Fly Fishing Report On The Hat Creek, California

Fly Fishing On Hat Creek California
If you think you are the best fly angler in the World, then maybe you haven’t fished the smooth, flat water of California’s Hat Creek. The trout can quickly determine if you have the proper amount of dressing on your fly, if it is applied to heavily or to lightly. They don’t fall for anything but “Perfect Fly” flies. (Just kidding) You still stand a good chance with other flies, just not as good of a chance. Be sure to check our Hat Creek fishing report often. We update it weekly.

This stream is a very beautiful spring creek that flows from the Mt. Lassen. It’s cold and clear and can be fished day every day of the season. The water remains about as stable as any trout stream in the country. It has a very diverse aquatic insect population.

Fly fishing Hat Creek becomes a match the hatch dream situation except for one problem. Often there are multiple hatches and figuring out what to do is not easy. The trout usually key in on one insect but it may well change within a few feet of water to yet another one.

You have two choices for fly fishing Hat Creek. You can choose the fish the upper Spring Creek or the section below Powerhouse #2. Serious anglers fish the section below the powerhouse. It is the wild trout section and the section we will focus on most. Fly fishing Hat Creek in this section will test your skills to the utmost.

Just below the powerhouse there’s a fast water section of riffles. That’s where many anglers prefer to fish simply because it’s easier to catch trout in the faster, broken water. The stream quickly settles down into a smooth, gin clear stream where wild rainbow and brown trout will challenge your skills to the utmost. This section is gin clear and smooth as glass. It has a dense weed growth on its bottom that is a perfect home for many species of aquatic insects.

Anytime you are fishing water where you can clearly see trout you can rest assured they can see you. This has both advantages and disadvantages. It requires longer than normal cast and long, light leaders and tippets.

At the very end of this section the water again picks up speed and runs through some riffles and runs as it goes under highway #299.

Most anglers fish the 3.2 miles of Hat River below the Power House #2. This is the “Wild Trout” section and the best Hat Creek has to offer. The upper freestone section sees far more spin casting anglers than fly anglers and it heavily stocked. This section has a 2 fish limit, 18-inch minimum, but you must use barbless flies and lures only.

Fly Fishing Guide to Hat Creek:
The upper section of Hat Creek flows for about thirty miles mostly through private land. It is stocked in many areas. Above Lassen Park and downstream of Bridge Camp the water is private.  There is about fifteen miles of water in between these two areas.  

Above the town of Cassel, Hat Creek is transformed into a spring creek by spring water that enters it from Rising River. The water changes to ultra clear water that’s slick flowing and challenging to fish.

Cassel Forebay is a shallow section of the river where water enters the Hat #1 power plant. The water temperature remains fairly consistent throughout the year. There’s plenty aquatic vegetation, a high pH and plenty of aquatic insects. Because of that, the fish in this section are usually large. Baum Lake is just downstream. It is really just a wide section of Hat Creek.

The lower section, below Baum Creek and powerhouse #2, is the wild trout section. It runs from the Powerhouse downstream to the fish barrier just above Lake Britton.

The upper part of the Wild Trout section is mostly classic, smooth flowing spring creek water that must be fished as such. You must use very good presentations to catch the trout in this section. Right below the powerhouse in a long riffles with fast, flower water with a broken surface that is much easier to fish. Naturally, that’s where most anglers tend to fish Hat Creek. This section contains stoneflies, something usually for most spring creeks. The best way to fish the riffle is using a nymph or larvae imitation.

The entire upper part of the Wild Trout section can accessed and easily waded. The wild trout in this section will range from ten to twenty inches. The lower end of the three mile wild trout section is different from the upper part. It has some very long sections of riffles, deep pools and pockets created by ledges. This area is easier to fish than the flat, smooth spring creek water.

Hat Creek Hatches and Trout 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 Hat Creek 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.

