Lake Almanor

My original plans were to take a week and head into the north eastern part of Nevada. There I would explore and fish new water. On short notice I decided on something closer too home. I changed my mind about the destination after reading a trip report. It wasnt that they caught a ton of fish that changed my mind..Even though they did quit well. It was the location and the fact that I hadn't ever seriously fish this place or vacinity of the Shasta region of the Cascade Mtns. That report really fired me up to get up there.

Lake Almanor sits at 4300' in Plumas County. About 4.5-5 hrs pulling a boat from home. Well, a 12 hour drive or a 5 hour drive? It was an easy decision since I only had a week to play with. Perfect, I locked down a cabin, which wasn't hard to do this time of year and rolled out monday morning.

The first day I just looked around and graphed a lot areas and was really on the hunt for Smallmouth. I stuck a couple of nice ones right off the bat on topwater plugs but it was very appearent it was a tough bite. It was one here one there type of bite and I covered a lot of water. Water clarity was 8-15' deponding on where you were. They were spread out from the bank to 40ft. I kept at it and I had 7 nice Smallmouth for the day. No real giants but all very respectable. Through out the day I picked up the fly rod and the quality of the rainbows that were busting baitfish in open water was unreal..I soon shifted in that direction and wore those things out. That only lasted for a day and a half and they moved on or felt the pressure.

Looking for a new areas, I was marking deep fish pounding the bait. Periodicly they would push bait up onto a 9-15' break/flat. Turns out the area was holding good quality browns AND Bows AND Smallies. Friggin Heaven! I hit that general area with flies for the next three days and caught, what I consider, some very nice fish. I also blew some great shots and broke off two personal best Browns this week. I was using a clear I-line with small baitfish patterns no more than an inch and a half striped fast. I fished those flies from the surface to 10'. 8lb tippet didn't bother the Rainbows. Browns however were a little more wary and I had to drop to 6 to get solid looks. I used flouro, mainly for the sinking properties.

I stayed at Plumas Pines Resort in Pratville, Ca. Nice little cabin with everything you need for a week of fishing and relativly close to everything. I also took a day and looked at some local streams. There is some beautiful water all over Plumas County but I was focused on Yellow Creek. Tough nut that Yellow Creek is. I ended up with one little 10in Brown on a dry but I was happy to get that fish. I'll definitly be back to tackle that creek again. Very challenging fun spring creek fishing!

Humbug Valley is remote enough to get away from it all for a day. And, ony 15 miles via logging roads from Plumas Pines Resort. Also, the valley has a nice little camp ground on the south end of the valley close to the stream. I had a great time! I explored a couple of other local streams and headed back in time for a couple of hours of evening fishing at the lake.

All in all a great trip! Close to home, beautiful country and great fishing. I'll definitly be back for a rematch with a couple of those fish!






Mt. Lassen








Home for a week


Humbug Valley


Yellow Creek


Freestone section of Yellow






BACKING!


























First Light




Deer Creek


Bring lots!


Bingo!