middle fork american

[ryanv829]

Decided to give the upper American a shot today. Started out good after landing one small 12" rainbow near the confluence, but then nothing for the rest of the day. Went down to mammoth bar and hiked/fished up stream for about a mile or two. Didn't see any rises so I only fished subsurface with a two nymph indicator rig. This was the first time I've fly fished the middle fork and it's a little different than what I'm used to. The water is gin clear and very deep in parts. The pools that the riffles drop off into must be 15+ feet. I focused on those areas since I figured that's where the big ones would probably be hanging out at, but no luck. I was using a 9 foot leader with 18" of tippet followed by my two flies, so I must have had at least 12 feet between my indicator and dropper fly, but I'm wondering if maybe that wasn't quite enough. The only other time I've fished this river was during a hike with my girlfriend. I brought a spinning rod for her to fish with and she landed a pretty nice bow on a kastmaster. So maybe a sink tip/streamer combo would work? If anybody cares to share what has worked for them on this river I would really appreciate it as I plan to explore the upper AR quite a bit more this year. I'm curious to know what type of water I should focus on, what type of setup you run, and any advice on other areas I can access the river without trespassing onto private property. Thanks in advance and feel free to PM me if you like.

[TaylerW]

From the bank I have had my best success using bobbers. Pretty soon here there will be rafting flows 7 days a week making fishing hard from the bank . Streamers and dries have their place as well

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Many years ago I had two young guys who hiked down into different parts of the upper American River.

They asked us what to use in the big deep clear pools where they saw big fish.

We suggested using a faster sinking full sinking line with a woolly bugger.

I think it worked for them......

Be sure to take the water temp up on those streams.

If it is still below 50 degrees it might be a little early way up here.


People always talk about good dry fly fishing way up in hose higher streams and lots of wild smaller fish.

.

[O.mykiss Hunter]

My favorite way to fish that river is to swing a pheasant tail soft hackle on a floating line with a 12ft leader. You can cover quite a bit of ground using this technique (which is really important if you're gonna fish the more well-known areas - confluence, mammoth bar, driver's flat, etc.). If you like using dries I would suggest the good ol' royal wulff in sizes 12-14 in water that has a broken surface, or a parachute adams in the same sizes for smoother water.

[wineslob]

Many years ago I had two young guys who hiked down into different parts of the upper American River.

They asked us what to use in the big deep clear pools where they saw big fish.

We suggested using a faster sinking full sinking line with a woolly bugger.

I think it worked for them......

Be sure to take the water temp up on those streams.

If it is still below 50 degrees it might be a little early way up here.


People always talk about good dry fly fishing way up in hose higher streams and lots of wild smaller fish.

.

Those worked as did.....................................banana slugs........................

[Troutsource]

Fished the Middle Fork at Driver's Flat last Sunday afternoon/evening. Caught nothing but hooked a ~14" football-shaped rainbow on a beadhead pheasant tail in a deep swirling seam. For me, the challenge with this river (and the South Fork) is contending with the flow surge. Flows started dropping between 5 and 6, it seemed (but looking at the image below, it looks like there were two surges), but everyone we talked to had a different story about the timing. The park ranger had the most info, saying the water agency is committed to 4 hrs > 1000 CFS per day -- but it could be longer, the timing is uncertain, and there could be two surges (not just one). When we left at 8:00 the water was still high -- it looks like that was a prolonged 700CFS flow that lasted until midnight, when it finally dropped to the lowest flow. It looks like it peaks around 1100 CFS and drops to between 200 and 400 CFS. Saw a number of small yellow stones and small olives hatching in the evening, but not many fish rising, even in what I would call an A+ perfect section of water. Swung a muddler in the last half hour for some browns but to no avail. This river always seems to look better than it fishes. Be careful with the flows, as they pose a real danger. One time I tried to cross in the same section I had crossed easily several days earlier and I nearly drowned (no exaggeration) because the flows were that much higher. And they come up very fast fast. Looks like Sunday it went from 325 to 1000 CFS in two hours. Fishing with my son once with bait, we suddenly noticed that our tackle box, chairs and worm container were floating away. Sunday, some guy told us when he arrived and planted his seat in the water it was at his ankles. Then later without warning, he suddenly realized that his n(#s were underwater and left. The flow can literally rise as you're crossing the river (which is virtually impossible at high flows).

Also, they close the gates at sunset. We left at precisely that time and they were still open and due to the campground there one of the campers speculated they're not too vigilant about it. But the Upper Lake Clementine gate was closed and locked when we stopped there 5 minutes later (I assume they round everyone up there before closing the gate, but who knows). Almost got locked in at the Middle Fork (Mammoth Bar) once but the ranger left the lock unlocked and just told me to snap it shut when I left.

Beautiful river, but be careful.

See flows here: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/jspplot/jsp...rval=&cookies=
Attachment 9129

[wineslob]

I've fished some sections (up above Auburn) that did the "late afternoon rise". 3-4 FEET was not uncommon to see in the evenings, depending on the snow pack.

[Grady]

that area requires you to move a lot. therefor a boat is the best option, floating drivers flat road access to mammoth bar. When the flows come up that tends to put a good streamer bite on. whooly bugger, black stoneflies, prince, and tiny midges work. dries in the early morning and late evening can happen. I do guide that section if you ever want to go. Cheers
Grady

Decided to give the upper American a shot today. Started out good after landing one small 12" rainbow near the confluence, but then nothing for the rest of the day. Went down to mammoth bar and hiked/fished up stream for about a mile or two. Didn't see any rises so I only fished subsurface with a two nymph indicator rig. This was the first time I've fly fished the middle fork and it's a little different than what I'm used to. The water is gin clear and very deep in parts. The pools that the riffles drop off into must be 15+ feet. I focused on those areas since I figured that's where the big ones would probably be hanging out at, but no luck. I was using a 9 foot leader with 18" of tippet followed by my two flies, so I must have had at least 12 feet between my indicator and dropper fly, but I'm wondering if maybe that wasn't quite enough. The only other time I've fished this river was during a hike with my girlfriend. I brought a spinning rod for her to fish with and she landed a pretty nice bow on a kastmaster. So maybe a sink tip/streamer combo would work? If anybody cares to share what has worked for them on this river I would really appreciate it as I plan to explore the upper AR quite a bit more this year. I'm curious to know what type of water I should focus on, what type of setup you run, and any advice on other areas I can access the river without trespassing onto private property. Thanks in advance and feel free to PM me if you like.