Baum Lake has year-round cold water, a rich volcanic mineral bottom that fosters aquatic insects, and a hatchery located on its banks. It can be a place that will try your patience, but that just means it’s also a place to hone your skills. It’s a venue that any fly fisher will fall in love with.
Baum Lake is an impoundment of Hat Creek and was created in the early 1900s when the Red River Lumber Company, which was located in Westwood, was looking for additional electrical power to run its huge lumber mill. The mill already had a hydroelectric power plant on the Hamilton Branch, just west of town, and the owner of Red River, T. B. Walker, hired an engineer named Frank Baum, who designed Hat Creek Powerhouse Number 1 and Hat Creek Powerhouse Number 2. Baum Lake was created as part of the complex, strictly for the production of hydroelectric power.
Frank Baum owned the Crystal Lake Ranch, where Baum Lake and the Crystal Fish Hatchery are now located. Workers at the Crystal Lake Hatchery told me that Baum had a vision of balancing beauty with functionality. If form follows function, he realized his vision.
Frank Baum designed the system to generate as much power as he could, and that meant supplying water to two powerhouses, not one. A concrete channel collects much of Hat Creek’s water below the confluence of Hat Creek and the Rising River, shunting it directly to Hat Creek Powerhouse 1. This water is then collected in Baum Lake, as is the rest of Hat Creek’s flow. The current slows down once the water enters the lake, but it has a noticeable current and can resemble a spring creek. It’s possible to fish from the bank, but you really need a boat, pram, kayak, or float tube to cover Baum Lake effectively. Fortunately, it’s not big water. In Frank Baum’s design, the lake needed only to be large enough to accumulate sufficient water required to spin the generator farther downstream, at Hat Creek Powerhouse 2. The lake covers just 77 acres and in spots is less than 150 feet wide. It’s only two-thirds of a mile from the inlet to the Hat Creek Diversion Dam.
Baum’s water is released into two channels at the diversion dam: the original creek channel, and a concrete channel that takes the majority of the flow to Hat Creek Powerhouse 2. From there, the water returns to Hat Creek, creating the famous wild-trout stretch beloved by fly fishers, and flows down past the Highway 299E bridge to join the Pit River. The Pit then flows on to Lake Britton to power PG&E’s hydroelectric dam there.
Fishing Baum Lake
Baum Lake is situated in a small valley rich in nutrients, and the water and nutrients support an ecosystem that feeds both hatchery and holdover resident trout. I have asked several biologists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife if there are any wild fish in Baum Lake. They all tell me there are. Many of the guests I guide have landed rainbows that look different form the rainbows that are stocked by the hatchery. It’s been a while since brown trout have been planted into the lake, but every now and then, a large brown is landed. Irrespective of whether any of these actually are wild or hybrids of wild and hatchery fish, the Crystal Fish Hatchery does a great job of making sure the lake is full of quality stocked fish for fly fishers to enjoy.
The lake has a diverse population of mayflies, caddisflies, damselflies, dragonflies, and midges. That’s great for the fish, but it can be frustrating for fly fishers. At any time throughout the day and across the seasons, multiple hatches can be happening at once. Trying to determine what the fish are eating can try your patience. I have seen folks succeed, and I have seen folks struggle at Baum.
My first tip when fishing the lake is to be mindful of what is going on around you. For example, suppose you get to Baum Lake early in the morning and there is one other person already on the lake. This actually means that the fish have already been disturbed — they’re that sophisticated — and you definitely need to bring your A game. Is there a hatch, or are there multiple hatches going on? In the winter, the midges hatch three different times during the day. In the spring, the Callibaetis mayflies hatch two times a day. What to fish and when and how to fish it can be puzzling.
