Battle Creek Canyon Ranch

These six miles of fish-rich Battle Creek opened for the first time in 1999. Battle Creek averages twenty feet across, and tumbles down an often narrow canyon that has one pool and riffle after another full of native rainbows, and sometimes steelhead at certain points in the season. It's a rugged wilderness atmosphere, and little has changed in years in what was once home to Ishi and his California Indian ancestors.

Planting trout is prohibited in these lower reaches of Battle Creek, as it is the primary spawning tributary for salmon and steelhead from the Lower Sacramento River. Battle Creek's resident rainbows, therefore, are completely wild, native fish that have grown big and tough, full of fight, and usually die of old age without ever being fooled by a dry fly or nymph.

Like all healthy streams, Battle Creek has a large population of all sizes of trout. Fish average ten to fourteen inches, while a trophy on this boulder-strewn stream is two or three pounds. These big Battle Creek rainbows are not uncommon, though the big fish don't rise as aggressively to dry flies and usually fall more easily to one of many effective nymph

The 6 miles of water are broken up into 6 different fishing beats: Baldwin, Wall, Canyon, Barn, No Man's, and the Spring Branch Beat. In addition, the Coleman Canal runs through the ranch property, providing nymph and occasional dry fly opportunities to rising trout in the man-made, creek-like stream channel.

When making a reservation for Battle Creek, you are reserving a beat for a day. Each beat contains more water than a pair of anglers can fish in a day, and groups of more than two anglers can reserve more than one beat each day. The beats are rotated to ensure that they are fresh and have not been recently fished when you arrive. Anglers choosing to fish more than one day – there are camping and cabin rental options nearby – will be assigned to different beats each day, guaranteeing that they get to see different sections of the stream.

Package Price:
The cost of the daily rate for the Battle Creek Canyon package is:
•  $135 per day (per person)

Inclusions:
Included in your Battle Creek Canyon package is a reserved beat for the day.

May/June:
May and June are runoff period on Battle Creek, with snowmelt from the flanks of Mt Lassen often making the stream too high to comfortably access, wade, and fish. On dry years, Battle Creek can start fishing as early as mid-May, while on wet-winter years we sometimes can't access the stream until mid-June.

If we're lucky enough to have fishable flows in May, we can get into some memorable salmonfly hatches on Battle Creek, as well as a smorgasbord of smaller mayflies. By mid-June the salmonflies are done, but they're quickly replaced by thousands of golden stoneflies hatching and buzzing through the river canyon throughout June and into early July. The golden stonefly hatch is the best hatch on the river for anglers, with fishing rising to dries throughout the day and especially in the late afternoon and evening. Generally this time of year Battle Creek anglers can raise plenty of fish on stimulators and other big bushy golden stonefly adults, while those fishing dry-and-dropper rigs with a stonefly nymph dropper do even better, and those angler's into catching as many fish as they can will dead drift stonefly nymphs under indicators and quickly loose count of the numbers of fish they hook.

July/August:
July continues the golden stonefly hatch, which is joined by little yellow stoneflies and caddis in the evenings, and as long as the water temperatures remain cool (typical on most years) the fishing remains good to great. On dry years, the creek temperatures can get warm by late July, and once those temperatures heat up we quit fishing the ranch to protect its native trout.

From Red Bluff:
•  Travel east on Antelope Blvd-Hwy 99E for three miles to Hwy 36.

•  Turn left (north) on Hwy 36 and go 11 miles to The Dales.

•  Turn left at Dales Cafe onto the Manton Road (A6). You will travel north and east 7.5 miles to Wildcat Road (it's just past the bridge over South Fork of Battle Creek).

•  Turn left onto Wildcat and proceeded 1.7 miles to the turnoff to Darrah Springs State Fish Hatchery (just past the bridge over the North Fork of Battle Creek).

•  Drive into the hatchery and follow the paved road for 1 mile. At this point take the left fork leading past the houses. The pavement will end just past the houses and then you will come to a fork in the road.

From Redding:
•  Travel east 22.5 miles on Hwy 44 to Black Butte Road (across from the county store).

•  Turn right (south) and go 7.3 miles to the Darrah Springs State Fish Hatchery entrance.

From the Burney Area:
•  You will need to travel to the Old Station area and pick up Hwy 44 heading west. Stay on Hwy 44 through Shingletown and go 6.5 miles to the Black Butte Road turnoff.

Battle Creek Ranch Beats:

Baldwin Beat:
After you pass through the second gate you will need to continue on for another ½ mile. A sign will indicate the road leading to the camp. Turn onto this road and follow the signs to the parking area. You can access some of the upper ranch beats by walking over the foot bridge by the camp and striking off across county.

If you chose to drive to the parking areas for the different beats just be sure you park in the assigned parking areas. Baldwin Reach: This reach includes portions of both Baldwin Creek and Battle Creek. After you go through the gate proceed one half mile to a cattle guard and a second gate. Let yourself through this gate (no lock involved but please close it behind you), and look for the sign on the road (just a few yards past the cattle guard) to the

The Wall Reach:
Follow the signs just past the second gate and proceed to the end of the road and park by the bridge going over the canal. Walk over the bridge and down the road. Go through two gates (close them behind you, please) These two gates are directly above a underground gas pipe that runs south-west. There are two orange and white signs (/////) that signal where the pipe is buried.

Canyon Reach:
Follow the main access road for approximately 1 mile after you go through the second gate. You will cross over a canal at this point. Proceed along the canal road for ½ mile and look for the sign leading down off the canal road. The road leads across a flat and into the trees and winds it way down towards the creek.

Burton Ranch Beats:

Barn Reach:
Follow the instructions on how to enter Battle Creek ranch. Check your odometer as you get to the second gate that is about ½ mile from the ranch entrance gate. You will proceed 1.8 miles west to a locked gate. You will be driving right along the canal for much of this distance. Using the combination provided (The combination is changed each year, and will be provided to you with confirmation of your trip deposits), let yourself through this gate and look to the left for the sign to the barn beat parking area. Follow this road down off the canal road and on to the parking area.

You can park in the corral or even under part of the barn if you wish. Walk to the west,

No Man's Reach:
This is the easiest of all the beats to access from a parking area. Check out the directions to the barn beat. After you go through the locked gate on the canal you will need to proceed 1.4 mile more along the canal to get to the turn off to the No Man's reach. The turn off is just as you reach a rock wall along the edge of the canal. It's a sharp turn to the left that may require a bit of jockeying to negotiate. You will need a 4-wheel drive for this road. There is a green gate at this point and if it is locked, the combination (The combination is

Spring Branch Reach:
To reach the parking area for this beat follow the directions to No Man's. Just as you reach the No Man's parking area you will see a trace road leading to the right. Follow this road to the end- about 1/3 of a mile. Walk along the ridge until you see the big S cures at the top of the Spring Branch Beat. You can then drop

When you've reserved a beat at Battle Creek for the day, it's your own private piece of stream from daybreak to dusk. You are welcome to arrive as early as you like, and leave whenever your angling day is over. We do strongly recommend that you give yourself ample time to hike out of the canyon at the end of the day BEFORE it gets dark.

The trails are not well-traveled and can be difficult to find at the end of a long day, so you want to have several visible landmarks to help track your way back to the truck.

The fishing at Battle Creek Canyon is best suited for the self-reliant, physically fit angler. Those willing to make the trek down into the canyon are rewarded by wild rainbow trout that only see a handful of fishermen during the course of each year. Some of the middle, steeper canyon beats only get fished once or twice a year, if at all!

A variety of different techniques will work at