Almanor 3/12- springtime challenges

Fishing lake Almanor off season can be a challenge, particularly if you have to travel in from outside of the area and don’t have a place to call home when you arrive in town.

The area can get pounded by storms and heavy winds, making the trip up and back dangerous, and the fishing conditions volatile. The Dixie fire has added additional challenges, since many of the lodges catering to loggers and off season fisherman are burned up or simply closed. I am usually willing to take my chances though, because the off season fishing is so much better than the times of the year that the lake can be easily accessed and navigated.

This trip, I had hoped to get to the lake and experience a shallow water brown trout bite. Ripping plugs close to rocky shallow shorelines can be productive at the right time of year, but it also requires a bit of wind to provide spawning pond smelt some cover from birds and fish as they school up. Originally, my dad was going to join me, but as the weather forecasts deteriorated and started showing high winds and chances for snow flurries the Sunday we planned to make the drive back down highway 32. My dad backed out, but I was already $330 invested in a 2 day reservation I could not cancel nor reschedule, so I decided to take my chances..

Fortunately I have a friend from the college days who still lives in Chico. He was free, so he got his 13’ Boston Whaler hooked up so we could hit the road for Chester Friday night.

We launched at the dam at sunrise Saturday morning into great weather and started trolling fast and tight to shore. We graphed zero bait, and had no bites after trolling from the dam all the way through lake cove. So, we started considering other options and tactics, which took us on thorough tour of the east basin pulling a variety of offerings. It wasn’t until we found ourselves in 10 fow near Rec One that we got our first and only fish on a ripped trolling fly.

Sadly, the winds arrived right in cue, and forced us to head for the dam launch in some pretty rough water. Still itching to catch, we headed down the road to Butt reservoir hoping it would have some shelter from the wind. No such luck, whitecaps were rolling in from the far end of the lake, and it was clearly not to be.

We ended our fishing efforts and spent our remaining time cooking our solo fish and enjoying a nice fire and a few drinks.

Side note:
The fire damage was shocking to see. I’ve been coming here for 30 years, and it was really heart breaking to see the state of the forest and community. Chester will rebound, the forests should grow back, but for now it’s a pretty sad sight. Bear down for a gut check if you haven’t been up to the lake since the fire, it’s bad.

Dang, that sounds like a challenging day for sure. Too bad the wind forced you off so early, would love to see some Almanor 

Sounds like a lot of my fishing trips!

Spending time at Lake Almanor is never a waste so at least you got out there.

WIND SUCKS.....i mean BLOWS

Thanks for the report. It’s very sad with the fire tearing through the area. The damage to the southeast area of the lake and down through 89 looks like it took the brunt of it, as well as the area northwest of Chester.

Bummer you didn’t get into the fish, but at least you didn’t get skunked!

Thanks for the report! Yeah, the weather up there this time of year can be volatile. But right now is also prime time for ripping plugs. I preferred dark, choppy water for that technique, but sometimes the wind can be too much to handle. I'm surprised the east shore between Dorado and Hamilton Branch didn't kick out some fish for ya, that shoreline was typically very productive in March.

I haven't been up there since I moved away in 2017, but I've seen photos. It'll never be the same after Dixie.

Thanks for the report and update. I've wanted to head up that way for a while, but it's not ideal now. I use to head west on 70 and then up 89 but I've read that path sucks with all the one lane areas now. So I'd have to go the long trip to Susanville then around and down the west side where I like to fish. Since it's not "on" and gas is crazy, I'll probably wait a little longer before I head up.

Still hoping for some late season showers this year so we don't have another big fire season. I didn't do Almanor at all last year and two years without going to Bucks lake is killing me!

I was there early summer last year shortly before Dixie. I've seen the photos but still can't wrap my head around how different everything looked from before. Haven't had the guts to make it up the hill and check it out firsthand yet. Butt Lake offered a nice refuge when the winds started howling.