My Upper Sac and McCloud report

[Adam Grace]

My Father and I enjoyed our trip even though the catching wasn't very good. We planned to fish the Upper Sacramento River early Sunday, around 7am, and then travel to the McCloud in the afternoon. Below is a picture of my Father fishing a dry fly early in the morning below the Simms campground:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2554.jpg

The lack of surface activity and productivity caused us to switch to a nymphing rig; a golden stonefly nymph was the overall most productive fly. I only caught 5 small fish, 5-8”. I did hook a nice 12” trout that took a special stonefly nymph pattern tired by Hogan Brown, I lost it after a lengthy and vigorous fight that put a great bend in my 4wt. The warm water and outside temperatures have created s bunch of slime to cover the rocks making wading the Upper sac very difficult, bring a wading staff and studded boots, my felt bottomed wading sandals did not work well at all, it was a challenge to remain vertical while wading the river.

After a brief afternoon trip to the Conant exit of the Sac we headed to the McCloud, our main focus of this trip. We camped at Ah Di Nah and fished between it and the Conservancy in the evening with limited results. I hooked into a couple of trout nymphing, rolling a nice 13” fish using a dark lord, I landed one about 10” on the same fly a little later. In the evening trout were rising to little yellow sallys for about 30 minutes when my Father and I both missed a few rises to our dries, the rises only occurred in the slower deeper pools. The sallys were very yellow and very small, a small #16 or a #18 would work just fine, below is a picture of one of these insects:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2610.jpg

The only surface activity we saw was during that first brief evening surface activity. Due to the lack of surface activity we decided to focus on fishing nymphs the next morning. Since I have been curious about the Conservancy area of the McCloud for some time now we decided to try it in the morning. If you haven’t been there or if you don’t know how to go about fishing it here is some info with pictures for you, skip this section if you’ve been there before. To get there traveled past the dirt road that takes you to Ah Di Nah until it dead ends at a small wooden brides with a sign on the other side welcoming you to the Conservancy trail, pictures below:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2599.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2602.jpg


You hike a trail along the river until you reach some cabins and the sign in area:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2607.jpg

Here's the sign in table with the orange tags that you have to wear:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2605.jpg

If you reserved your spot sign in and take your tag, the orange tags are supposed to be worn while fishing, 5 tags for reserved spots and 5 tags for walk-on fishermen, we were the first walk-on’s for that day. Then you fill out the registry and proceed to fish at or below far down as the lower boundary. Here are a few pictures of the water within the Conservancy:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2620.jpg
There are multiple different colored rocks that make this section beautiful and difficult to wade.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2634.jpg
What a beautiful area, much more attractive than the Upper Sac.

After seeing some small nymph shucks floating in the slow water by the banks I decided to switch to smaller nymphs, a dark lord and a small PT, they brought me a 12” trout the largest landed during this 2 day trip. Below is a picture of this trout, not a great picture but you can see most of the trout.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP1738.jpg

I also caught 4 other small trout not large enough to warrant a picture on those small nymphs. My Father also caught a couple of trout on small nymphs. The other fisherman that we talked to were also having a tough time fishing, most guys hadn’t caught any trout.

Due to the slow fishing and the energy spent wading the McCloud my Father and I left early due to the lack of evening activity the night before.

We had a nice trip.

[David Lee]

Great report and PERFECT photos !!

Remember , Adam ..... fishin' isn't always about catching . Nice that you got to spend some time w/ Dad :)

David

[Gregg]

I heard your Dad doesn't really exist. I think you rented that guy as a stand in. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[SteelieD]

Excellent report. Good that you could spend time with your dad!

[dtp916]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks for the report Adam. Your pics are always really sweet.

[jbird]

Great comprehensive report. Beautiful pictures, as allways. :)

Jay

[Hairstacker]

Another great report! I'd bet your dad really enjoyed the time regardless of the catching. 8)

[Adam Grace]

Thanks guys, yeah we had a great trip. I was just hoping to get my Dad into more fish, the slow conditions made that very difficult and yeah I was a little bummed but i do know that fishing is way more than catching fish..I just wanted him to catch some more fish since he doesn't get out to fish very much. July wasn't the best time to get out but our schedules only allowed this tine frame. We have fished the high sierras before but I wanted a chance for some bigger fish.

