Fishing Report
Steelhead
Steelhead
are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and
need your help. Handle fish carefully, keep them in the
water as much as possible, and release them immediately. Butte
Creek steelhead are limited by the same factors as spring
run salmon, low water and impassable dams. Rearing habitat
for steelhead and yearling salmon in the low flow section is
seriously constrained by low water and high temperature. Steelhead
have no problem passing Quartz Bowl in higher flows but are
almost completely blocked by Centerville Head Dam owned and
operated by PG&E. Juvenile trout migrating down from
above Centerville are entrained in the unscreened diversion
severely limiting the population downstream. There have
been no mitigations for these losses.
Fishing
season runs from November 15 to February 15! Catch and release
only, barbless hooks. Please take time to record your catches
and photograph them if possible. The Friends will distribute
catch cards at all the tackle shops in Chico. Enjoy!
2006-07 Season
Michael Smith holds a Butte Creek beauty! The 2006-07 season was slow at best. Hopefully next year PGE will return the trapped fish from the Centerville flume to the lower creek. Watch the release.
2005-06 Season
The
'05-'06 season is over and there were lots of fish this year when the creek was fishable.
In the first two weeks, guide Allen Harthorn landed 11 out
of 16 hookups. Most fish have been smaller rainbows but several
fish were in the 17-20" range with one 23" leapingThe last two weeks revealed a very different stream after several extreme flow events. Fish were in good shape and well fed. Their appetites changed during the high flows and were keying in on streamers more and more. Here's one (22") more caught on the same streamer as the early one.
2004-05 Season
The
04-05 season was a big disappointment to most anglers. Numbers
were down and size was down. If anyone had good luck please
let us know. Some memorable fish were caught like this
20.5 bright, fat fish while giving flyfishing lessons to the
Stephens boys. In general, a one fish day was good, especially
ones like this.
2003-04 Season
The
03-04 season had lots of good fishing. Steelhead returns
have been good on most rivers and Butte Creek was no exception.
(see press release) Several nice fish up to 22" have
were recorded. This 18" hog was caught Nov. 18th on
a globug.
2001-02 Season
The 01-02 season, steelhead fishing was generally
considered better than 00-01 as anglers learned the techniques
and stream characteristics. The largest fish we recorded
was a 21" beauty caught on a nymph just above the Skyway
by visiting fly fishing guide Tim Hutchins from Yosemite.
2000-01 Season
The
00-01 (the first year open after six years) record was a 25"
buck caught by Russ Collar above the Covered Bridge. The lower
shot was of a 20" hog caught in the Helltown area by local
guide Allen Harthorn.