Increased flow in the Feather River got the salmon bite heated up, reported Rick Thompson at McGrath's in Oroville. "The river went up to 7,000 cfs, and its' supposed to max out at 8,000 cfs on Thursday afternoon", said Thompson. "The salmon fishing has been better for the last four days than the rest of the season put together. Some people are reporting 20 hookups a day at the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet. There are fish everywhere. I went down on Wednesday afternoon, and saw at least 200 fish porpoising upstream.

"Most of the salmon are running 15 to 20 pounds, and the biggest are in the 30's, there are not a lot of small ones. The fish are biting on beads and blue or purple #6 Blue Fox Vibrax spinners. If the water drops back down to 1900 cfs after July first, the low flow section will be teeming with fish.'

Thompson tipped, "The shad fishing on the Vance Avenue side below the Outlet has been red hot. I've caught 12, 9 and 20 shad up to four pounds on the last three evenings there in just an hour and a half. Best jig color was red/chartreuse or the Basstrix minnow in blue/chartreuse." Lake Oroville
With crowds of holiday jet skiers and wakeboarders promising to dominate the water, Fil Torres at Oroville Outdoors recommends fishing very early and late, or even at night. "The night bite is coming on stronger with dark-colored spinnerbaits and crankbaits", noted Torres. "There is also a good topwater bite in the very early morning and very late afternoon on Spooks and Ricos.

"During the day, go down about 30 feet and drag baitfish-color tubes and worms. There is a lot of current right now as the level is being lowered, so think of it like a river and look for fish off points and steep walls. Nothing real big is being caught; the Turkey Shoots are usually being won by bass in the 17 to 19-inch range."

Torres added, "Coho salmon fishing is very good for anglers mooching with the back half of anchovies near the dam at about 60 feet, and trollers are also doing very well. Most of the cohos are running from 16 to 18 inches, along with a few in the three-pound range."

Mountain trout
Prospects for holiday trout fishing are not encouraging, according to Davey Poteet at Paradise Sporting Goods. "Right now trout fishing is not very good", said Poteet. "The hex hatch at Lake Almanor was good for the first couple of days, but the high winds have made things pretty poor lately.

"Eagle Lake has been slow even for the trollers, and Bucks Lake has been just so-so for the mackinaw trollers. Philbrook Reservoir is not too bad; they are catching decent numbers of stockers on Thomas Buoyants."

Chico Bass Club
The Chico Bass Club held its' annual officer elections, with the following results: President- Rich Cavanagh; Vice-President- Gary Widman; Secretary- Sharon Hibdon; Treasurer- Vi Widman; Tournament Director- Cheryl Cavanagh; Board members- Larry Rohde & Larry Meyer.

The group also held their annual Tournament of Champions in June at Clear Lake. Fishing was excellent, with plenty of the nice bass that Clear Lake is famous for. The largest individual fish was the beautiful 6.27 pounder by Rich Cavanagh. Final TOC results: Jim Carr- 20.65 pounds, Jeff Buckley- 20.53, Don Cummings- 16.60, Toni Corpe- 15.71, Jerry Bailes- 15.12, Rich Cavanagh- 14.86, Gary Widman- 13.27, Cheryl Cavanagh- 12.80, Rick Fileman- 10.50, Vi Widman- 10.29.

Due to the Fourth of July holiday, the club's July meeting will be postponed until July 11. The meeting will take place at 7:30 PM at Logan's Roadhouse in Chico. The club welcomes new members. Contact President Rich Cavanagh at 872-0407.

Duck populations
The Department of Fish and Game has completed its' annual breeding pair survey, and both mallard and total duck species have decreased slightly this year, according to a departmental press release.

The breeding population of mallards decreased three percent from 399,400 in 2006 to 388,300 this year. Total ducks [all species combined] also decreased three percent from 649,000 to 627,000.

Mallards, the most abundant duck in the survey, are four percent above the long-term average. The population estimates are for the surveyed areas only, although surveyed areas include the majority of suitable duck nesting habitat.

The DFG is waiting for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service breeding population estimates from the primary breeding areas of waterfowl- Alaska, north-central United States and Canada. Preliminary indications are that habitat in many prairie nesting areas is above average.

Once DFG receives the estimates and the federal frameworks, the DFG will then make a recommendation regarding this years' waterfowl hunting regulations.

Trout plants
The DFG planted catchable-size trout this week in the following area waters: Butte County- Butte Creek Big; Shasta County- Upper Bailey Creek, Baum Lake, Brandy Creek, Clear Creek above Whiskeytown, lower-middle-upper Burney Creek, upper-middle Hat Creek, Hatchet Creek, Sacramento River; Siskiyou County- Kangaroo Lake, Lily Pad Lake, Medicine Lake, McCloud River Fowlers-lower falls-Lakin Dam, Sacramento River; Tehama County- Deer Creek, south fork Battle Creek; Lassen County- Clear Creek; Trinity County- Lewiston Lake; Plumas County- Bucks Lake, Feather River middle fork Graeagle, Feather River north fork Almanor and Belden, Hamilton Branch Creek, Little Grass Valley Reservoir, Spanish Creek, Warner Creek.