Fishing Opportunities in Calaveras County?

[JohnS]

Bought a cabin up in Arnold in Calaveras county and was looking at the map for any fishing opportunities that I might find. I'm familiar with the normal spots: White Pines Lake, the Stan, Lake Alpine, Mosquito Lake, Kenney Reservoirs.

There seems to be several public reservoirs near Angels Camp and there are the forks of the Calaveras and Mokelume Rivers. Does anyone have any knowledge of these places that they might be willing to share, maybe in a PM?

How about access to the forks of the Stan that are off the beaten path? Any help would be greatly appreciated

[El Rey]

Hi John,

I'm envious. Arnold is a pretty cool place. As to fishing info:

There's a shop right in Arnold with good info--can't remember the name.

But, buy a copy of Bill Sunderland's book, "Fly Fishing the Sierra Nevada." He has a whole chapter on the Hwy 4 corridor with all the good places.

I spent several summers up in that country as a kid, and here are my favorites. At the Big Meadows campground there is a nasty dirt road down to the bottom of the canyon. There is a Boy Scout camp down there that I knew well. It's the NF of the Stanislaus. You can fish above or below the scout camp. But my favorite is to hike downstream, or over the ridge, to get to Highland Creek. It's a beautiful little stream with lots of stupid fish. Or, there is now a road from Hwy 4 to Spicer Reservoir, and Highland Creek runs into and out of the reservoir. Read Sunderland.

Next best: just before Ebbitts Pass is a road that turns south and eventually runs next to the Mokelumne. Good fishing right at the turnoff in the meadow area, but less pressure upstream where the road again meets the stream. Small stream fishing made easy. The road eventually ends at Highlands Lakes. One is the headwater of Highland Creek, the other of the Molelumne. Both get very windy. Again, read Sunderland.

Sunderland explains the access to several areas below the Big Trees Park, but I've never managed to fish there.

There is always Lake Alpine with some nice planted fish. (Our mutual friend, Ben, knows it well.)

None of the above is secret stuff. It's all well documented.

Enjoy your summers in that area. It's one of my favorite, and less crowded, areas of the Sierra.

Cheers,
Harlan

[k9mark]

Ican tell you from personal experience Highland Creek is fishless below the damn. It is not stocked. Better to come infrom the boyscout camp and fish upwards. If anyone ever caught something below the damn thats new to me.

[Bill Markwood]

John: I sent you 2 pms.

[BigSmallFly]

I fish beaver creek and the one beyond it at least once or twice a year. Small stream, but catch a lot of fish There is some planters than can run up to 12", but mostly wild 6" fish. Fun for a really light rig.

[OceanSunfish]

Don't over look Melones in the late fall and winter......

[JohnS]

@k9mark I fished Spicer where Highland Creek comes in.......the fish were stacked up like crazy. Caught over 100 on 6 hours. My partner and I had a deal to give the other our worse looking fly and see if either of us could catch fish. We couldn't not catch them. I've heard there's fish in Highland Lake and I know there's fish in Kinney reservoir and Upper and Lower Kinney. If you've never been to Kinney, it's absolutely beautiful and there are fish!

@ Bill I responded.......maybe we can get together when you're up there

@BigSmallFly....I'm familiar with Beaver Creek but not the one beyond it. What's that?

@ElRey...I ordered the book last night

@OceanSunfish.....where can you fish Melones with out a boat?