Planning first Feather trip - any suggestions?

[janbfishinfolk]

Our fly club is headed up to the Oroville State Wildlife area mid Nov. We have never been there before and wondered if someone might share some info on the area. Thanks.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

You might go into one of the local Nor Cal fly shops and buy a StreamTime map of the Feather River and see if someone that knows the river would mark all the runs for you?

You might see if you can get a local guide to put on a group seminar showing everyone how to rig up and how to fish that water.

It is mostly indicator fishing with a nymph/egg imitation combo then.

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9' to 10' rods in #6 or 7 weight with a floating line.

med/large indicator off short butt section.

4 to 8 feet of 2x FC tippet depending on the depth of the runs.

#12 green caddis larva and variety of egg imitations plus slit shot as needed.

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The lower Feather River does get the largest run of Steelhead of all the Valley River with Oct/Nov being the prime time usually.

There is the "lower flow" section that is open from the "green bridge" on Oroville Dam Blvd downstream to the Thermalito Outflow. There are a half dozen runs in that section where the river takes a drop in elevation.

From the Thermalito Outflow downstream for several mile there are many runs to fish.

There are lots of gravel roads to travel for access so it takes some time to really explore all the possibilities. Some use drift boats to fish dozens of runs in one day. Overcast is a good thing too.

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As soon as there are reports of good numbers of fish we usually recommend going with a good guide first. We have people who went years ago with Chris Pasley and are still going there yearly with good success. Chris said one of his secrets was to get to know many runs and then just hit one after another till he found some fish. Mid-week is always going to be less crowded.

[janbfishinfolk]

Thanks for the help Bill.

John