Middle Fork Feather River Fly Fishing Report 3-27-2026

Fly fishing continues to improve on the Middle Fork Feather River as flows continue to drop and water temps rise. The Portola gauge is at 225 cfs and below Sloat is 575 cfs (estimated) and water temps range from the upper 40’s at Camp Layman in the morning to 57 degrees in the afternoon in Clio. After the historic March heatwave, we are finally seeing a stormy pattern return next week. Water temps may drop a bit but I’m not expecting anything drastic.

With the warmer water temps, fish are in the riffles feeding on March Brown and Blue Wing Olive mayflies. We are finding fish in water types from riffles/runs to slow deeper frog water. There are some fish feeding on the surface and we got multiple eats on the big dry this week, but the fish are still keyed in on nymphs. Dry dropper is my ride or die per usual. Swinging streamers on the Trout Spey had more success this week as are becoming more aggressive in the warmer water temps.

What’s Working

Nymphs: Plastic Surgeon (14-16), Frenchie (14-16), Rusty Jig (14-16), Sexy Walts Worm (16-18), T.J. Hooker (8-10), Electrolyte Baetis (14-16), Pat’s Rubberlegs (8-10), Czech Bomb red/black, yellow/olive (16-18) Dries: Parachute Adams (14-16), March Brown Dun (14), Sparkle Flag (18), Film Critic (16-18), Last Chance Cripple (16-18), Cubby Chernobyl pink (8-10) Streamers: Feather Duster olive/white (8), Dolly Llama olive/white, natural (8), Sculpzilla white, tan, natural, olive (8-10)