The North Fork of the American River has been on my hit-list for a while now. Above Clementine Reservoir, it is the only upper fork of the American that doesn't have any dams way up high (Clementine Reservoir is way down by Auburn). The headwaters are up on the Sierra crest near Sugarbowl and Royal Gorge ski areas. From there, the North Fork cuts through deep canyons (up to 3,000 vertical feet from the rim to the river in some spots. It's a nationally-designated Wild and Scenic river and a state-designated Wild Trout river. Not like you could get trucks in to plant trout, anyway - the only access below the headwaters is a handful of foot-trails. The fishing is reputed to be good, since there is little pressure. Access? not so much. Even once you get down to the river there are Class V rapids and long stretches with cliffs on both sides.

Still, I wanted to check it out, so I did that today. I got up early and left the house around 6:30, drove up to one of the trailheads, and hiked down to the river (1,600 vertical in about 1.5 miles). That put me on the water around 8:30 or so. The trails was good but there was a ton of poison oak. River access was tough. The area right around where the trail hits the river is deep and slick. Almost frog water, but there are fish cruising in there. There is a bridge and the trail heads up the opposite side for a couple of miles. So I chose to head up the river another mile or so. The area I hiked was completely cliffed out until I got to a place where, just l could bushwhack down to the river. My hike gave me access to a couple hundred yards with a little slick, plunge pools, a few holding spots, and a deep channel that seemed like it might be fishy.

I rigged up my ********* Western Glass with a Copper John under a big Chubby Chernobyl. The idea was to fish down with that, then go back up with a deeper nymph rig. I got one good whack on the Chubby and maybe one or two nymph grabs, but it was a little sparse. So I re-rigged with a Rubberlegs and a Prince Nymph and fished back up. I only got one grab. But it was a big fish. That stayed on for a while. And then came off. Bummer. But... now I know they're in there and what might work. This is definitely a two (or even three) rod river - once you get to a fishing spot, you want to throw the kitchen sink at it. This was the first time I used my Western Glass rod for indicator nymphing - I usually use big gun graphite rods to hurl all that junk around. No complaints - I felt like I had to mend with a little more authority, but it worked well over all.

I finished out by heading back to the put-in area to try my hand at the slick water below the bridge. As I mentioned before, there are fish cruising in there. Problem, of course, is that they have all the time they want to check out your fly before they grab it. I got a clear refusal with a big Chubby, so I put on a smaller one (like a 14?) that makes a fairly decent stonefly or small hopper imitation. Not exactly a Brontosaurus Burger for a fish - more like a Brontosaurus Slider, I guess. I got a couple of solid takes and landed a fish on the smaller Chubby. So at least I wasn't skunked. Turns out the fish I landed nailed the chubby on the retrieve. I don't know what kind of food they think they're seeing, but there is something in the motion that just sets them off.

I finished out the expedition with a Kind Bar and a put-er-in-low-and-grind uphill hike back to the car. All that COVID exercise did in fact pay off - I didn't feel too wasted when I got back to the car. hot? yes. drenched in sweat? for sure. But not too bad otherwise. The day ended with drinks back at the cabin (my house). Sadly, no evening hatch.

Worth doing once? Absolutely. Worth doing again? Maybe - with a little more recon and possibly lower water. If you're in it for the exercise, then the fishing is a bonus, right? I'll definitely be hitting Google Earth to scope out fishable runs.

Pics follow...


Looking down into the canyon from the top. That is a long way down...



Nice trail - the pic does not show how steep it really is...



Slow water and bridge at the first river access




Looking up river (and at barrier cliffs) from the bridge



Big boiling drop between fishable sections:



Wildflowers in bloom:



Brought one to hand



Why is this man smiling?

very nice, indeed - great photos

terrific report, thank you.. that's an intimidating stretch of river..

we used to hike up into this river near Cape Town, no access to the canyon from anywhere except the bottom and the top, and swim through the pools on the way down..
Every couple years someone would go up and get caught by the rainy season coming early or late, would be trapped up there until the water went down again.. I always waited for full summer/dry season, being a practicing coward..

locally in CO there's the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, a couple undocumented unmaintained trails that basically go straight down, then have access to a couple hundred yards of river between cliffs. Went in there once in Oct and came out in a blizzard, mildly terrifying.. need to get back down there, but never find the time..

Beautiful canyon water. Waiting to see my first golden stones of the year -- hear they're starting to come out now. Wife and I hiked a trail following the NFAR below Clementine a while back and the water looked so fishy. Even saw a few risers. Thanks for sharing.

there are a couple of trails, I took the one from the other rim.. no cables, but wished for some ;-) just sliding and scrambling.
I was there in October and had terrific fishing, rainbows to 18" and browns to 16". Didn't get any decent pics unfortunately.

Since then the rainbows have mostly succumbed to whirling disease and it's more a brown fishery now, though the CO biologists have bred up some wd-resistant rainbows for which we have hopes.. based on the Gunnison rainbows in fact,
https://denver.cbslocal.com/2020/02/25/ ... g-disease/

Those trips are always exciting and now you know!

On rare occasions where favorite streams cliff out, I have swum to the next wadabole stretch but it needs to be in the right place, on the right day to be safe...then you know. One place just above where Cascade Creek joins the Animas, cliffs on either side and deep water prevent you from fishing further up. Since, the farther I would cast, the larger fish I caught from below the obstacle, I decided that I would try a lateral cliff-hang flanking movement to get past the chokepoint. I took everything apart and put it in my pack before I began, figuring the worst that would happen would be that I'd fall a few feet into the water and have to swim the rest of the way. And...that is precisely what happened.

But, being on on the other side of the obstacle, I was able to fish water which I had not been able to before. Turned out, it was not significantly better fishing...but now I know! Here's to exploring!

Looks like fun. Those deep, seemingly-inaccessible canyons seem like they might have some big fish.

Plenty of poison oak, but no ticks or rattlers (this time)....