All,
I hope this week was as good for you as it was for me
I just got back from my yearly week "Short" trip to the lower McCloud. Specially thanks to my partner in crime Carlos, and to Phil for the flies... Phil the flies were both beautifully tied and durable. I had a WD40 that I had probably dozens of takes, before losing it to a under water log... It was also good to see up there again from previous years: James, Paul & son, Darin, Steve, Dave & son, Dan and others... So, without further adieu here is my "Report."
Turbidity, clarity and fish-a-bility.
Since there have recently been some post about the McCloud's clarity or lack thereof, I'll start here. I talked with the owner of Friday's (a friend of a friend), who informed me that he was told that the bad stuff in the river was a result of some construction along the river somewhere; however, these details were sketchy. He also told me that his own ponds had extra bits of algae, etc. in them this year. He felt that this was a result of higher water temps. As a result he had to turn on his pond sprinklers more often to pump up the oxygen content for his fish.
The river clarity varied significantly while we were down at Ah Di Na, from only a few feet with lots of green stuff floating to very clear. In fact, when I first seined the river I got mostly little green bits rather than bugs. All that said, I don't think the fishing was really impacted much, except maybe for a 1/2 day when it was really bad -- near the beginning of our stay.
The road.
The road is pretty much the same shape it usually is in this time of year. Two wheel drive passable although a vehicle with high ground clearance is preferred. No flats this year... whew.
So many bugs, so many trout, so little time.
Lots to choose from and sporadic hatches made for lots of fly changes and some doubt about what was the best fly or flies. When I turned over rocks and seined the water I found lots of stonefly nymphs, but strangely my stonefly patterns didn't produce. I think I was seeing multiple generations (varied sizes) and perhaps the stoneflies weren't really coming up -- funny, I did see adults early in the trip though (little yellow stones). I also saw towards the end of our stay adult October Caddis, but no action on October caddis under or on top of the water. Mayflies (BWOs?) and teeny light colored midges (maybe just really teeny BWOs?) seemed to be hatching with the most numbers (simultaneously!). we had the most success with smaller PTs (#18) and WD40s (#20 or #22) -- just like last year. I heard that others were also having success with AP nymphs. There was a lot of feeding activity (typical October McCloud fashion) happening in tail outs mid stream level soft water next to the main current on emergers. I'd say close to 50% of fish takes were when the fly was rising at the end of a drift. Most fish for us were taken on nymphs – some others had limited success with parachute PED/BWOs.
The lake browns.
The short answer is they're not in my river yet or at least not this high up IMHO. We hiked far into the preserve and didn't spot any...
The fishing.
It was consistently "Fair" to “Good” with periods of very good. Best times for us were 11am to 1pm and 4:30 on -- there seemed to be a consistent good hatch around 5pm. The weather seemed to play havoc with things a bit. There were a couple of days where the weather changed from clear to cloudy or rainy and this seemed to put the fish down. My largest fish taked was 18” after measuring it,
I swear it was 20” or 22” before I measured it, huh?
Other important non-FF items.
I was told the culinary highlight was the Prather ranch filet mignon I pan fried paired with a bottle of The Prisoner, but later it changed to my chili made with Mendocino October fest, dark chocolate and an assortment of fresh peppers including those little orange ones. Yes, its tough roughing it
Other highlights included a little game called the bear-skat dance. You're officially playing this game after you've spotted 1 or more fresh (as in possibly steaming) lumps of bear skat and you're attempting to concentrate on your drift while wondering if you have company. You lose points when you feel a take while you're looking around behind you. You gain points when you ignore the sound of foliage breaking behind you (heard over the roar of the river) and hook up.
All details aside, I must say that what stands out most in mind, in hindsight are the raw beauty of the lower McCloud, that fish-on feeling and the nights sitting around the campfire single malt in hand, with good friends, stars above...
-Loon
ps: Photos to follow shortly.
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