Middle Fork Feather River

Patrick · Veteran Member

Middle Fork Feather River

robdogj · Veteran Member

Bro, you shouldn't post about this secret

. I was at Red Bridge on Tues & Weds. I saw a lot of fish jumpin. I caught a lil' down from Red Bridge. I was the only guy there. There was nothing but miners there. If anyone reads this & is thinkin' about going, PLEASE PRACTICE CATCH & RELEASE TACTICS. This is a very beautiful place w/ tons of fish, that everyone can have a chance to catch.

Patrick · Veteran Member

Hey Robdogj check the private message I sent...

ConcordBob · Veteran Member

Are you guys telling secrets ?

I've never fished the Feather. What I read suggests the access is generally tough in a lot of the areas...do you folks find that to be the case ? I would like to fish the Feather some time down the road...is the Qunincy/Portola area the best place to start ? Any other general areas I should consider ?

Just looking to get a good fishing outing in a new area for me..

Thanks

Bob

Patrick · Veteran Member

No secrets. The only secret is that you tend not to find many fishers on the MFF. I was there for 2 days and only saw and spoke to one other. Nice guy too...

ConcordBob · Veteran Member

I was only kidding...it's nice to be able to fish without a lot of folks to compete with for water.

I would hope to get up there someday....I like others, like to try different waters....

Thanks....

robdogj · Veteran Member

Patrick wrote:

No secrets. The only secret is that you tend not to find many fishers on the MFF. I was there for 2 days and only saw and spoke to one other. Nice guy too...

Lucky you. I was the only guy fishing on the river. There were only miners, panning for gold.

strip4bigtail · Member

Gentlemen,

I may head up to the MFF this weekend, was curious what was hatching?? i saw the caddis remark, anything else fun?? like a size 8 stone fly?? ant suggestions on where to stay? either motel or camp ground?? thanks for the info.

clear skies,

ET

robdogj · Veteran Member

strip4bigtail wrote:

curious what was hatching?? i saw the caddis remark, anything else fun??

'bigtail, you can try your most consistent Dry Fly. I was only able to catch on dries, but one was a EH caddis & the other was a Mosquito imitation. Also, gnat or midge imitations should work as well. I would advise short line nymphing though. Long casts, w/ long leaders. I went to a fly shop & they said a 4X tippet would work, but I would try a 6X first. Also, try further west into the canyon areas if you can. No fishing pressure at all. Just do one thing for me,

CATCH & RELEASE!!!

Patrick · Veteran Member

EH Caddis for me as well. 6x tippet at least 2 feet long on virtually any bead head dropper. As far as accomodations, I've never stayed at a motel/hotel there and I'd hate to give you a recommendation on campgrounds on the 4th weekend and find out they were occupied. From my book (no promises that the numbers are still relevant) you can call the Plumas County Visitors Bureau at 800-326-2247. For U.S. Forest Service Campgrounds call 530-283-2050.

The Caddis hatch for me happened when the sun passed under the trees. I brought a cooler down to a sand bar which split the river and sat on the cooler waiting for the sun to go down. As I setup my rig and drinking a bud (light of course), I took in the scenery and watched for the hatch and risers. It's something I look forward to all year and makes you decompress a bit. Anyways, have a great time and let us know how it went...

-- Edited by Patrick at 18:22, 2006-06-28

strip4bigtail · Member

Alright, thanks guys!! i think i will head up friday and stay till tuesday, maybe hit gold lake and nelson creek. I know what you mean patrick, about the decompressing. I will be doing a lot of that.

Dont worry, i always fish trout for sport and never eat them. Its funny when people (non-fly fishermen) hear that and look at me like i'm an idiot.... but i think there is no other way!

thanks again, ill keep you posted!!!

ET

strip4bigtail · Member

good morning all... got back from the MFF on sunday night...had to cut the trip short due to a broken sage and the lack of open shops on a sunday in quincy, damn!! I started by catching 6-8 inchers in Nelson creek on size 18 beadhead princes and copper johns. The next day i caught plenty of rainbows, also out of nelson. Sunday morning i caught some nice 12-13 inchers and at about noon...snap!!! I was catching more and bigger fish as the weekend went on, i was sure of a trophy sunday or monday but...oh well. In all I had a great trip (other then the rod incident).

The rainbows were beautiful!!!! No spots below the lateral line, very deep red band and a yellowish background that faded to white towards the belly. the dorsal fin had a small orange or yellow ( depending on the fish) spot in the upper corner, never seen that b4!! I didnt use many dries, as they were not readily rising, although i didnt fish the MFF much. I only had a chance to fish the creek, mostly, i did spend some time on the river and caught some smallies. my plan was to fish MFF monday and sunday but i couldn't b/c of the rod thing.

Anyway, thanks for the info robdogj and Patrick!!! it is a great fishery!!!

...Next stop- Stanislaus (middle and south forks) in a week!!!!

piece of mind,

ET

Patrick · Veteran Member

Glad you had a nice trip. Beautiful country up there. Lots of CHP too. I'm surprised the Fly shop in Quincy was closed Sunday. I called them a few weeks ago on a sunday and they were open. Hmmm, guess he took the day off.

I broke the tip off my Sage last year and had it back in my hands in two weeks. They're really good about customer service. I always bring a spare now... Figure if I go to all the trouble to make the trip, I don't want a broken rod to get in the way...

BTW, next destination for me is either the Middle Stan., Beaver creek, East Carson and or West Walker in a few weeks. Can't decide where to go yet...

