Fishing the Feather River

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Tom

Tom

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Yesterday we pulled into the Movin' West RV Park in the small town of Greagle (pronounced Gray Eagle) in the Plumas National Forest of Northern California. We're approx 30 miles south of Quincy on CA Hwy 70. Campground owners Art and Phyllis welcomed us, checked us in, and spotted us into our site.

Although I'd done some research ahead of time, I still wanted some local fishing knowledge. Art told me to hook up with Mark at the Ace Hardware store in the adjacent (and even smaller) town, which I did this morning. Mark was quite helpful.

This morning I fished the middle fork of the Feather River, just a mile or so from the campground. This afternoon we drove to Quincy and fished another stretch of the middle fork of the Feather. The north fork of the Feather is a further 40 miles from Quincy, and we decided to leave that for another day or another trip.

No trophies today, but trout were taking small nymphs.
 
Tom said:
Yesterday we pulled into the Movin' West RV Park in the small town of Greagle (pronounced Gray Eagle) in the Plumas National Forest of Northern California. We're approx 30 miles south of Quincy on CA Hwy 70. Campground owners Art and Phyllis welcomed us, checked us in, and spotted us into our site.

Although I'd done some research ahead of time, I still wanted some local fishing knowledge. Art told me to hook up with Mark at the Ace Hardware store in the adjacent (and even smaller) town, which I did this morning. Mark was quite helpful.

This morning I fished the middle fork of the Feather River, just a mile or so from the campground. This afternoon we drove to Quincy and fished another stretch of the middle fork of the Feather. The north fork of the Feather is a further 40 miles from Quincy, and we decided to leave that for another day or another trip.

No trophies today, but trout were taking small nymphs.
Click to expand...
As a teenager I used to fish the North Fork of the Feather River.  We would camp for a week and the fishing was great.  Of course that was over 45 years ago. ::)
 
Nice country Don. I was wishing we'd gone to Quincy earlier yesterday, so we'd have had time to check out the north fork and any nearby campgrounds. Last time we were there was nearly 30 years ago, and don't remember much about that visit. Chris didn't remember anything, until I reminded her of the "old couple" camped near the river in a small trailer, and who spent their days sitting on lawn chairs in the river and panning.

Yesterday, there were a number of folks panning on the middle fork while I was fishing.
 
A couple of hours drive brought us to the north shore of Lake Almanor, near the town of Chester, on the edge of the Lassen National Forest. We're camped  here for the next couple of days.  Took a drive this afternoon and checked out the upper north fork of the  Feather River and the Hamilton Beach creek,  both of which empty into  this lake. I wish I had a NFS map (the ranger station was closed), but the owner  of a local fly fishing shop was quite helpful in showing me how best to  access the water via several dirt roads.

The plan is to hit the north fork of the Feather early in the morning. Then I might put  the float tube in the water in the afternoon and do some lake fishing. I  brought along the neoprene waders and fins so I can waddle around the  shoreline.

Lake Almanor, an artifical lake, is one of 3,000 lakes in California, some man made and many are  natural. Over the years, we've visited more lakes than I can count, but  haven't scratched the surface. The more remote ones can only be accessed  on foot over some rough terrain, but my bod doesn't allow that.               
 
The river runs through the town of Chester and not far from a motel we used to stay before heading out to camp.  The owner told me it was a waste of time to fish in town.  I came back about 30 minutes later with a nice 18" rainbow and told him there was one more where this was, under the bridge.  Wasn't 5 minutes and the office had a sign on it, "closed".
 
Sure am George. I had approx 5 hours on the river today. Not very productive, but it was still nice to be on the water. Found my way around some of the NFS roads and a logging road, and talked with a local I stumbled across. Also made good notes for next time.
 
Such beautiful country!  My sister lives on the golf course in the peninsula community.  Her husband fishes the lake in a boat but I don't think he fly fishes.  The leaves should be turning soon in the Feather River canyon.

Margi
 
Don, I couldn't find river access in the town today. Maybe there's been some real estate development since you were here.
 
Saw lots of Bambi's relatives today, among them was a doe and a couple of fawn. Momma came into the river a couple of hundred yards ahead of me. I was wishing I had my camera, then remembered I (unusual for me) had my cell phone in a pocket. By the time I got the velcro pocket open and the cell phone removed from a Ziploc bag, momma saw me and disappeared.

It's tough to tell from the picture, but momma was looking right at me the whole time.
 

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I learned today (from a local) that, due to some research from a CA university, there had been a moratorium on planting the upper Feather River for 18 months. The moratorium was lifted for some stretches, and planting resumed in August this year.

Meanhwhile, there are still plenty of native trout in this river.
 
Tom said:
The more remote ones can only be accessed  on foot over some rough terrain, but my bod doesn't allow that.             
Click to expand...
Well, mine still does quite well and I try to stay that way.

I have  backpacked near Graeagle, Smith Lake area. Also have done day hikes near Gold Lake, near where you are.

But see some of the lakes I saw a few weeks ago. This is all in the middle of nowhere, CA. Hidden Lake is at:
N  39.40156
W120.62372

See:

http://www.backpacker.com/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=603107219;t=9991141027

-Don-
 
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