Rainbow Pool, a deep, clear pool below a big waterfall, is one of the most popular fishing and picnic areas on the South Fork of Highway 120. It is also a great spot for a swim when the water warms up in the summer. Rainbow Pool was a toll stop in the stagecoach days and later a popular resort until a fired burned the resort in 1958.

"There are tons of places you can fish along the South Fork," advised Kent Seifarth, manager of the Moccasin Creek Fish Hatchery. "Most anglers don't get too far from the road to fish. If you hike away from the popular access points, you can really get into the trout."

The South Fork is planted with approximately 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of catchable rainbows every year by the hatchery from opening day in April through mid-July, depending upon water and weather conditions. In addition, the river also has a healthy population of wild brown and rainbow trout. The river's brown population was supplemented by plants of German browns by a Groveland Sportsmen's Club 10 years ago, but the DFG doesn't plant the river now with browns.

I fished the river for the first time on Sunday, May 22, the day after the Kokanee Power Phil Johnson Memorial Derby at Lake Don Pedro. The Tuolumne is one of the few rivers in northern California I hadn't fished before - and I was eager to do some stream fishing.

Seifarth noted that the water was fishable but cold - in the mid-forties - so bait and spinners would be the best bets until water temperatures rise. I started the day fishing off a bridge above the Berkeley Camp after driving from Jamestown. Nobody else was fishing at the bridge, so I decided to give it a try with nightcrawlers, Panther Martins and Pautzke's Orange Deluxe Balls O' Fire salmon eggs.

Using the "sky fishing" method from bridges that Larry Ward, past president of United Anglers of California, likes to use, I knew it was going to be a good day when I hooked and landed a 12 inch rainbow on my first cast. I quickly followed up this catch with two more rainbows, including a fat 15 incher.

I moved downstream, rock hopping as I hiked along the river, and caught and released one small wild rainbow out of a pocket. I kept walking until I found a deep pool that looked even more promising.

I saw one young angler, George Melton-Stephan, fishing Huck Finn-style with a branch and some monofilament line and a salmon egg on a hook tied onto it. "Catching anything?," I asked.

"No," he replied.

After I landed a beautiful German brown, I invited the kid over to fish with my rod, a light action 6 foot Shasta Tackle Anglers Touch spinning rod.

"You want to catch some fish?," I asked.

"Sure," he replied. After he asked his mom permission, I gave him his first ever fishing lesson. After I showed him how to cast the spinning rod and to drift the line where the fish were holding, he caught his first fish ever, a wild brown, and I released it for him. He caught and released two other rainbows and kept one 11 inch rainbow in less than 30 minutes.

"So, how do you like fishing?," I asked him.

"That was great," he told me.

He yelled across the river at his mom and said, "Look at the big trout I just caught."

That will be one kid that can't wait to go fishing again!

I had to get home early, so I wanted to check out the famous Rainbow Pool. Like the upper stretch, the fishing pressure here was very light and the fishing was excellent for the few that tried. Joe Rosario of Livermore reported catching 12 rainbows, including one wild fish and one hatchery fish that he kept, while drifting pheasant tail nymphs.

Kent Seifarth likes to fish dry flies on the South Fork and the Middle Fork when the hatches occurs in the spring, summer and fall. He likes to use mosquito, gnat and Bumble Bee patterns. When hatches aren't taking place, he likes to toss out Panther Martins in black/yellow/gold colors; he recommends crimping down the barbs on the spinners to facilitate a quick release.

The South Fork campgrounds and day use areas get crowded in the summer when families are on vacation. But with plentiful plants and a good population of wild rainbows and browns, the angler who gets out and hikes the river can find some outstanding rainbow and brown trout action.

The South Fork, like most other Sierra Nevada streams, is open from the last Saturday in April through November 15 each year. The Tuolumne from the Lumsden Bridge to Clavey River Falls is under special regulations. Anglers may keep two fish with a maximum length of 12 inches and only artificial lures with barbless hooks are allowed

The South Fork is a drainage immersed in California history. The watershed was the southern boundary of the Central Sierra Miwok Tribe. The tribe used the river as a main corridor of travel, trade and communication. The Miwok also used the rock outcrops of the canyon as natural pestles for processing acorns and other traditional native foods.

During the Gold Rush, the river attracted miners from throughout the world in search of fortune. However, in late 1861 and early 1862, a massive flood resulting from torrential rains left a path of death and destruction in the mining camps.

The Tuolumne River was designated as a wild and scenic river under the 1968 California Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The California Wild Heritage Act, introduced in the Senate last year by Senator Barbara Boxer, proposes to give wild and scenic status to 3.2 miles of the South Fork and the 56 miles of the Clavey River.

For more information about the South Fork, call Groveland Ranger District, 24545 Highway 120, Groveland, CA 95321, (209) 962-7825.