Butt Creek, Indian Creek, Middle Fork Feather River, Yellow Creek

Plumas County Summer Stream Hopping

August can often be one of the warmest months in Northern California. The average temperature this time of the year usually ranges from the low 90s to triple digits making the heat miserable for both anglers and fish. This summer however has been a bit of an exception. The large snowpack that we received during the winter and spring has helped provide cooler water for fish giving anglers more time than previous years to purse their fishy friends.
I spent my last weekend in Plumas County, a recipient of this cool water blessing, and got into some of the best fishing I’ve had this time of summer in a long time.

Green Yellow Creek

My first destination would be Yellow Creek near Almanor. It’s been about three years since I last visited this beautiful spring creek and I was excited to see if there had been any improvement with the fishing. Although the meadow was looking a bit yellow it was also mid-summer so I wasn’t expecting verdant green fields this time of year. I settled for a spot a bit below the empty Yellow Creek campground and rigged up my 3WT.
A quick look into Yellow Creek made me rethink if driving to the creek was a good idea. There seem to be an awful lot of green algae settled in the bottom of the creek which I had never seen before. Spring creeks are suppose to be made up of the purest and cleanest water so why was there so much gunk everywhere.

Yellow Creek Rainbow Dry Eater

I started working my way around the creek and found a few small fish here and there. It was mid-afternoon so dry flies weren’t working too well. I switched to an indicator rig and began picking off fish. Most of the fish I spotted and caught where small however I did manage to sight one of the biggest fish I had ever seen in this creek near an undercut. It looked about +18” and spooked as soon as I noticed it. After catching few rainbows and a brookie I decided to move to a different stream. The fishing was just too slow for a few dinks, not fun.

Butt Creek

On the way out I stopped at Butt Creek. I’ve seen a few nice browns in this creek however I’ve only had luck catching dinky rainbows even smaller than those in Yellow Creek. I left after about an thirty minutes still yearning for better water and better fish.

Indian Creek Falls
Below Indian Creek Falls

As I made my way to Quincy I stopped and fished Indian Creek below the falls. This was my first time fishing Indian Creek and unfortunately it didn’t fish as good as it looked. I managed to land a small trout and a hardhead before calling it quits. I felt like Indian Creek had more of a population of rough fish than trout. Maybe things are different when the flows are bigger and cooler though. I may have to try it again next season before crossing it off my list.

Middle Fork Bow

I spent the night at my in-laws who live about ten minutes away from the Middle Fork of the Feather River. The MFFR usually runs a bit warm this time of year giving me doubts about how well it would fish however I couldn’t beat how close it was to the house.

I hiked into the canyon and found myself in a familiar place that I wish I returned to more often. The cool breeze as I stepped into the cool water felt nice and the river looked like it was in fantastic shape. The fishing was excellent. There were fish everywhere, in the riffles, runs, pools, tailouts, and even in the flats all eating dries, streamers, and nymphs. It was nice to hook into some quality MFFR fish instead of just dinks this weekend. These fish were wild bright red white tipped rainbows that only a wild and scenic river could produce. Now that is what I call fun.

Doesn’t Look Like It But This Fish Was +20”
Milton Reservoir

A Trip To Milton Reservoir

Milton Reservoir is a small 12-arce lake within the Middle Yuba River drainage. It sits within the Tahoe National Forest at an elevation of 5650ft and is supposedly managed as part of DFG’s wild trout program. The lake is not stocked, has a two fish limit that must be below 12”, and is barbless artificials only.
Hoping to beat the heat and catch a few fish, I decided to explore Milton Reservoir to see if it would be a place worth visiting again.

There are two ways to get to Milton Reservoir from where I live:
1. From Marysville Road to HWY 49 then cutting through the small town of Forest to Dog Valley Road.
2. From HWY 20 to HWY 80 to HWY 89 to Dog Valley Road.

Google Map directed me to Milton Reservoir via the first option which was paved until the last twelve miles. Those last twelve miles were on a very rough dirt road that required a high-clearance or 4×4 vehicle. I would not recommend anyone who is interested in visiting Milton to go this way but rather the second option which had only about two miles of dirt road.

Milton Reservior is known for its brown trout that are notoriously difficult to catch. I had a good idea of what I was going to be up against and prayed that the fish would cooperate with me. I rigged by stillwater rods as I always do: one rod with floating line for indicator fishing and the other with intermediate sinking line for streamer fishing.
Having arrived at the lake at about 3pm I wasn’t too sure about how well it would fish. The afternoon winds started picking up and the slight chop made it a bit difficult to scout around and spot fish.

The west and north side of the lake appeared to be much deeper than the east and south side however I didn’t spot any fish in that area. The point on the southern part of the lake appeared to have the most cruising fish and insect activity.
I managed to get a few takes within the first few hours and lost a decent brown that took a callibaetis nymph however that was about it my entire day. I was hoping that the evening would bring out a few fish however I was not able to get any takes before the sun went down.

From afar Milton Reservoir looks like a trout paradise. The water was cold, the habitat for the fish looked great with three different outlets for spawning, and there was plenty of aquatic vegetation for insects. I’m curious as to why I didn’t do well. I have two thoughts:

1. There isn’t a whole lot of fish in the lake itself. The lake is surprisingly popular for being quite secluded which means it sees a lot of traffic. All the primitive campsite spots were filled while I was there on a Thursday. It’s possible that anglers who don’t care or aren’t aware of the Milton’s regulations poach the fish there leaving very few behind.

2. The insect population at Milton seems to be lacking. As I pulled my anchor out of the water I sifted through the weeds to see if I could get an idea of what the fish were eating. To my surprised I found very little to no insects. There were quite a few midges hatching in the evening that the fish appeared to be rising to but not in the numbers that would make me want to try a dry.

3. My timing was off and I needed to be there from mid-morning to early afternoon when the hatch is at its peak. Fishing is fishing.

I may try fishing Milton Reservoir again in the future however it was not quite the Manzanita Lake of Tahoe National Forest that I was hoping it would be.