Hiking the canyons of the American River takes you back in time — to a time of cowboys, vigilantes, First Nations people, miners, and mountain men. The canyons hold so much history, mystery, and wonder that it is easy to spend many days exploring the wilderness, making your own journey, as the mountain men of old did before.
All of these canyons lie within the 50/80 Gap, which is the massively sized and relatively vacant land area situated between Highway 50 and Interstate 80. Back in 1826, Jedediah Smith, one of the most famous explorers of the American West, led a party into the area, up the drainage of the American River. They made it quite a distance into the mountains, but ultimately, they were defeated by the terrain and had to turn back. Today, just as the terrain made passage impossible for Smith’s trappers and mountain men, it has prevented most development. Much of the land is in public ownership given this ruggedness, its forest character, and its value as watershed. The 50/80 Gap begins above Folsom Dam and follows the North and South Forks of the American River to their headwaters. Hundreds of miles of fishable water is contained within this area, but there is a catch: access is made challenging by the sheer walls and massive granite boulders of the canyons and some of the most challenging white water in North America. Not far from Sacramento, the town of Auburn on Interstate 80, and, on the other side of the drainage, Placerville on Highway 50, are the gateways to the 50/80 Gap. Pull out your topographic map and fire up Google Earth, though, because I won’t be giving away any secrets about where to fish in this area. You earn your access to water in these rugged canyons, and that’s the way it should be. Finding your own personal water and then catching fish there is the equivalent of tying your own fly and then catching a fish with it.
I’ll just say that I am a creek junkie, and the 50/80 Gap feeds my addiction. Something about rock hopping and fish that crush dry flies attracts my attention. The waters of these canyons are a creek fisher’s dream streams, composed of deep, long pools, large rapids, and perfect pocket water. If you hunt only big fish, this is not the place for you. The average trout in these waters will cross your palm, but their tenacity and beauty cannot be limited by their size. These fish are as wild as the canyons are deep.
The forks of the upper American River converge near the town of Folsom, where they form Folsom Lake, a storage reservoir built in 1955. As part of this water project, other reservoirs were created, including Union Valley, Junction, Oxbow, Hell Hole, Sly Park, and Ice House.
The North Fork, Middle Fork, and South Fork arise in the Sierra at elevations from 7,400 to 8,000 feet and drain a massive area, and each river has many tributaries that contain their own mysteries. The North Fork is the longest fork, stretching for 88 miles. The Middle Fork is 62 miles long, and the South Fork is 87 miles from its source to Folsom Lake.
All of the forks of the American river and their tributaries are open year-round for catch-and-release fly fishing. While there are angling options in the winter, I would not consider it the best time for trout angling with a fly there. Excitement starts to build when the daily high temperature reaches the mid-70s.
Once spring arrives, it is time to start wandering the hills with your spirit of adventure and a fly rod. When it comes to gear, I really like to keep it as simple as possible, generally only bringing one or two rods along. My best creekin’ rods are no heavier than 3-weights, because light rods really let the small pocket-water fish show off and also let the angler have more fun with the fight. My preferences are a fiberglass 2-weight and a graphite 1-weight. The fiberglass rod is a single-fly, dry-fly rod. The soft, smooth action of glass is perfect for shorter casts and smaller dries. The graphite has a bit more pop in its action and is my “cleanup rig,” which presents dry-and-dropper nymph rigs to fish that have gotten weary of dry flies. Unless targeting lakes, you need nothing but a floating line, and double-taper designs allow delicate casts.
The insect life of these waters is quite diverse. The streams host various mayflies, caddisflies, and even a respectable hatch of Salmonflies and Golden Stones. However, in warm weather, these fish are anything but picky. Any attractor, ant, caddis, or mayfly pattern will generally get eaten. This is simple fly fishing at its best. Just tie one on and see what happens. Along with the dry-fly fishing, dropping a beadhead off the back of a larger foam fly can be very productive. I generally fish through a run first with a dry, then follow up with a dry-and-dropper rig. Again, simple nymphs catch fish here — Flashback Pheasant Tails, caddis pupa patterns, and Hare’s Ear and Bird’s Nest nymphs will elicit strikes all day long. Just as in most other places, a Rubberlegs Stone puts fish in the net, too. Always have a few in your box.
One of the most important things to have when going off into the canyons is a pack with all the essentials: bug dope, sunscreen, lunch, plenty of water, a first-aid kit, a pocketknife, a lighter, and a GPS unit. Packing a sweater or lightweight jacket would also be wise. When in wilderness, you must be prepared for the worst, because a twisted ankle in the backcountry can claim a life.
If your spirit of adventure is alive, there is no better place to spend some time than the 50/80 Gap, because there is more water there than can be thoroughly investigated in an angler’s lifetime. So pack up your fishing tackle, put the truck in four-wheel drive, and go see what’s around the bend.
Exploring the 50/80 Gap
Although the lands situated within the 50/80 Gap offer fly fishers an opportunity to experience good fishing in solitude, finding these opportunities means you must be willing to explore. My approach when planning an excursion into unfamiliar terrain is to start big, with an overview of the area of interest. An excellent map for this purpose is Lake Tahoe Region, from the California State Automobile Association. It shows, at a glance, the primary network of roads (usually drivable) that you will use to either access streams directly or access the less-improved roads that maps scaled larger will depict.
Of these larger scale maps, of highest utility is the map of the Tahoe National Forest and the map of the Eldorado National Forest that are prepared by the U.S. Forest Service. These maps show a variety of types of improved and unimproved roads, some trails, gates, private property, campgrounds, and other information that might be of use as you venture into the woods. The maps are available for purchase at ranger stations in each Forest, and you can also buy them, and other publications, over the Internet. For the Tahoe National Forest, visit http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/tahoe/maps-pubs. The Web site for the Eldorado National Forest publications page has an address a bit more convoluted: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/eldorado/maps-pubs/?cid=FSBDEV7_019087.
The Forest maps, however, do not show topography. It’s useful to know the sorts of slopes and terrain you’ll find while exploring, as these define a stream’s character and also your ability to get to the water. Aside from collecting the relevant topographical maps from the U.S. Geological Service, the Northern California Atlas & Gazetteer, from DeLorme, shows contour lines and has a scale even larger than the Forest maps. Although I haven’t always found the Gazetteer accurate in its depiction of roads, it is a very handy volume — a must-have for the peripatetic angler. Googling the names of streams and lakes of interest to you can also lead to interesting information, and aerial images available online can give you a feel for the character of the water and its surroundings. That said, nothing compares to lacing up the hiking or fishing boots and “ground truthing” one’s assumptions.
A final note: last year’s King Fire burned nearly 100,000 acres of forest in the 50/80 Gap. The waters within the fire’s perimeter and even downstream are likely to be in poor condition for angling. You can find a map of the burn area at http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/pub/cdf/images/incidentfile1059_1497.pdf. The King Fire, by the way, was human-caused. Always keep fire safety in mind when camping outdoors or using flame.
— Richard Anderson
