MF Feather/Pit 5/McCloud?

[Pupa]

Have an annual extended weekend camping/flyfish trip with a couple out of town friends this weekend and I'm trying to decide between a few places. I could use some advice from anyone who has been out in the field lately. Any knowledge on how flows/hatches are coming along on these rivers with the recent rain and temp drops? Isonychia? October Caddis? Thanks.

[Fish Head]

I can't personally vouch for the fishing action, but recommend that you check out Shasta Trout for a quality report on the Pit and McCloud.

Best of luck!

[Craig Nielsen]

Fish Head, thanks for the recommendation.
Pupa:
I spent the entire last week on the McCloud, 6 days on the Bollibokka Club, one day on the Conservancy and one at Ah Di Nah. We've had some foul weather which changed conditions, including bumping up the flows significantly earlier in the week. Got the BWO's going and we enjoyed a few sessions of superb dry fly action along with some phenomenal nymphing. Big fish are again showing, including several 20+ inches this week!
Fellow guide Alan Blankenship has been over on the Pit and says it is also fishing well. He reports some good action on the warmer days nymphing with caddis patterns. Mornings on both rivers have been slower than afternoons and early evenings.
Wishing you the best of luck on your trip, feel free to drop a line for further details, best to catch me in the evening if you phone, I am guiding all week.

[thepeacockspecial]

Maybe the October caddis hatch is going on at thr Mccloud? Havent been there this year... i sure do miss it though

[Sammy]

upper sac is fishy, with mostly smaller fish and some bigger ones. (typical) but as the fall changes come about it should be getting better. Steady flows and easy day time temperatures should make for great fishing all day long.

[Pupa]

thanks for the report Craig. I too was wondering if the October Caddis have been eliciting any response on the river yet. I've been trying to catch this hatch for 10 years with no luck...

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Also try called 'The Fly Shop' in Redding and the 'Ted Fay Fly Shop' in Dunsmuir.

The have anglers and guides in daily now.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Fish Head, thanks for the recommendation.
Pupa:
I spent the entire last week on the McCloud, 6 days on the Bollibokka Club, one day on the Conservancy and one at Ah Di Nah. We've had some foul weather which changed conditions, including bumping up the flows significantly earlier in the week. Got the BWO's going and we enjoyed a few sessions of superb dry fly action along with some phenomenal nymphing. Big fish are again showing, including several 20+ inches this week!
Fellow guide Alan Blankenship has been over on the Pit and says it is also fishing well. He reports some good action on the warmer days nymphing with caddis patterns. Mornings on both rivers have been slower than afternoons and early evenings.
Wishing you the best of luck on your trip, feel free to drop a line for further details, best to catch me in the evening if you phone, I am guiding all week.

Very nice of Craig to help out here..........thanks.

[Cruzin4Metalheads]

Was up fishing the pit/mccloud area this past thur-sun...pretty phenomenal fishing. The october Caddis were just starting so probably a little bit out yet before they get going. Hit some pretty big fish on the mccloud in certain areas (20"-30"), some big boys are definitely milling about. pit was just as good, but not quite the size (18"-22"). if you want a little more detail pm me.

Cheers

[amoeba]

Whatever Cruz and Craig caught "last week", I am betting it wasn't Friday - Monday:

I pounded the McCloud these days, and didn't see Craig there, and nobody produced much more than a few fish, if that. There aren't many October Caddis on the McCloud (or on the upper Sac, which I hit also), and the hatches of others like BWO's are thin and short, mainly confined to the evenings of the warmest days, like Saturday. But Friday-Sunday - it was chill cold in the morning, and close to zero action.

Threw the kitchen sink out there - and covered all the water up and downstream of Ah-Di-Nah and the Conservancy; I can't say there were no rises, but very few. 3 strikes and all fish landed. Nothing on nymphs. Not many other fishermen seen, but we were not alone (campground about 1/2 full) - and those we saw and talked to didn't do much better. The place, which had a below average weekend crowd (still a fair number, tho) - understandably emptied out early and completely, before noon sunday, well before the end of the weekend - if that tells you anything.

