Butt lake?

Well I was planning on spending 2 weeks up in the B zone chasing archery blacktails. Unfortunately Mother Nature had different plans. After calling in a fire and containing a different one the time had come we had to get down off the mountain. With another week of vacation scheduled I have decided on a solo mission up to Butt lake. I have never been there. Any one have any advice? Looking forward to some much needed relaxation and getting the new kayak and fish finder on the water. I will be headed up there tomorrow mid day and Will be staying until Wednesday/Thursday.

Search for posts from "Clayman."  He is the reigning king of Almanor and butt Lake.  Lots of great info from the master.

bushy

Butt Valley Reservoir, Butt Lake is not a place

Search for posts from "Clayman."  He is the reigning king of Almanor and butt Lake.  Lots of great info from the master.

bushy

Tons of good information in Clayman posts, enjoy hours and hours of incredibly informative reading. I hope you will find a report on Butt from the month of August, but I doubt it. Summer is notoriously difficult fishing at both Almanor and Butt Valley. Your best bet will probably be the smallmouth, or locating a spring or creek mouth with cooler water for Salmonid.

The smallmouth fishing is something you will figure out easily enough, I am lazy and/or simple and like using a live cricket on a Carolina rig and ultralight tackle. Crankbaits will also work well.

Trout fishing will/would be an interesting challenge, there will probably be some bug hatch (or several) and that’s probably going to be what the trout are eating. Betting it’s too late for the Hexegenia hatch, but I think I’ve heard it goes off later in the year at Butt, so maybe. If that’s the case mealworm cricket combo could be very effective fished right off of the bottom in a zone with an active hatch. If no significant hatch pops off, search for the cold water. If you’ve got a two rod stamp, I would have one rod exclusively rigged with night crawler or mealworms. Slow trolling a section (1”) of night crawler, or a large mealworm can be a good producer. That same bait will also produce if presented a few feet off of the bottom while stationary.

Good luck, I look forward to your report and reading about the tactics you decided to try.

I have returned, not much to report. Fishing was very slow as expected. Surface water temps at the inlet were 70 degrees. So the trout bite was very slow. The lake level did rise by approx 2 ft over a couple days which may have contributed somewhat to fishing conditions. I tried every thing from trolling worms and rap alas to stationary soaking. Threw every lure I had at them from small spinners to larger rapalas. I caught a few small trout and 1 very large squaw fishbowl The only folks I saw fishing were where the creek and power plant water meet. I saw no other boats or fisherman on the main body of the lake. There are some large brown and rainbows there. Fishing  was still slow early in the morning with some fish being caught until sun hit the water. After the sun hit the water I saw no fish caught. Heard many opinions on lures and tactics from the locals, who all agreed fishing was very slow. I hope to return in the fall when temps drop and fish begin to get active again. Several locals claim to have caught fish in the 8-10lb class later in the year. Had a great solo adventure and put many miles on my new yak. Was a nice quiet place to relax for a few days.

Great photos! I'd love to get fresh water fishing down. Hard one in California.

I have never caught anything on that end of the lake. Only on the dam end once the water starts getting deeper.

I did not venture toward the dam. After my hunting trip was cut short I was really just looking to get away and unwind. Which is exactly what I accomplished. Fishing was terrible, although that really didn’t matter much to me. Spending a few days lost in my own thoughts was more than rewarding enough. Monday I started my Honda generator to charge my FF battery that had died. Not sure how long I napped, but when I woke up my battery was fully charged. Slept 5 feet away from the Honda. Guess I needed some sleep. I just realized Monday, I spoke to not another person. I recommend everyone at some point take a few days and venture off by ones self, there is really a peacefulness to it. I probably could have used another day or so, but the wifey was concerned with me being by myself with out cell service. Can’t wait to get back after it soon. Tight lines.

Thanks for the report. Summer can be a bear up there. At least you accomplished your goal though!

Those squaws get huge in Butt, I’ve hooked more than a few and each time convince myself it’s a PB or record Brown trout. 

Nice pictures and report. Being without cell and internet for a few days would be a dream come true...