Keep Calm and Fly Fish

Looks Almost Like a Native?

Day 3: On The Feather The Swing Is The Thing
I woke up this morning at 5am to get to the Feather at around 6:15am.  The plan today was going to be swinging flies all day. The day began on the high flow section and although I saw several rises I did not get anything to take. The fish that were rising were in slower water and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that they weren’t steelhead, most likely hardhead or pike minnow. After wading down a bit and not getting anything I drove further upstream and fished several riffles and runs that I’ve never fished before.

At this point I decided to go all in and rigged up three flies. At one point I had a nibble but the fish did not commit so there was nothing to set the hook to. I’m about three or four hours in fishing with nothing to show for. Needless to say I was starting to feel a bit discouraged about this steelhead trip. I saddled up, got in my car, and drove further upstream. It was about noonish when I had lunch. After I finished lunch, I geared back up and was ready to give it another go.

I fished a run that I’ve never fished before below the outlet and about midway downstream I get my first take on a swing. The fish jumped straight into the air after it hooked itself and threw the fly. Not fair! After wading further downstream, I hooked another fish that did the exact same thing except this time it didn’t unhook itself. The spring-run steelhead are a feisty fish that can really test a fly angler’s fish fighting ability. The fish made hard headshakes back and forth, would dart out every now and then downstream making my reel scream, and slowly swim towards me forcing me to strip in fast to keep a tight line. I fought him like a champ, landed him, took a picture, and let him go. It felt refreshing to be back in the game. While fishing the run, I had one more hit but not a commitment. With no luck, it was time to waded back to my car and drive further upstream.

Now I am at Outhouse Riffle. On the way to the river there is a pond where I saw a few people fishing. I watched and chuckled as a young angler fishing for bedding bass made a bass pro lip ripping hookset only to get his lure stuck in a tree. Keep at it kid…
While covering water downstream, I finally figured out where the fish were holding. Deeper water! My strategy worked and I found a nice fish and several more in the riffle below. I left the Feather river at around 5pm, therefore I fished around 12 hours today for three fish landed, two lost, and a lot of uncommitted hits. Total worth.

Half-Pounder Spring Chrome

I will be taking it easy tomorrow as there are things around the house that need to be done. What a wonderful three days.

Feather River Hatchery Steelie

The number of steelhead that have returned to the hatchery this year is less than half of what it was last year in 2014. Here are the numbers from an article from the Fishsniffer website: 677 adults this year (2015) compared to 1472 adults last year (2014). On a good note though these fewer fish are bigger. Three fish that were captured and returned to the hatchery were over 17+ pounds. Amazing.

There are always steelhead in the Feather River system but these bluebird bright sunny days are tough days to fish. It was pretty slow yesterday despite being on a good run that usually produces at sunrise. After not getting a single take I fished near the hatchery and saw a few other anglers hook up but it was also very slow for me.

Disappointed, I and wanted to beat the 2015 steelhead skunk. The following day I was able to hook two fish and land a nice hen a little under 5 pounds. This steelie is probably my new personal best. She was pretty beat up with torn fins, fungus head, copepods
on fins, and has probably made it back to spawn several times in her lifetime. She fought hard and the second before I was able to get her under the net the hook popped out of her mouth. Luckily she was tired enough to where she floated for a second and I was able to net her. It was a awesome fish as my first steelhead for 2015.

Big Feather Hen

The spring-run aren’t in town yet but after a few good storms they should start trickling in. Drought conditions are going to be hitting the lowest of the lows this year and it’s not looking good.
I’ve been reading that the American River is fishing really poorly with very few steelhead returning this year. On paper it looks bad although I haven’t been out there so I can’t really judge.