There are several great campsite dotting the Middle and South Forks of the Stanislaus river as it winds alongside Highway 108 up Sonora Pass. These sites are all situated right alongside the river and many are on a first...
56°F
Feels like 55°F, broken clouds
5 mph E
1014 hPa
Waning Gibbous
With the storms over the weekend and the large amounts of precipitation that we are expected to get in the coming days the flows have changed a lot. The lower Mokelumne jumped to 800cfs, the lower Stanislaus has been sitting at 1500cfs and is unlikely to change for some time, the lower Tuolumne jumped to 3100cfs, and the lower Merced also had a large increase and jumped to 3200cfs. The first half of the coming week is expected to be stormy with large amounts of precipitation followed by a few warmer partly cloudy days leading into another storm this time next week.
As expected with the higher flows and storms over the weekend meant that nymphing was the way to go on the lower Mokelumne. Euro nymphing the buckets and faster moving pockets were very effective while indicator nymphing the larger slower moving runs also produced fish. The steelhead run is nearly over, but fish were still keyed into egg patterns, pheasant tail nymphs, pheasant tail frenchies, and prince nymphs. Even with the flows on the lower Mokelumne increasing so drastically it is still very wade-able and fishable. There are a few sections to use caution in, however, sections that you might have been wading at ankle level are now only around calf level.
Unfortunately the flows on the lower Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced are all incredibly high and can not even recommend fishing them with extreme caution. With the flows on the Tuolumne and Merced being incredibly high, approaching these waters at this level are extremely dangerous and should avoid these sections all together.
The storm that we are currently enduring and the storm that we can expect this time next week mean that we do not expect anything to change in our favor unfortunately. The lower Mokelumne is definitely the best bet currently at finding fishable water, but if you go you will definitely want a good rain jacket and under layers as it has been fairly cool down there with the lack of sunlight. This is also a great time to stock up your fly boxes and spend these rainy days tying your favorite patterns or even learning to tie your own flies.
