River Levels for Fishing

[Dacmill]

I met a guy last week at Sourgrass who had caught about a half dozen good size trout in the flat spots below the bridge. He’d tried everything- salmon eggs, Powerbait, lures, and nothing. Then he used worms, weighted to drift low close to the bottom, and said he caught his limit in about a half hour.

[trailrider]

Sorry a bit delayed here. We spent most of our time on Beaver Creek. The levels were great, but fish were nowhere to be found. We worked about as much of it as we could in two days, allowing a few hours to fish the Stanislaus. Not a single bite.

I’m sure there are fish in the Stan, and you can fish parts of it, but conditions are far from prime.

[rswheeler1]

I fished New Melones yesterday. Trolled for 3 1/2 hours and got just 2 bites. Disappointing.
Scott

[Tony]

McKays is only bad in a couple of spots and those are heading up the other side of the dam. The road down to the dam is fine. They are making quick work of fixing the two slides on the opposite side but will still be sketchy for cars for a while. I would hope they open the gate down to the dam and allow people to turn around and come back up the same way – this would work to allow access and to not allow people to proceed past the slide areas.

I went out past Skull Creek and past the ranger station last weekend on two wheels. There are more slides once you past the fire station that will also take some time to fix.

[trailrider]

Yowza! Thanks for posting, Pete (this is Shaun).

Heading up tomorrow. Will hit Beaver Creek, I think, on way up. Will post our findings from the weekend on this thread.

[pcoberly]

In this day and age it’s good to be skeptical. But go look at this forest service website with photos of storm damage… near the bottom you will find some pictures of where they closed Boards Crossing on the other side of Sourgrass. If candy rock looks like that, be careful!

[trailrider]

Thanks for posting. I’m a little skeptical about how bad this is, though. A friend told me he went down to Candy Rock last month and it was not only open, it seemed fine.

[Flyfishr]

Wow – I knew the back roads were bad, But I didn’t realize just how bad:
http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/news/article_744e27a0-2ba2-11e7-b45c-1337ff2a7b72.html

[Flyfishr]

The road down to Candy Rock is currently closed, and will be for a while. Lots of landslides.

[trailrider]

Thanks much. Anyone ever fish down below Candy Rock or Blue Streak? I was thinking the fishing should have great potential down there when the areas aren’t packed with swimmers.

[Flyfishr]

Try Beaver Creek – great spot for early season fishing. Lots of fish, but mostly small.
Don’t worry about the fenced off area – that is just to keep vehicles (and squatters) out, but anglers are allowed access.
Watch out for mean mama cows, though.

[rswheeler1]

I talked to Dennis at NCPA about Spicer. I think they’re going to try to get the road open by Memorial Day. I sure hope so. I would suggest talking to Bill at Ebbett’s Pass Sporting Goods about river fishing.
Scott

[trailrider]

Any anglers on the forum? Looking to get up and fish next weekend. I’m hearing the river’s way too high but others have said they’re fishing fine, just faster than usual. I understand Spicer’s closed, but can’t get firm answers on other access.

Anyone have firsthand knowledge?

Thanks.

[Author]

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