I grew up fishing the "lower' Feather, before it became such a popular steelhead destination. Through Oroville it was a warm water fishery with small mouth bass up to 5 pounds right in town. Before it was dredged for gold in 1900, sturgeon to 300 pounds were caught in deep holes below the Meyers Street bridge (where the hatchery now sits). Shad in the spring, salmon in the fall, all were within a 20 minute bike ride of home, right in the low flow section.  The small mouth bass are still there, but no one bothers them.