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Feather River

An angler with a spring steelhead from the Lower Feather River
Guided Float Trips
$650 for 1-2 anglers including shuttle
  • Year-round
  • Drift Boat Trips

The Feather River between Oroville and Gridley has one of the best steelhead runs in California. Valley steelhead typically run 2-4 pounds but sometimes come much larger. Our guides fish the Feather River from drift boats and there are multiple floats to choose from. The Feather River has two distinct seasons, a fall season and a spring season.

The fall season starts in late September and finishes up mid-December. We get a large run of valley steelhead in the fall and they are here to feed on salmon eggs dropped by the fall run of Chinook (King) salmon. We fish egg patterns right in and amongst the spawning salmon, taking care not to wade or drop anchor in their redds. A typical day of this type of fishing involves breaking off a few rigs on salmon and hooking good numbers of steelhead.

The spring season is March, April and May. A separate run of steelhead enters the river at this time on a spawning run. These fish can be caught on nymphs, dries, streamers, and flies fished on the swing. We get good hatches of caddisflies and mayflies during the spring months.

Most of our Feather River trips start early in the morning in Oroville. Ben Thompson, Colin Coogan and Mat Squillante are our Feather River steelhead specialists.

Feather River Photo Gallery

Guide Ben Thompson with a typical valley steelhead from the Feather River
A colorful Feather River steelie that fell for an egg pattern
An early-season steelie on the Feather River
We fish the Lower Feather River from drift boats
Wade fishing can be very productive on the Feather River
Guide Andrew Harris and guest with a Feather River steelhead
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