Hat Creek fishing, hiking and picture taking

[sawoobley]

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.





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.









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.



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.















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.



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!



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!

[Fishbones]

awesome trip, thanks for the great pics, nice trout too!

[Liteweight]

My favroite place to get "schooled" every year during the second week in June (beginning of the Trico hatch, BIG Green Drakes and Salmon Fly hatch. This will be the first time in about 12 years that I've missed it (due to my back injury). I still plan on getting out there for the "October Caddis hatch" though. Without a doubt...some of the prettiest fishing scenery I've found along with the McCloud and Trinity.
I've fished Baum Lake and the most productive method is float tubing (although I remember catching fish from shore on my first visit up there almost 20 years ago).
Thanks for the post.
LW.

[simijab]

nice report man. That part of hat creek looks awsome. do you happen to remember the name of that campground up there

[Trout-Slayer77]

very nice brook trout you caught !! congrats on your pb brookie, thanks for the pics and report

[SierraPeaks]

Nice brookie.
It's amazing how much bigger they get up in the Cascades compared to the Sierras. I caught a 6 pound brook a few years ago at Siskiyou Lake (at the inlet) and there were hundreds in that range swimming 2 feet from shore.
I just wish it wasn't so far of a trip to get there.

[Trout-Tuna-For.Me]

Nice report.
Great to see others post results and visit the area.
I'll be making my annual trip to the area at the end of July.
It'll take years to fish all the waters in that area and I'm lucky that I have relatives with a place in Old Station.
Both forks of miles of Hat Creek, miles of Pit River, many lakes and resavoirs, even small ponds next to the creeks and rivers. But my fav water to fish is Baum Lake. Float tube or small jon boat w/an electric trolling motor works best. Even with just a pair of waders you can have 40+ fish days easily. My record at Baum is 20 nice sized rainbows with a couple brown trout in the mix (1.50-2.25lb) in 2 hours of fishing. Fly, lure, jig, even bait fishing will catch them.
Pit River has the bigger fish with my smallest rainbow going 2.25 lbs, biggest 6 lbs.........all on Rapalas.
Anyone going there soon should check out Hat Creek downstream from Old Station where the fire burnt away most of the brush last year and access to the many pools are easily accessible.
I'll be sure to post a report after I return.
TTFM

[sawoobley]

What part of Pit River do you fish? I hear it is kind of a dirty river but has big fish in it.

[2jackedLUNGS]

great report. that creek looks awesome.