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barndweller - New Melones Lake ?

F

Faust

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Julie
We are thinking of camping at Melones Lake and doing some gold panning.
15 – 18 of July.

I am thinking with all the rain we had, that must have loosen up a lot of gold so people are finding it, Right?

I was curious how full the lake is and how fast the Stanislaus River is running?

Thanks for your help in advance
 
We were at Angel's Camp last month and the lake looked pretty full to me. However, it was my first visit so I have nothing else to compare it with.

Kitty
 
Hi Ken
New Melones is WAAAYYY up! I've never seen it this full. The river is flowing at a pretty good clip & makes fishing from the banks pretty challenging. There are some great spots to go gold panning in and around Columbia but the dirt roads in & out are pretty torn up so 4WD is often the way to go. I haven't gone gold panning in about 4 years so I'm not sure about the conditions this year. The forestry maps sold at the ranger stations are the best for finding those little dirt roads.

I was in Knights Ferry on Sunday and the river was packed with folks rafting. No room in any of the parking areas.

It's been pretty warm up this way, too. And the bugs are hatching out in droves. Bring your sunscreen and bug spray!!

Julie
 
Julie
If the rivers and streams are still full and running fast it might not be a good time to look for gold. The easy gold to find would still be on the bottom of the river bed. But we will give it a try.

I was thinking we might go to camp 9 and try our luck there; I once found some gold there in my teens.
We also were thinking Natural bridges should be full of cool water, good for a swim, then follow and pan that stream.

You know what they say, any spot is good around Columbia or Angel's Camp, you just have to be at the right place and lucky.

Thanks for reminding me how bad the bugs can be at this time of year.

If nothing pans out, at least we will enjoy the camping trip.

PS-Knights Ferry is a place I have not heard in years, we use to go rafting there.

Thanks for your help
 
Fishing by Arnold

We are spending a week at Mountain Retreat in Arnold starting on Friday. We were at Angels camp two years ago and my sons enjoyed fishing in the river then. I understand the river is high, do you have any suggestions as to where a good place would be to fish? Are people catching many fish now? Thanks for the heads up on the bugs!! We have lots of mosquitoes in Saskatchewan right now as well. With the West Nile to worry about it's an added pain. Can't wait to get back to the area we had such a great time when we went in 2004. Thanks again....
 
fishing around Arnold

Travel Bug
I haven't been fishing on Highway 4 in a long while. We generally stick to the streams in our local area on highway 108. You can always go down to Melones Res. at Glory Hole, off highway 49. People have been catching there pretty regularly. For the river just go on up to Big Trees and try anywhere along the river where there iare parking spots on the side of the road. Your best bet is to ask at the Ranger station or at Big Trees State Park. Anywhere there is a campground is a good place to try and the camp hosts can usually give you pointers, too. You can see what information is available here http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/stanislaus/. We usually fish on Highway 88 a little further north. It is a beautiful area on a really well developed road and would make a great day excursion for you. There are lots of fishing spots and outstanding views across the Sierras. Try Silver Lake where we have caught a few biggies. Keep in mind that anyone over 16 has to have a license to fish in California.

The weather right now is fabulous and predicted to stay that way for awhile. There is still some snow up in the high country so the rivers are running pretty fast with the melt-off. If we don't get any rain the small streams will settle down and fishing will be good.

Did you go to Yosemite in 2004? If not you really should try to go this time. The waterfalls are the best they have been in decades.

Have a great trip, Julie
 
Ken
Natural Bridges sounds great. And you may just find a few flakes!! There were thunder showers in the high country last week but so far this week has been clear so the River may slow down a little. There is still quite a bit of snow up on the peaks though and all this sunny weather is keeping the resevoirs full. Have fun.
Julie
 
Thanks so much for all the fishing tips. Last year we did most of our river fishing close to the Big Trees but we will take your advice and drive a little further north to see some new country as well. We didn't do Yosemite so will try and fit it in this trip. There is so much to do in the area with the wineries and fishing etc, it's hard to tear ourself away from the area!! It's so great to be able to access TUG advice. Thanks again....
 
Wineries..Now you are talking!

Travel Bug
The wine country up in El Dorado (just off highway 88) is great! We never go to snooty Napa/Sonoma anymore. This little valley is just like Napa was years ago and so pretty. Here's a link to a place where we stayed for a weekend getaway www.fitzpatrickwinery.com/. Try this site for all kinds of stuff to see and do www.visit-eldorado.com including fishing. Calaveras County, where you are staying, has a visitor site, too www.visitcalaveras.org/. What did we ever do before the Internet?? If I find anything else I'll forward it to you.
Julie
 
Travelbug: we'll also be at Mountain Retreat starting Saturday.

My DH's brother fished New Melones a couple of weeks ago and said it was awesome. We may rent a small boat and give it a try. We did that a couple of years ago and it was reasonably priced. It was really, really low then so it would be quite different now.

Last year he stuck mostly to the river around Big Trees and didn't have much luck, but is was in late August. We also went to Alpine lake - no luck fishing from shore but it's a beautiful spot and not that far from Arnold.

Barndweller: I also appreciate your fishing recommendations. Silver lake looks really nice and Mapquest says its 97 miles/2 hours from Arnold. Does that sound about right? Not sure if DH really wants to go that far but I'm going to tell him about it just in case. Any recs for fishing along 108? It's really not that far away and I might be meeting a friend in Sonora anyway. He could drop me off and take DD to explore while I shop :)
 
Debra,
I'd say Mapquest is probably pretty accurate for the time to drive. When we go to Nevada in the winter we always take Highway 88. It is 3 & 1/2 hours to Minden from our place. At Silver Lake there is a campground and day use area right across the road where the river flows out from a little dam. Great for fishing and playing in the water.

Up our way there are lots of areas right along the highway to stop and stream fish. You have to go up past Dodge Ridge Ski area to get easy access. Pinecrest Lake is good but the other lakes are hard to fish from shore. We usually go all the way up to Sand Flat or even Deadman at the base of the pass, a good hour from Sonora. Another favorite is to head down to the Clavey River but that's kind of off the beaten path. The Ranger station at Mi Wuk Village can give your DH some specific directions and recomendations. To fish Melones or even Pinecrest you really need a small boat. I don't think that they have started to do any planting up here yet so any trout are going to be natives or survivors from last year.

It's interesting how our vacation destinations change over the years. When we lived in Livermore we always vacationed in the mountains during summer. Now we head for the desert in winter!

Weather report: 72 and clear blue sky. Arnold will be slightly warmer.

Have a great time, Julie
 
Thanks, Julie.

New Melones was nice because the boat rental was pretty reasonable, but DH was hoping with the water level so high we could just go to one of the day use areas for a picnic, etc. and fish from shore. I'll check those other lakes to see if they offer boat rentals, and I might even check out canoe rentals for the week. We noticed quite a few people with them last year and that would probably suit us fine.

We love the area and this will be our third summer in a row. Several times I've mentioned to my DH that we could exchange the week for somewhere different, and he's like "where else is better?"

Thanks again for the tips.
 
All of a sudden it's time to pack like crazy as we leave tomorrow. I'll have to print off the new information that you gave me and take it along. I think that we will look at renting a boat as well - that sounds like fun. Thanks again - it sounds like there isn't a shortage of places to try your hand at fishing!!
 
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