Fly Fishing Pit River California This includes a Pit River fishing report
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery: We can get flies to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Please see the bottom of this column for ordering options.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Type of Stream
A Series of Tailwaters
Species: Rainbow Trout
Brown Trout
(Wild)
Size
Small-Medium
Location
Northern California
Nearest Towns
Burney
Redding
Season
Year-round
Access:
Good but difficult
Non-Resident License
State of California
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 & 12 ft., 5 or 6X, Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Superb Five or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery:
Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Pit River Fishing Report – November 19, 2024
The stream is flowing above a normal level and clear. Check back with us as we update the Pit River fishing report often.
Rate: 87.8 cfs
Level: 2.94 ft
Afternoon Water Temperature: 50
Clarity: clear
USGS Real-Time Stream Flow Data near Canby
Weather Forecast: (click the link below to see more detailed weather info)
Recommended Trout Flies:
Brown Sculpin and White Belly Sculpin and Articulated streamers, size 6/4
Black Matuka and Olive Matuka Sculpin, size 4/6
Blue-winged Olives: size 16, 18 nymph, emergers, duns and spinners
Aquatic Worms, size 12, pink, red, and others
Midges: Light Green and Red (Blood) midges sizes 20/22, larva, pupa and adult. Our larva and pupa midge flies, pre-rigged in tandem, are very popular here. You can fish them under a strike indicator keeping the larva fly near the bottom. https://perfectflystore.com/product/pre-rigged-tandem-midge-larva-pupa-tippet
Pale Evening Duns, size 14, nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners
October Caddis, size 6, pupa and adults
Spotted Sedge Caddis, size 14/16, larva, pupa and adults
Perfect Flies are designed and tied to to imitate and behave like the natural foods the trout rely on to survive as much as possible. The more your fly looks like and moves through and on the surface of the water like the real things, the higher your odds of success.
Fly Fishing On The Pit River In California
The Pit River has several distinctly different sections. The ones that provide the best trout fishing and the sections we are focusing on are the ones below Lake Britton. There are about thirty miles of river that flows through a canyon below the Reservoir. Included in this area are several dams and powerhouses each of which create a small lake or reservoir and a tailwater. See the flows for different Pits below.
The river is very difficult to negotiate in most areas due to the tight canyon, large boulders and pocket water that is as slick as it can get. That is due to the river’s high PH but the high pH is what provides the large, diverse aquatic insect population accounting for it large trout.
Most anglers consider the very best fishing to be in the uppermost section below Lake Britton. It flows down to Pit #3 Powerhouse. It isn’t quite as difficult as the other sections. There are two more similar areas above the Pit #4 and Pit #5 Powerhouses.
Some areas can be reached from the road, some areas you must hike along the stream to reach and some have thick brush obstructions along the banks. The Pitt Canyon Road parallels the river most of the distance but it is very difficult to get down to the water in many areas.
There are two more Pits, #6 and #7, but they are not fished very much. The biggest problem is wading the slick rocks. Since the PH is high, algae is very prevalent and the bottom is very slick.
The water flows very steady from each of the Dams and stays at a fairly stable temperature. Fly fishing the Pit River depend greatly on the discharges. Since the flows are totally controlled by dams and power house, the stream remains in good shape for fly fishing during the Spring.
The spring runoff can affect the fishing but other than that, it provides great pocket water fishing throughout most of the year.
The Pit continues to provide good fly fishing opportunities during the cold months of December and January. If you can stand the daily air temperatures, you can catch trout all winter long because the water temperatures are from bottom discharges of the reservoirs. Trout can be taken on nymphs all winter long and at times various species of Blue-winged olives will hatch.
The Pit River if full of large, strong fighting rainbow trout. The average size rainbow is about twelve inches long but they are regularly taken up to sixteen inches. There are a few trophies taken each year, or rainbows measuring up to twenty inches.
Be sure you take a wading staff. Although the stream is tough to wade, it can be safely done provided you pay attention to where you take the next step.
