Fly fishing around Chico was one of the greatest experiences
\nof my life. The 3 years that I lived there hold some very fond
\nmemories. I miss Chico very much for this very reason. Even now, 3
\nyears after moving away, I’m still trying very hard to move back
\nthere.<\/p>\n
If you’re going absolutely nuts and you must get your line wet there
\nare three very close options: the Sacramento River, Butte Creek, and
\nChico Creek. There are places you can go right there within the city
\nlimits to fish.<\/p>\n
The Sacramento River is a huge river, most suited to river boat
\nfishing. If you’re willing to spend a few hundred bucks, hire a guide
\nand drift down the river starting below the dam in the Redding area.
\nIn Chico you can fish from the riverbank, but the current is very fast
\nand the water is filled with many species of fish. Take highway 32
\nwest out of town and then turn south on River Road. You’ll see
\nseveral places to park a few miles down the road.<\/p>\n
In the winter the fishing regulations change and they allow you to
\nfish Chico’s 2 major creeks within city limits. Artificial lures with
\na single barbless hook, strictly catch and release. November 15th
\nthrough February 15th. Chico Creek is fishable above Bear Hole in
\nBidwell Park and Butte Creek is legal above Skyway parkway (take the
\nHoney Run Road off Skyway, near the golf driving range).<\/p>\n
In the summer you’ll want to head up the hill. Take highway 32
\neast out of Chico.<\/p>\n
The first stop is Butte Meadows, about 35 miles from Chico. You’ll
\nsee the signs from highway 32. Travel up this road about 5 miles and
\nyou’ll see the CDF station. There is a dirt logging road just before
\nthe station. Drive down to the river, get out, and walk downriver.
\nThe fishing gets really good about a mile downstream. The farther you
\nwalk, the better it gets. The creek is about 20 feet wide on average,
\nwith heavy overgrowth. You’ll want to stand in the middle of the
\nstream when you cast. Also, there are no trails after about half a
\nmile. It’s rough country.<\/p>\n
Next would be Chico Creek. Stay on highway 32 and drive past the
\nButte Meadows exit for another 5 miles or so. You’ll go across a
\nlittle bridge. Park there and walk downstream. No trails. Narrow
\ncreek. Heavy overgrowth.<\/p>\n
The next spot is even further up highway 32. About 40 miles out of
\ntown you’ll go across another bridge that crosses Deer Creek. Park
\nhere and walk downstream. The trail is a little hard to miss–if you
\nstand on the middle of the bridge facing downstream, it’s on the right
\nhand side. Walk down into the canyon for a good 30-45 minutes and
\nwork your way up. Be prepared to do some rock hopping. The brush
\nisn’t as thick down here and the creek is much wider.<\/p>\n
The next spot is a stretch of upper Deer Creek that Heath
\nand I love. A few miles before the end of the highway 32-highway 36
\njunction there is a huge meadow. It’s about a mile past the
\ncampground on the left hand side (I forget the name of the
\ncampground). Park here and walk up the creek. Not a lot of trees or
\nbig bushes here. This would be a good place for newbies to start. Up
\nhere the fishing regulations change: you can use barbed hooks and keep
\nsome fish. A good place to get out would be where Deer Creek crosses
\nhighway 32 again and walk the mile-and-a-half back to your truck.<\/p>\n
Or you can drive up to this little bridge and park. Work your way
\nupstream until you hit highway 36. I’ve never fished this stretch of
\nthe river but Heath has. He’s caught a lot of fish back in there.
\nFrom the road it looks like it gets rugged real quick.<\/p>\n
My final spot is the most amazing trout fishing I’ve ever had. Mill
\nCreek is back in heavily regulated waters. I’ve seen some huge salmon
\nup there. This is about 65 miles from Chico, but the drive is worth
\nit. Take highway 32 until it T-bones with highway 36 and go left
\n(north). About 10 miles up the road you’ll cross Mill Creek.
\n There will be a huge meadow on your left hand side. Take the next
\nleft, I forget the name of the road, and skirt the meadow. That’s all
\nprivate property. You’ll see lots of cows and maybe some deer or
\nhorses. Drive down that road 1 mile until you see the US Forest Service
\nhousing area on the right hand side. On the left you’ll see a picnic
\narea–park there. You’ll have to hunt around for the trail that leads
\nyou to the stream. Stay within the high water marks and you won’t be
\ntrespassing. Work your way all the way up the river to the road. The
\ncreek is wide and the overgrowth is light. This is the most amazing
\nstretch of trout stream I’ve ever found in California.<\/p>\n
OK, so that covers it for locations.<\/p>\n
How about some files? Go to the Chico Fly Shop
\nhttp:\/\/www.chicoflyshopinc.com\/ on 8th Avenue in town and ask the guys
\nwhat to use. They are quite knowledgeable and friendly. My favorites
\nthis time of year are Orange Stimulators, Grasshoppers, Parachute
\nAdams, Blue Winged Olives, and Elk Hair Caddis.<\/p>\n
I have no interest in nymphing either. However, lately I’ve been
\ntying about 12 inches of tippet to my dry fly and putting a Hare’s Ear
\nor Pheasant Tail nymph on the end. I love using my parachute dries in
\nthis configuration. My dry still gets strikes, but if the nymph gets
\na hit the dry acts like an indicator. This might be the way to go to
\nensure that newbies catch some fish. Be careful where you use this
\nrig, it is illegal is almost all the places I shared with you (single
\nbarbless artificial lures only).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fly fishing around Chico was one of the greatest experiences of my life. The 3 years that I lived there hold some very fond memories. I miss Chico very much for this very reason. Even now, 3 years after moving away, I’m still trying very hard to move back there. If you’re going absolutely nuts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paF8Q-6m","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teebiss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teebiss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teebiss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teebiss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teebiss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.teebiss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teebiss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teebiss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teebiss.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}