Diversion Pool Thermalito Forebay

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1 Oroville Area Fishing and Outdoor Report 09 / 07 / 2016 By Craig Bentley 2016 Spotted bass sulk on Lake Oroville as Salmon fishing picks up markedly on the Feather River below Oroville as Fall Run Chinook bite takes off from Thermalito on downstream! Lake Oroville The Lake surface elevation is 759 feet and continues to drop about sixteen inches a day. The surface temperature is 74 degrees. The main body is clear green. Mudlines form off of main body points when there is significant wind. There may still be some woody debris on the lake and caution is advised for boaters to watch out for submerged logs while underway at high speed. The caution advisory statement regarding Bluegreen Algae issued by CA State Parks three weeks ago has been lifted for the Middle Fork arm, as the algae subsided. The lower concrete launch ramps at Bidwell Canyon and the Spillway are open. Lime Saddle Marina Launch Ramp has been closed until further notice due to the Saddle Fire. The following Car-top boat access points are now closed to launching, including; Dark Canyon, Enterprise, Foreman Creek, Loafer Creek, Nelson Bar, Stringtown and Vinton Gulch. Boater's may call the lake's Visitor Center at (530) , to check the daily status of launch ramps prior to making a trip up to the lake. The weather will be sunny and hot through the weekend. High temperatures will be from 92 to 95, with lows from 61 to 67 degrees. Winds will be light and variable to 6 mph, afternoons. While the Saddle Fire has distracted most lake users, fishing reports have been the same last week on Oroville. The bass bite remains tough up with fish suspending deep and sulking with the dropping lake level. Water releases by DWR are still going on. On a typical outing, two anglers are catching ten to fifteen bass in a four to six hour session with the better fishing in the late evening to 10 Pm, or the early morning. Mostly smaller bass were being caught by boating anglers. Topwater lures, chatterbaits, crankbaits and Finesse fishing plastics were working for catching a few bass over 12-inches last week, with few fish going over 14-inches. Boating bass anglers are working the suspended fish with small swimbaits, or tubes are finding a few fish at 40 feet. Fish along the points, or on the deeper flats with small rocks, or along steep walls. Drop-shoting small tubes or Keitech minnows, or fishing 5" Senkos may catch some small bass. Natural bait fish colors such as Baby bass, Shad and Bluegill may catch bass. Earth tone baits, like watermelon, pumpkin, oxblood or brown are also good color choices.

2 Panfish may be caught in brushy coves, such as Mc Cabe's or Stringtown in the South Fork arm, or Dark Canyon and Canyon Creek, up the West Branch arm. Bluegill, an occasional Crappie and other varieties of hand-sized perch may also be found in those areas. Catfish are still on the bite and some nice cats can be caught weighing between 5 to 7-pounds. Try fresh Chicken Liver, Crawdads or cut bait for Cats. The catfish bite will wane with the cooling water temperatures as Fall nears. King salmon fishing continues to be decent for boaters that are trolling. The main body continues to give up limits of fat Kings to 18-inches in good numbers, mornings until about 10 Am. The main body of the lake has been uncrowded most days, with few if any boats trolling in front of the Dam on weekdays. The Dam, Spillway, Green Bridge, Bidwell Point, Potters Point and the "Slot" have been good areas to troll. The catch has been fish averaging 13" to 15", with a occasional fish to 18" caught. Boaters troll lures down from 40 feet, down to the 65 foot mark to catch salmon, with some biting as deep as 75 feet. The last few weeks, 55 to 65 feet deep has been the bite zone. Troll around until you find the bait. Speedy Shiners spoons trolled at 2 to 2.2 mph have been taking fish early mornings, then Hoochies tipped with anchovy chunks, behind a dodger works later in the day. Salmon may usually be caught while trolling over submerged islands or structure, or along the face of the dam. The best tactic is to try and find bait schools then troll your gear just under the bait. Berkley Power minnows, Apex lures or Hoochies-tipped with a piece of anchovy, rigged behind a medium sized dodger, trolled anywhere from 30 to 75 feet, at 1.9 to 2.2 mph usually works for both salmon and trout. Spoons like the Speedy Shiner, Coyote, RMT flutter spoons are getting bites at faster trolling speeds now that the water is warm. Diversion Pool Releases from Oroville Dam to the pool have been as much as 10,650 cfs being released from 2 to 11 Pm, then back down to 4160 cfs. The spillway gates are closed and the water is coming from the tunnels at Hyatt Powerhouse and the penstock. The water is clear with about 4-6 feet of visibility. A few trout and salmon have been active during the day with releases of water from the lake and some nice fish can be caught. Few anglers have been out here lately. Casting and retrieving minnow imitations: soft plastics, stick baits, or spoons, or fish bait for the trout or salmon. Please note that DWR advises that flows can increase without notice and flows are subject to change throughout the day. No wading, swimming or floatation devices are allowed on this water above the buoy line that normally spans the pool, 100 yards below the spillway. Thermalito Forebay No recent reports. Trout, salmon, bass, catfish and other species of roughfish are present in the Forebay. Some transient trout and salmon that have moved down from the diversion pool to the South Forebay are occasionally caught on bait by patient anglers enjoying the solitude of this little used facility off of Grand Avenue. Thermalito Afterbay Pool elevation is well above 135 feet. The water coming in at Wilbur Road Bridge is 612 to 63 degrees and warms up a little to the high sixties in the back coves. The water is clear green with about 4 to 6 feet of visibility near Wilbur Road and at the 162 bridge and below. Bass fishing has been slow in the last few weeks at the Afterbay with the cooler water. Largemouth are showing best along the western rock wall and near tules in deeper water. The topwater bite has slowed on Frogs, Buzz baits and Spooks. Anglers are getting a few blowups, but few bass. There's a few fish weighing 1-1/2 to 2 pounds and some to about 20" long. Boating anglers

