Big Chico Creek, Deer Creek, North Fork Feather River, Yellow Creek

Small Fish Up. Big Fish Down

Yellow Creek

As July becomes the hottest month of the year a lot of the big fish have disappeared leaving the smaller fish the dominant catch of the summer. This past week I’ve taken the time to explore some new water and while my results were pretty disappointing, its always nice to have an adventure.

Deer Creek
I’ve been fish Red Bridge with great success. I know almost every hole that produces the biggest fish in the creek and with that knowledge I decided to look elsewhere for big fish. I drove out to K Road and waded upstream close to Lower Deer Creek Falls. Although there were some really nice holes I didn’t catch anything too exciting. Most of the fish were around 5” by far some of the smallest fish I’ve caught on the creek.

Deer Creek Trout

I left around 7:00pm and fished above Red Bridge and got into some bigger fish.
A few days later I decided to fish above Potato Patch Campground and near Upper Deer Creek Falls. I hooked into a few trout that ripped some line out probably around 14” but I didn’t land any. Due the to drought perhaps the water is slightly colder upstream and the trout have migrated up? I saw a few salmon in the deeper holes which is a good sign despite the drought.

North Fork Feather River
Manda and I went up HWY 70 to fish and look for blackberries. We stopped around Storrie to fish the boulders. I tight-lined a stonefly and mayfly nymph for a bit but after checking the water temperature at around 70 – 73 degrees I decided to look elsewhere for fish.

Yellow Creek
We drove further up towards Belden and I fished Yellow Creek. There is something special about fishing the streams in the Plumas National Forest, it’s quite magical and I don’t really know why or how to explain it. The scenery is just amazing.

The creek was easy to access and the water was colder so after covering some water I got into a few fish that were your typical creek sized trout. I was hoping to catch some bigger fish that swam up the creek from the North Fork due to the warmer water but I didn’t have much luck.

Yellow Creek Trout

Big Chico Creek
The smallie fishing is still good. There have been schools of big pike minnow that I haven’t been able to get into, but the smallies are still plentiful and aggressive. I saw a few big ones that were hiding in the shade but I couldn’t get them to take. Still lots of fun.

BCC Smallie

I’m kind of fed up with summer. I’ll probably just take it easy until late summer early fall for the fishing to pick back up again. Weather is too damn hot.

Collins Lake, North Fork Feather River, Yuba River

Waiting For Rain

Big Yuba Steelhead

We need rain. Despite the lack of any falling water, I’ve been able to somewhat catch fish here and there. It’s been pretty slow but now that its been warming up (a lot near 70s for the past few weeks) spring is fast fowarding. Although I believe there won’t be any rain soon I’m hoping the spring turnover will happen quicker this year.

North Fork Feather River
The North Fork flows have been pretty low around 250 CFS. I caught my first fish of the year there and tried again the following weekend with no success. We will have to wait to see how this is going to affect the future hatches that are going to be coming soon.

Yuba River
The Yuba River is also low around 750 CFS and I read that Englebright dam is the only dam that has a significant amount of water in comparison to the other reservoirs around here. I have been fishing the same spot and constantly hook up at least once of twice in the day which is better than I usually do on this river. There seems to be a lot of fishermen focusing above the bridge which is ideal in theory, however due to the low flows it can be hard to find a decent spot and a fish that is willing to take.
We’ve been getting bright sunny days for the past couple of weeks so its best to fish early in the morning or later in the afternoon. There were a few skwalas laying eggs in the afternoon and the dries were working. Not a lot of people on the river yet, once the skwalas are in prime there will be fishermen everywhere.

Yuba River Skwala Dry Eater

Collins Lake
Manda and I went camping at Collins Lake and I was hoping to hook up with some fish for dinner for the weekend. Despite my best efforts I went home empty handed and was saved my the extra food my girlfriend packed. I didn’t see anyone catch anything the whole time there except a one person who had a springer with a trout on it. There were quiet a few fishermen on the banks and boats everywhere. One of the few reasons I’m not too big on stillwater fishing.

The website posts a fishing report of people hitting the limits there. Collin’s Lake wasn’t always known as a great fishery but really? Ramble ramble ramble.

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