McCloud River wildlife

[Ben Kobrin]

Just got back from a great week camping and fishing on the McCloud. Great time had by all. The weather was perfect, and the fishing was good enough to keep us interested! Here's a few pictures of an uninvited member of our fishing party.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/lazychuck1/IMGP00031.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/lazychuck1/IMGP00022.jpg

I'll add a few pictures of the fish once I get access to them (they currently live on my friends camera). The McCloud River manages to amaze me with it's beauty each and every time I go. Never disappointing.

-Ben

[Trout Thumb]

Was he shy?? :paranoid:

[Ben Kobrin]

Now that I have the pictures, on to the report. We camped from Thursday to Sunday at Ah-Di-Nah and fished all day, every day. Over the four day stretch, we pretty much hit from the dam all the way down through the concervancy. The water was a little higher than normal for this time of year, but everywhere held at least some fish and we had a great time. Here are a few pictures with obvious landmarks removed. I figure that if you know the river well enough to pick out particular spots just from my pictures, then you already know where the fish are and I'm not giving anything away!

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/lazychuck1/McCloud09099-2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/lazychuck1/McCloud09087.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/lazychuck1/McCloud09142-1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/lazychuck1/McCloud09154-1-1-1.jpg

Most fish were fooled dead drifting standard nymphs (prince, copper john, dark lord, etc...). I caught a few swinging a caddis a couple inches below the surface, and a few more on a black caddis dry early in the morning.

One of the most pleasant surprises of the week was getting to watch a stonefly transform from nymph to adult before my eyes. I was walking along the river and I saw a 2" stonefly nymph crawling out of the water onto a rock. It crawled about a foot onto the rock and then started to do it's thing. By the time the camera arrived, it had already split it's case, but when I first started watching it was completely black. We pick up the action about five minutes in...

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/lazychuck1/McCloud09118.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/lazychuck1/McCloud09120.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/lazychuck1/McCloud09131.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/lazychuck1/McCloud09132.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/lazychuck1/McCloud09135.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/lazychuck1/McCloud09136.jpg

It took about 30 minutes from start to finish. Although it was the prime part of the day, I couldn't pull myself away to fish.

Hope everyone enjoys!

-Ben

[Bjorn]

Great bug pics! That's cool stuff.

The fish pics were ruling too.

Love that river.

[Ben Kobrin]

After checking out this amazing website: http://www.pbase.com/michellemahood/real_bugs

I learned that what I watched was a salmonfly. Too cool!

-Ben

[Trout Thumb]

Isn't that something?

Thanks for the report, I'll be going up there in 3 weeks. can't wait.

Cris