M Fork Stanislaus report

[Sammy]

Fished it over the weekend. Water was much lower than what i'm use to. Always a challenge, as the usual holes typically don't fish the same way or simply aren't worth fishing. The water was extremely clear below Beardsley. A deep, green clear. Sight fishing would have been awesome, but there wasn't many fish to be seen except for some of the smaller, less aware fish.

Friday evening we through little drie flies and caught little rising fish. Eventually I found a run that had some deeper water. Tied on a two fly nymphing rig under an indicator. A few casts in and I hooked a freight train of a fish. Caught me completely off guard and quickly snapped my fresh 5x tippet. ah well... gave us hope for the weekend.

Saturday we fished a spot I thought would be better with the low flows. It was. Nymphed it pretty much all day. Trading off on this large riffle with my buddy. Broke off a few more big ones, but was able to land around 15 fish ranging between 10 and 17 inches. I couldn't tell you what type of fly was hot, but it was small #22, and somewhat resembled a flashback pheasant tail. (which probably would have worked also)

The next morning, at the same area, they were all about my size 14 prince nymph and wanted nothing to do with the fly that had worked so well the day before. Go figure. Sunday died off as the weather warmed up. In fact it was quite hot all weekend at about 3000 ft elevation.

[WadeK]

Thanks!
I'm planning on hitting the MF Stan sometime next week on my way to the East side. Were all these pic from below Beardsley? Did you try any higher? Water temps? Any info before I leave Fri 7/27 4:30 PM is appreciated.

[mikel]

the upper and tribs look like they did last October...came thru last Saturday. Don't know the temps up there.

[Sammy]

Thanks!
I'm planning on hitting the MF Stan sometime next week on my way to the East side. Were all these pic from below Beardsley? Did you try any higher? Water temps? Any info before I leave Fri 7/27 4:30 PM is appreciated.

All those were below bearsdley. Frankly, I've never fished above the reservoir. Water temps were in mid to high fifties, definitely never warm.

Small caddis hatch and pmd hatches. As usual, if nymphing, switch often. Look for the runs that offer some protection from above. I'm sure the water is clear everywhere at this point.

Have fun up there!

[WadeK]

Thank you both!