Burney area

[FHTFYR]

I will be heading up to burney the last week of may for a few days of good (I hope) fishing. I have four days (weekdays )and plan on hitting Hat Creek and the Pitt River can anyone point me to some areas to start on these rivers. I have fished the area before but only the smaller streams. I read that this time of year was one of the best times to fish this area so I'm making a trip out of it.

[bigtj]

The pit may still be blown. You should check conditions they are way off from normal. Still a lot of snow in Lassen so the higher creeks won't be an option. Most of the information coming out from the fishing reports is too old by the time you get there so be prepared to be flexible depending on what you find when you arrive. Lakes and spring creeks will probably be your best options.

[Ueyama]

I fished Hat Creek for the first time on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. I have never been to this area and finally ended up and camped at Cassel (PG&E campsite). I did not fish too much from the town of Cassel and up river b/c it reminded me of a slough with bank fishermen, but did see alot of people dry flying. It was very slow and small hatches were here and there. Nothing was "awe" worthy. I visited Powerhouse #1 by the fishery, and saw about 5 people on non-motorized boats and doing a lot of nymphing at Baum Lake. At about 10:30am everyone was catching fish, but to my dismay they were all 10" planters. I created my home at Powerhouse #2 in the riffles. It seemed like combat fishing on Friday afternoon. There were about 5 people on the island and about 4 on the parking lot side. The end of the tailout was working well for one person and he was suggesting midges and yellowish/cream nymphs. I fished down river, past the first bend, and about 50 yards before the big tree on the left. The dry fly action was very light when I was fishing from 3pm til 7pm. There were about 3 rises every 30 minutes. Spinners and elk hair caddis were working for me but in size 14. I hooked two but did not land them. I explored two more bends down river and nothing was in sight I only saw two fish (sight fishing) for the next 400 yards. Saturday came and I fished the riffles and I hooked two again, but lost both of them. I was using size 18 Flashback PT's and assorted light colored variations such as hare's ears/princes but with creme dubbing in size 14's. Fished on Sunday with only 1 other person in the morning, and got skunked. VERY FEW RISES. I then decided to explore upstream and noticed tons of big fish at the powerhouse. I tried a few casts but decided to move on upstream in the creek water. I finally landed a dinky 8 incher in a pool of 3 feet of water when the flows were running on 1 feet high. At least I landed something.

PS. I took a look at county park off of HWY 299 and noticed few rises in this area and the water was about 3 feet higher than normal but pretty clear.

PSS... Everyone said PIT was blown out.

PSSS... On Thursday night, I stayed at Ash Camp on the McCloud. The flows were super high. I suggest not stepping a foot in the water. A couple of die harders were out and were catching a few but only could find a couple of edges in the whole stretch from the Blowhole to AshCamp. I say the water level is up around 5 feet and raging.... Plus, if you did fish the edges, all you would do is get hung up in all the submerged brush and trees.

Hope this helps
Mike

[fishingvet]

Just got back from a trip to Fall river Thursday-Sunday. Water temp 48 and no bugs coming off and visibility off as well. By Sunday temp 51 and clearing but only people catching fish were deep with a leach, even that was rare. Another week and maybe some bugs will start hatching. Fished Hat Creek Friday and Saturday am, pwerhouse #2. Most sucessful person each day was fishing dark wooleybuggers along the bottom. I never tried that but did pick up one on a PT and had several missed on a PMD cripple. I agree with assessment of Pit, it will be weeks before it is fishable.

[BigBuddha]

Vaughn's Sporting Goods has a weekly report on thier website. If you google it you should find it. It is located in Burney so they should have up to date info on the area including Baum Lake. They are very favorable to flyfisherman and you can email them for info as well.

[FHTFYR]

Well were headed out I'll post a report when we get back. Thanks for the info.