Hat Creek and Fall River- report

Took 3 days off work and headed up for solo trip.

Had few hours on Hat creek Wed, was first serious effort on tight line and landed a few fish and lost some others. Couple went 16”. Got broken by something big that went deep, either brown or a sucker. Landed couple on dries on the flats.

Rented boat on Fall River, got into some on nymphs and pulling a streamer. Windy but fun.

Finished off with half day on Hat creek Friday and did pretty well on nymphs, wasn’t on fire but decent.

Saw a few ospreys, two bald eagles and an owl.

Can’t wait to get back up there.

Met some great folks on the water and camp ground.

Can’t seem to upload photos on my iPhone

Sounds like a good time! That's the kind of trip many of us are in need of.

Thanks for the report, Steve! Was there much "crowding" at Hat? I was there for a few hours about two weeks ago on a Friday morning and there were 14 vehicles in the PH2 parking lot. It was a bit of zoo...

Hi Ron
I got lucky. On Wed there were a few folks but had the bend area pretty much to myself.
On fri two guys left at 9.30 was just me and another guy, lovely bloke, for a few hours in the riffle.
Few others came and went.
I heard thur was very busy.

In the 1970s Hat Creek and Fall River where the big deal for anyone in Nor Cal who fly fished.


Rick's Lodge was the iconic hangout for those in the know. You would meet some cool folks there.

90% of all fly fishing was 'matching the hatch' in the surface, mostly with small stuff.

This was pre-indicator fishing time so the only under water deal was swinging a Zug Bug on a sink-tip.


Ray Nicholls had Shasta Anglers fly shop in Fall River Mills which was the iconic shop in the area.

Ray sold Valco prams to everyone for the Fall River and local lakes.


Bob Quigley was 'the man' who help many of us learn how to fish these magical smooth water fisheries.


Hal Janssen was always up there fishing super long leader with small nymphs for big trout.


Dave Inks and Andy Puyans had the famous Creative Sports fly shop in Walnut Creek.

This was the best fly shop in California and remains a big part of the fly fishing history.

You could drive there and see some of the top fly fishing legends of the time.


Bob Nauheim and Frank Bertaina had Fishing International travel service in Santa Rosa.

These guys pioneered the fly fishing world wide.


The San Jose Fly Casters was the top, cutting edge Bay area fly fishing club.

Their member list in the 1970s was some of the best fly fishers of modern times.

Dan Blanton and Ed Givens come to mind but they had many other "commando" fly fishers.


The Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco produced many legends as well.

Fly fishing greats Steve and Tim Rajeff grew up near the club where old timers helped them become world class casters.


I hope someone would start to write the history of fly fishing in California to save all this great information.


Many of these old fly fishers of the Greatest Generation are gone now but had wonderful lives because of fly fishing.

Bill I love the history.
I've been in sf for 12 years now since moving from Scotland.
Love to fish and big fan of quigley and Puyans flies. Seen some good videos on you tube, those guys had it dialed in!
Mike Mercer's flies are top notch too.
I bought a 1 man Pram, ideally I'd get a trailer and or leave it up in Fall River
Looks like some folks have access / leave prams up there as I saw a launch up stream from circle 6.
Any info on that? Looks like many folks have Shasta alum prams. Nice boats.

Headed that direction at the end of the month for the maiden voyage of my new (to me) trailer. I will definitely need to get some river time....bringing four twelve year old girls along with me....river time and a bottle of good whiskey. Might take the girls up to Baum Lake for a bit too.