Originally Posted by
Bob Loblaw
I fished the North Fork of the Stanislaus off Highway 4 this weekend for the first time this season. Its usually one of my "go to" spots for a day trip from the Bay Area, but this year it has been very high indeed. Its still running higher than usual but still fishable.
The fishing was good, all top water action too!. They were hitting Yellow Stimulators and Stonefly dries. I fished all morning with a succession of droppers but other than one fish snagged in the tail, they all ate the dries.
One thing that really stood out for me was the quality of the fish. I've fished this stretch for years and its mostly 6-8 inch rainbows with very occasionally one pushing 10. This weekend I was catching 8 inch fish that still had par marks...in past years these fish were 4-6 inches...so there must be a lot of food in the system to give them that sort of growth spurt. Great to see and hopefully a sign of good things to come.
Shout out to the Trout Spot in Arnold. Great little shop.
