American River
Sacramento River
Yuba River

Thanks to a remarkable hatchery program, the Feather River is consistently one of the best fisheries along the entire west coast. Spring king salmon begin to return to the river each May and continue showing until July. In August, the first waves of the massive fall salmon run arrive and more and more fish push upstream through the middle of October. As many as 146,000 salmon inhabit the Feather annually and the fishing for them is often phenomenal.

Fall-run steelhead start trickling into the system in September, and by October, they’re firmly entrenched in the riffles between Live Oak and Oroville. Winter steelhead and wild rainbow trout keep anglers busy until April, when an excellent striped bass fishery develops in the lower river. Shad fishing heats up in May and, in high water years, there can be some good sturgeon action in the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet area in spring and early summer.