As part of the Feather River Steelhead Guide float trip event organized by Dave Fontaine, I booked the second offered day with guide Ryan Williams. The original date of October 28th was rescheduled to November 10th. After an early start from Livermore, I met Ryan in Oroville at 5:30 a.m. A short dive to the river and we were in the water by 6:00 as a chilly 32 degree morning was just dawning.
Drifting beads under a float, my first fish, a nice 21” hatchery hen, was on within ½ hour. Floating the beads with a dead drift was a new challenge that took some time for me to get the hang of. The day followed with three other nice 20-22” feisty valley steelhead to the net. Pictured are a 22” native hen with a 14” girth and a 21” feisty hatchery buck.
It was a long day trip, but a very enjoyable day with Ryan and the Feather River.