Pit River Fly Fishing Guide:
How you go about fishing the Pit River depends more on the season (time of the year) and the flows than anything else. It also depends greatly on the hatches and/or the most plentiful and available food for the trout at the time you are fishing.
The Pit River is a very remote stream and you don’t have to deal with the same things (crowds) you deal with fishing most other northern California trout streams. The trout are all wild stream-bred trout and range from small to large sizes. Fly fishing the Pit River below Lake Britton dam provides the most consistent catch rate of any stream in northern California. Out of the thirty miles of water, ninety percent of it will go un-fished for many days of the year. Sections of the river are very easy to access from a road running right a long the water and other parts of the river requires a tough hike to reach The water is fast and the streambed steep. The rocks and boulders are slick. It is pocket water fly fishing at its best.
The river’s flows are controlled by releases from its many dams and
powerhouses, so even on wet years the Pit usually remains in good condition through much of the spring season. It can be fished when many other northern California streams cannot. Runoff can also affect the Pit but not as much as other rivers in the area.
Pit River Hatches and Flies:
Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and nymphs, not guess work. We base fly suggestions on imitating the most plentiful and most available insects and other foods at the particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific imitations of all the insects in the Pit River and in all stages of life that is applicable to fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else. 1-800-594-4726
More often than not, nymph fishing will be the way to go on the Pit. This isn’t to say that dry fly fishing cannot be great at times, just to point out nymphs are more effective day in and day out. During the winter months of February through the first of April, March Browns, Little Black caddisflies, and big stoneflies hatch. Some of the best dry fly fishing takes place in early Spring but it largely depends on the varying weather conditions of early Spring. Early season Blue-winged Olive hatches can be great, especially when the weather is cloudy and stormy. Large hatches of baetis mayflies can occur. Some of the best dry fly fishing of the year comes on the Pit in the early spring months. Huge hatches of blue-winged olives can continue to take place into May and early June. Pale Morning Duns start hatching about the middle of April. This is one of the most consistent hatches that can last on into the Summer. During the months of May and June, the largest hatches will be stoneflies. Giant Salmonflies, Golden Stoneflies and Little Yellow Stoneflies are the three most important ones. The huge salmonflies are the first stoneflies to show up. They hatch off and on throughout the month of May and into early June during some years. Before the hatch is over, the Golden Stoneflies will begin to hatch. At times both of these species will appear at the same time but usually the Goldens are later than the Salomonflies. The water is fast and the streambed steep. The rocks and boulders are slick. It is pocket water fly fishing at its best. The river’s flows are controlled by releases from its many dams and powerhouses, so even on wet years the Pit usually remains in good condition through much of the spring season. It can be fished when many other northern California streams cannot. Runoff can also affect the Pit but not as much as other rivers in the area. Little Yellow Stoneflies start showing up in late May and can hatch all the way through the month of June. Don’t think these the surface because the egg laying event can bring about terrific dry fly action. The surface action usually slows down during the hot summer days. The high sticking method of fishing is popular and effective during the summer. The water warms up enough that you can wet wade most late summer days. Caddisflies are the main hatches. Spotted Sedges and Little Sister Caddis represent the majority of the summertime hatches. Green Sedges are also plentiful. Imitations of the Green Sedge larvae, called Rock Worms, are very effective on the Pit River. Most of the egg laying activity takes place late in the afternoons near dark. Early Fall brings on a new round of aquatic insects with October Caddis being the highlight. Slate Drake mayflies and second generations of Blue-winged olives make up the majority of the hatches. The Slate Drakes (Isonychia species) crawl out of the water to hatch on the boulders and banks. The BWOs are usually smaller species but on heavily overcast days they can
come off in the form of clouds. Dry fly action can be great and you will usually be the only one around to witness it. Wintertime on the Pit River provide some great good fly fishing opportunities for anglers. On warm sunny days, nymphs and streamers can produce some of the Pit’s largest rainbows. The BWOs will continue to hatch on cloudy, overcast days and fish can be taken on the surface at times.