From the very first day of the season, the last Saturday in April, you will find numerous hatches taking place on Hat Creek. Dry fly fishing is usually good from the opening day on. Multiple hatches are normal. In the smooth water sections, the trout can be selective on one or two of the insects and completely ignore the others. It is about impossible to determine what is best to imitate without some trial and error experience. In the riffles, or broken sections of water that is faster flowing water, the stream has a good population of Salmonflies. There are also plenty of Little Yellow Stoneflies that many anglers call Yellow Sallies. During May and early June, you can often find hatches of Green Drakes. This hatch only last about two or three weeks and timely it right isn’t easy. Anglers tend to think the big drakes bring up the larger trout but not necessarily so. Pale Morning Duns, which are far more plentiful, may be the key insect to imitate. They start hatching in May and continue through June. Caddis will appear from opening day but become much more plentiful in mid June and July. They will continue to hatch into October. There are many species but the great majority are net-spinning caddis, mostly Spotted Sedges and Little Sister Caddis. There are some Short-horned Sedges and even some Black Dancers in the spring water. There are a few cased caddis species in the riffle sections but they are not very plentiful. The best action comes from late afternoon hatches, using imitations of the Spotted Sedge pupae and egg laying activity that comes mostly after the sun sets. In October, you can even find some of the large October Caddis hatching in the riffle sections. This is a sporadic hatch at best. Starting in late July or early August, you will find large hatches of the White Wing Curse, or Tricos taking place. They will continue on into the fall months. These hatches are tough to imitate well in the smooth flowing sections but will produce plenty of action if done right.  Starting in late September, several species of Blue-winged Olive mayflies will begin to hatch. They will range from a hook size 20 up to a size 16 depending on the species. October and early November can have some blanket hatches. The worse the weather gets, the better the BWOs hatch. They will hatch even when it begins to snow. Cloudy, overcast days are best.

Fishing Report Headlines Archive:

05/04/20 The great conditions for the creek continue. There are multiple hatches but keep in mind, they occur at different sections of the creek and at different times of the day. You should be able to catch good numbers of trout.
06/04/20 It doesn’t get much better than this. There are good numbers and sizes of trout being caught by our customers. Dry fly fishing is very good as well as nymphing. Now is the time to be on the creek.
06/17/20 Conditions remain very good. We continue to get some very good reports from customers. There are still plenty of hatches taking place and dry fly fishing has been good.
06/27/10 Conditions remain very good. We continue to get good reports from customers fishing the creek. There are lots of insects hatching.
07/22/20 Conditions remain very good. Trout are being caught by our customers in good numbers and sizes. There are still a lot of hatching insects and terrestrial imitation are also working very good.
08/06/20 The creek is in good shape and the water staying cool as it should be for the great spring creek. There are multiple hatches taking place and good numbers of trout being caught by our customers.
08/28/20 The stream is in very good condition and we continue to get good reports from customers. There are a lot of insects hatching.
09/16/20 The creek is still in very good shape. The levels and water temperature is excellent. There ae several insects hatching and our terrestrial patterns like the Japanese Beetle, Carpenter ants, and Sandwich hoppers are working good.
10/11/20 Stream levels are almost always good and of course, still are. There are some very good hatches taking place and terrestrial insects are also plentiful. We are still getting good reports from customers.
10/28/20 The creek is still in very good shape and turning out a lot of trout for our customers. Our sculpin streamer and leech patterns are catching some very large trout. There are good hatches of BWOs, midges and Spotted sedge caddis.

04/22/21 Lots of trout are being caught. There are great hatches of PMDS, Salmonflies, Golden stoneflies, Green Drakes, Speckled Wing Quills, Spotted sedge and Green sedge caddis. Hatches vary some with the section and type of water.

05/03/21 Conditions remain very good. We continue to get good reports from our customers. Lots of good hatches are taking place and dry fly fishing is good as well as sub-surface flies.

05/11/21 We are getting more good reports. The water is low but that seems to make little to no difference. Lots of insects are hatching. Send us and email or call us for a recommended fly and gear list.

05/19/21 Conditions remain good. The stream is low but trout are still being caught in good numbers. There are a lot of different insects hatching. Send us an email or call us for a list.

05/27/21 The stream levels are even lower but it has little to no effect on the fishing. We are still getting some very good reports. There are a lot of hatching insects.

