Good report from a friend of mine on the Upper Sac and Lower McCloud rivers

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Fished Upper Sac this past WED/THU/SAT and the McCloud FRI. Ah-Di-Na was fairly full, saw lots of cars, but surprisingly didn’t run into many other fisherman on either river!

Upper Sac: Fishing was good - mostly 10 to 14 inchers, and a few that went 18 inches. Medium sized bugs in general worked the best – size 14/16. Tiny bugs – specifically mayfly and caddis nymphs 18 or smaller worked 2nd best. Rubberlegs worked in the very fast/turbulent stuff. Golden stones out in good numbers, I did better on yellow sally dries, then on bigger stoneflies.

McCloud: some locals told flows had just been pulsed, but it didn’t affect fishing too much. Clarity wasn’t perfect, but just fine for fishing – to me it was just regular McCloud fishing. Dark colored bugs in medium sizes worked the best – but the bugs and relative size are similar to the Upper Sac (the only difference was that we focused on really dark colors).

Helpful tips:
· We wet waded both rivers, but we are aggressive hikers and we move a lot. While on the Upper Sac, we drove down to locations to find other cars and fisherman, but we always had other locations to go to. Twenty plus? miles of river, we drove to lots of locations and moved quite a bit.

· Focus on mornings and evenings if you are not the type that is willing to put in the long hours or full days, and focus on the whitewater if you’re going to fish while the sun or temps are high. We changed tactics and bugs quite often – the top producer for us was the no bobber/tightline tactic.

· Bring mosquito repellent and be extra careful touching your terminal stuff …. we got torn up while getting ready in the parking lot, not really while on the water.

· Bring your staff – we all had variations of spiked wading books, but we used the wading staffs heavily – we saw a couple of rattlers. They will avoid you in general, but doesn’t hurt to tap the shade under a rock or the brush before you walk through it.

· Lots of poison oak on the McCloud, be prepared.


In general the fishing was great. The best advice I can share – stop in and “support local” at Ted Fay for current info, and hire Fred Gordon or Wayne Eng (if they are available). We were able to hire Wayne for a day and it was worth every penny.


www.fredgordon.net

[ricards]

To the list of guides that you mentioned in your report, I would strongly endorse one other: Steven Bertrand. He can be reached by contacting the Ted Fly shop in Dunsmuir.

[cdevine]

To the list of guides that you mentioned in your report, I would strongly endorse one other: Steven Bertrand. He can be reached by contacting the Ted Fly shop in Dunsmuir.

I'm up here right now. Spent a fair amount of time and money at Ted Fays'. Bob is a first class person. What a delight to talk too. The shop has everything you could possibly need.

The fishing hasn't been that great on the upper sac. (at least for me and a few guys I talked too). Flows are up into the lower 500's again and it was noticeably higher than yesterday. I'm a walker. I probably put in 5-6 miles today up near Cantera. I try and cover a lot of water. Had the place to myself. Literally.

I had most success with a yellow humpy stimulator followed by a size 18 FB FT. (dry dropper). I also was high sticking with a rubber legs and various micro mayfly patters. Pick your times. Between 6-8pm was ideal. Followed by some awesome thunder/lightning.

Lots of PMD's coming off as well as drakes and of course stoneflies. Hearing better things about mccloud. I will find out tomorrow.

[StevenB]

Ya, We had some rain (with thunder and lighting) Sunday and Monday, Kicked the Upper Sac flows up a little and slowed the fishing down some. Flows are back down to 380 after jumping up to 550. Fishing should pick back up in the next couple of days.

[CW]

CDEVINE: check PM.

StevenB: thank you for the tip - will definitely make it a point to stop and shop local. Can't beat boots on the ground info.

[SB Gaucho]

Has anyone camped at either the Castle Crags or Sims Flat campgrounds up there? Is there decent access close to the campsites? Don't mind making the 3 hour drive from Sac for a shot at some good fishing but would rather make a weekend out of it. Appreciate all the tips and reports so far.
-Chris

[cdevine]

12029
Ya, We had some rain (with thunder and lighting) Sunday and Monday, Kicked the Upper Sac flows up a little and slowed the fishing down some. Flows are back down to 380 after jumping up to 550. Fishing should pick back up in the next couple of days.



Thanks guys. Steven- Awesome to talk with you. You guys set me up nicely all week. Ask Bob if I look good in my new hat? ha ha. I looked at some data points and yeah the flows kicked up to around 522 the day I was on the river (upper sac) and it was in the lower 400's the prior few. That storm on Sunday night was pretty amazing. I bet upper sac is sitting damn near perfect right in the high 300's today. I did spot a bald eagle near the 2nd bridge down from Cantara. That was pretty cool. I'm thinking his fishing game might be a tad better than mine.

