Burney area report

[yubaman]

I was up the last couple of days and fished Pit River and Hat Creek. In all of my years, had never fished either water! We hit Hat Creek on Tuesday, fishing was OK. There were sporadic bug hatches here and there in the morning. There were rising fish in areas, but far from anything prolific. We could not have had much better weather, and no wind. We ran down to Powerhouse 2 riffle in the evening, but it was stacked up with fishermen, so it was a quick drive by.

Hit the Pit on Wednesday. Flows in some of the stretches are lethal and unfishable. With high water up in the bushes, moving around was an even bigger pain in the ass. My buddy did AOK on his Euro rig, me not so much nymphing. High, fast water is the word. It was definitely a good test for my knee 3 month old knee from replacement surgery. I am not sure my steering wheel will be headed for the Pit anytime soon though😂😂😂.

That’s a quick report.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Maybe wait till late May or June.

Good report.

Did you camp or stay somewhere?

[yubaman]

Burney Motel. Always important to be close to cold draft beer, a warm shower and cozy bed at my age.

[steveg137]

Burney Motel. Always important to be close to cold draft beer, a warm shower and cozy bed at my age.

Impressive you can do that 3 months post knee replacement !

Had a few stays at Burney Hotel, always enjoyed that area. Combo with the Fall River can. 3 fun too

[RoosterHunter]

I've stayed there many times. I remember when my kids were small there use to be a hamburger joint called Wiggy's. I'm sure it doesn't exist anymore.

[yubaman]

I actually think Wiggy’s was still there! McDonalds however, closed! The knee held up well thank God.

[tcorfey]

Alpine drive-in is the place for burgers and excellent milkshakes in town, and the Outpost for dinner! I really like it up there...

[yubaman]

We ate at the Outpost. Decent steaks and a very good selection of beer on tap.

[RoosterHunter]

My friend who lives in Johnson city said Wiggy's closed down years ago. Another business came in but wasn't as good as wiggy's. One of my son's was by the house a few days ago and asked me do I remember wiggy's.
I spent three weeks of my vacation there at a PG&E cabin up above lake Britton. I tied flies for the Hat Creek fly shop and Spring Creek anglers. Fished in the morning tied flies when I got back and delivered them in the afternoon right before I headed to Hat Creek. I met Andy Burk and Jeff Yamagata at Spring Creek Anglers. Jeff Yamagata and his dad open a shop in Oakland called A1 fish.
What great memories

[RoosterHunter]

Is the Outpost at the 4 corners... Hwy 89 and Hwy 299. One year, when we were there, the restaurant burnt down. They must've of rebuilt a new one. They had fantastic dinners. Been thinking about taking a trip this year back to the old stomping grounds.

[tcorfey]

Jay, Outpost is across from Green Gables Inn between Shasta Pines and the VFW hall. Been there for a good while but it was originally at 4-corners.

[Bob Loblaw]

I was up there this weekend. Stayed at Shasta Pines and had dinner at the Outpost! Stayed away from the steak...had two teeth pulled last week so it was soup and pasta and Hexagenia IPA! I try to get up there every May for a weekend before it gets silly around Memorial Day.

I fished Hat Creek on Saturday, regular as clockwork the tan caddis came off at 8am, huge clouds of them, and as always the fish weren't interested in them because they know the tricos start at 9am. 9am the clouds of tricos started coming off and the spinner fall was excellent. Had 6 fish in an hour on a size 20 spinner on my 7'5" bamboo rod. It was a blast! Had a chat with Dick Galland in the parking lot too! The rest of the day was pretty quiet. I fished all the way down to Wood Duck Island and back up the other side and I have to say I've never seen as many suckerfish and squawfish in the creek. Big pods of them. Id get all excited sneaking up on a fish and then realize what it was. Plenty of trout too, but none would rise to a dry fly.

I got in a couple of hours Sunday morning in the riffle and again the spinners were falling after 9am and the fish were sipping. I had one 20 inch rainbow in the net which sent me on the long drive home with a huge grin on my face. It was hopping with people on Saturday but I had the place to myself Sunday. A group of guys arrived about 11am as I was leaving...they finished a bottle of bourbon in the lot while gearing up! my kinda fishing :-)

Lots of big bright orange stoneflies buzzing around in the afternoon too, but the fish weren't interested. One joined me in the car for the drive home.