06/04/21 The stream is still low but again, it seems to have little to no effect on the “catching”. We are still getting some very good reports thanks to good hatches.

06/16/21 The stream levels are still low but it is having only a little effect on the “catching”. We continue to get good reports from customers thanks to the good hatches taking place. Email us  at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations.

06/28/21 The creek continues to turn out some good catches. We get good reports from our customers who are using our Perfect Flies which look like and are named after the real things.

07/17/21 The stream is in good shape thanks to the cool spring water. We are still getting very good reports from customers. There are good hatches taking place.

07/24/21 More good reports came in this past week. It is one of the best destinations in the state at this time with the hot, dry weather.

08/01/21 The stream is still in good shape turning out good catches for our customers. There are good hatches taking place.

08/10/21 This is still one of the places we can highly recommend in the state of California. Trout are being caught by our customers in good numbers.

08/17/21 The stream is still in great shape. We continue to get good reports from customers. Our Perfect Fly flies work great here because the trout get a good look at the fly and our flies look like the real things.

08/25/21 We continue to get good reports from customers. The river is in good shape in all respects and one of the best streams to fish in the state right now.

09/02/21 The stream is still in very good shape offering some of the best fly fishing opportunities in the state. Good reports continue to come in.

09/19/21 We continue to get a few good reports from customers fishing the stream. There are good BWO hatches as well as two species of caddis.

10/06/22 Condions remain good. We continue to get some very good reports from customers fishing. Good late season hatches are taking place.

09/28/21 More good reports come in from the past week. Good stream conditions exist and good hatches are taking place.

10/11/21 We received three good reports from customers. Good fall hatches are taking place and the Smoke is gone. This should be a good week.

10/20/21 The river is flowing a little below normal and in good shape. We received three good reports from customers this past week.

11/01/21 The stream is flowing at a normal level and clear. We continue to receive good reports from customers. There are some good hatches taking place.

11/08/21 The stream is still in good shape and we continue to get good reports. The season closes within a week.

12/20/21 Powerhouse #2 down to Lake Britton has been opened to year round catch and release angling.

12/28/21 We didn’t receive any reports from anyone this past week likely due to the holiday.

01/05/22 The stream is still in good shape. We received one good report this past week. Good midge and BWO hatches are taking place and our articulated sculpin streamers are working good.

01/13/22 Stream levels are fine and the weather has turned to good. We didn’t receive any reports but you should be able to catch some good trout at Powerhouse 2 riffles. Our articulated sculpin streamer patterns work good there.

01/21/22 The stream is in very good shape for January. We received two good reports from customers fishing very recently. The warmer weather is a big help in clearing the roads.

01/29/22 We received two more good reports from customers fishing this past week.

02/06/22 We received two more good reports from customers fishing the past week. Good BWO and midge hatches continue to take place. All the snow is gone.

02/14/22 We received two more good reports from customers fishing this past week. There are very good BWO hatches taking place as well as lots of cream midges.

02/22/22 The stream is still in very good shape. We received three good reports from customers fishing this past week.

03/02/22 The stream is still turning out some good fish for our customers. We received two good reports this past week. Midges, both blood and creams, are hatching good. Fish the larva and pupa rigged in tandem.

03/10/22 The river is in good shape and we are getting several good reports from customers. Little Black Caddis are hatching good along with the midges and BWOs.

03/18/22 Good hatches continue to take place and we continue to get good reports from customers fishing the stream.

03/26/22 The stream is in good shape with lots of trout being caught by our customers. Blue-winged olives, Pale Morning Duns, Spotted sedge caddis and Green Drakes are hatching.

04/11/22 The good conditions continue. Stream levels are normal and the good hatches continue to take place. We received three good reports from customers fishing this past week.

04/19/22 We are still getting good reports from customers. Stream levels are normal and the water clear and in good shape. Good hatches continue to take place.

04/27/22 Conditions remain very good. We continue to get good reports from customers. There are some very good hatches taking place. Send us an email for an up to date fly list.

05/05/22 The stream is fishing about as well as it ever does. We continue to get good report thanks to some very good hatches. Call or write us for a fly list.

