The Feather River near Oroville first gained national notoriety during the California gold rush, when thousands of prospectors from all over the world scurried to the Oroville area seeking riches and scouring the river for gold. Oroville was originally known as Ophir, the Egyptian word for gold, and was famed throughout the west as the rowdiest mining town in the state. The effects of the gold mining on the river and the area’s still-rowdy reputation are ever-present today, yet a new valuable asset has been discovered in the Feather River: STEELHEAD!

Fly Fishing the Feather River

The construction of Oroville Dam ¯ the tallest earthen dam in the nation ¯ closed off much of the river’s spawning and nursery grounds for its native anadromous salmon and steelhead. The Feather River Salmon and Steelhead Hatchery was opened in 1967, and today the returning runs of both species are back on the rise, boasting good numbers of returning fish, both hatchery and wild, spawning each year throughout the river system.

We target steelhead in the Feather River mainly in October and November, when the fish are stacking up in the riffles and redds below the spawning salmon. The river in the stretch from Oroville through Gridley is not particularly known for its beauty, but anglers have a good chance of potentially hooking into double-digit numbers of adult steelhead in the 3-6 pound range, and there’s always the possibility of getting larger fish in the 10+ pound range as well. These are true Central Valley steelhead: stocky, brutish, and full of angst, rocketing through the riffles and often displaying frequent aerial acrobatics.

Our guides fish the Feather either out of drift boats or jet boats, utilizing private access points behind locked gates. This enables our guests and guides to leave their vehicles throughout the day without having to fret about some of the local miscreants vandalizing them, as is common occurrence on much of the river’s fishing access spots.