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My goose hunting pardners hated Camp Far West Lake. My wife
flinched every time I suggested we drive by "for a
look" in cold weather months. But I avoided Camp Far West
when water-skiers infest the lake and brown grass testifies to
the searing heat of summer. However, fall, winter and early
spring drew me to Camp Far West Lake like the honkers who, safe
in a "no hunting area" sail in over the bridge. Striped
bass hit shallow and on the surface during the cool months.
Catfish gobble bait even when the waters muddy during storms. Add
suspended black bass and the chance at crappie which improves
toward spring and it's a wonder more fishermen have not
discovered this reservoir which is technically a
"lake."
Camp Far West Lake took its name from Camp Far West, the last
camp on the Emigrant Trail just below the dam. Here wagon trains
often broke up before members headed on into Sacramento. Today,
Camp Far West is gone and the reservoir drowns the past as it
provides fishing for another East Coast emigrant, the striped
bass. Add the usual foothill reservoir catfish, black bass and
panfish to the odd brown trout where the Bear River enters the
reservoir and you have a winner destination for a weekend trip or
a "minimum detour" backup on waterfowl or steelhead
trips north of Sacramento.
Unfortunately for fishermen who haven't discovered this fine
reservoir, but nice for locals, Camp Far West Lake rarely
advertises. But it isn't hard to miss the "Camp Far
West" signs on High-way 65.
Fall's Fine Fishing
We returned often between the end of Indian summer and the end
of the school year for we lived only 30 minutes away. In fall the
best striper fishing comes at dawn or dusk, and after dark when
stripers swirl after threadfin and Zara Spooks. Cordell Redfins
or one ounce silver Kastmasters let you cover the action if you
can pass up decent dove shooting. Locals cast plugs for fish from
the bank near the dam. Action continues until the lake cools or
the first big winter storms muddy the waters.
Once the lake turns over, stripers prowl off points and savage
threadfin over the submerged channel of the Bear River. As water
levels drop to concentrate fish, action improves. If you don't
spot fish, troll shallow running large Cordell or Redfin plugs
off the dam and along the main channel of the Bear River.
Compulsive bait fishermen can suspend live threadfins or shad
minnows six feet or so under big bobbers and wait for the action.
Winter Winners
Once winter water temperatures drop below 50 degrees, stripers
tend to hang suspended 20 to 40 feet deep over the submerged
channel of the Bear River out of range of shore fishermen. So
bankfishing locals switch to frozen sardines and take channel
& blue cats. Spots just a cast from deep water from the banks
near the North or South Campground produce best after dark. The
cove between the North Campground and dam seems most productive
in the morning and afternoon. When the lake level drops you can,
if you take care to miss soft spots, drive across the lakebed and
fish from your RV or vehicle.
Boaters still seek suspended stripers with depth finders and
tempt them with a live threadfin shad hooked through the dorsal
fin with a size 6 hook and taken down to the right depth with a
minimum amount of split shot.
I prefer to jig structure spoons or big white spinner baits
off the point where the Bear River and Rock Creek Arms join and
along the rocky riprap around the dam. If the lake is full, watch
the buoys. The current over the spillway can run fast indeed.
Smaller spoons or vertical Rappala ice fishing lures pick up
suspended black bass when there is water in the Rock Creek Arm.
You can string crappie from these areas if you fish live crickets
or small minnows deep. Head as far as possible toward the Bear
River Inlet and you might take a decent brown trout on small
spoons or spinner baits.
Spring Stripers
Come spring the biggest stripers in the lake -- as elsewhere,
these are females -- move into 4 to 12 feet of water off long
sloping points. We launch our Scanoe early and position it well
off the point. Steelhead rods and ten pound test line let us cast
Cordell 1000 series red and white and silver and blue plugs as
far as possible along the bank. After the splash subsides we
slowly retrieve. The plug should barely waggle and leave a long
"V" wake. Make three or four casts on each side of the
point; then move up to the next point until you find fish or the
wind kicks up and its time to troll.
In winter, small male stripers suspend in deep water where the
arms of the reservoir join. Then, as water warms, they school up
near the dam before they run up into the Bear River and, in some
cases Rock Creek. Ounce white or yellow HairRaisers and 1/2-ounce
silver Kastmasters do the job on these fish.
