Bear River (there are at least 3 in CA?)

[tcorfey]

I was recently made aware of the fact that CA has at least 3 rivers called the Bear River.
One in Humboldt County that is between the Mattole River and the Eel River.
One that runs from near Emmigrant Gap vicinity through several small reservoirs to Rollins and out of Rollins down to Lake Combie, Out of Lake Combie to Camp Far West, then out of Camp Far West to the Feather River.
One that runs from Mud Lake near Kirkwood and then through the two Bear Reservoirs and then down to the Moke.

Does anybody have experience fishing all three of these? Never heard the rivers mentioned in reports but, I have fished several of the reservoirs mentioned. The strangest thing is that two of these rivers have the same name and are in fairly close proximity of each other.

I will be checking these rivers out in 2022 for sure.

[Ben J]

I could be mistaken but the Humboldt bear river open section is all private.

[tcorfey]

That is good to know... CA DFW does post regulations for the river though, so I guess you would not know unless you heard it here or made the drive. Done that before, did the research, checked the regs and got there to find No Trespassing signs all along the river. That is always a bummer.

[Natekursow]

I live 5 minutes from the bear between rollins and combie, and I can say that the fishing is pretty bad for trout. A bunch of pikeminnow, but they mostly are small. The average size of the trout is probably 4-5 inches. In the dozens of times I've fished it, I've only caught about 4-5 trout. I've heard it can sometimes be good immediately below rollins, but I've never experienced that. There are some good swimming holes though!

NK

[tcorfey]

Thanks Nate! Does it run pretty much year round or do they cut it off during the drought?

[Natekursow]

It runs pretty much year round. In the dog days of Summer it can get pretty low, but there still is plenty of water that is deep enough to hold fish. I heard that it has high levels of mercury from mining, and that might affect the fish populations:confused:

NK

[Rossflyguy]

I could be mistaken but the Humboldt bear river open section is all private.

Not if you walk in from the mouth.

[jrib]

We used to fish at Plumb tree when I was a kid 50 years ago. They used to plant it. I think the flies were more consistent in those days. I think the droughts have decreased the flies to where the water has become too warm for trout populations. I have a friend who lives on the Bear river between Rawlings slake and Plumb Tree. She said when they were kids the caught big native rainbows in front of her house. I’m afraid those days are gone.

[ryeflyguy]

The drought and NID have affected the flows, plus the populations of didymo have increased dramatically in the last 5+years. I fished the area jrib was talking about last spring and the only trout I found were in deeper water with good flows to keep the rocks scoured and the water temps reasonable.

[Natekursow]

We used to fish at Plumb tree when I was a kid 50 years ago. They used to plant it. I think the flies were more consistent in those days. I think the droughts have decreased the flies to where the water has become too warm for trout populations. I have a friend who lives on the Bear river between Rawlings slake and Plumb Tree. She said when they were kids the caught big native rainbows in front of her house. I’m afraid those days are gone.

Do you mean beneath Rollins Lake?