Middle Fork American

[dryflychico]

High everyone, I am somewhat new to this area and am looking to go to the Middle Fork of the American for some trout hunting tomorrow (Thursday).

I have never been there, never seen the water, and haven't heard much about it other than it is a fairly good place to fish.

Just curious if anyone had any advice.

Especially interested in what flies would be the best to use. Like to throw dries but ususally have a dropper on so I don't miss the monster that doesn't want to hit the surface.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated (including if you think there are better fishing opportunities within a similar distance to Roseville).

Kind of off track but that big crazy guy on the Yuba above Hwy 20 has actually thrown rocks down on me and my fishing comrades on more than one occasion. He is definately off his rocker and could do some damage so everyone be careful (not to say it ever has or will stop me from fishing up there).

Thanks for any advice
dryflychico

[dtp916]

I'd stick with a caddis or parachute dry and a golden stone dropper - its been pretty good for me with that. I was lucky to find some risers and catch a few nice fish on an Adams last time, in the midst of a caddis hatch. Golden stones are probably the most important bug they have and I think they have several other stonefly species getting up to a #2! I've seen their shucks and cases, but never a live bug that big.

Mid Fork is a beautiful river, I always like getting out there.

[dryflychico]

for the advice James. i should have asked sizes also but I assume 12-16 would be the correct range.

Not really sure about the protocol on this site but I'm sure reports are appreciated. I am going up there in a few minutes and will definately post the results of my trout hunting (just a term I like, I don't actually hurt the fish ) experience.

The Yellow Labs are getting excited they see the fishing gear.

Thanks again James,
Dryflychico AKA Josh

[Katz]

Good luck Josh. Looking forward to the report.

Katz

[cmaday]

Hey dryflychico,

I also live in the roseville area and have been interested in the middle fork of the american. Could you please post in your report where on the middle fork you hit and how long it took you to get there. I'm looking for a place I can hit before I have to go teach. Fishing is a great relaxer before dealing with middle school kids, especially this time of year. It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Cory

[Ed Wahl]

Welcome aboard Josh. Love the American River Drainage. Never got around to the Middle Fork though. Reports are definitely encouraged here, but you can be a bit vague on the board. Tons of people check this board for info, not just fly fishers so it helps to be a bit discreet. I normally give out specifics off the board, p.m.'s and email, or better yet, take someone up personally to show them. Ed

[dryflychico]

First off let me apologize for not posting this quicker, too much happening in life right now but anyway here is the report.

I got some topo maps and hit the Middle Fork of the American a ways from Auburn back on some 4x4 roads (could not access where I went w/o 4-wheel-that’s pretty vague, right Ed ). My fly hit the water about 5:00 P.M. and I fished for about 3 hours. It started nice, I caught a 16” bow on my 4th cast (had a Parachute Adams #14 and #12 Golden Stone dropper) he hit the golden stone. I missed a good fish about 5 minutes after this (also the golden stone) and then didn’t get another strike for about 1½ hours. I probably should have changed up my dropper more but was really just rotating my dry’s (stimulators, march brown, elk hair caddis, adams, BWO, and a couple of others). Did not have any success with the dry’s until about 7:30. I was above a nice riffle and threw a cast about as far as I can with my 8 ½ -5 wt. and had a whale (18-20”) hit my March Brown dry unfortunately he hit it so quick I didn’t have good enough line control and only had him on for a minute. Missed a couple other strikes on my dry and dropper over the next ½ hour and then got hungry and took off for the night.

Overall it was a beautiful area (not a soul to be found back there) and the water was really nice. From the report posted by the guide service it looks like they had a hell of a lot more success than me, going to try and get back up there in the next week or two and prepare a better selections of fly’s before I go (including the guides suggestion ).

Thanks everyone for all the advice,
Dryflychico (AKA Josh)

[Ed Wahl]

Excellent report Josh. I was up a trib to the Rubicon over the weekend and most of mine took a big stonefly nymph. Only saw one adult which means the good dry fly action is still yet to come. The north fork is well worth checking out too. Very remote, nice fishies. Ed

[Mik]

Do you run into any rattlers while you are out there?

[dryflychico]

but I drove my Jeep right down near the water where it was kind of sandy. I can imagine back on the mountain there are a ton of them. I'm used to rattlers I used to spend a ton of time on the N. Fork of the Feather, way off the beaten path and would literally come on 1 or 2 a night. I would make my labs walk ahead of me to trigger them and figured if they got struck I could carry them out and drive but if I got hit (and venom flew) we could be in a lot of trouble.

ED,

I definately want to get over to the Rubicon or some of the tributaries, very soon.

Dryflychico (AKA Josh)