Even on the Saturday, there 5/10 tags available at the conservancy, where we did land the largest fish on an orange stimulator (14"). Most of the rising fish seen were disappointingly smaller than the bait at Wild Sports, not 20"+, you'll be lucky if you get a 10 incher.

Nothing phenomenal about the McCloud fishing - unless it is the contrast between my report and the other's on this thread. I would definitely pass on the McCloud...maybe try the Pitt (or upper Sac if you can't deal with aggressive wading at 400 cfs). There is hardly anyone fishing it with the improved flows - I haven't seen a soul there this year on the water I fish.

These things change with weather that just came through, but not necessarily for the better. Personally, my honest recc is to pass. If you want to do something more exciting than the McCloud, spend less gas and watch paint dry. The upper Sac is slightly better, albeit more busy, the Pitt I don't have a current report - but it almost certainly going to have less people and, hopefully, better fishing than the McCloud.

[joshfish]

if your headed to the pit check the flows first. there are supposed to be recreational whitewater flows scheduled for sat and sun in pit one. not sure about the other sections though.

[amoeba]

I think OP is likely referring to Pitt 3-4-5 below Britton that is most commonly fished at the current minimum flows (~400 or so cfs in this type of year); it's been awhile since I read the new license.

But good pt......check the real time flows, if you can find them. Fly shops, at least the one in redding, will know for sure.

And if anyone has a schedule for the whitewater releases - that would be good to know also; and avoid fishing those days or soon afterwards either.

[Cruzin4Metalheads]

Since i'm completely full of it and the small group of us who went down there Friday didnt catch anything i thought i would post this.

[Fish Head]

if your headed to the pit check the flows first. there are supposed to be recreational whitewater flows scheduled for sat and sun in pit one. not sure about the other sections though.

The white water releases this coming weekend are in the Pit 1 section only.

If you are interested in the realtime flows in Pit 4 and Pit 5, check out CDEC. The Gage code for Pit 4 is PR4 and the Gage code for Pit 5 is PRB.

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/queryQuick.html

[JJ]

NICE fish on the McCloud!

[JGB]

C4M you got small hands! That's a guppy. Most people use that for bait.

Sheesh.

[EricO]

Hey Cruzin,

Nice pig-ola! I guess the migration from Shasta to the McCloud has begun.

The adipose fin on that brown is HUGE. Fly and size? Throwin meat?

Thanks for the proof otherwise I wouldn't have believed it because not
many fish have been caught there according to recent posts. ;)

EO

[Rich Morrison]

That is one heck of a nice fish Cruzin. I could not help but notice your landing net though...it's an oder style thin mesh. If you are practicing catch and release it's beneficial to use a more fish friendly net. The slime coating on a trout is a very important disease protection barrier for the fish. Those older nets wreak havoc on this barrier as well as often damaging fins. Using a newer net with a rubber or coated nylon mesh bag greatly contributes to your released fish's longevitity prospects.

And amoeba, perhaps you need to go spend a day on the river with Cruz or Craig. My first thought with something like that would not be that it was the fishery's fault. I would wonder what those guys might know that I don't.

[shawn kempkes]

methinks Amoeba is trying to fan the flames to keep people off the McCloud.

[Cruzin4Metalheads]

Thanks guys, yeah that was sure a guppy alright. though i personally can't take credit for that fish, the photo is of my buddy that was with me, it's his fish. I just didn't like being called out by someone on the board that i was full of it so i posted the biggest fish landed. we hooked and landed quite a few browns in the 4-6lb range, myself included, so yeah it was fishing fairly well...funny thing was he hooked that fish at noon!

Rich...yeah i do practice catch and release and yes that big boy is still there to fight another day. We both have the standard mesh nets, his broke on the car ride up to the camping site and was in process of being glued back together, but not dry yet...the only net we could find in the fishing box was that old relic. that big dude was tailed by me as it certainly wasn't fitting in any net. 5-10 seconds out of the water for a quick picture, revived, and away he went.

Great trip...surprisingly enough we didn't see any slithery friends!

[Cruzin4Metalheads]

if anyone wants to know what we were slinging (yes flies) shoot me a PM.

[JGB]

aside from your buddy's small hands...seriously nice fish.

[Cruzin4Metalheads]

hahaha..i'll pass along the message.