Feather River

Fly Fishing The Feather River Parkway

Feather River Parkway

The Feather River Parkway is a relatively new recreation site on the Yuba City side of the Feather River. The Feather River Parkway opened in 2013 and continues to provide a safe and clean area for river recreation. This was my first time visiting and fishing the park.

The Feather River Parkway is about a five minute drive from my apartment; quick and easy. Although I was skeptical of driving on a road that crosses the levee, the signs directing to the Parkway assured me that this place was legit.

Parkway Map

The Parkway consist of a big parking area, several hiking trails, and a nice gazebo area. I felt safe to leave my car parked in the parking lot which to me was important considering the area. The Parkway was pretty clean with little signs of homeless people vandalism.

First Fish = Largemouth

Armed with my 2wt, I started fishing in a marshy area where I found several bass holding. My first fish of the day was a nice largemouth that put a pretty nice bend on my little rod. Immediately after I landed my bass, there was a small boat that decided to low hole me after seeing that I had caught a fish. These guys literally anchored twenty feet below me.

What do you do to anglers who low hole you? You low hole them back! I got out of the area I was fishing and began fishing thirty or forty feet below them. For about an hour and a half they watched without a single nibble as I hook and landed a bunch of smallies and spotties.
If your not catching fish why not fish somewhere else? You’re on a boat and you have access to the whole river why stick around here? Beats me…

All Day Smallies

Obvious structure is obvious. The levee is full of areas where fish like to hold. There are quite a few bass along these areas, although mostly smaller fish they aren’t stupid. The colder water is making them lethargic so a slower presentation with a few twitches is working the best.

The only way to hook up on these bass is to sight fish for them. They will suck up and spit your fly out in a blink of an eye if you don’t set the hook.

Lots Of Fishes

I figured out that fishing pressure is what turns these fish on or off. Certain areas will fish better than others due to this factor alone.

There a few people who call the levees home so be alert when wandering around out there.
I’m okay with people being homeless, I just don’t like the fact that they leave trash all over the place. Here’s to good karma!

Clean Up Karma
Feather River

October Levee Bassin’

5th St. Bridge

October is usually the month I begin catching less bass. Although the current day temperatures are still pretty damn hot, the water is a lot cooler than it was a month ago. I haven’t figured out how to fish the Feather River in Yuba City for bass yet so I decided to go out and try to unlock some secrets.

Anglers have begun to amass below the bridge in efforts to try and hook a salmon. Mostly snaggers using heavy jigs. Although the salmon are in, they weren’t biting.

This was my first time fishing below the bridge on the Yuba City side. There are tons of rock piles along the levee on this side of the Feather which are perfect spots for bass to hold in.

A Few Smallies

Judging from all the trash, I presume this side of the river receives a heavy amount of pressure. A low profile and the correct fly selection was critical if I was to be successful here.

The bass in the Feather are very finicky. I’ve notice that the spotted bass in the Feather always chase my fly but never eat it. Weird. The smallmouth are usually my main takers which I don’t mind because they put up the better fight. I caught a few but not enough.

Litte Crayfish Eater

Throughout the day I kept switching flies and leaders to try and figure out what these bass like. Nothing I tried was successfully enough for me to say I learned something new. The best clue that I found this trip was a small 8” smallmouth with an entire crayfish in its mouth.
I switched to a brown woolly bugger to see if they would go crazy for it but I kept getting the same results; a few eats but mostly follows.

Hardheads Too

I did some research and read that smallmouth switch from feeding on crayfish during the summer to minnows in the fall. The shad eggs hatched a few months ago so maybe a shad pattern will work….

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