sawoobley
06-02-2010, 11:37 AM
I spent a week in Hat Creek visiting relatives and got about 2.5 days of fishing in. I started out going to Lake Britton where they have crappie, smallmouth bass and perhaps some trout. Crappie season was just starting and I did not have my crappie jigs so I took a few pictures of the lake and threw a few misc spinners for about an hour.
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/LakeBritton1.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/LakeBritton2.jpg
Next I stopped by Baum Lake which is a shallow lake at a higher elevation than Britton. I believe it primarily has trout in it. I looked around and it appeared that most of the good fishing spots from shore were taken so I scouted around and took pictures of the lake and a nearby body of water.
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/BaumLake9.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/BaumLake4.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/BaumLake-Acrossfromit1.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/BaumLake-Acrossfromit2.jpg
Since my time was limited I decided to stick to what I know best and that is creek fishing for trout. The rest of my fishing time was spent fishing various parts of Hat Creek on both private and public land. I only took a few pictures of fishing since my camera is bulky and I did not want to keep the fish out of water too long before I released them. Here is a picture of a rainbow trout I caught. I figure I must have caught about two dozen or so in the 10-14" range.
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreekrainbowtrout.jpg
There was a fire up there a while back so some of the area was a bit charred but overall it still is a beautiful place.
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek16.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek14.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek7.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek2.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek1.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek11.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek10.jpg
Hat Creek is a beautiful place but there are a plethora of similar spots in northern California near Lassen and Shasta.
I did hook into a four large fish while I was there that put up quite a fight. However three were lost due to line breaks while trying to land them off of a bridge, and a high bank without a net and in fast current, but it's all good I was planning on releasing them anyways. Those bigger fish give you one time to land them and after that they will not go for anything. Fortunately, I remember the locations where I hooked into them and I be looking for them next time I am up there.
I did land one large 19.5 inch brook trout which is a personal best for me. After I caught it I yelled out with excitement and some nearby anglers who I had been talking too nearly started clapping when they saw how large it was (at least for this creek). I decided to keep this one and it was the only one I kept. It was surprisingly heavy for its length, unfortunately I did not have a scale to weigh it.
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek195inchbrooktrout.jpg
Here is a picture of the fish after it was served up nicely. Only about 3/4 of it is present on the plate with some smaller rainbows caught by others. The brook trout tasted so good and was so much easier to eat than the little guys!
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek195inchbrooktroutdinnerands.jpg
It was nice to have some time to get out there and fish for a change. I cannot wait until I can get up there again. There are soooooo many good spots up there!
:Cool:
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/LakeBritton1.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/LakeBritton2.jpg
Next I stopped by Baum Lake which is a shallow lake at a higher elevation than Britton. I believe it primarily has trout in it. I looked around and it appeared that most of the good fishing spots from shore were taken so I scouted around and took pictures of the lake and a nearby body of water.
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/BaumLake9.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/BaumLake4.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/BaumLake-Acrossfromit1.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/BaumLake-Acrossfromit2.jpg
Since my time was limited I decided to stick to what I know best and that is creek fishing for trout. The rest of my fishing time was spent fishing various parts of Hat Creek on both private and public land. I only took a few pictures of fishing since my camera is bulky and I did not want to keep the fish out of water too long before I released them. Here is a picture of a rainbow trout I caught. I figure I must have caught about two dozen or so in the 10-14" range.
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreekrainbowtrout.jpg
There was a fire up there a while back so some of the area was a bit charred but overall it still is a beautiful place.
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek16.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek14.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek7.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek2.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek1.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek11.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek-Creek10.jpg
Hat Creek is a beautiful place but there are a plethora of similar spots in northern California near Lassen and Shasta.
I did hook into a four large fish while I was there that put up quite a fight. However three were lost due to line breaks while trying to land them off of a bridge, and a high bank without a net and in fast current, but it's all good I was planning on releasing them anyways. Those bigger fish give you one time to land them and after that they will not go for anything. Fortunately, I remember the locations where I hooked into them and I be looking for them next time I am up there.
I did land one large 19.5 inch brook trout which is a personal best for me. After I caught it I yelled out with excitement and some nearby anglers who I had been talking too nearly started clapping when they saw how large it was (at least for this creek). I decided to keep this one and it was the only one I kept. It was surprisingly heavy for its length, unfortunately I did not have a scale to weigh it.
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek195inchbrooktrout.jpg
Here is a picture of the fish after it was served up nicely. Only about 3/4 of it is present on the plate with some smaller rainbows caught by others. The brook trout tasted so good and was so much easier to eat than the little guys!
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr98/ericsauble/Hat%20Creek/HatCreek195inchbrooktroutdinnerands.jpg
It was nice to have some time to get out there and fish for a change. I cannot wait until I can get up there again. There are soooooo many good spots up there!
:Cool: