The Feather River
The Feather River flows through historic California gold country. It emerges from the bottom of Lake Oroville in the town that also shares it’s name. Over the last few years Steelhead and Salmon numbers have been improving. Steelhead come into the system on the heels of their anadromous cousins making for some pretty darn good fly fishing. Miners founded the town of Oroville and came here to scour the Feather, the surrounding hillsides and tributaries in search of "Oro".(the Spanish word for gold and thus gold town is a direct translation) Now anglers prospecting the Feather in search of Silver sided steelhead can expect to encounter hard fighting bar room brawlers. The rivers proximity to Sacramento and San Francisco and the fact that it is an early run of steelhead make the Feather a great spot to target them before the Trinity river and other coastal California options heat up.
Fly Fishing on the Feather
The Feather is home to both wild and hatchery Steelhead. Most of them are in the 3-6 lb range. Fish to 10 lbs are still a possibility. Unlike most coastal steelhead rivers, where one or two fish would be a banner day, the Feather often gives up multiple fish on any given day during the peak season.