If you see a specific hatch occurring, you might start with a dry f ly with a dropper beneath it (see the illustration on the previous page). One of my favorite setups uses 12-foot, 5X tapered monofilament leader, to which I tie a size 16 hi-vis Adams Parachute with an orange/ pink wing, rather than the traditional white calf-tail wing. I’ll then tie 18 to 24 inches of 5X monofilament tippet tied to the bend of the Adams and add a size 18 or 20 WD-40 in black or gray. This offers the fish two options rather than one. If it is a cloudy day, I go with the black WD40 for better contrast. The fish have to see it before they can eat it.
Another approach to the problem posed by the multiplicity of bugs present is to fish a several different small mayfly nymph and midge imitations beneath a bobber-type indicator. The order in which you present them is determined by color and what type of insect you are trying to imitate. If there’s no hatch, or if I want to focus on subsurface insect activity, I’ll often fish a three-fly rig beneath the indicator, usually with the bottom fly at a depth of 12 feet. Given the tippet lengths I use for the three flies, this means the leader itself, on which the indicator is placed, measures from seven to nine feet in length. To the end of the leader I add an 18 to 24-inch tippet of 5X fluorocarbon, to which I tie the top fly, a mayfly nymph. This fly is intended to imitate a mayfly starting to ascend to the surface. I use a pattern that my friends and I have dubbed the Baum Lake Special. It started out as a standard Pheasant Tail Nymph, then morphed into a version of Mike Mercer’s Micro May, and now it is my X-May in brown. I tie this fly on a standard nymph hook, not a jig hook, in sizes 18 and 20. The fly is just a simple Pheasant Tail Nymph tied in the X-May style. (See the sidebar.) I then tie on another 18 to 24 inches of 5X f luorocarbon tippet from the bend of that hook to a WD-40 in black or gray, size 18 or 20. Again, the color choice depends on whether it is a cloudy or sunny day. Finally, I then tie on 18 to 24 inches of 5X fluorocarbon tippet from the WD-40’s hook bend to a Thurman’s Little Bit Midge in red and silver, size 18 or 20. The red midge offers good contrast on both dark and bright days. I may add a split-shot somewhere down from the indicator if I want to sink the flies more quickly.
I fish this rig where there is a deep side channel next to a weed bed or out in the middle of the lake in water that is 10 to 12 feet deep. You can also adjust the rig to fish shallower, if need be. With this setup, you are waiting for a cruising fish to come by and eat one of your offerings. Folks have asked me if I change f lies. Usually, I don’t. These f lies have been the staples at Baum for decades. Every now and then, though, I do change the bottom fly to a different size and color. I have had success substituting a black AP Nymph in size 10 for the midge. I do this right after the hatchery has released a batch of fish from the pens, because I believe the fish perhaps see the AP as a food pellet.
Figuring out what’s hatching at Baum Lake can feel like a multiple-choice test. If you’re finding it too challenging, there’s a simple, alternative approach: fish a leech pattern. Decades ago, when I often fished in the Burney area, I would visit Vaughn’s Sporting Goods in Burney. One of the reasons was to check out the local patterns that folks were fishing, but the other was Andy Burk. Andy tied for Vaughn’s, and I loved seeing his meticulous and often innovative flies. One day I ran into him leaving the shop. He had just dropped off flies and was headed out to go fishing, so he was in a hurry, but he took time to talk with me. When I said I was planning to fish Baum Lake, he went his car, returned with a fly box packed with flies, and handed me a leech pattern. He didn’t say a word — he just covered his mouth with his index finger in the international “Keep this quiet” sign. Decades later, I still fish that leech pattern, and it has always produced. Hat Creek and the Rising River run through cattle ranches before being impounded in Baum Lake, and the cow manure adds nutrients that big leeches like. The leech pattern that Andy gave me was just a huge, size 6 Rusty Brown Leech with a brown thread body, rust-colored marabou wing, and a black head of lacquered thread. That leech changed my world at Baum Lake.
