Middle Fork American River

Whitewater Rafting The Middle Fork of The American River

by Matt
Tunnel Chute Victory Screech!

Earlier this week I went on a whitewater rafting trip with a few coworkers on the Middle Fork of the American River. This was my first whitewater experience and it was fantastic. We were fortunate enough to successfully complete the trip without any involuntary dips into the river. I highly recommend booking a trip with American River Whitewater Expeditions if you’re ever interested. They have a perfect five star review score online and their professionalism, rafting skills, and fun personalities truly show it.

One of the highlights of our trip was when our guide Rebecca saw one of her crewmate’s raft starting to lose control in a rough eddy. Rebecca quickly parked our raft and leapt across several boulders to rescue her crewmate’s boat. Unwinding the safety rope as fast as she could from it’s bag, she tossed the weighted end with perfect precision towards her crewmate. With both ends connected we watched in awe as she positioned herself all the way down to the ground pulling with all her strength. Inch by inch the raft moved closer to calmer water and in less than a minute they were finally in control again. We cheered Rebecca as she returned to our raft. “Wonder Woman” is what we called her.

Ruck-A-Chucky Falls

This trip was also a good scouting trip to check out what the Middle Fork of the American River looked like. I was excited to see such great water and was planning on how to fish each hole when I returned with my rod. Unfortunately my plans were shot down when I learned that the water we rafted through below Oxbox Reservoir is on private property. Owned by the Horseshoe Bar Preserve private club, the only way to access it is with an undisclosed amount of benjamins.

There is a guide company, Rise Up River Trips, that floats this of the Middle Fork but unless your willing to shell out a few K’s the most you’ll ever experience fly fishing the Middle Fork of the American River is through the awesome video they produced.

The upper section of the Middle Fork above Oxbox is accessible to the public so I may make a trip to explore that someday.

If your looking for something like the Middle Fork of the American River that is more publicly accessible I recommend the Middle Fork of the Feather River. The canyon section of the MFFR below Nelson Creek is a better Middle Fork of the America River; more access, less crowds, same kind of canyon, and lots of fish.

Middle Fork American River, North Fork Feather River

Opened Early – The Middle Fork of the Feather River

by Matt

The Middle Fork of the Feather River between A-23 bridge above Portola and Mohawk Bridge in Mohawk is the only Sierran trout stream in California that opens the first Saturday in April. For anglers who are not in the know, this early opener can be a frustrating game of hide-and-seek. I tried fishing the opener last year but the severe drought hindered my chances of finding fish. This year was different.

The El Nino storms of 2016 have helped bring up water levels and pack the Sierras with much needed snow. Good flows and warm weather welcomed me as I made my first stop in Clio.

Clio is the furthest “town” upstream that provides access to the MF before it turns into a canyon. The water in the upper MF has a brown tea colored tint that begins to clear further downstream. This darker tinted water is quite deceptive at first glance. Most fly anglers would take one look at the upper MF and leave because of its tint but trout do live there.

Jon Baiocchi is a guide that fishes the upper section of the MF every year during the opener. He has mastered this section and has found that the most important detail when fishing the opener is water temperature. Jon has also caught a few brown trout in this early season section which is very cool.

I dedicated this trip to fishing streamers in order to try and catch a rare MF brown. Throughout the day I was able to find one solid take and a few bumps. When I finally hooked my first fish I thought it was a brown, mission accomplished! As it spun itself around to try and throw the hook, the sides of the fish flashed a silvery hue with no signs of a red lateral line. Once I netted the fish I saw that it was not a brown but instead a rainbow. Mission failed…

Although there were bugs flying around everywhere, I had a difficult time finding fish. I covered a lot of water from Clio to Graeagle and was a bit bummed that the fishing was so slow however it was nice to fish some new water. The water is still a bit cold but once it warms up I’ll give this section another shot before shifting my focus to the canyon.

On the way down HWY 70 I stopped and fished an open section of the NFFR. I was able to rise a few smaller fish with a caddis dry but with the wind gusting through canyon I wasn’t able to hook any. I changed tactics to tight lining and caught a little guy.




Keep Calm and Fly Fish™