The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Second hand reports have been received that the McCloud is off color again.
So if anyone was planning on fishing it this week-end, you may need to re-think that plan.
On the other hand the cooler weather over the last few days has improved the fishing on the Upper Sac. Not much happening dry fly wise but the nymphing has been OK.

Any idea as to why the off color situation?? How much is it off color anyway? Is there a better way to get info on the McCoud as far as a source. I plan on being up there next Friday. I did not really want to fish the lake full time instead, although I am bringing some fishing yaks along and damsels were the ticket last year at this time. Are there any motel recommendations in town for folks getting squeamish about camping? Still, I can't get anyone to ride along with me if we drive Forest 11 at night back up to Big Bend.

...the McCloud usually goes turquoise this time of year, or rather, has in the past

OK, I will answer both posts here:
Harry:
Yes the Mac always turns color in the mid-late summer. That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about mocha, as in pretty much unfishable. Understand I have not run over and taken a look at it, so I am basing this estimate on second hand reports and what I have seen in the past, But I would expect visibility to be a few inches not a few feet.
Of course, rivers like the Crooked in Oregon are always off-color and it fishs just fine, so maybe the Mac would still fish with this color in it, Wading it would be pretty grim though, you can not see where you are going so all the big rocks come as a complete surprise when you trip over them
Also I prefer clear water to murky water, so I always just fish the Upper Sac with the Mac goes out like this.

Gitt:
As to why the off-color, I am not sure. It is not unusual for the Mac to 'blow out' in the sense of turning off color in the late summer. It usually only lasts a few days to a week, although I recently heard that one of the other guides up here has seen it last for 6 weeks.

The usual reason we ascribe to this situation is heavy run-off from Mud Creek, a stream that carries ash and glacial deposits from a old slide on the east side of Mt Shasta and empties into McCloud Reservoir. However, we expect that to happen when it is very hot and it stays hot (or at least warm) over-night, so that a lot of snow melts off the mountain.
That is not the case right now, night time temps have been down right cold (snow level 5500), so this time the exact reasons for the off-colored-ness (is that a word?) is a mystery.

Here is a interesting site that discussed the big 1924 mud flow:
http://www...asta/env/glacial/mud.htm

and a USGS site that discussed debris flows off Shasta:

http://ca....orts/shasta/factors.html

We (the locals) are always trying to blame this on PG&E, in that we suspect it has something to do with the way they operate the dam, but we have never found any evidence to support this. A few years ago this happened, and DFG over-flew the area in a helicopter and pronounced it a natural event.

I will hear fairly quickly when it clears up. This happened a few weeks ago and the river was only off-color for a few days, but as I said it can sometimes last much longer.
See posts on old board from 08/30

http://www...7021&expand=1#377021


As far as a “better” source: What am I, chopped liver?


but if it would make you feel "better" you can call Bob at the Ted Fay Fly Shop (530) 235-2969.

Motel in town for non-campers: what town? McCloud? Mt Shasta? Big Bend?

Thanks for the detailed report... good to have eyes on the ground up there!

B-

Fished the McCloud last weeked and it was very cloudy. The stuff coming out of the reservoir looks like you could walk on it.
P38

Hi Steve,

Not sure who you are, so don't take offense. I have read your posts for awhile, but post and a recognizable face are two different characters. From your post I assume that you guide up there or else just a local. If you do guide, I probably even spoke with you late last September as you and a couple of your clients came off the river. You took me aside from the clients and suggested upstream from the foot bridge instead of the down stream section for late in the day, which you had in all likelihood had covered pretty well with those guys. If you be this individual, I'll have to say that you are not at all chopped liver and gave me excellent advise for our time frame. Of course on that particular day, the water clarity was excellent. I was able to entice rising trout from deep holding areas with cripples and dries. If you are not that individual that I spoke with, I'll still say that you are not chopped liver, based solely on your response to this thread.

Thanks for your detailed answer concerning the clarity of recent flows along with the links. If the river is clouded from mud flows next week, I'll be forced to fish the lake, which was not bad at all for my compadres that decided to float tube the reservoir instead of moving water or take P38's cue and fish Fall River and/or run back down to the Upper Sac.

At any rate, I'll have a cold beer waiting for you, if and when I into run you. We'll be in a blue burb. Thanks for your response- you would be that good source I was asking about.

StevenB wrote:
[quote]OK, I will answer both posts here:
Harry:
>>The usual reason we ascribe to this situation is heavy run-off from Mud Creek, a stream that carries ash and glacial deposits from a old slide on the east side of Mt Shasta and empties into McCloud Reservoir. However, we expect that to happen when it is very hot and it stays hot (or at least warm) over-night, so that a lot of snow melts off the mountain.

Motel in town for non-campers: what town? McCloud? Mt Shasta? Big Bend?

You turkey. Preferably McCloud, Big Bend is a last choice, although that new 5 star resort in Big Bend has me curious.

What a difference a few days make. Since I was giving rather detailed info in the post based on second hand info AND I finally found my digital camera
(misplaced the darn thing months ago).

I decided to run over to the Mac and see it for myself.

Well, wouldn’t you know the color was just fine. It was it’s normal late summer turquoise color that Harry (bones) referred to.
I was not sure if the reports had been exaggerated or what until I talk with a fellow that had been camping there since Wednesday. He said that it just started clearing up this morning.
This was at Ash Camp:
(there should be a pic here)

And of course being there I figured I might as well fish for a little while.
There was a little hatch coming off and I saw a couple of rises.
Did not go far cause it was already after 5:00 but I managed to get a few to take a Para-Adams in a nice pool. Moved up to the head of the pool and switched to a nymph to see if I could get something a little bigger.
Not a big fish, but still a nice fish rewarded my efforts:
I was gonna put a pic here too but instead just take a look at this link:
http://flyguide.wordpress.com/

So anyone who changed their plans for this week-end, you can change them back, the river is fine.

Gitt:

Two nice places I know in McCloud are the McCloud Hotel and the McCloud River Inn. Both B&B’s and nice places to stay.
http://www.mccloudhotel.com/
http://www.riverinn.com/
The McCloud Timber Inn is a interesting place. Nice housekeeping rooms.
http://www...chamber.com/lodging.html

SPAM
If you are looking for a guided trip, the McCloud River Inn has a nice package deal.
END SPAM


No worries on the chopped liver, I am not sure if that was me you ran into on the river or not. Sounds kinda familiar. Was I a tall, handsome fellow ? If so, then no, it was not me
But yes, I am a guide up here, have been for a while. I am crushed you have not heard of me,
I was sure that my name was a household word through out the fly-fishing world.
See the current issue of Gray’s Sporting Journal. Page 160 (just to toot my own horn ).

...good info.

Tip on the pics - get rid of the "size=150" setting if you have trouble with the pic size not being big enough. Let me know if you have questions.

-Greg

Na, I got lots more problems than that
Not sure how to get multiple pics attached to a post.
Giving up on it right now. Gonna do the post with a link to the pics in another place.