I like fishing the leech on an intermediate line with a 7.5-foot 4X tapered leader — either fluorocarbon or monofilament works fine, and I haven’t had one produce more fish than the other. I position my boat on a weed bed on one side of a deeper channel that has some current, usually down at the middle part of the lake at the area of the small island. I cast the leech across the channel and downstream at about a 45-degree angle and bump mend 10 to 12 feet of extra line into the cast so the fly will sink. I don’t want the leech on the bottom of the lake, though. I want it in the lower to middle part of the water column, which is where fish seem to prefer it. I tighten the line and start to strip it back with a slow strip, because a slow strip usually works best. If it doesn’t produce strikes after several casts, I speed up to a quicker strip. As I am stripping in the leech, it is swinging in the current back to my side of the channel. I strip it all the way back to the boat. Many times, the fish will strike when the leech starts to swing across the current or when I am lifting it out of the water to recast. These grabs can be shocking strong.
A Recent Experience
On a recent trip to Baum Lake, my friend Gene Bullard and I met up with Phil Ryan to fish for the day. Each of was fishing a different setup. Gene had an indicator rig, Phil had a dry-and-dropper rig, and I fished my leech rig. We all got grabs and all landed fish.
The water level was high, and the cement picnic table that is located right by the boat launch was partially submerged. The weed beds were in perfect shape, with many of the channel-clogging weed beds starting to disappear with the arrival of cooler temperatures in the fall. The weed beds will slowly disappear in the winter months and then start to grow back in the spring and summer.
On Gene’s indicator rig, the top-producing fly that day was a black size 20 WD-40 — the day was cloudy, and we got a little rain. A size 20 Lance’s X-May Baum Lake Special came in second.
Phil’s dry-and-dropper rig had a brown Elk Hair Caddis in size 16 with a black WD-40, size 20. Phil cast to working fish on the surface, and both flies produced fish equally. On this rig, you can fish the dropper fly to a depth of 18 inches, maybe a little deeper, so it covers two kinds of feeding activity. Phil had the WD-40 dropper fly set at about 8 inches below his Elk Hair Caddis, so the trout may have been taking it as an emerger.
I started with my trusty Rusty Brown Leech, and one grab was so hard the fish took the fly and kept on going. Although the fish usually grab the leech right as it begins to swing across the channel, this time they were grabbing the fly as I started my retrieve. This is unusual, but it shows that you need to fish the fly completely, from the beginning to the end of the presentation, because fish can take it at any point, and you need to be prepared. Actually, “Be prepared” is the best advice I can give to anyone planning to fish Baum Lake. The diversity and abundance of aquatic insects and other trout food there can make solving the problem of how to fish this special place seem puzzling, but if you’ve got the right rigs and the flies to go with them, you stand a much better chance of avoiding frustration and enjoying a productive day on this often fun impoundment.
Lance’s X-May Baum Lake Special
Materials
Hook: Firehole 609, size 16
Thread: Tobacco brown Danville 6/0 and fire engine orange Danville 6/0
Tail: Natural pheasant tail fibers
Body: Tobacco brown Danville 6/0 thread beneath pheasant tail fibers
Rib: Brassie-size copper wire
Thorax: Brown Antron dubbing
Wing case: Pheasant tail fibers topped with mirage opal Flashabou
Legs: Root beer Krystal Flash
Head: Fire engine orange Danville 6/0 thread and Sally Hansen’s nail polish or Solarez Bone-Dry UV head cement
Tying Instructions
Step 1. Mount the hook in the vise and start the brown thread one-third of the shank length back from the eye of the hook. Tie in the copper wire and secure it back to the bend of the hook, covering the hook shank with a thread body. Return the thread to the starting point.
Step 2. Using two or three turns of thread, tie in three pheasant tail fibers on top of the hook so they extend beyond the hook bend, then hold them down on top of the hook shank and wrap the wire one turn at the bend to secure them. Now adjust the length of the tail so it is one-half the shank length beyond the bend of the hook. Spiral the wire forward over the pheasant tail to tie down the pheasant tail as you rib the fly and tie off the wire at the beginning of the thread tie-in point. Cut off the wire, but do not trim the butt ends of the pheasant tail.
