Fishing Around Auburn

[Timbers]

Looking for some new water (rivers) and possibly relocating to this area. Wife and I are going to make a move withing the next 1-3 years and searching out possible spots in CA and some out of state.

Would like to be able to access water not too far from the road or campground.

Anyone with suggestions of fishing or tent camping spots in and around Auburn please let me know here or through PM.

Thanks I appreciate any suggestions.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

It is about one hour from Auburn to Truckee which is a great area to fish.

Not too far from Auburn you have the Lower American, Lower Yuba, Lower Feather and Lower Sacramento rivers.


From Auburn to the Pacific Coast is 2 to 3 hours, where it is 65 degrees high all summer.

Most of the time they have fresh King salmon, fresh Halibut, farmed Oysters, fresh clams and fresh Dungeness crabs.



I like the idea of having two places: one for winter and one for summer.


Another idea is to have one home and an RV if you are retired and would us it a lot.


It depends on what kind of fishing you want to do?

[Timbers]

Bill,

Thank you for the reply.

Guess I should have been a little bit more specific in my description. We mostly enjoy wet wading in smaller size rivers (Pit 3/4 and McCloud, Trinity) for trout and steelhead. Usually, we tent camp but it's becoming a bit more difficult as we're getting older. No RV in the picture and not retired.

Didn't really think about Truckee, but yes I like that area for fishing too. Don't think we could afford to move there though.

I was hoping someone would know of some areas to camp on one of the forks of the American River or something similar in the area.

Thanks again.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Actually Redding/Red Bluff, CA was always a good place to live for the fly fishing and hunting. Chico/Oroville? Montana?


Are planning to make a move, home wise, soon?

[Timbers]

Actually Redding/Red Bluff, CA was always a good place to live for the fly fishing and hunting. Chico/Oroville? Montana?


Are planning to make a move, home wise, soon?

If we don't end up out of state we're trying to stay reasonably close to Sonoma County because of family and clients.

Redding/Red Bluff would be great if it wasn't so darn hot. Out of state we've been looking at Montana, Idaho, Wyoming.

Looking at making a change within the next 3 years.

[mattv-mcfly]

I'm not super familiar with Auburn area since I'm about an hour away but I've eyed and research a few spots on Google Maps. I've been to RuckaChucky but have not fished or camped there. The MF below the falls looks like good water. Pretty steep though and would require a lot of boulder hopping. Mineral Bar looks good too and a bit flatter. I believe all the forks of the American are pretty difficult to access and fish due to the steep terrain. I've also hear the lower sections of the American also tend to be smallmouth fisheries in the summer. I would also look into sections of the Bear River. It looks like a pretty decent fishery around Dutch and Drum Powerhouse. I say just pick a spot and start exploring.
But if your moving to be around good fishing water I would suggest Redding area. I'm not the biggest fan but you can't deny the access to all the water there.

[Timbers]

I'm not super familiar with Auburn area since I'm about an hour away but I've eyed and research a few spots on Google Maps. I've been to RuckaChucky but have not fished or camped there. The MF below the falls looks like good water. Pretty steep though and would require a lot of boulder hopping. Mineral Bar looks good too and a bit flatter. I believe all the forks of the American are pretty difficult to access and fish due to the steep terrain. I've also hear the lower sections of the American also tend to be smallmouth fisheries in the summer. I would also look into sections of the Bear River. It looks like a pretty decent fishery around Dutch and Drum Powerhouse. I say just pick a spot and start exploring.
But if your moving to be around good fishing water I would suggest Redding area. I'm not the biggest fan but you can't deny the access to all the water there.

Thanks for your reply mattv-mcfly. I've looked at a couple of the places you've mentioned too. Bear River does look interesting.

[Jeff F]

The NF Yuba is easy to get to. Tons of smaller rainbows, but roadside and generally easy wading.

MF Yuba can be accessed by a couple steep dirt roads. This is truly a wild canyon. This fishing is good for rainbows from 6-16". But most are 10" or so.

SF Yuba.....forget it. Too warm to support trout in the Auburn area. And gets too low up Hwy 80.

The MF American has very little access. Where you can access is not very good fishing as those spots get lots of pressure and bait is allowed in season. However, there are a couple hike-to spots that are excellent, if you're willing to drop 1300 feet into the canyon in a mile hike.

The NF American has lots of trails, but again, they are very steep. Lots of fish though. Mostly smallish rainbows (6-12") but you can run into a few big ones. The lower reaches (Yankee Jims/Iowa Hill are now mostly smallmouth bass fisheries. So you'd have hit higher elevation trailheads for trout.

SF American........the daily whitewater flows make this river not good for fishing. Although it does get planted, and there are some decent out of the way spots, but not the number of fish you'd hope for.

Bear River......not worth the effort.

Deer Creek runs right through Nevada City and Grass Valley. There are surprisingly quite a few fish in there. Bows and browns from 6-12". You can start at a road crossing and just wade up or downstream for quite a ways to avoid private property.

If you have a float tube, there are tons of lakes within 1-2hrs.

Yes, Redding is a much better base for fishing. It gets hot, but so does Auburn. Auburn will see almost as many 100-deg days as Redding.

~Jeff