Pit River PGE Lake Britton Dam Road Closure

[Timbers]

Was going to head up to Pit River for a few days.

Can anyone confirm that the road going over the dam is open?

Work was supposed to been completed on Sept. 2.

Any fishing reports? Flows are almost down to old levels for the past couple of weeks. :D

Thanks

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Check with some businesses in Burney?

[Jeff F]

The latest report from the Fly Shop in Redding says that the dam is open for cars. If not, just drive up north a little further on Hwy 89 to Upper Clark Ck Road. I did it a few weeks ago and it just adds about 15 minutes at the most. It takes you right to #3.

The river should be on fire right now, fishing-wise. Good luck.

~Jeff

[Timbers]

Thank you Bill and Jeff for your replies.

I'm hoping it's on fire too.

Excited about the flows. Haven't seen it like that for some time.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

In the "old lower flow years" our gang figured Sept 15 to Oct 15 was timing for the emergence ( crawling out onto the large rocks

midstream at the water line, hatching out then climbing to the top of the rocks and flying off ) of the #8 dark swimming Isonychia may

fly nymphs. The mostly Rainbow trout population is better than ever with the higher flows but it is much harder to wade now.

[StevenB]

I think in the "old lower flow years" our gang figured Sept 15 was a target date for the emergence ( crawling out onto the rocks at the

water line, climbing to the top of the rocks and flying off ) of the #8 dark Isonychia may fly nymphs.

Unfortunately I think the Isonychia hatch on the Pit is gone. I have not seen one over there for the last several years.

They did a high flow test on the river some years ago in the Fall and it seems to have wiped out the hatch.

Hope I am wrong, if anyone has seen some over there recently please comment.

It is possible the hatch will come back some day. Reminds me of the Holy Water on the Rogue, for years it had a blizzard caddis hatch in the fall until one year of very high flows (maybe 1996?) and the hatch went away.

10 years later the hatch came back. So the bugs were still there, it just took a long time for the population to rebuild.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I think the Isonychia may flies like a little warmer water like in the old low flow years on the Pit river.

I think I saw an Isonychia on Battle Creek.

They are big like a true Green Drake, maybe size 8 and are a fall emerger.


Where else do you think you have seen any Isonychia mayflies in California?

[Jeff F]

I think the Isonychia may flies like a little warmer water like in the old low flow years on the Pit river.

I think I saw an Isonychia on Battle Creek.

They are big like a true Green Drake, maybe size 8 and are a fall emerger.


Where else do you think you have seen any Isonychia mayflies in California?

There used to be good Iso hatch on the NF Feather. Haven't seen any in about 15yrs. Used to see the shucks on the rocks, just like stoneflies. The nymphs were cool looking.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

We use to just wet wade it "back in the day" because it was not very cold.

An Isonychia nymph was swinging across the surface and my brother Dick grabbed it.

Isonychia nymphs swim like a Dolphin or Porpoise.

It came out of the shuck in his hand and eventually flew off.

I took pictures of it in his hand but who knows where they might be now?

[StevenB]

The Pit is the only river I have seen Isonychia on. I had heard about them on the Feather as mentioned, but heard also as mentioned that that hatch was no more.

("that that" is proper English, I think, but it sure looks weird, however I can not be bothered to rewrite that sentence, guess I need Grammarly)

[John H]

I don’t know much about the isonychia but I can say “that that” always freaks me out when I write it. Sometimes I try to work around it but sometimes I just leave it. I see it in newspapers sometimes so I think it is okay. I don’t ever recall seeing it in a book so my guess is authors make an effort to avoid it.

[Timbers]

We use to just wet wade it "back in the day" because it was not very cold.




Yes, and enjoyed it.

"Back in the day", we seemed to do the best end of May and early June. YMMV

I've never done as well on the Pit since they raised the flows.

[Pupa]

I have been fishing the Pit in the fall for almost 20 years and never once saw an Isonychia. We did hit a nice hatch deep in the canyon stretch of MFFR years ago. My first encounter was on New York's Au Sable as a kid. The nymphs are pretty active, almost like minnows and have a white pinstripe down their "spine."

[Timbers]

Wanted to give an update.

First off the flows that I was seeing online (390 @ Pit 4) were not what they were when I arrived. If I had to guess it was 450-500. Water was flowing over a rock I used to stand on and many places it was several feet deep right when you stepped into the water.

From guys I spoke with, replies were I got 20 to I got zip. Unfortunately I was on the zip end. The weather was great and it was nice to be back at the Pit. Hadn't been since 2019.

https://i.postimg.cc/5N4NrgBt/IMG-3969.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/nrR8g4xs/IMG-3967.jpg

[Ralph]

I think the Isonychia may flies like a little warmer water like in the old low flow years on the Pit river.

I think I saw an Isonychia on Battle Creek.

They are big like a true Green Drake, maybe size 8 and are a fall emerger.


Where else do you think you have seen any Isonychia mayflies in California?

Isonychia are abundant on stretches of of the Yuba and the Feather (not disclosing exactly where). It remans a fantastic hatch that coincides with Paraleptophleba and often October caddis. They were out today in robust numbers and the trout were eager to eat them.