Feather River Fly Fishing Report

Mat Squilante reports on 12.29.2015

Made a trip to the Feather this weekend and did well with 3 hookups that unfortunately ended in losing each fish after a fight but none-the-less they’re in the system. One fish was at my feet and chrome bright suggesting it was a fairly fresh fish. The other two were heavily colored so they’ve probably been in the system for a bit and are getting ready to spawn.

Regardless of the commonly held belief that steelhead will hit just about anything you throw at them I was again disabused of this line of thinking. I noticed something, changed flies and picked up 2 fish within 20 minutes. The 3rd fish came later, on the well known technique of pulling your dragging worm pattern through the tops of the riffles of course imitating all the real worms that always swim upstream against a hard current - yeah, if anyone has an explanation for this one have them call me. Last but not least, the possibly could be a steelhead, pike minnows never disappoint and made several appearances throughout the day.

Regarding flies for January and the Yuba if you haven’t heard back from your friend I’d like to pick up the flies I dropped off. Please let me know when you’ll be around – 2 nymphs and 2 dries.