Stumpy Meadows Reservoir

[JR Martinez]

Can anybody tell me anything about it? Because my cousins, bro and I are headin' up there next month for a campin' trip.

Is it even worth my time? And if so any kind of pattern(s) in particular I should bring?

Note: Despite my forum name I plan on fishin' early mornin' and late afternoon when my family is not swimmin' in the lake and I'm not out explorin' or takin' pictures.... I also noticed the Rubicon is near by, is there any easy way to get there in the form of roads/trails?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Darian]

If you use the "search" function on this BB and key in Stumpy Meadows, several threads will appear o Stumpy Meadows. I can't sya what's in them but that's a good place to start. :)

[Fly Guy Dave]

I used to frequent Stumpy a lot back in my bait dunkin' days and I did better further back toward the feeder stream (Pilot Creek) than down by the dam. The Rubicon is not too far away, you'll cross over the Ellicot Bridge, which is the bridge that crosses the Rubicon on the way to French Meadows and Hell Hole, and you can access the river there. There is a decent path going upstream from there and a whole lot of wilderness from the bridge all the way down to the powerhouse outside of Foresthill (21 miles). I fished the whole length of the latter stretch a long time ago and didn't do too well.

[neil]

Had a few good days there last year trolling conventional gear, and slow-trolling nightcrawlers. Pilot Creek inlet looked real good, but struck out there plugging for browns. If you can get up to Pilot Creek real early or late, I bet you would find some nice browns.

If you want to fish flies, I would try the Rube. Easy hike on Hunter's Trail upstream of Elicot's Bridge. After a couple of miles you get down to the water. Small water, but plentiful small 'bows. We fished stimulators and attractors with pt nymph droppers, and got a mix of surface and subsurface hits. Saw plenty of evidence of bears, so look out for them and for rattlers. Beautiful country though.

[DFrink]

Stumpy is tough, even after a plant. I took my son up there yesterday for his 3rd bday, he caught a nice 16" rainbow dunking powerbait. I did pretty good from my tube by the boat launch last winter just after a plant, and have caught some nice fish in the back of the lake (all using wiggle tails on an I line). Good luck.

PS - Stumpy is one of my all time favorite lakes to swim in so you could just pack a cooler full of beer and enjoy the water?

Dan

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[Scott V]

Once again Dan gets out fished by his kid. Looks like I need to call your boy next time I am going out fishing.

[DFrink]

Very funny Scott. I'm hoping he will go pro and I can retire early, but I'm not quitting my day job just yet.


Once again Dan gets out fished by his kid. Looks like I need to call your boy next time I am going out fishing.

[Bryan Morgan]

Got a couple acres very close to there. I used to fish it a lot with a tube. Throw a bugger in and around the inlet around the stumps. Nothing huge, but consistent.

[RickG]

Bring a lot of bug spray,the mosquitoes will eat you alive, from sunup to sundown, one day there was all i could handle. I will never camp there again.

[DFrink]

Down by the lake they aren't to bad, was there for about 4 hours Thursday and didn't see any bugs.

Dan

[JR Martinez]

So this is just a follow up as I got back from Stumpy Meadows Sunday evening.

Didn't fish mornings because I slept in, or at least tried because the ground was rock hard and it was pretty cold out at night and my sleeping bag didn't help none. That left just evening to go fishing, and I'll tell you what, the fish were out in force the first 2 of the 3 nights I was there.

First night I went down to the lake around 6:45 and there was a hatch of caddis or midges coming off the lake and trout were rising every where. Strange thing was there was also these large beetles falling into the lake and those that couldn't fly away were taken fast, as long as they weren't too close to shore. So not knowing what caddis or midge I was dealing with I decided to tie on a foam Turks Tarantula, or something similar, because of the beetles I saw getting taken but I probably could have gotten away with tying on a Parachute Adams too as it is my go to general purpose small non terrestrial insect pattern. Turned out to be the right choice because they slammed that fly when ever they took it. Had 5 or 6 strikes and only hooking and landing one decent sized Rainbow of about 12 inches. My cousin has some pictures of it but she hasn't sent them yet. Probably could have done better but I only stayed out there 30-40 minutes before it started getting dark.

Second night was the same thing. Hatch coming off the lake and these huge beetles falling in left and right. Strange thing is these beetles only seemed to take a dip after 6. Went down to the lake around 7 this time though. Used the same fly and had 4 strikes and only landing my first which was around 12-13 inches. Missed the hook set on a few from both nights because some porpoised to take the fly.

Third night went down to the lake around 6:30, sat and waited to see what was going on which wasn't much. A few fish were rising and there a few bugs on the lake but the fly from the previous two nights was bashed all to hell so I tied on this generic ant/beetle/cricket/etc pattern I tied before I left and only had one strike the entire 40 or so minutes I was down there.

Learned a lot from this trip though, and saw a lot of cool bugs which I'm always stoked about but my family finds weird but they always ask me what everything is. For example, the order diptera made itself known, as it does everywhere, like mosquitoes and tiny black flies (both of which made a buffet out of me), bee flies, robber flies, midges, crane flies and house/horse/green bottle flies were everywhere. Saw some yellow jackets or paper wasps down by the lake. Saw tons of different butterflies. Carpenter ants were everywhere. Beetles as big 3/4 of an inch down to about 1/8 of inch were seen at the campsite and down by the lake. And my dreaded enemy, the spider, showed it's ugly head from time to time.

Anyways, sorry for the long winded post (must be the Journalism major in me) but it was a good trip overall and I'm hoping to get back up there soon.

[Scott V]

Sounds like a great trip. I can not remember the last time I was at Stumpy, must have been 2 or more years ago. I might have to make a trip there this summer.

[DFrink]

I was up there on Friday and Sunday last weekend (swimming with the family). On Friday I saw about a dozen or so fish rising off the shoreline. Wanted to take the tube up with me on Sunday, but didn't pan out. Sunday the wind was up and no fish surfacing. Hoping to get up there in a couple of weeks.