BTW, while playing cards by gas lantern light on Sunday we attracted many flying insects. We attracted many regular sized caddis and one huge October Caddis-sized caddis check out this picture:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2565.jpg

Below is a nice size comparison picture, the smaller caddis about a #16 or #14:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2589.jpg

[briansII]

[quote="Adam Grace"]Thanks guys, yeah we had a great trip. I was just hoping to get my Dad into more fish, the slow conditions made that very difficult and yeah I was a little bummed but i do know that fishing is way more than catching fish..I just wanted him to catch some more fish since he doesn't get out to fish very much. July wasn't the best time to get out but our schedules only allowed this tine frame. We have fished the high sierras before but I wanted a chance for some bigger fish

I'm sure catching fish is not high on your dad's list of good memories. My guess spending time with his son is. :)

briansII

[Jasonh]

Great report and pics Adam. The McCloud looks like a great place.

[MrBig]

Great report. In Oct/Nov huge browns move up into the lower part of the river to spawn. Shhhh....don't tell anyone.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I missed this report till now because I was off on vacation.

Really great report with wonderful photos Adam.

Makes me want to go up there again.

[johnson wozniak]

Awesome report, after you are done with school you schould think of quitting Fish First and be a photographer for National Geographic



My Father and I enjoyed our trip even though the catching wasn't very good. We planned to fish the Upper Sacramento River early Sunday, around 7am, and then travel to the McCloud in the afternoon. Below is a picture of my Father fishing a dry fly early in the morning below the Simms campground:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2554.jpg

The lack of surface activity and productivity caused us to switch to a nymphing rig; a golden stonefly nymph was the overall most productive fly. I only caught 5 small fish, 5-8”. I did hook a nice 12” trout that took a special stonefly nymph pattern tired by Hogan Brown, I lost it after a lengthy and vigorous fight that put a great bend in my 4wt. The warm water and outside temperatures have created s bunch of slime to cover the rocks making wading the Upper sac very difficult, bring a wading staff and studded boots, my felt bottomed wading sandals did not work well at all, it was a challenge to remain vertical while wading the river.

After a brief afternoon trip to the Conant exit of the Sac we headed to the McCloud, our main focus of this trip. We camped at Ah Di Nah and fished between it and the Conservancy in the evening with limited results. I hooked into a couple of trout nymphing, rolling a nice 13” fish using a dark lord, I landed one about 10” on the same fly a little later. In the evening trout were rising to little yellow sallys for about 30 minutes when my Father and I both missed a few rises to our dries, the rises only occurred in the slower deeper pools. The sallys were very yellow and very small, a small #16 or a #18 would work just fine, below is a picture of one of these insects:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2610.jpg

The only surface activity we saw was during that first brief evening surface activity. Due to the lack of surface activity we decided to focus on fishing nymphs the next morning. Since I have been curious about the Conservancy area of the McCloud for some time now we decided to try it in the morning. If you haven’t been there or if you don’t know how to go about fishing it here is some info with pictures for you, skip this section if you’ve been there before. To get there traveled past the dirt road that takes you to Ah Di Nah until it dead ends at a small wooden brides with a sign on the other side welcoming you to the Conservancy trail, pictures below:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2599.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2602.jpg


You hike a trail along the river until you reach some cabins and the sign in area:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2607.jpg

Here's the sign in table with the orange tags that you have to wear:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2605.jpg

If you reserved your spot sign in and take your tag, the orange tags are supposed to be worn while fishing, 5 tags for reserved spots and 5 tags for walk-on fishermen, we were the first walk-on’s for that day. Then you fill out the registry and proceed to fish at or below far down as the lower boundary. Here are a few pictures of the water within the Conservancy:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2620.jpg
There are multiple different colored rocks that make this section beautiful and difficult to wade.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2634.jpg
What a beautiful area, much more attractive than the Upper Sac.

After seeing some small nymph shucks floating in the slow water by the banks I decided to switch to smaller nymphs, a dark lord and a small PT, they brought me a 12” trout the largest landed during this 2 day trip. Below is a picture of this trout, not a great picture but you can see most of the trout.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP1738.jpg

I also caught 4 other small trout not large enough to warrant a picture on those small nymphs. My Father also caught a couple of trout on small nymphs. The other fisherman that we talked to were also having a tough time fishing, most guys hadn’t caught any trout.

Due to the slow fishing and the energy spent wading the McCloud my Father and I left early due to the lack of evening activity the night before.

We had a nice trip.