Feather River

Fishing the Feather River

The Feather is the big valley river that carries Lake Oroville's water south to the Sacramento River at Verona. Below Oroville Dam it passes through the Thermalito complex, runs as a low-flow channel through Oroville and the Oroville Wildlife Area, then wanders between flood control levees past Gridley and Live Oak to Marysville and Yuba City, where the Yuba joins. The Thermalito Forebay and Afterbay sit off the river and fish like lakes. At the top, the Thermalito Diversion Pool backs up behind its dam, with Burma Road on the north shore and a foot and bike trail on the south. Below the Fish Barrier Dam and the Feather River Hatchery, the town reach passes Bedrock Park and Montgomery Street to the Hwy 162 bridge. The wildlife area follows, reached by gravel roads off Oro Dam Blvd on the west bank and Hwy 70 on the east, and its riffles, runs, chutes and gravel bars are the best wading and fly water on the river. Farther down come the Palm Ave riffle and the Salmon Hole, the deep water at the Gridley Road bridge, Honcut Creek and the Live Oak Recreation Area. Below town, Shanghai Bend has a rock shelf with a chute through it, and from Star Bend past the Bear River mouth, Nicolaus and Garden Highway Bend, the river slows and spreads out to Verona between sand bars, small brushy beaches and rock-armored levee. Much of it is private, but levee roads give walk-in access wherever you can park. Salmon and steelhead hold above Star Bend; below it they move through fast, and the river belongs mostly to stripers and catfish. Chinook peak in mid-September. Steelhead run from September through February, the biggest around Thanksgiving, with the best fly fishing from mid-September to mid-October. Shad of 3 to 6 pounds enter at Verona from late April and spawn in the first 3 miles below the Afterbay outlet from mid-May to mid-June. Schoolie stripers fill the lower 2 miles above Verona in February and March, spawners follow in May, and June brings night fishing at Star Bend. Smallmouth are good between Verona and Nicolaus in May and June. The Diversion Pool holds rainbows, browns and smallmouth, and the Afterbay has largemouth, catfish and perch. Steelhead anglers wade the riffles and tailouts with GloBugs, egg patterns or a Babine Special, or drift roe, nightcrawlers or bead and yarn; spin anglers throw a Mepps or a Panther Martin. Shad hit shad flies or a sparse Mr Twister on a fly rod, and stripers take pencil poppers at night, broken-back Rebels and cut anchovies or herring. Flow sets the method: low water bares sand bars you can wade and fly fish, and high water is bait and lure water. The bedrock stretch from Honcut Creek up to Oroville fishes best during storms. Many access details here date from 1990, so roads, ramps and gates may have changed. Regulations change and differ by section, so check the current California regulations before you go.