I've mentioned this before but could use repeating, I use dreamflows to monitor the water flows around the state. http://www.dreamflows.com/flows-canv.html

There also used to be a CalTrans webcam that took a shot every few hours of the MFF, unfortunately they turned it to monitor the road. Haha...

The Sultan of Sod · Member

Mums the word on this fishery fellas. Thank god for the tough access.Wild and scenic. If you can find the trails get about a mile down from Nelson creek. No waders. Unless of course you like to lose a lot of weight. Hopper patterns during the day is the ticket. Big browns are also lurking in the evening.

My advise is to wet wade down from Nelson creek and if you can't climb over the ledges, swim through the deeper holes.

SOS

robdogj · Veteran Member

Hey folks you have 6 dayz left in '06 to fish this great place. So many places to go here & all of them produce. I was there yesterday & No ONE was there. If you have the time, go. You will be rewarded.

MotoGP · Veteran Member

I was up that way on my way to Almanor this weekend. I didnt fish the feather though, but did hit up Upper Sardine and Packer Lake. I caught all the brook trout I could handle, good size too, 12-15 inches. The water is really cold so they are up on the surface and hungry as heck! Any dry you throw at them they will hit every cast! In the Quincy area I really like Spanish Creek and Bucks lake. Almanor was non-productive for me :( but it did snow and that was fun!

robdogj · Veteran Member

Has anyone been back up there again??? I went back in August. Nice time. I saw more fishermen this time around.

Patrick · Veteran Member

Yep, I was up there at the end of May.� I always make that area my first stop of the season and work my way south for some reason.� I had a post awhile back:
http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=65954&p=3&topicID=11860391&topicPage=1

Love it up there, but the Forrest Service was in full force this year worrying about fires.� I can't blame them, but it would be nice if they concentrated on those that tend to perpetrate the offences they are worried about as opposed to the conscience angler.�

Out for Trout · Member

Surprised to hear the MFF still has good flows? Was up there in June and the water temp was real warm, and the flows real low. Did manage to catch a bunch of dinks on caddis in the evening. Fished below nelson creek and got into some bigger bows. Still on of the best kept secerts in Cal. Lets keep it that way.

norcalcattleman · Newbie

The 32 mile wild and scenic mff is one of the best kept secrets in northern california. from milsap bar to la porte quincy bridge has a very healthy trout habitat.� If you are physicaly able to do 4 to 6 mile hikes round trip, with elavation changes from 1800 to 2500 you can be rewarded with some world class trout fishing.� Seldom fish waters really produce in mff canyons. I recommend no ear bar . oddie bar and cleghorn. these trailheads start from the bucks lake area .� catch and release

robdogj · Veteran Member

Thanx for the tip :D

SK60 · Senior Member

If you are serious about fishing the Middle Fork Feather get a copy of Andrew Harris's book "Plumas National Forest Trout Fishing guide". He lists all the trails and how to access them from the maze of Forest Service Roads, giving distances to turns, etc. The ends of most of these roads are 4 wheel quality, but get you relatively close. He also describes "degrees of difficulty" for each descent/ascent.

ONEWEIGHT · Senior Member

Man this post resurfaced after 2 years!!!!!� We had a chance to fish the Middle Fork Feather on Saturday.� I had not fished it before but came away impressed.� Nice fishing with plenty of risers.� We caught fish to 17".� The conditions were much better than the Truckee or Little Truckee right now

Patrick · Veteran Member

Two years!!!� I've impressed myself.� Boy, I haven't posted here in quite awhile.� Nor have I fished in a year, but I will be at the MFF when the snowpack has subsided.

Congrats ONEWEIGHT on a nice outting.� That area is beautiful and you should check out yellow creek if you make your way back.� Yellow creek is spring fed and has easy access to the wild trout section.� A must stop IMOH...

Boy, I have been aching to get out there.� To the point where I am annoying people just talking about it.

shon42073 · Senior Member

How does one go a year without fishing

?

Patrick · Veteran Member

I have an autistic son and a premmie that is always sick.� Plus I have to work.

Bugger · Senior Member

Went down the MFF canyon in the scenic and wild section last weekend for an overnighter with the girlfriend and some fly fishing. Almost got lost on the forest roads to the trailhead. Don't go without a forest service map at minimum (and use it!). STEEP trail down to the canyon, average 25% grade, really need good legs and a sure foot as the trail is not really in good condition at some places, and missing a sharp turn will send you down there faster than you want. If you're not in shape,�this will remind you.

But this�really is a nice area and great for fly fishing. Haven't seen�anybody else�in 2 days. The water was clear and maybe still�a bit high to allow for easy wading acess everywhere, but it's very fishable and wadable.� I did�some wet wading but mostly�fished from boulders and the bank.�You don't have to go very far, there's fish everywhere, raising�to dries all day even�when there's not�much bug activity going on. I worked�a bit�up�and down the river, it's all very good too. No need for perfect dead drifts there, twitching,�dragging and swinging flies seemed to get their attention and�get them�out of cover to at least have a look at the fly. So�my favorite flies of the weekend (they liked almost everything I tried) was a size 12 black parachute madam X and a size 14 elk hair caddis. Saw 3 species of caddis, stoneflies (yellow sallies, some small and some big black ones and even a few salmon�flies), PMDs and 2 other still unindentified mayflies, tons of midges, a couple dragonflies,�hoppers and crickets... and several species of butterflies (not really on the water, but everywhere else... so many of them... kept the GF entertained!).��Great fly fishing experience. This summer is�gonna be great.