Fished the lower stan yesterday and had a blast. I caught a bunch of fish the biggest up to 14". These fish are well fed and have spunk! What was most astonishing is the diversity of the rainbow population. Some were chrome with very little spots, others were dark and had zillions of spots. I even caught two that appeared to be a mix between a brook and a bow: very little spots, dark with the marking along the back, a broad red stripe down the body and black fins with stark white leading edges underneath the body. It was a trip. A guy I ran into thought there might be some brook trout in Lake Tulloch that may have washed over.
They were taking all sorts of things. Serendipities, soft hackles, hare's ears, birds nests, and pheasant tails. I wasn't able to get any pics of the brookies. The first fish was released in an area that prohibited my getting the camera from my backpack and the second had swallowed the soft hackle and needed to be cut free. I hope that fish survived. I was able to snap this pic of one of the chromes though. This one had more spots than the other but is still beautiful. It was so bright that the flash overexposed the pic. And if you look close you can even see my skin from my finger reflected back on her belly. I think this fish qualifies as the smallest trout that I've ever caught.
I've not yet fished the Stanislaus and am thinking about heading up soon after reading all of your helpful posts. Does anyone know the status of the campgrounds in the area this time of year? Most of the USFS and other sites i've checked seem to indicate all the sites are closed until April, but I heard a few guys saying they were going to spend last weekend up there in tents...
