Tons of Trout Caught On Merced River

Floated from Merced Falls To New Exchecker Dam today. Fish Ranged from 8-14 inches, but there were tons of them! I landed 20. I was there with three friends. In all we hooked over 60 fish. The hot flies were san juan worm and aquatic sowbug imitation (size 14 available at Kiene's). I wil keep the text short and let the pictures speak for themselves. I would be happy to answer any questions.

Great looking fish! Gotta love the natives!


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Haven't see any Trout with a beautiful tail like that before!  Thanks for the report and pictures Bill.

Congrats! Nice Fish, sounds like a lot of fun.  I usually fish there, without kayak, when I visit my parents.  It's a fun spot to hang out at and it usually produces.

Looks like a great day there Bill.

Nice full fins and color!

How long does it take you to float that river?

you mean mcswain dam right? new exchequer is the one that forms mcclure.  i dont think you can paddle from new exchequer to merced falls without carrying over mcswain dam or jumping into your car

the section of the river between mcswain dam and merced falls is maybe three miles at most..it can be paddled in like an hour. lots of fish planted in there.  not likely native fish caught, but some of them could be holdovers.

downstream of merced falls is a section with native fish, but its C&R only and it might even be closed right now..can't recall.

My apologies. The lower dam in the float was Crocker-Huffman. Thanks for all the great replies.

Area we fished is not closed. The section that gets closed is from Crocker-Huffman to Oakdale rd. The reason for closure is to protect salmon spawning below Crocker-Huffman. This area was between 2 dams (no salmon spawning) and not listed anywhere in the regs and even though not posted as such, we all practiced C&R.

We managed to float this stretch 3.5 hours, but to really work all of the fishable stretches thouroughly, I would double that. There is a long flat water stretch at the end, so be prepared for a lot of paddling.

If you want to check out some more pics and a little more detailed report of the trip check this out:http://www.headwatersfishing.blogspot.com/2012/12/trip-report-merced-river-on-fly.html

Would love to make that trip one of these days. Looks like fun. The main reason I got my kayak was to take my fly rod into water I can't hike to.


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If you're really interested shoot me a pm and we can work out a date to go.

Great pics and report Bill!  Is that water pretty skinny?  Would a Hobie make it?
Those trout are perfect size for a 2 wt. rig.

I would say that the water is a foot deep at its shallowest, so a hobie would make it, but you'd have to lock the fins in the up position. There is a long flat water stretch at the end of the float that this time of year could be productive trolling.

Awesome report Bill. Glad you got out in your new Coosa. Can't wait to fish that stretch with you.