Hat Creek area report

[kokaneejr]

Made it up to the Hat Creek area for my semi annual fall trip. It was a little later in the year than usual and boy did I pay for it. Mornings were cold 26 degrees and since I was camping it made for late mornings.

Got there Thursday afternoon and was expexting fall colors maybe? I got a landscape that hadn't recovered from the fire a few years ago.
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t100/kokaneejr/IMGP7082copy.jpg

Camped at Cave the only forest service campground open but no drinking water all spigots off for the winter! Off to find water(my fault for not bringing any).

Finally got my line wet in Hat Creek. Fish didn't care about the temps or anything they were hungry.
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t100/kokaneejr/IMGP7065copy.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t100/kokaneejr/IMGP7067copy.jpg

Not sure what the first fish was ( Brown?? Hybrid) someone help me out ..

Nest day it was off to Baum Lake,

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t100/kokaneejr/IMGP7069copy.jpg

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t100/kokaneejr/IMGP7071copy.jpg

Beautiful as always and met some nice locals one who caught about 20 fish right next to me. He grabbed my line and tied on a fly but the feeding frenzy was over. Although I got a few hits no fish for me. A few other caught one here or there but I saw a lot of folks skunked.

Later in the day I fished Burney Creek. Fish hungry here to. Nymphing produced well and even the Brookies liked me!
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t100/kokaneejr/IMGP7075copy.jpg

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t100/kokaneejr/IMGP7084copy.jpg

Woke up the next day to cold temps so didn't even get up till 9:30 and the Ranger said it was still 29 degrees.

Broke camp and fished Burney Creek once more before heading home. Had a hatch of flyfisherman on the creek as I left.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t100/kokaneejr/IMGP7085copy.jpg

All in all another fun but cold trip to a beautiful area. Next year maybe late Septemberrrrrrrr.
Craig

p.s Forgot about a wierd happening. Caught a fish brought him to the net and removed the nymph. Took his portrait and turned around and released him into a slower moving part of the stream so he could recover. Then untangled my fly from the net and my line from my feet and everywhere else and low an behold the same fish ate my nymph again as I was untangling it!! positive it was the same one ad the fly was perfectly lodged in his mouth. Anybody else had this happen. Just thought it was wierd:)

[Jaybinder]

Great pics. Looks like a fun trip despite the cold.

[Slice]

Great pics, amazing area that still looks great even after the fire. Really cool to see the homes with trees around them still do to the efforts of the fire fighters.

[Slice]

PS, funny less than a month ago i was wearing a t-shirt when i went to bed and woke up and in the daytime i just wanted to swim. 2 weeks ago must have been perfect.

[BobVP]

Thanks for the report...I still have some hope that I will make it there in the next week or two.
What section/area of Burney Creek is that? I have only fished the area SW of town off the logging road.

[kokaneejr]

Moravia,
Not sure of the name of the road(looked it up on google earth and it is Clark Creek Rd. You can see the bridge on Google earth) it takes you to Lake Britton and the Pit. Drive over the small section of burney ck and look for the parking area on the right. The bridge is right there and you can fish above and below the falls. In
My opinion above is easier and below prettier. Remember to check the reg sign on the way in. A. P. nymphs have always produced for me. Good luck and bring your thermals if camping.

[Scott V]

Looks like a nice mixture of fish species and colors. It is nice to see that your fishing reports are starting to show more fish being caught!

[Morgan]

Me and some friends used to do atleast one camping trip a year up there. I love that baum lake area of hat creek. Did you not fish the canal? Or how bout the culvert that pours into baum....not the one by the little stone shack..? This has always been a great fishery. Even has the good ol eagle lake bows in it :)

[Mike O]

First fish looks like most of the bows i have ever caught in Hat especially lower, lower Hat. Lots and lots of spots...sometimes to the point of looking almost black...must be a subspecies variation