McCloud and Mt. Shasta report

[PatrickM]

Spent last Tuesday through Thursday camping at Ah Di Nah. Went down to the conservancy on Wednesday. Only three other tags were out when I got to the cabin. As recent reports have suggested, fishing was pretty good. High-stick nymphing with a #8 golden stone and #16 pt or dark lord dropper was productive throughout the day. Got some on mayfly dries in the pools in the afternoon. Tried stripping some streamers through the pools later in the day on a sinktip, but no luck there. Late in the evening the golden stones began dropping their eggs, and the fish were pretty keyed in. Used a #8 orange stimulator. Any good drift in a likely spot seemed to produce an eager fish. Didn't catch anything huge, and no browns the whole trip, but good numbers of gorgeous McCloud rainbows, with a few in the 16-18 inch range.
Met up with some friends on Thursday in Shasta City, and climbed Mt. Shasta Friday through Sunday. It was a truly awesome experience, but a lot tougher than any of us expected. We hiked up to Horse Camp on Friday, which is at 7,900 feet. Saturday morning we left camp at 2 am, reached the summit at 1 pm, and got back to camp at 5 pm. Definately the longest and toughest day of hiking/climing I've ever done. Those beers we stashed in a snow bank at camp sure went down easy when we got back though. :D
I'll leave you guys with some pics.

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[dtp916]

What a fantastic trip! Thanks for sharing the photos - they are awesome! 8) 8) 8)

[Adam Grace]

That looked like a crazy trip, nice pictures.

[midger]

Thanks for sharing. I'll bet the climb was breathtaking--literally. Nice shots of the trout, but I love the mountain climb portion of your trip.

[Hairstacker]

Patrick, GREAT report and pictures! A 2 a.m to 5 p.m. hike up and down a huge mountain -- man, you guys are animals! Remind me to ask how far we're going before I go hiking anywhere with you. :lol:

[jblack]

My wife and I were just talking about whether we might climb shasta or redo whitney. Thanks for the inspiration! Great Pictures

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Wow..............thanks.

We are lucky to be living in Nor Cal.

[Alastair]

I'm going up on the 15th of June for three days and I can't wait! Very cool pics! 8)
The McCloud has to be one of the most beautiful streams anywhere. Thanks for posting them and the great TR.

[WinterrunRon]

Thanks for the report and especially posting the pics. I know it's time consuming and a pain in the *** to post the pics, so an added thank you for uploading them. Awesome combo trip!

[PatrickM]

Glad you guys enjoyed the report. Thanks for the kind words. 8)
Have a great trip, Alastair. Wish I was going back up there. Looking forward to your report.

[jhaquett]

Hi, I'm going up to McCloud from the 14th-16th, I was just wondering how busy it was up there for you guys? I haven't made any camping reservations and am just going to wing it to find a site.

[PatrickM]

No guarantees, but I think if you're going up there on Thursday you should be ok. I was up there from a Tuesday through Thursday, and the campground was less than half full. A few cars pulled in on Thursday, but there were still plenty of spots available when I left.
Good luck.

[DBlanch41]

I fished the McCloud a few weeks ago with some family and friends. One of my friends and ran across some "locals" fishing with worms and a spinning tackle. He said these two had a "string" of fish they had killed. He told them it was considered "poaching" and that those techniques were not allowed. Since it is rather remote and you never do know how far these "confrontations" will go, my friend let it be.

I've never seen poaching on the McCloud and were all rather offended by this act. I think those of us that fish the McCloud feel as if the river belong to us in quite a personal way.

Any thing else we might have done?

[Scott V]

I've never seen poaching on the McCloud and were all rather offended by this act. I think those of us that fish the McCloud feel as if the river belong to us in quite a personal way.

Any thing else we might have done?


Confronting poachers in the wilderness is and can be complete suicide. Do a visual of the people, write down a description of the people and the gear that they had. But do it so they can not see you, then just head to another area. When you leave either look for a ranger or make a call to the poachers hotline when you get a chance. 1-888-DFG-CALTIP.

[jhaquett]

As was just said, it is very important to assess both yourself and the poachers themselves. There can be some real "mountain folk" around poaching and you have to be aware of that. Most times people just don't realize the actual regulations in that area and a quick "hey, thought you should know" works like a charm. 8)
Only if I am with another friend my age will I approach two or more people that look sketchy, and a friend and I got in a sticky situation one time....we approached two salmon poachers on a local creek here (butte creek) and told them that they were poaching. Well, long story short, they weren't happy about it, especially one of the guys. Things got hairy EXTREMELY fast but luckily for me my girlfriend's dad is a fourth degree blackbelt in jujitsu and judo and he has tought me some work and I was able to neutralize one of the guy's as he was swinging around an 8 inch buck knife at me!! :shock: :shock: :shock:
The other guy wasn't as rough and tumble, I suppose he was far too shocked since he did just see his friend try to gut someone!
So anyways, even though I didn't get hurt I was still scared s***less at that moment because I had never been in a fight with a deadly weapon, so I rarely approach those type of people anymore, and I really suggest the same to anyone else unless they are trained or have a gun or something! :D 8)

[dtp916]

That is really hairy, all that because you told them they were poaching - its not like you were out to arrest them....Good thing for the self defense training! 8)

[jhaquett]

Tell me about it....my tone of voice and my presentation to them wasn't threatening at all either, it really showed me that people can be just as unpredictable as a wild animal!