Lower Mokelumne Fly Fishing
Thursday, 30 April 2009 01:48 | 
Author: Bill Heger | 
I have a Hyde Drift Boat that I use to float the Mokelumne from below Camanche down to the town of Clements. This is pretty much an all-day trip. The size of the fish usually run 12-16", but my clients have caught fish up to 24". These fish are quite acrobatic and even the smaller fish will challenge your tackle and your handling abilities.
The Mokelumne River, below Camanche, offers an angler a variety of choices. There are places where indicator nymphing works well, others where swinging a streamer pattern on a shooting head or sinking line ca really produce some nice fish. Sometimes dry flies can be the ticket.
The river has riffles, runs, pools and even some frog water! Fishing the runs at the top and bottom of the pools can produce nicely as well. A nice time to float the river is when teh release from Camanche is around 400 CFS. This allows the drift boat more depth to clear the bottom, and gives the fish a little more cover in the riffles.
Next time you are looking for a quick get-away or day trip, consider the Mokelumne!
Drift boat trips on the Mokelumne are $350 for the day for one or two people. All full day trips include lunch.
Lower Calaveras Fly Fishing Thursday, 30 April 2009 01:57 | Author: Bill Heger |
I focus my guiding efforts on the tailwater below New Hogan Dam. I have lived near the Calaveras River for quite a while and I am very familiar with it. This stretch of the river is artificials-only, barbless, with a limit of 1 hatchery trout or one hatchery steelhead. This helps to ensure a healthy population of resident fish. I have heard reports of a trout population of 5000-6000 fish per mile. While the size of the fish usually runs 8-14", fish to 20" are routinely caught. The largest I have caught was 22". These fish are very acrobatic and even the little fish will put on a show for you. Walk and wade trips for one or two people are $300 for a full day, including lunch. Lower Mokelumne Trip Report 7/6/08 Thursday, 30 April 2009 02:14 | Author: Dustin Rocksvold |
I fished the Mokelumne River yesterday with my friend, and fellow AFF Member, Bill Heger. We launched his drift boat at his friend Jim's house, just below the park at Camanche and floated down to the Mackville Road take out. I met Bill at the takeout and drove back up to Jim's. When we arrived streamside there were fish rising to something. We fished there with Jim for an hour and a half with Jim being the only one to have his fly touched (he landed 2 or 3 on a Griffith's Gnat). I was using the same fly, thought I am not sure if they were the same size, and I didn't get a bump. We gave up right about the time Jim had to go back in the house for a phoen call ~08:30. Upper Mokelumne Trip Report 8/25/08 Thursday, 30 April 2009 02:04 | Author: Dustin Rocksvold |
My friend Bill and I fished the North Fork of the Mokelumne below Salt Springs Reservoir on Monday afternoon 8/25/08. I had previously fished this stretch with some friends from the Diablo valley Fly Fishers for teh trout opener back in 2005, but I had not been back since. The flow was much lower this time, 30-40 CFS instead of 1200! Bill and I managed to catch a mixture of Rainbow Trout and Brown trout on dry flies, with Bill catching 5 to every 1 of mine! |