Anglers interested in catching king salmon on the Feather River can still do so, but a little bit of haste is necessary with the anticipated salmon closure due approximately July 1.

"The salmon fishing on the Feather has been pretty good", reported Chuck Rice at Feather River Outfitters in Oroville. "The fires kept people from coming in on Thursday morning, but before that we were weighing in at least four or five salmon every day. All of the fish are nice and bright as can be, ranging from 12 to 33 pounds.

"Boat anglers are catching the salmon on silver/chartreuse K14 Luhr Jensen Kwikfish. The shore anglers are catching them on No.6 Blue Fox Vibrax spinners in silver combinations with chartreuse, purple or blue, along with a few on beads. Salmon are spread out all over from the low-flow section on down.

"Lots of steelhead are also being caught, especially near Outhouse Riffle. The steelhead are biting mostly on nightcrawlers, and the largest we've seen was a nine-pounder. Several of the guides have commented that they've never seen the steelhead so good at this time of year."

Rice added, "There are shad and stripers biting way downstream at Shanghai Bend, but we have not heard of any of them making it this far upriver."

By Steve Carson 6/12/08