Feather River 10/8

Met Travis at 6:45 on the levee across the street from Rio La Paz Golf Course in Nicolaus. Brian G was supposed to be there but didn't make it due to vehicle probs. ( Hope you found out the prob Brian ).
After stashing our kayak carts in the brush near the take out point we drove 14 miles to a spot upstream called Star Bend.
We were all geared up and launched around 8:30.
Perfect weather.


I would say about 1/3 of the drift was completely unfishable because the water was SO shallow. It was like this the the entire span of the river at times.


It was hard to find a good hole to jig for salmon. We finally spotted a promising spot. We decided to pull up on the beach, check things out, then hit what looked like good water.


We were just headed back out when a boat pulled into the spot we were eyeballin'. About three minutes later he goes BENDO!! 
We drifted the slot a little ways behind him with no  luck. He moves forward into the same hole..BENDO again!   
But he loses this one at the boat.  We drift on with no love.
We find another very promising spot. I KNOW there has to be fish here. Drift through. Nada! Paddle up and drift through again. Nada! Paddle up and drift thru AGAIN..nada!
Guess I was wrong so we drift on...Power boat pulls into the exact spot after we left...One minute later...BENDO!!!     
I did see one fish being worked on pretty good by these guys before I spooked them.


Came time to end the trip and haul the yaks back to the truck. This might seem like a plug for Roleez, you be the judge.
Travis acting out his desires of being a farmer by plowing the sand with his Ploweez.


Fine job of plowing Travis.


Smooth tracks from my Roleez cart.


You be the judge


We were both cracking up over this.
I had a great time even though we both fished our @sses off and got virtually no love. I did manage one small smallmouth, but it was not picture worthy.
The fish are there. We saw it first hand, just didnt get the chance to experience it.
Thanks Travis. Had a great adventure! Would do it again in a heartbeat.

Travis, you could plant corn in those rows!

Sorry you guys didn't score. I was looking forward to a good report.
At least you found some good holes and know the fish are heading up river.

So sorry you didn't score--especially since you had it pegged on location. Any inkling of why the boats hooked up and you didn't: retrieve, lure, speed, depth, something else? Hang in there--victory is so close I can smell over here in Santa Clara (and it doesn't smell like Napalm in the morning either 

Nice Effort Sorry you guys did'nt hook up, sure you'll make up for it soon,

Those darn boat guys       Bummer that you guys didn't get to land one. The weather looked awesome.

I sat around all day pissed off   

My parents went out on a boat today and reported that the moke is starting to pick up. They didn't get any hookups but most boats at least 1 fish.

-Brian G

Maybe the power boats were using SALMON ROE

Brian G,
Your signature says it all--what a great sport you are to be able to laugh at yourself (note: most of us, I certainly, would have done the same thing in your shoes if that event happened to us though getting anyone to admit that under oath is a long shot).My personal psychic sees a tight line with a Salmon on the end in your future. Hang in there.

Looks fun.  Love to try it sometime.  There is no substitute for a Roleez sand cart. Nice report.

What an adventure.  I had a grat time with Tote even though I got skunked. The ironic part of the whole trip was that the two deepest holes(maybee the best fishing spots) were at the launch and the landing.  I was so wasted after I got home I passed out right away.  My computer is not booting up right now, as soon as it does I will get my pics posted.  I had a blast Tote.  I can't wait to do it again.

 I'm so jealous. I wanted to join you guys so badly but I had family come into town. Sounds like a beautiful day on the water. Details? Tackle? how fast was drift. What did the PBers use? How hard was it to paddle back up stream to work a hole more then once? Did your fishfinders give you info? It looks like the Salmon might show up afterall. Randall

I'm so jealous. I wanted to join you guys so badly but I had family come into town. Sounds like a beautiful day on the water. Details? Tackle? how fast was drift. What did the PBers use? How hard was it to paddle back up stream to work a hole more then once? Did your fishfinders give you info? It looks like the Salmon might show up afterall. Randall

  I was jigging a 2oz green gibbs minnow.  Tote was also using a gibbs minnow but in a different color.  The guys in the one boat that we saw hook two fish looked to be jigging gibbs minnows also.  The current varried from 1-3mph.  The faster sections were a little difficult to paddle upstream for me.  The slower holes like the deep one at beercan beach were not bad to paddle back up past.  Yes our fishfinders helped us find the holes and worked pretty well when we weren't drifting over shallow sandbars where they were kinda wigging out.  I think this Friday and maybee Sunday I will launch at beercan beach and just anchor up in the deep hole right in front of the beach.  I have a good feeling about that spot.  The drift that we did was fun, but a lot of the river that we covered was very shallow and not very fishable.

Sorry it took so long for me to get the pics up.  My hard drive took a dump.  Here they are.

The launch




Mike workin the structure hard.


A secret boat ramp that I found.  It must be private.




Mike working the hole really good before the power boaters pulled in and hooked up a salmon. 


Mike demonstrating the depth of the river in this section.(Oops, water on the lens)


The highway 99 bridge in the background.

Thanks for the great pics Travis. Looked like a nice day on the river.