New Thread

[Frank Alessio]

We are not quite old enough but Has anyone ever talked to anyone who remembers Steelhead and Salmon being taken on the McCloud River???

[Darian]

I don't recall ever talking to anyone catching either of those fish in the McCloud. I'm wondering if/when the last Dolly Varden disappeared from the river.... Just think what the pioneers n' gold prospectors/panners must've thought when they arrived to see all of those large Salmon/Steelhead in the headwaters of the rivers/streams. What we've done to the waters of this state kinda makes ya sick. Of course, it was all inevitable.

[John H]

I talked to a guy 20 years ago who has since passed away that caught a dolly on the McCloud. I think he said it was 1974. I always had the impression that they disappeared in the '70's so his story was consistent with what that. He was pretty pleased with it and actually told me about several times so I think he knew it was a rare catch. I fished there in the '80's and it was understood they were gone at that time. I talked to another guy about that same time who worked on Shasta Dam. I suppose he could have caught the last anadromous fish on the McCloud if he had tried.

[Ned Morris]

I do remember my Grandfather talking about camping around Nosoni Creek (McCloud Arm) with my Greatgrandfather in the 1920's and seeing so many Salmon packed at the mouth fish were spilling onto the banks. No fishing though.
We are not quite old enough but Has anyone ever talked to anyone who remembers Steelhead and Salmon being taken on the McCloud River???

[Ned Morris]

Last documented Bull Trout caught on the McCloud was below McCloud Dam in 1975. An attempt to re-establish Bull Trout with the closest known endemic population (Klamath Basin) in 1990 failed miserably on a tributary above McCloud Lake. In order for successful re-introduction to happen, most likely we would first need to eliminate both Brown and Brook trout as they interbreed with Brook Trout easily and Brown Trout occupy a similar ecological niche in the food chain as Bull Trout until they reach 12" or so and that is when a Bull Trout's diet switches to 100% piscivore. Not conclusive weather the biomass both in and above McCloud Lake could support a fluvial Bull Trout Fishery. My theory and (have wrote 2nletters to USFS on this subject) is to consider re-establishment with an Adfluvial population similar to the one fount in Lake Billy Chinook/ Metolius River which have adapted to man made impoundments and non-native Trout introductions. However the Whitefish are plentiful in the Metolius River and Kokanee in Lake Billy Chinook where to my knowledge McCloud Lake contains nothing like that for a food source. Also the Metolius is cold year round with the volcanic springs at the headwaters which the McCloud does indeed have but not as prevalant and not nearly as cold. Possible yes but very very very unlikely to happen given climate change and unwillingness of Hearst Corp. (Wyntoon) do help the cause.