Noob on the American

[WinterrunRon]

[To me, the AR is a difficult river to sharpen your skills on.

Robdog,

Just curious, what is it that makes the Amercian a difficult river to sharpen your skills or you?

Charlie,

I wasn't aware you provided free online e-Lessons? Where do I sign up?

[robdog]

Robdog,
Just curious, what is it that makes the Amercian a difficult river to sharpen your skills or you?

It's a lot of water to cover & it kinda of hard for fishermen in general to cover it. Plus the fish move from spot to spot. Just from my experience. I have a lot more success in smaller streams like the Upper Sac or the McCloud than I have in the AR.

[Jgoding]

Ron,

Just had a question:

Do you find the American fish easy to catch or was your question just out of curiosity as far as learning on the American.

I would say the American is a tough river to fish but you could learn a helluv of a lot. It's tough in part that wading is downright dangerous at times, the fish will move a lot, and the scenery can be downright distracting at times.....

[ninepoundjammer]

Hi all,

Well I managed to get out on the water Saturday. No steelies but I did catch several small rainbows around 9-10". I suppose these are the rainbows that are stocked in the river rather than juvenile steelhead. Steelhead smolt would be smaller, right? Is there a self-sustaining rainbow population?

I found some pretty good looking riffle areas and fished them pretty hard using standard trout nymphing techniques. Also tried to swing some flies later in the day, but that just felt strange. I wasn't surprised when that didn't produce anything.

It is indeed a big river and lots of it difficult to fish while wading. I'm guessing a little experience finding steelhead goes a long way. My next time will probably be in a more educational environment with a guide or class, etc.

Thanks for all the tips

[kokaneejr]

Hey Ninepound,

Thanks for the report glad you found some fish. Any tips on where you went and size of flies. I am trying to convince my wife to let me go on Friday but not sure yet.

[WinterrunRon]

JG,

I guess I'm puzzled by the whole "difficult" thing. I'm not sure what makes it more difficult than any other. The rocks are slippery, but the river's very wadable, there's big rock bars with plent of room to cast, it has shoots/runs/pools/tailouts/flats like many others and, lucky for me, the fish seem to be no wiser than on any other river I fish. I don't think they're hard to catch, they're just in so few numbers it may seem they're hard to catch... big differnce.

If you want my definition of a difficult river to fish, it's the Pit! Urg! I could draft a laundry list of things I dislike about that river.

[ninepoundjammer]

Hey Ninepound,

Thanks for the report glad you found some fish. Any tips on where you went and size of flies. I am trying to convince my wife to let me go on Friday but not sure yet.

Mid sized tan cadis pupa nymph was getting most of the action. I'm guessing size 16-18 or so.

[SHigSpeed]

Hi all,

Well I managed to get out on the water Saturday. No steelies but I did catch several small rainbows around 9-10". I suppose these are the rainbows that are stocked in the river rather than juvenile steelhead. Steelhead smolt would be smaller, right? Is there a self-sustaining rainbow population?

Be careful. As found in another post, those "little rainbows" are likely smolt chinooks. If they have a forked tail, they're salmon for sure. Got pics? I've heard that there are very few to no resident rainbows in the AR.

_SHig

[Charlie Gonzales]

9#Jammer..

Unfortunately the American doesnt receive any hatchery trout, and has very few resident rainbows. I will never understand why they dont stock it.

Its good to hear that you tried to swing. It will seem very weird til you get your fisrt grab, then it will be very addicting. But at least you tried something new.

[Jgoding]

Hey Ron,

I guess you're right, if you can find the fish it isn't so bad. Seems to me the last 3-4 years has seen a real decline in numbers or the fish just aren't holding where I fish. I just remember when I started fishing the american about 6-7 years ago any given run would have 6-15 fish rising every evening. Last few years I'm lucky to see 1-2 fish rising once or twice. Not to say I caught a lot of fish back then though since I was still learning what these fish like.