FEATHER RIVER REPORT 12/12/24
Jonathan Hubbard: There are a few fish hanging around in the Feather and some fresh winter fish pushing in with this new round of precipitation. Low Flow Channel is at 800 cfs and High Flow in the Oroville Wildlife Area is at 1700 cfs and very wadeable. Clarity is chalky green with about 2 to 3 feet of visibility so size up your presentations a little and fish prince nymphs, caddis, eggs, attractors, and worms to find fish under the indicator.
If you want to swing, hit the High Flow section and throw leeches and sculpins in black, purple, pink and olive. A blue and black Hoh Bo Spey is always a good bet in colored up water or something that pushes a little more water.
Jonathan Hubbard: The feather is in full swing. Salmon have finished staging and, with this colder weather, they are on redds and dropping eggs. If you love the egg bite this is the place to be and that's no secret! Expect company all over the river as it's prime time, but if you've never caught a steelhead or already have the bug, this is one of the best times to try your luck. Find spawning salmon and fish egg patterns and caddis behind them. Make sure you are very careful not to wade on active redds, which can be identified by the salmon paired up on top of them or the curcular clean gravel nests which stand out clearly against the olive river bottom. You're going to break off on some kings fishing the egg bite, but when you get a big feather bruiser it'll be worth the effort! Mostly large 18-28 inch hatchery fish are throughout the system from low flow channel to high flow with a few resident rainbows and a sprinkling of native fish in the mix. Flows are seasonally low in low flow channel at 800 cfs and around 2k in high flow with great water temps. If you like to swing the fly, the high flow section in the Oroville Wildlife Area is prime for swinging milking eggs, flesh patterns, sculpins, and soft hackles.
FEATHER RIVER REPORT 10/25/24
Ben Thompson: There are already a lot of salmon in the river. The flows are similar to last year and as they start to drop a bit it is going to come into prime shape. Last fall was absolutely epic with how many fish were around and this year is likely going to be the same. Last year a good chunk of fall we saw some awesome mid morning dry fly fishing, the river is healthy and I think that there will be some good dry fly opportunities until it gets real cold. During many drought years fishing can become tough after the few weeks of December but last year with all the water it fished through pretty much all of winter and I am hoping this year will be the same.
FEATHER RIVER REPORT 8/28/24
