Fly Fishing: A beginner's experience

Northern California has some of the best fly fishing spots in the western United States. In my personal experience, the Feather River, Sacramento River, and their tributaries consistently produce great fish. In this post, i’ll go over why these spots are notorious for fishing so well year-round.

First off, the Feather River is by far my number one favorite spot in all of Northern California if I had to pick. One major reason is simply the beauty, especially on the North Fork near Belden, where you can catch chunky rainbows and brown trout. Another big reason is because of the consistent steelhead runs. The steelhead in the feather usually start to ramp up quite a bit when the salmon die off from spawning, which in this year’s case, will be by Thanksgiving. For fall and winter steelhead, I go to two spots on the Feather in Oroville.

The Sacramento River and its tributaries are my second favorite overall spots to fish in NorCal. The Sacramento River offers a very wide variety of species of fish, which include bass and trout. For trout, I would recommend the upper Sacramento River near Redding, as trout are active consistently throughout the year. As for Bass, I’ve caught them on the Sacramento River in Chico using poppers. In my opinion, one of the best tributaries of the Sacramento River is Deer Creek. This spot doesn’t necessarily quality fish year round, but it can be absolutely dynamite in the fall for browns, rainbows, brookies, and even Chinook Salmon.