North Fork American River

Fishing the North Fork American River

The North Fork of the American is a freestone river that falls out of the high country below Emigrant Gap on I-80 and cuts a deep canyon down to Auburn, where it meets the Middle Fork. It is canyon water through and through: bedrock holes, cobble bars, boulder riffles and long pools, with cabins, mining works and dredge tailings left on the banks from the gold-rush years. Lake Clementine, behind North Fork Dam, separates the last few miles from the canyon above. The top of the river has no road to it. The American River Trail follows the water for 7.5 miles through the upper canyon, an easy walk once you are down, but the only ways down are the Sailor Flat and Beacroft trails. Below that, the Mumford Bar, Italian Bar, Euchre Bar and Green Valley trails each drop 2.3 to 3.3 miles from trailheads reached off Foresthill Rd, losing two to three thousand feet on the way. Expect an hour or more going in and roughly half again as long climbing out. Iowa Hill Bridge, on the road from Colfax, is the first place you can drive to the river below the trails. Next come the bridges at Shirttail Canyon on Yankee Jim Rd and at Ponderosa Way, both inside Auburn State Rec. Area in 1995 and both at the bottom of slow, rough roads. Below Lake Clementine the river runs on to the confluence below Auburn, where gravel bars on both forks make this the easiest water on the fork to reach, and an old road leads up the Middle Fork for about 5 miles. This is trout water, fished with flies, bait and lures, and the calendar turns on flows and roads more than on any one date. The trailheads sit between 4,080 and 6,400 feet, and the dirt road to Sailor Flat wants four-wheel drive when it is wet. In 1995 most campgrounds in these canyons opened in May or June and closed in October, which is a fair guide to the months the high trails are a reasonable trip. Low water changes many of these spots, and the riffles fish and wade better as the river drops later in the season. Fly anglers work the riffles and tailouts on foot. The deep bedrock holes, and the big pools at the bridges, suit bait and lures cast from the rocks or the bank, and most of the lower bridge pools can be fished without getting wet. In the hike-in canyon, plan on climbing along the banks between pools. Regulations on the North Fork change and differ by section, so check the current California regulations before you go.