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.

Big Chico Creek, Deer Creek, Ellis Lake, Yuba River

Holy Summer it’s Hot!

Chico has been in the high 90s to 100s this past week and its looking like there is more hot weather to come. With California in a drought this heat wave is going to wreck havoc on everyone. Fishing is still good if your brave enough to try and beat the heat. To Deer Creek, Big Chico Creek, Yuba River, and Ellis Lake we go!

Deer Creek
Manda and I finally went camping up Deer Creek and I fished a bit here and there. I caught some smaller bows anywhere it looked trouty on a dry although they weren’t very big. I then wet waded to a hole and found some bigger bows sitting in lanes picking off what ever they could find. The biggest I caught there was around 14” which is pretty big for that creek. There was a spring run salmon hanging out in the pool holding to spawn in the fall as well, very awesome. The water was still high but according to websites that track flow, it has become extremely low.

Big Chico Creek
The warmer weather seems to have created some bigger smallies since the last time I fished there and its all good as I believe they are pound for pound the hardest fighting fish I’ve encountered. Nick and I went and caught some nice fish. I’ve been working on a top water fly for the creek and have yet to find one they can’t resist. The only thing I would look out for are swimmers. I dislike finding a nice hole to myself and then having some people start jumping in and splashing around.

Yuba River
Although the flow is up and nice, this river is still a mystery to me. I managed to hook into some fish but just small 8-10 inchers. I believe it has something to do with the hot summer season but hooking up into anything there is an accomplishment nonetheless. I flipped over some rocks to see if I could find any stonefly nymphs and I did not find a single one, just small mayfly nymphs which is what I caught the majority of my fish on. I believe I missed the golden stone hatch by a few weeks. I didn’t cover very much water so I wasn’t fishing to my fullest abilities but there are fish there that are willing to take despite the heat wave. The fall will be the prime time to hit the river and catch the big ones again.

Ellis Lake
I fished the lake in the early evening to about sunset and couldn’t catch a fish worth bragging about just some small bluegills and a rare bass or two. There are still lots of small baby bass everywhere which hasn’t helped me as much as I hoped to match the hatch and catch a trophy. Nothing much on a fly here except hot weather.

I’ve been aching to do some more fishing but this weather is just too hot. The big fish are at the bottom and I don’t really have the gear and patience for all that. Hopefully it starts to cool down some so I can get back on the water. We shall see.