3 have been using Senko's, or creature baits like Baby Brushhogs, skirted jigs, Roboworms, chartreuse or white colored- buzz, chatter and spinner baits in and along the rocks, brush piles or tules. Drop-shoting small swim baits, plastic minnows or tubes, off the same areas will also work when conditions are right. A few fish have been caught on crankbaits also. Steelhead fishing has been dead slow for boaters with very few even trying. Bank fishing has been so slow, there have been few anglers fishing at the Wilbur Road canal and near the Hwy.162 Bridge. No reports last week from the canal mouth last week. Anglers trying for steelhead use pink Gulp eggs, with a nightcrawler or scented marshmallow, use a three to fivefoot long leader and a sliding sinker setup, or cast soft baits or lures while bank fishing at the Afterbay. Boaters usually troll with minnow type lures or a threaded nightcrawler behind a dodger, or drift a flylined nightcrawler from the surface down to fifteen feet deep, along the west wall of the Afterbay, on the flats, or on the edges of the channels in front of the outlets, north of the Highway 162 bridge and the mouth of the inlet canal. Feather River Salmon fishing improves as Fall Run Chinooks begin to show in catchable numbers below Oroville. Flows are now 820 cfs in the "Low flow" at Oroville, with 5310 cfs being released from the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet, for a total 6130 cfs below the Outlet. The Gridley gage data showed 6254 cfs at the time of this writing, which is good for safe powerboat operation, but pushy for driftboats on the river below the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet. The river has dropped to a good fishable level. The water temperature is 56 to 60 degrees at station FRA in the Low Flow. Below the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet at station FOW, the water temperature is 61 to 63 degrees. The water is clear green in the Low Flow and below the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet, it is slightly slate green with about 3 to 4 feet of visibility. Salmon fishing below the Afterbay Outlet has picked up with the Fall Run Chinook going on the bite in the river last week. There are a good number of fresh kings being caught on spinners in the Afterbay Outlet hole on by wading anglers and on roe or Flatfish, by boaters. Guides and knowledgeable boaters are using K15, K16 Kwikfish, Flatfish, or Brad's Killerfish with a fresh Sardine wrap or Roe to catch limits. A lot of nice salmon were caught by boaters from Gridley on upriver, throughout the Oroville Wildlife Area last week. Bank anglers and experienced waders cast and retieve no. 5 or 6, Blue Fox Spinners, #5 Mepps Aglia, Scopion spinners, or spoons. The best bite has been in the mornings when the water is coolest, then sporadic through the rest of the day. The catch rate last week indicates that fishing is steadily improving as fish numbers continue to increase as more chrome bright fall fish arrive in the upper river. The good Largemouth bass bite on the river is over. For Stripers, topwater plugs, swimbaits, Bucktail jigs or bait,- Anchovies, minnows, pileworms and sardines may take Striped bass. Some nice stripers have been caught in the river above the Outlet and there have been few anglers trying for them. Fishing for trout and steelhead in the upper "Low Flow" has picked up! Releases to the low flow are lower now, at 820 cfs and the river is back to its low water line and unlimited wading is now possible. Flows went down to 800 cfs on Friday last week. A few anglers were on the water last week in boats and wading, fishing for trout. This writer

