork American River, North Fork Feather River

Opened Early – The Middle Fork of the Feather River

The Middle Fork of the Feather River between A-23 bridge above Portola and Mohawk Bridge in Mohawk is the only Sierran trout stream in California that opens the first Saturday in April. For anglers who are not in the know, this early opener can be a frustrating game of hide-and-seek. I tried fishing the opener last year but the severe drought hindered my chances of finding fish. This year was different.

The El Nino storms of 2016 have helped bring up water levels and pack the Sierras with much needed snow. Good flows and warm weather welcomed me as I made my first stop in Clio.

Clio is the furthest “town” upstream that provides access to the MF before it turns into a canyon. The water in the upper MF has a brown tea colored tint that begins to clear further downstream. This darker tinted water is quite deceptive at first glance. Most fly anglers would take one look at the upper MF and leave because of its tint but trout do live there.

Jon Baiocchi is a guide that fishes the upper section of the MF every year during the opener. He has mastered this section and has found that the most important detail when fishing the opener is water temperature. Jon has also caught a few brown trout in this early season section which is very cool.

I dedicated this trip to fishing streamers in order to try and catch a rare MF brown. Throughout the day I was able to find one solid take and a few bumps. When I finally hooked my first fish I thought it was a brown, mission accomplished! As it spun itself around to try and throw the hook, the sides of the fish flashed a silvery hue with no signs of a red lateral line. Once I netted the fish I saw that it was not a brown but instead a rainbow. Mission failed…

Although there were bugs flying around everywhere, I had a difficult time finding fish. I covered a lot of water from Clio to Graeagle and was a bit bummed that the fishing was so slow however it was nice to fish some new water. The water is still a bit cold but once it warms up I’ll give this section another shot before shifting my focus to the canyon.

On the way down HWY 70 I stopped and fished an open section of the NFFR. I was able to rise a few smaller fish with a caddis dry but with the wind gusting through canyon I wasn’t able to hook any. I changed tactics to tight lining and caught a little guy.




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