Help with American River

[danbannister]

Hello all, first time poster.

A friend and I are planning an April trip to the American River area for a week and I'm looking for some guidance on best places to go etc. Neither of has been before but, we're looking to walk and wade and fish dries and nymphs.

We're somewhat flexible on where we go and it looks like there's 3 forks of the river so, the plan is to fly into San Francisco and drive to the river.

I assume the river is open year around for catch and release fly fishing?

Where do we get licences for out of state anglers?

Is one fork better than the others for access and or fishing?

Best places to go for walk and wade and easy public access?

Best towns to look for accommodations?

Best fly shops?

We're both from out of state and have no knowledge of the area so, any help would be appreciated.

[Dave E.]

Hi Dan,

"Best fly shops?"

I’ll field this one, because it’s easy. The American River runs through the city of Sacramento and Kiene’s ( the nice folks that supply us with this board to post Q’s and A’s on ) is in Sacramento.
Kiene’s Fly Shop is the obvious choice.

I'll bet if you contact them, they can fill in the rest of the blanks for you......the American is their home water.

Happy New Year, Dave



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[Mark Kranhold]

Sounds like you want to fish trout in the upper forks, not the American below the dam? A good person to reach out to would be TaylerW here on the board. Tayler also guides the forks, I would private message him and pick his brain a bit on the North,middle and south forks. In April the American below the dam will have our spring steelhead in so you may want to give that a go for a day. These fish are hot and spicy in the 2-6 lb range and will take swung soft hackles and leech patterns. Good luck to you

[danbannister]

Thanks Mark, I've sent him a PM, all the best to you

Dan