Fishing at Camp Roberts

It doesn’t exactly look like the best place in the world to cast a fly, but don’t let the armed soldiers, army tanks and random explosions off in the distance fool you.
Camp Roberts, located midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the border of Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties, is home to one of the only fishable rivers the Central Coast has to offer. Look past the bunkers, barbed wire and that tank nicknamed “The Widowmaker,” and you’ll find the Nacimiento River at Camp Roberts is an extraordinary fishery where the rainbows can rise all season long.
The old military post can also make for some stellar turkey, dove, quail, waterfowl, pig, rabbit and buck deer hunts for weekend warriors.
Sure, there are some limitations when it comes to fishing on what is currently a national guard training post:
* it’s only open to anglers on weekends and some holidays from April 24-Oct. 24;
* there’s an annual fee of $15 for the season;
* fishing is only permitted from Gate 3 to the Twin Bridges; and
* the post may be closed on short notice due to military activities.
But once your waders hit the water, the National Guard goings-ons take a distant backseat to dancing fish, tiptoeing whitetail, bantering beavers and even an occasional bald eagle gliding overhead.

History lesson
Camp Roberts lies on the flat and once-fertile juncture of the Nacimiento and Salinas rivers. A land that was originally inhabited by the Chumash and Salinan Indian nations, which hunted, fished and collected in the region until Spanish explorers arrived in the 1760s.
By 1797 the Spanish had taken hold of the area extending the old Mission Trail, also known as El Camino Real or the “King’s Highway,” with the construction of Mission San Miguel Arcangel. The mission would go on to become one of the most prosperous along the trail, which is said to pass through the camp along Bee Rock Road.
The land changed hands numerous times following Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1826 and the U.S. took control when California was admitted to the union in 1850.
Nearly 90 years later, with World War II looming, construction of the Camp Nacimiento Replacement Training Center began. The name of the camp was later renamed in honor of Corporal Harold W. Roberts, a tank driver who died trying to save a wounded gunner during the war. The post had a pair of training centers and served as a compound for German POWs during the 1941-45 war era.
The training facility was commissioned again in 1950 under the command of the Seventh Armored Division to train the state’s 40th Division Infantry and artillery units for the Korean War. By the end of the conflict, 300,000 soldiers had passed through the 43,000-acre site.
Camp Roberts was closed in 1970 and a year later it was given to the National Guard as a reserve component training center. Today, the camp is still used as a national guard training post, although training is at a minimum when the post is open to anglers and hunters.

Hot spots
The Nacimiento, a class I-III river that runs from Fort Hunter Liggett to Turtle Creek, is riffle-and-run stream with few deep pools this time of year. Flows are still cold and swift despite depths of two to five feet in the late spring and summer, so waders are a good idea. Gravel and sandy bottoms provide a good wade-and-walk opportunity for much of the river.
My favorite stretches of the river are some of the easiest to locate. The first is above High Water Bridge, located near check-in Gate No. 3. About a mile upstream, southwest of the entrance, the Low Water Bridge provides deeper pools for bigger fish but also attracts a good chunk of the anglers as well.
Travel two more miles upstream and you’ll run into the Twin Bridges, where the Department of Fish and Game makes most of its plants. Fishing pressure is greatest here, but get downstream and you’ll stumble across riffles that are as gentile and genuine as they were for the Chumash. The only difference is the eight- to 12-inch rainbows that are stocked every two to three weeks.
According to Kevan Urquhart, a senior biologist supervisor for the DFG, trout plants at Camp Roberts have been cut by more than 30 percent due to the state budget cuts this fiscal year. But there should be plenty of fish to go around, including lunker left over from last season, with an occasional bass, catfish, bluegill, carp and squawfish.
But if you’re not into nongame fish, you’d better stick to fly-fishing at Camp Roberts.

For fly guys
The prized fish at Camp Roberts has to be the holdover rainbow trout that have been in the system a year or two. These beautifully colored fish have dark olive tops with sides that look as if they’d been painted with various shades of violet watercolors.
My favorite flies for these exquisite fish stem from the Adams family, which has been catching trout across the country since before the post was born. There are countless variations and adaptations that work at this fishery, although my go-to fly is the Parachute Adams. I’m particularly fond of a pink-topped hi-viz spin-off with a Hare’s Ear, bullhead or beadhead nymph of some sort dangling a couple feet below depending on the water and flow levels.
Nacimiento rainbows, like many Golden State river trout, prefer cooler temperatures and a healthy supply of oxygen and food. Take time to survey the rapids, runs, riffles and pools. Bigger fish seem to hide out under shaded banks or near structure such as rocks, vegetation, tree roots and logs.
Protective pockets are sure to hold hearty survivors that have been turning up their snouts at Power Bait and salmon eggs all season. The bad news? These lies can present all sorts of problems for fly-fishermen.
The bottom line is a stealthy approach when hunting for these very wary trophies. Position yourself so you can cast and drift drag-free for as long as possible. And don’t cast directly at a trout, or you’ll lose the fish and possibly your fly in the branches above.
For the rest
Most of the fish pulled out of the Nacimiento River come on the usual spinners, salmon eggs and various colors and flavors of Power Bait. Another solid bait is Uncle Josh’s cheese-flavored trout bait, which works well in pools protected from the current.
If you’re looking for wildcard bait, toss a nightcrawler or a mealworm. Worms can entice anything from a two-pound sucker to a two-foot squawfish. Anglers in search of carp can have a field day at Camp Roberts, if you take the right approach. Like most carp, Nacimiento River carp are picky eaters and easily spooked.
The good news? Lake Nacimiento, which feeds into the river, is known to carry some of the biggest carp in the state. In 1968 at the lake Lee Bryant caught the state record, a 52-pound lake carp, which still stands today.
You won’t pull any state records out the river, but whether you’re in search of spirited rainbows or feisty carp, Camp Roberts has a little something for everyone.
Not bad for an old military post.