One thing to note is that the NPS has closed the trail down to Burney Creek below the falls for the rest of the year for repairs, so no fishing down there.

[BobVP]

Thanks for that report Bob.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Dick Galland is a huge part of the history up there.

Excellent report. Thanks Bob.

[RoosterHunter]

Bob,
How was the Shasta Pines. Good or bad beds, I usually stay at the PG&E cabins just up the road from Lake Britton. All you have to do is bring your bedding and food. The cabins usually sleep 4-6 people. It use to be like $100.00 a week but that was year ago. Might be $150.00 now. The Pit river was right down the road and you drove along Burney Creek on the way to the cabin.
Might be a good road trip for me this year, but more towards fall.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Bob,
How was the Shasta Pines? Good or bad beds? I usually stay at the PG&E cabins just up the road from Lake Britton. All you have to do is bring your bedding and food. The cabins usually sleep 4-6 people. It use to be like $100.00 a week but that was year ago. Might be $150.00 now. The Pit River was right down the road and you drove along Burney Creek on the way to the cabin.
Might be a good road trip for me this year, but more towards fall.

Jay, October is a good month up that way.

[ricards]

9am the clouds of tricos started coming off and the spinner fall was excellent. Had 6 fish in an hour on a size 20 spinner on my 7'5" bamboo rod.


Bob, would you mind sharing the recipe for your trico spinner pattern? I've never found one that is effective. Thanks.

[Bob Loblaw]

Bob, would you mind sharing the recipe for your trico spinner pattern? I've never found one that is effective. Thanks.

Nothing special, size 20 black thread body, slightly fatter thorax and you can add a little dubbing for that if you want. Three synthetic mayfly tails and the wing I tie sparsely with white antron fibers. Some store flies have too much wing material. I don't tie a post on mine or any sort of indicator so I usually tie them off the back of a Parachute Adams or something similar so I know roughly where it is in the water!

[Bob Loblaw]

Shasta Pines is what you'd expect for an inexpensive motel in Burney. The rooms are clean, beds comfortable, but pretty basic. They try to keep it nice, every time I stay there they are painting something. I did see that the Burney Motel across the street is for sale.

[ricards]

Nothing special, size 20 black thread body, slightly fatter thorax and you can add a little dubbing for that if you want. Three synthetic mayfly tails and the wing I tie sparsely with white antron fibers. Some store flies have too much wing material. I don't tie a post on mine or any sort of indicator so I usually tie them off the back of a Parachute Adams or something similar so I know roughly where it is in the water!

Hmmm... I've tried that same pattern on Baum Lake and Fall River with little success. Maybe I need to work on my presentation. You're right about the store-bought flies. Too much wing material.

[Bob Loblaw]

Hmmm... I've tried that same pattern on Baum Lake and Fall River with little success. Maybe I need to work on my presentation. You're right about the store-bought flies. Too much wing material.

I find I have most success where there's a little break in the water surface. ON Baum and the Fall they have all day to inspect the fly, and they get a good clear look at it, in the Hat Creek riffle you have a better chance of a take.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Only a small percentage of classic fly fishers "match the hatch" in the smooth surfaces of lakes and spring creeks with long, light leader,

light tippets like 6x, and small exacting flies. We were blessed to have been taught in the 1970s by Spring Creek fly fishers like Bob

Quigley, Hal Janssen, Andy Puyans, and Mike Monroe.


We "down streamed" the fish as they fed on the smooth surface on an array of "bugs." Today many fly shops have a large selection of

indicators, but no spinners, emergers or paraduns. "Down streaming" is wading or fishing from an anchored boat above feeding fish on

smooth water. You cast downstream to a feeding fish, stop your rod high, and drop the line, leader and fly several feet above the fish, and

then let it drift straight down, shaking out extra line, fly first, to the feeding fish.



If you can go out with a guide in a boat on the Fall River in May/June or October, my best guess, who fishes flies in the surface, when

appropriate, you can learn some of these Spring Creek methods.


If you want to see something about Bob Quigley here are some old films:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN6ikhD_2Ms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AMgmZSOnyY

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bob+quigley+fall+river+fly+fi shing+guide


Bob Quigley was an amazing fly fisher and fly tier who treated us young punks like an older brother.