4 talked to one guide that fished the Low Flow and hooked a total of 10 wild Rainbow trout and steelhead while indicator fishing nymphson a flyrod. There are few adult steelhead over 20" present in the river now and its mostly wild trout being caught by anglers fishing above the Afterbay Outlet and below Hwy 162. For the spinning or gear angler trying for trout or steelhead on the Feather, try side drifting jigs or pink worms under a float, Glo-bugs, single eggs, small clusters of cured roe, nightcrawlers with a 4mm florescent red bead, or size 14 Corky, Steelhead worms, Berkley Trout worms, or Micetails, on a sliding sinker setup, using a light slinky weight or pencil lead. Lure caster's use spinners,- Rooster Tails or Vibrax, spoons- Lil' Cleos, Kastmasters, small jigs and small minnow imitating plugs, such as Rapala's. Size Hot Shots in copper, gold, or silver are good and the 3.0 Flatfish in Copcar, Firetiger, Perch or Crawdad color, are good choices for wiggling, diving lures used for trout and steelhead. Fly fishers should try Caddis, Mayfly, or Fry patterns, Glo-bugs, Egg patterns, black, purple, or cerise Articulated Leeches, olive, brown, or black Wooley Buggers. For indicator fishing try Troutbeads, Glo-bugs-in size 8-10, followed by a size 16 or 14 Birdsnests, Fox Poohpah, Prince Nymph, or Soft Hackle Emergers, in green, olive, or tan, also San Juan Worms, in red, bubblegum or tan. Boat traffic is minimal on the river below the Hwy.162 Bridge. Most drift boaters fly fish nymphs or egg patterns under strike indicators, or swing wet flies or streamers when fishing for trout or steelhead in the Low Flow. Some boaters pull plugs or side drift from drift boats on uncrowded days on the low flow. * Please note that only hatchery trout (those fish under 16 inches) and hatchery steelhead may be taken from the Feather. Wild fish- (those with an adipose fin) must be released. The daily bag limit is 2 hatchery trout, or steelhead, with a maximum of 4 in possession for two days of fishing. * The Feather River, from the Hwy 70 Bridge to the Table Mountain Bicycle Bridge in Oroville is open to fishing from Jan. 1st, 2016 to July 15, 2016 for Steelhead. * Barbless hooks and a 2016 Steelhead Report Card are required. * The King salmon season opened July 16th, 2016, for the water from the boat ramp above the Afterbay Outlet, downstream to 200 yards above the Live Oak boat ramp at Pennington Road. The limit is two salmon per day, four in possesion for 2 days. * Fishing for the king salmon is closed all year in the Low Flow above the Outlet. There is no allowance for any catch and release fishing that targets salmon when any water is closed to salmon fishing. * Below the Hwy 70 Bridge, the Feather River is open year around for steelhead, trout, bass, catfish and panfish. Check DFW regulations for species limits, gear restrictions and salmon regulations. Oroville State Wildlife Area ponds will produce a few bass, bluegill and sunfish for anglers fishing the ponds near weed beds or stickups. Use creature baits, small chatter-baits, buzz baits, plastic worms, or nightcrawlers for bass and red worms or small flies and work them slowly for the bluegill or sunfish. Watch out for Rattlesnakes! Hunting * Dove season opened Sept. 1st. There are an average number of birds around this year. There's mostly Mourning or spotted Doves, with the Eurasian Doves holding tight to populated areas and safe zones, where there is no shooting. Opening day at the North unit of the Oroville Wildlife Area was poor with a 2.3 bird average for 43 hunters. Hunters along the rivers did quite well, as

5 did those with access to private lands. *See regulations regarding Hunting and area use at Ca. Dept. Fish and Wildlife,