I am heading up to Hat creek in a few weeks to go camping and do some fishing. Was wondering if anyone had fished it? If so is there any advice you might be willing to spare? If not on the thread, then maybe through a PM? Also I have been looking at maps and noticed that the Pitt is close. Should I look into hitting it up too? Any other tips? Thats for in info.
Hat can be a great fishery, timing is everything. If your going to the wild trout section, be there early. Good trico hatch till about 10:30AM. Make sure you have some trico and pmd spinners/cripples. Yellow sallies, Salmon flies and green drakes are good to have as well and of course your usual caddis flies. It is very technical river. Presentation is key in the slow water sections, 6x-7x and long leaders is a must. The powerhouse riffle is fun to fish and can produce all day long. Often people miss the hatch in that riffle, nymphing while they should be dryfly fishing. Good trick there is to put on a top fly and have a nymph underneath.
As for the Pit, it's a great body of water, mostly nymphing , but be prepared for some nasty wading, poison oak and snakes.
Also, there are fewer crowds on the lower section below the powerhouse riffle, need to hike a bit all the way down practically to the confluence with the Pitt.
As for the Pit, bring a strong wading staff, not one of the foldables, you'll need it. Be prepared to do indicator nymphing as it will help you drift areas that you can't reach for tightlining. Chuck some buggers or other streamers and you'll probably pick up some smallies in the Pitt in addition to trout.
Baum lake is also something to keep on the radar if you're going to be up there if you have a float tube.
I fished the pit a few weeks ago and did really well. The advice on the wading is exactly right. Get the strongest wading staff that you can. And move slowly. I was using golden stone nymphs size 10 and they were slamming them. I also used olive bunny leeches in the slower runs and did well. And, the fish are much bigger than on Hat Creek. If you are camping up there, check out the campground at Cassel. There is usually plenty of room and its much cheaper than Burney falls campground which is always super crowded. Also there is some great easy fishing there if the Pit kicks your A**. The section of Hat Creek in Cassel,(above the post office), has some really big fish and it is exactly like a spring creek. You'll have to compete with hardware fishermen but I have caught some huge trout there. Rainbows and browns with the occasional brook trout. I fish there a lot because I live there part of the year.
I haven't fished Hat in many, many years, but I have had a lot of experience on the stream. One thing I used to do is to wait until about an hour before dark and head on down to the meadow section below Powerhouse 2. If the rise is early, the fish will start rising an hour before dark (pitch dark). If the rise is late, the fish wont' start going until 15 or 20 minutes before dark. When they get going, however, they can really get going. They are still tough to catch even in the fading light, but they are as easy as they are going to get. Try to see what flies are on the water. Usually, a #16 olive Quigley Cripple or a #16 Little Yellow Stone can work well when the light starts to fade. When it gets darker, switch to a #16 bright colored paradun; a bright orange paradun used to work well since you can see it in the dark. Make sure you bring a small flashlight so that you can change flies in the dark.