Spring also finds black bass action starting in the three big
coves on the north side of Rock Creek where the water warms first
in the shallows. Most years smallmouth hit first, then crappie
and largemouth as the water warms. When fishing slows in this
area, fish turn on in the same order along the steeper north bank
of the Bear River arm.
If you use smaller threadfin shad you can sometimes find
decent largemouth and more, if smaller, smallmouth. These fish
hit small motor oil Fat Gitzits rigged on 1/16-ounce jigs and
cast up against steep banks and fished "on the drop"
down to 30 feet or so.
Fly Flinging
Fly fishermen are not left out either. Streamers that imitate
threadfin shad take swirling stripers. So do chugging poppers.
During the months when stripers run deeper you can slow troll an
entire length of sinking line in front of a three foot long
leader and floating streamer and do very well on black bass as
well.
Conditional Fishing
Conditions are the key to success at Camp Far West. Its water
level drops markedly in the winter, which concentrates fish. This
exposes bare mud banks. Add rain or wind and the lake turns cocoa
and takes four to six days to clear. Consider this and call --
916-633-0803 or 645-0484- to check on water conditions. As a rule
you can expect decent striper fishing when the lake surface
temperature drops into the 50 to 55 degree range.
Do call Camp Far West to see if live bait is available before
you arrive. If they are out, the nearest bait shops are in
Lincoln or Wheatland on Highway 65.
During the summer, reservations are a must. In winter you
should have no trouble finding grassy oak shaded campsites for
tent or RV use just a few feet from night catfishing. Nearby
Wheatland or Lincoln offer provisions, restaurants and lodgings.
Nearby Alternatives
We use Camp Far West as an alternate for hunting and an
afternoon backup on first light steelhead action on the Yuba
River. When we get our pheasants early in the valley, we swing by
to check on stripers. When we find bluebird waterfowl weather or
luck into dawn steelhead, we switch to striper action in the
afternoon.
Locals find decent pheasant action in the triangle between
Wheatland, Marysville and the Feather River. Sutter and Twin
Cities Rod & Gun and other bird Co-ops give access to action.
The Bear River below Camp Far West offers bass and, in highwater
springs, shad. Quail lurk in the blackberry bushes near the
valley as well. Spenceville Recreation Area has a few deer, a few
quail and the odd duck in creek bottoms.
Steelhead action on the Feather and Yuba River continues until
January most years.
caution: watch flows! Both rivers eat boats at high
and flood stages.
The Feather River also offers outstanding smallmouth bass
action along undercut banks. Put in at Riverfront Park and
carefully run or, lacking skills, portage, Shanghai Bend Rapids
and you can float the Feather River all the way to Star Bend or
even Verona. The drift on the Yuba puts in at the Parks Bar
Bridge on Highway 20 and, with a left bank portage around a
clearly marked dam, can run to Hallwood Ave.
Portage over the riffle under the railroad bridge and you can
run all the way to the Feather River. In the spring striped bass
run in the Feather River; then the shad enter the Feather and
Yuba Rivers. All of these activities and turkey hunting in the
foothills allow visitors to Camp Far West many options. Now it
they would just answer their phone!
Publisher's note: To see what's where topographic maps help.
While you can buy individual "quads" for limited areas
you might consider the new, and up to date CD-ROMs that might
cover 200 or more quads. These let you examine large areas in
great detail to turn up new spots to fish, and they allow you to
then print only the areas you want. Even better they work with
GPS systems as well
CAMP FAR WEST - 916-633-0803
Location: East of Highway 65 between Lincoln and
Wheatland, 45 minutes from Sacramento and 25 minutes from
Marysville.
Tackle:
Cast: 8 to 10 foot spinning rods with 8 to 10 pound
test to cast one ounce silver Kastmasters, silver Zara Spooks
(after dark) or brown trout or Hot Red Rebel or Cotton Cordell
1000 series Redfin plugs to swirling fish. Structure spoons, jigs
or vertical Rappalas take suspended black bass or crappie.
Troll: Shallow and deep running Rebel or Cordell
plugs over old river bottom. In spring, fast troll barely
offshore for bass and crappie with crayfish finish Wee-R plugs.
Bait: Live minnows on #2 hooks for suspended stripers
or black bass. Use #6 hooks and smaller minnows for crappie.
Frozen sardines or anchovy and worms temp catfish. Fresh minnows
seem the choice over stinkbaits.
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