How is the Pit River?

[lynnwhite44]

I usually fish the Pit River several times a year but I have been unable to make it there yet this year. I'm curious to hear from other anglers how the new higher flows have affected the river. I fear some of my favorite spots may be too high and fast to fish. I might try the Pit in a few weeks but it's tough to choose between the Pit, Lower Sac, Trinity and Klamath in the fall.

[EricO]

The flows on the Pit aren't fun. Pit 3 is still brutal wading. Hard to find places that aren't high. But, that said, if you can find good water you'll catch fish.

Just got back last w/e. Go to fly was a Red BHFB Pheasant tail. The grabs were very subtle so set on everything.

Also, bring some dry clothes with these flows. I fell in twice and had to drain the waders at end of the day, but then again, I have a 90% fall in ratio on the Pit. Dang river gets me every time.

Good luck.

EO

[Eric M]

I agree,the higher flows make the Pit much less fun. Can't cross where you want, sections of productive water you can't get to, willows and brush blocking your movement along the bank. Some friends and I just returned from our 19th annual trip to the Pit, for some it was their last. We are not getting any younger and the higher flows made for some clothes drying by the fire. All that said, of course the fish are there in the same type of water as the past, just tougher to get to.

[lynnwhite44]

Thanks for the info guys. You just confirmed what I thought the conditions would be like. On one hand there will probably be even less people venturing into the canyon than before but on the other hand less accessible good water.

I hear ya guys, I have fallin in the drink every time I've fished the Pit.

The Pit have my vote for the most slippery toughest wading.

[EricO]

No joke on the slippery wading. This was the first time I've fished it without spikes. They were on backorder so I went with straight felt. I will never, ever, ever do that again. Ever.
Lol.

EO

[Eric M]

Also, PG&E required by the feds, had to hire a environmental consultation firm. We were lucky enough to run into one of their employees/owner. The poor gal got an earful, but she was handing out surveys regarding the new flows. She also said that PG&E had hired a security guy who patrols all reaches daily looking for who knows what. Mind your P's and Q's if you see a guy on a Segway!!

[Fly Guy Dave]

No joke on the slippery wading. This was the first time I've fished it without spikes. They were on backorder so I went with straight felt. I will never, ever, ever do that again. Ever.

A suggestion: I use #6x 3/8" type AB sheet metal screws as the metal studs in all of my wading boots. They work great, and I've never had any problems using them. You can usually get a box of 100 for less than five bucks.

--F.G. Dave

[lynnwhite44]

Ya cleats are a must on this river. A segway? Really? That's funny.

Here's my favorite Pit River pic. Caught her mar/apr 2010 before the flow change, looks like she just spawned. Notice the two teardrops, must be gangsta.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg150/lynnwhite44/GR%202011/pithog.jpg

[EricO]

Nice looking fish....and a long one at that!

Here's a couple from two weeks ago. The first one (unlike most Pit fish) had not one spot. Very interesting looking. I caught another one that looked like a cuttbow- it had two long orange slashes under it's throat. Most of the fish look similar but every so often a get a few that look totally unique. Different strain perhaps? Got me.

EO

[EricO]

Oh what the heck, here's a few more. Fall colors starting as you can see by the canyon.

[amoeba]

Nice fish, and:

that's great looking water with the new flows; before half the boulders were exposed; I know, I know, it is basically unwadeable. But so much more trout-friendly water, and the prospect of lower pressure (especially by guides and fly-group "party fishing"), could be a bonanza for the commoners, provided they adapt. How?

Probably, the following or more: a) wet wading, possibly with full wet-suits, and dry-bag slingpacks, b) small craft (light driftboat, kayak, oar-frame raft) and anchors, and c) upgraded studs, on felt, probably the aluminum craze, or anything else that works (i.e., not rubber).

This is one of the first places I go in spring (usually Pitt 4 or 5), as soon as the flows drop under 650 cfs. Twenty fish days will be the norm, and few others will try it (if they have, I don't see them).

And with a 30 year license issued by the FERC, water quality certified by the Water Board, and all resource agencies on board, all's I can say is this.................Sweet.

[EricO]

"But so much more trout-friendly water...."

Hey Amoeba, not sure on this. Found some new water on Pit 3 but alot of it is just too high and some money riffles I used to fish are gone now. Liked it much better at 150 cfs. That said, the fish are still there and we did quite well.

Not a bad idea with wading in a wet suit. I'm going to have to give that one serious thought. Wet wading was perfect this summer- if you step in a big hole up to your chest, big deal since the water was so refreshing.

Pit 4...well, my favorite runs there are all but gone with the current 400+ flows. Perhaps if they dropped to 350 cfs it would still be good. But for now, I'll skip Pit 4 and 5 altogether.

EO

[fallriverfish]

Amoeba how much did you get paid to post this ? The whole process for the relicensing was total bullshit. Cal Trout sold us all down the river on this one. The "environmental" company paid to do the EIR for PG&E is basically PG&E private environmental company. Look at the spring rivers client list http://www.springrivers.com/client_list.asp Basically the entire net worth of this company and couple have been financed by PG&E.