05/13/22 Conditions remain very good with lots of insects hatching. Our customers are sending in some good reports. Green drakes are starting to hatch. Use our Perfect flies that look like the real things and watch your success increase.

05/21/22 We continue to get good reports from customers fishing the stream. Conditions remain good – good hatches and good stream levels.

05/29/22 We are still getting some very good reports from customers. The good hatches are producing excellent fly fishing conditions. We hope you get a chance to fish it soon.

06/06/22 We have been getting a few good reports about every day from customers. There are very good Pale Morning Dun, Spotted sedge caddis, Green sedge caddis and other hatches taking place.

06/13/22 Conditions remain very good. We continue to get good reports from customers. Excellent hatches continue to come off.

06/20/22 We received two good reports from customers fishing this past week. Good hatches continue to take place – Blue-winged olives, Pale Morning Duns, Spotted sedge caddis, Green sedge caddis, Little Yellow stoneflies and others.

06/27/22 More good reports came in from customers this past week. Excellent hatches are taking place.

07/04/22 The stream is still in very good condition with good hatches and trout being caught. This coming week should be another good one.

07/11/22 Excellent conditions continue to exist. There are very good hatches taking place and our terrestrial imitations – carpenter ants, Japanese beetles and sandwich hoppers are working.

07/18/22 Good Trico and Callabaetis or Speckled Wing quill hatches are taking place. We received two good reports from customers fishing it last week.

07/25/22 Very good hatches continue to take place. We received two more good reports from customers fishing this past week.

08/01/22 There are still a lot of Tricos hatching as well as the Speckled wing quills or Callebaetis. We received three good reports from customers fishing this past week.

08/08/22 The stream is still turning out good catches. There are lots of hatching insects and trout are being caught top to bottom.

08/15/22 The stream is still in good shape. There are good Speckled wing quill or callebaetis hatches taking place along with Tricos and lot of both Green sedge and Spotted sedge caddis.

08/23/22 We are still getting some good reports thanks to good hatches continuing to occur. Don’t overlook the spinner falls as they can produce fast action.

08/30/22 Good conditions continue. We are still getting some very good reports from customers. Good BWO hatches are taking place among others.

09/21/22 We received two more good reports from customers fishing this past week. Good numbers of trout are being caught. Good hatches continue to take place.

10/07/22 Sorry for missing last weeks report. Conditions are very good and we continue to get good catch reports from customers. Good late season hatches continue to take place.

10/21/22 The stream is still in good condition. Good BWO, October caddis and light green midge hatches are taking place.

02/18/23 Get ready for the opening season using the World’s best flies, Perfect Flies. www.perfectflystore.com

03/18/23 The water is a little cold from melting snow and rain but is clear enough to catch trout. We received one good report from a customer.

03/28/23 The stream is in good shape. We are getting some good reports from customers. Good hatches are taking place.

04/08/23 Conditions are very good. Our customers are sending in lots of good reports.

04/21/23 Good BWO hatches are taking place. We received two good reports from customers fishing this past week.

04/28/23 There are good hatches continuing to take place. We are getting some very good reports from customers – four this past week.

05/08/23 Good PMD hatches, Salmonflies (in fast water riffles), Spotted sedge caddis and other insects are hatching. It doesn’t get much better than it is now.

05/19/23 The stream is in great shape with lots of hatching insects. Spotted Sedge caddis, Salmonflies, Little Yellow Stoneflies, Western Green Drakes, and Pale Morning duns are hatching.

05/29/23 The stream is still flowing near a normal level and clear. There are some very good hatches taking place. We received three good reports from customers fishing this past week.

06/08/23 Excellent conditions exist. We received three more good reports from customers.

06/17/23 The conditions are very good. Multiple hatches are taking place. We received four good reports from customers fishing it this past week.

06/28/23 Good conditions continue to exist. Spotted sedge caddis, Green sedge caddis, little Yellow stoneflies, Golden stoneflies, and Pale Morning duns are hatching.

07/07/23 Conditions remain good. The river is still turning out some good catches for our customers. Matching the hatch is the key to fishing this one and why our Perfect Flies work so well on it.

