A couple of weeks ago, I made another trip to the Lower Stanislaus. I decided to delay this report until after the river closed. Reason being, considering the stuff I saw on the American, you never know who out there may read this and decide it was time to go target some very large salmon.
I arrived at the Tulloch access while it was still dark. I had already rigged my rod before leaving the house, so I only had to throw on my waders and get to the water. For the first time, I started up underneath the dam and worked myself down. I threw a 2-fly rig consisting of a size 14 wet fly and a size 12 soft hackle. I had a few bites here and there, but didn't catch anything for a while. I could see the trout swimming around about 6-10 feet under the surface, more or less out of reach since I was swinging just under the surface.
As I scrambled along the rocks to get myself downstream, I was able to open up my cast a little bit. There were less overhanging tree branches and I could get in a good double spey cast across to the far bank. Fish were starting to come to the surface for a few bugs that filled the air. At this time, I caught a few around 10” in length.
Working yourself along the river in this section is not easy. Wading is limited. You are more or less pinned on a rock and doing whatever you can to get the fly out. As I was clumsily moving around, I heard a big splash. A few moments later, I saw a large salmon come out of the water. He was fresh and lively. This was the first time I had seen salmon off of Tulloch. That shouldn't be a surprise since I don't normally spend a lot of time in this section. Nice to know they're out there. Although I was tempted by the big fish, I moved on and let him and his friends be.
Scrambling up the rocks to the path, I went downriver and waded out again. Caught another swarm of 10-15 inch fish. As usual, I kept moving, looking for “players”. Instead of pounding the same section over and over, I like to keep moving and look for those that are active.
I stayed at the Tulloch area until 1 or 2 pm. The fishing was that good. Normally I'm gone before noon. I'm not going to say where, but in a deep hole, I was able to see a few very large salmon. And a bunch of "small" salmon over 30 inches that paled in comparison. In fact, those big guys were the biggest salmon I've ever seen period. I didn't know that fish this big were in the Lower Stan. I can't say for sure, but at least two of them looked to be around four feet and built like a missle. They were absolutely huge. The first time I saw the larger of the two, I really thought I was seeing things. He made the 30” fish look tiny by comparison. By the looks of things, he was fresh from the ocean. He was moving around like a mad man chasing others that were getting too close. Totally unexpected and awe inspiring.
Not long after this discovery, and my 10 minutes of just sitting on a rock just watching, I went back to the car for a quick trip down to Two Mile.
After arriving at the new location, I went down and fished right where the path meets the water. Normally I head upriver to begin, but for some reason, I decided to start here. On the second cast, I landed a 15 inch trout. Keep in mind, this was around 2pm. Fishing was great, all day long. Afterwards, I traveled downstream and caught another before heading upriver.
I won't go into details, but I fished the usual spots and a few new ones. I was catching fish almost everywhere. There were salmon all over the place around here. There was a good mix of spawners that have been there a while and look to be in bad shape, and then there were some fresh guys that were happily leaping out of the water with the trout.
As reported in another post, I had caught three fish at one time. This happened pretty far downstream in an eddy. It was an exciting moment that I soon won't forget. Between that and seeing the huge salmon, it was quite a day. After it was all said and done, I caught more than 20 fish more than 10 inches. The largest was around 18 and full of fight.
Thanks Lower Stanislaus, I'll be back when you open up next year.
I arrived at the Tulloch access while it was still dark. I had already rigged my rod before leaving the house, so I only had to throw on my waders and get to the water. For the first time, I started up underneath the dam and worked myself down. I threw a 2-fly rig consisting of a size 14 wet fly and a size 12 soft hackle. I had a few bites here and there, but didn't catch anything for a while. I could see the trout swimming around about 6-10 feet under the surface, more or less out of reach since I was swinging just under the surface.
As I scrambled along the rocks to get myself downstream, I was able to open up my cast a little bit. There were less overhanging tree branches and I could get in a good double spey cast across to the far bank. Fish were starting to come to the surface for a few bugs that filled the air. At this time, I caught a few around 10” in length.
Working yourself along the river in this section is not easy. Wading is limited. You are more or less pinned on a rock and doing whatever you can to get the fly out. As I was clumsily moving around, I heard a big splash. A few moments later, I saw a large salmon come out of the water. He was fresh and lively. This was the first time I had seen salmon off of Tulloch. That shouldn't be a surprise since I don't normally spend a lot of time in this section. Nice to know they're out there. Although I was tempted by the big fish, I moved on and let him and his friends be.
Scrambling up the rocks to the path, I went downriver and waded out again. Caught another swarm of 10-15 inch fish. As usual, I kept moving, looking for “players”. Instead of pounding the same section over and over, I like to keep moving and look for those that are active.
I stayed at the Tulloch area until 1 or 2 pm. The fishing was that good. Normally I'm gone before noon. I'm not going to say where, but in a deep hole, I was able to see a few very large salmon. And a bunch of "small" salmon over 30 inches that paled in comparison. In fact, those big guys were the biggest salmon I've ever seen period. I didn't know that fish this big were in the Lower Stan. I can't say for sure, but at least two of them looked to be around four feet and built like a missle. They were absolutely huge. The first time I saw the larger of the two, I really thought I was seeing things. He made the 30” fish look tiny by comparison. By the looks of things, he was fresh from the ocean. He was moving around like a mad man chasing others that were getting too close. Totally unexpected and awe inspiring.
Not long after this discovery, and my 10 minutes of just sitting on a rock just watching, I went back to the car for a quick trip down to Two Mile.
After arriving at the new location, I went down and fished right where the path meets the water. Normally I head upriver to begin, but for some reason, I decided to start here. On the second cast, I landed a 15 inch trout. Keep in mind, this was around 2pm. Fishing was great, all day long. Afterwards, I traveled downstream and caught another before heading upriver.
I won't go into details, but I fished the usual spots and a few new ones. I was catching fish almost everywhere. There were salmon all over the place around here. There was a good mix of spawners that have been there a while and look to be in bad shape, and then there were some fresh guys that were happily leaping out of the water with the trout.
As reported in another post, I had caught three fish at one time. This happened pretty far downstream in an eddy. It was an exciting moment that I soon won't forget. Between that and seeing the huge salmon, it was quite a day. After it was all said and done, I caught more than 20 fish more than 10 inches. The largest was around 18 and full of fight.
Thanks Lower Stanislaus, I'll be back when you open up next year.
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