From what I have heard from other guides is the river is fishing much slower but is also much, much warmer than in the past. The reason for the increase in flows was to install power generators in reaches 3 and 4 to make money for PG&E. Spring Rivers is not gonna burn there money tree.

"smells like crap, looks like crap, geez must be a rose"

Bill Downs
Fishing Guide
Burney California

[JasonB]

Amoeba how much did you get paid to post this ? The whole process for the relicensing was total bullshit. Cal Trout sold us all down the river on this one. The "environmental" company paid to do the EIR for PG&E is basically PG&E private environmental company. Look at the spring rivers client list http://www.springrivers.com/client_list.asp Basically the entire net worth of this company and couple have been financed by PG&E.

From what I have heard from other guides is the river is fishing much slower but is also much, much warmer than in the past. The reason for the increase in flows was to install power generators in reaches 3 and 4 to make money for PG&E. Spring Rivers is not gonna burn there money tree.

"smells like crap, looks like crap, geez must be a rose"

Bill Downs
Fishing Guide
Burney California

I'm confused as to how the increased flows could make for much, much warmer waters??? I've never been to the Pit, so I don't really know one way or another, but this part doesn't really make any sense to me...
JB

[Notch]

I thought the increase in flows were deemed beneficial to the aquatic life in the river, and pg&e constructed the powerhouses on 3,4 to tap into the "wasted" water they had to put in the river and not through the penstocks.
As for the warm water..it should be about the same temp since the water is released from the bottom of Britton, and warms from there. I don't think the reservoirs downstream are deep enough to stratify, so the river gets progressively warmer down to Shasta

[Fish Head]

Everyone I talk to about the Pit says it is fishing well ... More difficult than the previous flows for wading, and crossing is difficult to impossible where possible in the past. Bottom line, the fish are still there and are less harassed, if you are willing to go after them.

[Sierrapacific]

Hi Guys:
I'm currently writing a story on the fishability of the Pit since the FERC
re-licensing, for a national mag. I'd really like to hear additional comments
about your experiences comparing the fishing on the Pit both before and
the after the increase in flows. Feel free to email me at vinci.greg@gmail.com

Greg Vinci

[amoeba]

Everyone I talk to about the Pit says it is fishing well ... More difficult than the previous flows for wading, and crossing is difficult to impossible where possible in the past. Bottom line, the fish are still there and are less harassed, if you are willing to go after them.

I would say hush....but.....the only side complaining are guides, whose clients don't wanna get wet.

As to a national article, knock yourself out; but just about everything ever said and much more is in the filings of agencies and NGO's on FERC's website (late 90's to early 00's). I would hope that the McCloud relicensing would go as well - and result in much better spring flows than are being tossed around by the guide community, but the government is being spread thin by cutbacks.

As good as it was with the old 150 cfs regime, everyone was fishing 10-15% of the river length, especially in Pit's 4 and 5; long warm jerkwater pools separated by riffles in which the trout concentrated and be hammered to no tarnation. Now they are spread out, there is more habitat, much more river to fish, and, as noted the fish are still there. They are also there in typical uncontrolled winter flows of 20X the summer flow which are truely unfishable. This is not that. It's somewhat more water. In terms of fishability, more is fishable than there was before.

[Tfisher]

Can anyone actually define the term "fishability"?

The ability of an angler to catch a fish is not a scientifically measurable concept... Do people use this term synonymously with wadability, if so they should make that distinction.

Since when was the Pit ever an easy place to wade?

Water temperatures are much cooler now (look at the guage data).

[amoeba]

Yes:

"fishability" is a user-defined quantity or score; somewhat like rafting studies, fishability studies are becoming more commonly done pre-application to relicensing; usually by professional fishermen/consultants who use different methods, record semiqualitative experiential scores and fish caught much as you would do in filling out a DFG stream survey report. It's hard to make firm comparisons because it involves comparing test flows, different seasons or times of year. Sometimes they even post videos, as they did with the more recent upper north fork feather license (seneca and belden reaches).

I personally found Pit very difficult to not only wade, but even walk near the stream due to the abundance of Torrent sedge that made it hard to see 2 foot holes from solid rock. I'm thinking the margins are actually a bit easier to wade, although the stream harder to cross (at least without swimming). It was never easy to get around that river.

[NorCalDrifter56]

I hope you will pardon me if I say that it is knowing when and where to go. The lower sections are RED HOT . I have attached a couple pics of fish that were landed yesterday.

These were not the biggest fish hooked because the really large fish are near impossible to land on light fly tackle (I use 4wt and 5 wt rods)......

I saw (at least glimpsed) one that had to be in the 5lb range and hooked several others that were never seen. Just a hook up and one run and gone...positively breathtaking.

Other pics can be seen on my web site www.curtsfishingadventures.com

The good fish should last until the winter rains wash things out.