Made it over to the mccloud on Tuesday. Fished ash camp area after walking down river 2 miles or so. (I like to walk). Its been 20 years since I've fished the mccloud. Its a shame I'm saying that. Just some observations. Amazingly clean. I didn't see one ounce of trash. Nothing. More bugs and life buzzing around me than I can recall seeing in a long time. PMD's, Butterflies, Stoneflies, Drakes, etc. Didn't see any snakes but lots of lizards.

The fishing was pretty solid. I picked up a few nice fish mainly tight lining black rubber legs and droppers such as micro may flies, psycho prince nymph, & black zebra midge. Bob told me small black "shi$" was working and he was right. Got some smaller fish on a dry dropper rig with a yellow humpy and stimulator attractor. Wish I could have camped and stayed for the late hatch. I'm sure it would have been prolific. If you are going up I stayed at the Dunsmuir Lodge. It was nice and affordable. The micro brewery in town has some good beer and food with friendly staff.

Lastly, I use to think I was a good wader. This guy doesn't need a staff. Wrong... That was some of the hardest wading I've done. Took many spills and was lucky not to break anything.

12028

[CW]

SB Gaucho:
Haven't camped at either (just stayed at places in Dunsmuir - the Dunsmuir Lodge is great, as mentioned above). Both locations you mention are really close to river access. Maps are available, but Google is your friend - zoom in close. Give us a report if you go - good luck man.

Charles Won

[StevenB]

Has anyone camped at either the Castle Crags or Sims Flat campgrounds up there? Is there decent access close to the campsites? Don't mind making the 3 hour drive from Sac for a shot at some good fishing but would rather make a weekend out of it. Appreciate all the tips and reports so far.
-Chris

Sims is right next to the river so it has good access.

Castle Crags has three places to camp. The main campground is on the other side of I-5 from the river but they have a pedestrian
path that tunnels under I-5 so you can walk to the river. Depending on where you are in the campground it is a longish walk, not sure exactly how far cause I have not tried it, probably in the 1/4 mile range. There are two sets of camp areas right on the river, One set in what we call the picnic area even though it has campsites. east side of I-5 and the river. These site are called the En route campsites and are more $ than the main campground. Check with the park for current rates.
There are also what are called the Environmental camp sites north of the picnic area on river road (again east side). These sites are walk in sites next to the river (very short walk, maybe 50 to 100 Yards) much less $ than the picnic area but I do not think they have water, and I am not sure about toilets either. Again check with the state park for accurate info.

Sims is a nice place to camp but it can get very hot there in the late summer. This time of the year it should be fine.

Castle Crags is a much larger campground so maybe more neighbors but also more sites to choose from, so a better change of finding a shady one when it is hot

[JasonB]

Wife and I just got back from a couple of very nice days on the Mccloud. Such a beautiful river! We did a little of everything in the beginning, including swinging/stripping some streamers. The dry dropper rig was getting more attention than anything else for us, mostly on the dries interestingly enough. We ended up just skipping the dropper and fished stimulators and elk hair caddis for about 90% of the trip. Hadn't had that much good dry fly fishing in some time, not much in terms of larger fish but plenty in the mid size range and a few bigger ones coming up. My wife missed a very nice brown that was probably 20"+. At one point I quite setting the hook as it was mostly just fun to see the fish coming up to smash the stimulator and the time to bring the fish to hand and release it meant probably missing another 3-4 grabs... good times. Our fingers are crossed that we don't both come down with a major case of P/O, as we did quite a bit of bushwhacking through it.
JB

[SB Gaucho]

StevenB thanks for the tips last week. Ended up grabbing the last campsite at Sims Flat on Saturday morning. The campgrounds are pretty basic, close to the train tracks and I-5 which makes it perfect for a basecamp to fish from as it is quick to hop on the freeway and head up or down to the various access points.

As for the fishing, it was flat out good times on the Upper Sac. Tough hiking and wading but worth it for water all to myself with relatively consistent action throughout the day. It was my first time tight-line nymphing and I was able to find some success with a rubber legs and red cooper john dropper. That technique sure opens up a lot of water, glad I ditched the indo as most of the guys I talked to using indicators had been skunked.

Saturday late afternoon was pretty prime time, tied on an orange stimulator a couple hours before sunset and had double digit whacks at it with a few landed in 1 run alone. The evening hatch had fish rising everywhere but they weren't pickin' up what i was puttin' down. One of those evenings where I ended up with a wader pouch full of used flies trying to fervently switch it up before it got too dark to see. Still a blast.

Be careful wading out there, ended up in a tough spot and got a little aggressive trying to cross - took a nice dip and flooded the waders. The fishing gods made up for it though, caught what had to have been the most beautiful 12" bow I have ever landed 10 minutes after I dumped out my waders and geared up again.

Hey CW, hope you've kept track of your fly boxes on the Yuba this year, haven't been out there to pick them up in a back eddy for you haha.
-Chris