07/15/23 The stream is still in good shape. We received two good reports from customers fishing this past week.

07/23/23 There are good Trico and Callabaetis or Speckled Wing quill hatches taking place. We received a good reports from a customer fishing it last week.

08/02/23 The stream is still in excellent condition. We received two good reports from customers fishing it this past week. Good hatches continue to take place.

08/08/23 The stream is still in great conditions. We received three more good reports from customers fishing it this past week.

08/18/23 Conditions remain very good. There’s lots of insects hatching.

08/25/23 We are getting some very good reports. Good hatches are coming off and our sculpin streamers are catching some nice ones.

09/01/23 The stream is still in very good shape and turning out some good catches for our customers. You need to match the hatch. The fish can see the fly very well in the clear water. Late summer hatches are still going good.

09/08/23 Conditions are very good. We continue to get good reports. Good hatches continue to take place.

09/15/23 More good reports came in this past week. There are very good late season hatches taking place.

09/22/23 Match the hatch and your in business. Perfect flies can do that for you. They look like the real things. We are still getting good catch reports from customers.

09/29/23 We received one good report from a customer fishing this past week.

10/06/23 Two more good reports came in. Good BWO, October Caddis and other caddis specie hatches are taking place.

10/18/23 Conditions remain very good and fish are being caught.

10/27/23 We received two good reports from customers fishing this past week. Good late season hatches continue to come off.

11/02/23 You can match the hatch much better using Perfect Flies which look like the real things. We received one good report from a customer.

11/06/23 Conditions remain very good. We continue to get good reports.

11/13/23 The stream is in good shape with good BWO and October Caddis hatches taking place.

11/20/23 More good reports came in this past week. Good hatches and good conditions continue.

11/30/23 The stream is in good shape with good Cream and blood (red) midge, and little BWO hatches taking place. We received two good reports from customers fishing it this past week. Fish the midges with the larva and pupa rigged in tandem for the best results. We have these prerigged for those who can’t see the tiny size flies well.

12/11/23 Conditions remain good. We received two good reports from customers fishing this past week.

12/26/23 We are still getting some good reports from customers. There are good midge and BWO hatches taking place.

01/08/24 The stream is flowing near a normal level and clear. Good light green and red or blood midges are hatching along with some little BWOs.

01/16/24 Good hatches continue to come off. We received two good reports from customers fishing this past week.

01/26/24 Conditions remain very good. Good hatches as still taking place and we are still getting good reports from customers. Using Perfect Flies that look like the real things will increase your odds of success.

02/08/24 The stream is flowing at a normal level and clear. Good hatches are taking place. Our Little BWOs, light green midges, scuds, and sculpin streamers are working good.

02/22/24 The stream is flowing at a normal level and clear. This is the best choice of streams to fish with all the recent heavy rain. Good Blue Wing Olive hatches and Midge hatches continue to take place. Our sculpin streams and scuds are also working good.

02/29/24 Conditions are very good. The stream is flowing at a normal level and clear. Good hatches continue to take place.

03/14/24 Conditions remain good. You can get to the stream anywhere you wish with the snow gone. The water is clear and there are good Blue-wing olive and light green midge hatches taking place.

3/21/24 The stream is turning out some very good catches for our customers. Good hatches continue to come off.

03/28/24 Conditions are good. Good midge and Blue-winged olive hatches are taking place. Our sculpin streamers are also working good.

04/04/24 Good conditions still exist. Good hatches are taking place and we are getting some good reports from customers.

04/11/24 Conditions are good. Suggest you have Blue-winged olive nymphs, emergers and duns; Gray drake, nymphs and spinners; Pale Morning duns, 18, nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners, Green Drakes, 12, nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners, Callibaetis (Speckle wing Quills); nymphs, emergers, duns and spinner, Golden Stonefly; 10/12 nymphs and adults, and Salmonfly; 4/6, nymphs and adults.

04/18/24 Conditions are good. The insects listed above are hatching good and we are getting good reports from our customers.

Email us  at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations.