After arriving around 7am, I quickly noticed that CF was more like a creek than a river. At times it was probably a good 40 feet wide, but mostly it was more 10 to 20 feet with thick growth on both banks. There was occasionally room to do more than a roll cast, but you had to be careful not to snag a tree.
Access to this river consisted of driving to the end of the road that parallels it for more than a few miles. I tried upstream of the dead end, but it was pretty tight and decided to wade downstream. Eventually I made my way down a mile or so without resorting to the bank. Either by wading or climbing rocks in the stream.
The weather was hot and the water was warm enough that fish were sitting in deeper pools. I did hook a few rainbows on the way, but didn't actually catch anything until finding a deep slow moving pool about a mile downstream from where I parked.
Fish were biting my size 14 Blue Dunn Wet and size 12 Adams Wet. They seemed small and just wouldn't stay hooked. I'd imagine they were no larger than 9 inches. The fish were hooked while dancing the wet fly downstream of my position. Casting was tight, so this was an effective way to get to fish that I couldn't reach otherwise. I worked the fly into fishy areas between boulders and under brush. Alternating lifts with drifts.
When I found a deeper and slower moving pool, there were many large fish visible. I stayed around for a while and ended up catching/releasing a few. Most notably was a 16 or 17 inch rainbow that was caught on a size 12 Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail as the fly started swinging in the current after a dead drift of about 4 feet to get the fly down to fish level (4 or 5 feet deep).
Another was a 8 or 9 inch brown trout that had beautiful markings. He grabbed that SH Ph Tail just as it hit the water. He darted out from beneath some rocks grabbed it literally within a second of it hitting surface. It never even had time to sink. I tried a black woolly bugger (swing and strip) and had a few follow and nip at the tail, but they didn't stay on. Gave up as someone came in to poach my spot.
I walked the road back to my car and drove downstream -- just upstream from the bridge that crosses Clark's Fork. The river was wider here and allowed for room to cast. I got in and walked approx 3/4 mile upstream stopping at fishy spots. Again, a few hooks in smaller fish. The only one I landed was a small rainbow that went after my size 12 Light Cahill Dry. He was one of maybe 3 fish I saw rising to dry flies in the whole river. I decided to try to nab him and sure enough, he grabbed after only a couple casts directly over his position. My feet and back were starting to hurt after crawling over rocks and wading for so long. Went back to the car and headed back towards Strawberry.
Middle Fork / Stan
I stopped at the Middle Fork of the Stanislaus and decided it might be a little difficult to access the water. The bridge was well above the water and the access was steep and access was limited due to steep rock bordering the river. Maybe I'll try this another time. I wasn't in the mood.
South Fork / Stan
After getting to Strawberry, I went to the old bridge and decided to give it a try for an hour or two (approaching 7pm). Even fewer fish here than on Clark's, however some decent sized trout were hanging out in the pools immediately below the bridge. They didn't want anything I offered. I wasn't in the mood to experiment very much because of the long day. A couple appeared to be at least 12-15 inches. Got a couple of bites, but nothing stayed on for more than a second.
Fish count: Less than 5
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1 comment:
Yeah, well... timing is everything if you plan to FF the CF. And I mean mainly the time of day. Midday isn't bad with attractor dries or small hoppers during the hotter parts of summer (July/Aug) even when the water is low. You need to learn to work a short line and use a 7-1/2' 4-5wt rod. I've had luck fishing a trude and pulling it back wet after a float across the current, almost as if it's a small streamer... and done decent with size 8 2xl streamers also.
Evenings are when the action gets hot, but because of the terrain and distance between accessible areas, you have to select where you want to fish in advance and get there early enough so the stretch of water you want is yours. Small dries (caddis and mayfly imitators) work well and because you're going to be doing some pocket fishing in turbulent water, an indicator wing or post helps.
Won't give you all the secrets... I've fished this water since the early 1960s and seen it change a lot- weird how the water level seems to be so low over the past 10 years, as it used to be MUCH higher all the way through August.
And lots fewer native fish now, I sure wish the weekenders would learn to practice catch and release a bit more with the beautiful small fish and concentrate on the planted fish for eating. =(
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