Tuolumne 4/12

[Cal]

Spent the day battling fierce winds and trying to match the caddis hatch. Mixed caddis and PMDs in the morning. Little surface activity mid-day but the caddis started popping again around 4 PM. Had the whole river to ourselves.





Did manage a fair number of cookie cutter half-pounders, mostly 12-16". PMD dries (#14) worked early. Mid-day picked up a few on skinny olive woolly buggers. Afternoon and evening action was best on #14 tan caddis imitations, it helped if they had a cinnamon colored wing.





My brother-in-law, Rich, working the far side of the current seam. Funny how they were rising in the most invconvient place possible. The gusty upstream wind didn't help any, either. The wind made it very difficult to target fish, if you could get short drag free drift right on top of a feeding lane the fish would smack the fly pretty vigorously.





Persistence paid off. We each landed about a dozen of these slender silver beauties out of this run. Taped this one at 14", pretty common for what we saw today. Note the cinnamon wing Elk Hair Caddis.





If you recognize this bridge you know where we were fishing. (Near La Grange).

Enjoy the weekend, see you at the Spey-o-rama.

[Flycanoe]

That is just awesome and a place I have yet to visit, but plan to someday. Thanks for sharing.

[mark]

grand report,

Thanks for the pics and sharing.

[Hairstacker]

Great report, really appreciate it. Always love pictures of nice fish!

[WinterrunRon]

Love the coloring of that first fish! And thanks for posting the pics.

[Cruzin4Metalheads]

Great pictures. I fish that area a fair amount, it takes a few trips to figure them out, but when you do it can really be worth it. I've taken a few over 24" out of that section, and seen fish much bigger There are really some nice "trout" in that area. I say trout because if they figure out steelhead actually make it back to that section of water they will likely shut down the fishery. I've seen everything in coloration of fish from dark red strip and spots to chrome bright with what appeared to be sea lice, caught right after one another. They really do like to hang out in the absolute hardest places to get a true drift though, don't they.

[dtp916]

Thanks for the report, great pictures.

I've always wanted to visit there as well, just a long drive from here

Nice work!

[Dug]

I'll appolize in advance for a possible post buzz killer - and I'm certainly am not trying to start a debate thread (like certain other boards) and tarnishing the best northern CA fly fishing site - but thought I'd bring something up since we were on the subject of the lower Tuolumne...

I read with mixed emotions of the - with all due respect - "here's the rock i was on" post about the Tuolumne. It is a special river which has had it's ups and downs over the years - let alone the history of intense dredging (like so many of our valley rivers). Fortunately, the last two years have been great water years and hopefully the river is on the rebound, but prior to this, the river had multiple years where flows were less then 200 CFS, and sometimes less then 100, which really damaged the river - not only for trout and steelhead, but also the recovering Salmon runs. The good for posts like this, and learning about rivers like the Tuolumne, however, is that more folks may also learn about the battles being constantly fought over the river. Organizations such as the Tuolumne River Trust have been at the forefront of protecting the Tuolumne for 25 years; fighting dams, lobbying for protection of the river's headwaters and minimum flows, leading river restoration projects, sponsoring educational programs and salmon studies, and attainment of rivers easements, to name a few examples. Recently, they were instrumental in convincing the Francisco Public Utilities Commission to drop a plan to pull up to 70 percent more water from the river (which put it on American Rivers #8 most endagered list in '05 - http://www.americanrivers.org/site/D...pdf?docID=1327 ). A new prosal is on the table, however, to divert an additional 25 million gallons/day from the river ( http://sanfranciscobay.sierraclub.or...servation2.htm ). The Tuolumne needs folks like us to be aware of the issues and to get involved in protecting the river. As a personal disclaimer - I'm certainly not an expert on many of the issues regarding the river (especially the Turlock Irrigation District vs. Steelhead debate) but just an avid and concerned fly fisherman, so please take my comments in this context. I just know how easy it is to take for granted a great day of fishing, and overlook what it takes to keep our rivers alive and healthy. I'm encourage by the post, and hope the river continues to heal, but I'm apprehensive about its future due to this year's low snow pack and the impact of the SFPUC's plans. Like the Delta, the Tuolumne as well as many other watersheds need our persistent stewardship.
Tight lines folks!

A few links...
TRT Web Site:
http://www.tuolumne.org
TRT History:
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=....3.4&brand=oac
SFPUC Water System Improvement Plan:
http://sanfranciscobay.sierraclub.or.../feature26.htm
http://sfwater.org/msc_main.cfm/MC_ID/13/MSC_ID/167

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Hi Dug

Thanks for the great feedback on the lower (?) Tuolumne.

One good thing here is most of the fly fishers are catch-n-release anglers so that is a positive thing.

Being in the tackle business for a long time in Sacramento I have heard little about the Tuolumne so that is good too.