Step 3. Tie in one strand of mirage opal Flashabou extending back over the body. Pull back the butts of the pheasant tail and wrap two to three turns of thread under them to make the butts lie back over the body, as well. Then tie in four strands of root beer Krystal Flash extending out over the eye of the hook.
Step 4. Dub a thorax with Antron brown dubbing, then pull back two strands of Krystal Flash on each side of the fly and secure them on each side with the thread. Whip finish the and cut off the brown thread.
Step 5. Start the fire engine orange thread at the point you whip-finished the brown thread, then pull the butt ends of the pheasant tail over the thorax and secure with the orange thread. Trim the butts. Pull the Flashabou over the thorax on top of the pheasant tail and secure it with the thread. Form a thread head and whip finish, then lacquer the thread with head cement so that it is shines.
— Lance Gray
Andy’s Rusty Brown Leech
I have tied this fly with and without a black lacquered head, and today, the only leeches in my Baum Lake fly box are tied with it. There is something about that head that makes this fly special.
Materials
Hook: Firehole 718, size 6
Weight: .020-inch lead wire or nontoxic alternative, 15 wraps
Thread: Tobacco brown Danville 6/0
Body: Tobacco brown Danville Flymaster 6/0 thread
Tail and wing: Jay Fair’s rustcolored marabou, plus two strands of mirage pearl Flashabou beneath the wing.
Head: Black Danville 6/0 thread and Sally Hansen’s nail polish or Solarez BoneDry UV head cement
Tying Instructions
Step 1. Mount the hook in the vise, wrap the weight onto the hook, and shove it toward the eye, leaving about an eighth of an inch of space.
Step 2. Start the brown thread in front of the lead and secure the lead in place with multiple wraps ending at the back of the wire.
Step 3. The wing is tied in high-tie style. Tie in the rust-colored marabou fibers right behind the wire and secure them with wraps of thread back to the start of the bend of the hook. The marabou should extend five-eighths of an inch beyond the bend. Completely cover the marabou butts with the thread. Repeat the process in one-quarter-inch segments up the hook shank. All the marabou should extend five-eighths of an inch beyond the bend as you tie in each segment all the way to the front, so each one should be a bit longer to maintain the same distance. Before tying in the last segment, tie in two strands of mirage pearl Flashabou and then tie in the last marabou wing. Whip finish the brown thread, cut it off, tie on the black thread, form a solid black head, whip finish again, and lacquer the head with Sally Hansen’s or use Bone-Dry UV head cement.
— Lance Gray
If You Go…
Baum Lake is open year-round, and some of the best fishing on the lake is during the fall and winter months. There are no special tackle restrictions, which means you’ll likely see bait anglers and gear anglers. Anglers can harvest five fish a day, with 10 in posession.
The lake is easy to drive to. From Redding, take Highway 299E for 45 miles to the junction of Highway 299E and Highway 89. Approximately three miles past this intersection on Highway 299E, turn right at the sign onto Cassel Road. Approximately two miles farther on your left-hand side will be the Baum Lake Crystal Fish Hatchery. The road to the hatchery is a dead end that terminates at the Hat Creek Powerhouse 1 facility. The Baum Lake boat ramp and access road will be on your left side before you reach the hatchery.
Baum Lake has simple amenities — vault toilets, cement picnic benches, handicap viewing areas, and a gravel boat ramp. The boat ramp access is a no-fee area.
The nearest campground, Cassel Campground, is approximately 1.5 miles from the Baum Lake. Visit http://www.americanll.com/cassel-campground for information.
For fly fishers who don’t camp, there are two motels in Burney that I recommend to my guests:
Shasta Pines Motel and Suites, 37386 Main Street, Burney. Phone (530) 335-2201; website, https://shastapinesmotel.com.
Green Gables Motel and Suites, 37371 State Highway 299 East, Burney. Phone (530) 335-3300; website, https://greengablesmotel.com.
The nearest fly shop is The Fly Shop, 4140 Churn Creek Road, Redding. Phone (530) 222-3555; website, https://www.theflyshop.com.
— Lance Gray