McCloud river Silt?

[Pupa]

I am worried about the McCloud this year (along with everyone else). Last year was chocolate from June-November and I'm sure there is still an enormous payload of silt that needs to move through the system. Let's pray there is no more glacial retreat this spring/summer and dam breaks. Has anyone experienced how the fish/bugs have rebounded from last year? I've heard the river bottom is still covered in silt and needs a good flushing...

[Pupa]

Could be another tough summer on the Mccloud... From Ted Fay Fly Shop

http://www.tedfay.com/guidenotes


I think it’s time to share with you the impact that Mud Creek is having on the lower McCloud River and also the McCloud Reservoir that I’ve witnessed over the last 40 years.

The McCloud River, which I fished and guided for many years, has been going through some dramatic changes due to Mud Creek. Mud Creek is sourced from Konwakiton Glacier which due to climate change and drought is melting rapidly. As the glacier melts water gets trapped under it and at some point the water pressure releases creating massive mud flows cascading down from high up. Over the last 7 years it has produced some extraordinary mudflows and pictures of these events are shown below. Mud Creek used to flow under Pilgrim Creek Road bridge (which existed for many years). It still crosses Hwy 89 and flows through the Hearst property flowing into the upper stretch of McCloud Reservoir. In 2014 and last year these mudflows were dramatic in scale and dangerous. Ultimately all of this mud ends up in the reservoir, works its way to the dam and releases into the river. For those who know the McCloud and hold it dearly to their hearts last year rendered it unfishable for months starting in the summer and going into the fall.

Follow the thread of pictures below and you’ll get an idea of what is going on. In addition the mouth of Mud Creek where it intersects the McCloud River and reservoir has filled in. There is a big plug of mud now that has filled the upper reservoir. Ultimately this will all wash to the dam and effect the river below it. The river color is currently milky and will hopefully stay that way but ultimately it will get muddy. Mother Nature certainly has her way so keep your fingers crossed that the river doesn’t blow out.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks Pupa................this is very important information on one of our Top 10 Blue Ribbon trout streams.

Over the past 50 years both Hat Creek and Fall river have both filled in with silt but not from a glacier.

I think the Upper Sac and Pit rivers are both OK.

[Pupa]

Looks like Mccloud has started its summer turbidity surge. We may be SOL until late fall. So long friend...

[TahoeJoe]

I just got back and can confirm that the river is somewhat cloudy, kind of a milky color but not brown. It would be a perfect steelhead color, not as good for trout. Still fishable but it'll probably get worse as the weather stays hot.

OTOH The upper Sac was low and clear with lots of insect activity. Very fishable but stealth is your friend.

[Pupa]

Tahoe Joe, What day(s) were you there? Curious what to compare against the turb readings...

Thanks

[TahoeJoe]

Sunday and Monday around the TNC area. Monday seemed to be a bit more clear than Sunday but I don't have a Secchi disk to measure with.

[Pupa]

Looks like turbitidy was:

26th: 3.8 - 23.2
27th: 9.9 - 3.8

[StevenB]

Picture courtesy of Rick Cox.

McCloud below dam today.

Different folks have different ideas but I would consider it un-fishable.

Turbidity gauge say 35.00 right now but I bet it continues to go up.

[Rossflyguy]

I’d just fish the Mccloud where it meets shasta and go up from there. I did that on the upper sac where I-5 goes over it and worked my way up. Lots of lake fish in the river since the lake is so low. Caught a mix of spots, browns, and bows. Decent size trout at that. Plus the drive time is cut down.

[StevenB]

Recent reports are that the water is still off-color but more green than brown.

Turbidity gauge shows some numbers below 5 (barely, 4.9).

Anglers reporting visibility in terms of multiple feet (2-3)

Word this last week-end was that all the tags were in use on the Conservancy.

This is all hearsay, have not been over there myself.

[Mike Bosworth]

Good morning all,

I have tags for the conservancy on the Mccloud this coming weekend. I am checking to see if anyone has recent reports of the clarity and fishing up there. I am willing to fish other water in the area if the conditions do not look promising on the Mccloud. If it is still blown out, any guidance on other areas to fish and camp would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[StevenB]

We are having very warm Temps up here in Siskiyou county for this time of the year, high 80's to maybe 91 tomorrow
and it looks like the Mac is getting bad again. Turbidity on the gauge is back up to 7.4 as of this morning (and still increasing).
Talked to some anglers on Sunday who said it got much worse from Saturday to Sunday of last week-end.

[Bob Loblaw]

I fished SVC last week and it was really skinny, I'd avoid it. The Upper Sac was in good shape all the way up past Cantara. Some October caddis coming off.

[StevenB]

Hey Mike, where did you end up fishing?

Bob: What do you mean by SVC?

[Pupa]

Mccloud turbidity is slowly rising towards 10. Yikes. I don't see any history of precip in the area so wondering what's going on... We have a trip early November so I'm a bit concerned about visibility. Last 3 trips at bollibokka were chocolate milk (early july '21/late oct '21/late july '22).

[Mike Bosworth]

Steven,

I ended up going to the McCloud to fish the conservancy. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and the clarity was about 3 feet. By the next morning it was down to around 18" and by that night it was less than that. My friend and I caught 5 fish each, mostly on dark nymphs.Ah-Di-Na only had one site open on Saturday afternoon. The other fishermen we spoke with had pretty slow fishing as well.

We decided to fish the Upper Sac on Monday and we found some nice fish on nymphs and dries.

Here are some photos that show the water clarity degrading.
183981839918400

[StevenB]

Mccloud turbidity is slowly rising towards 10. Yikes. I don't see any history of precip in the area so wondering what's going on... We have a trip early November so I'm a bit concerned about visibility. Last 3 trips at bollibokka were chocolate milk (early july '21/late oct '21/late july '22).

Ya, no rain, it is the temperatures. high 80's to low 90's here in Dunsmuir, so warm on the mountain (Shasta) melts the glaciers, which increases flows on Mud creek, which then carries silt into the McCloud. At least that is what we think is happening. Do not expect the river to clear up until it gets cold enough on the mountain that the melting stops or at least slows way down.



Mike: Thanks for the report and Pics

[Pupa]

Has anyone fished into early November the Mac? I was wondering if the Oct Caddis will still be popping or if there may be any other hatches besides potentially BWO? Might be a bit late in the season for great fishing, especially with all the silt choking the insect communities. That being said, it has been a very warm October so maybe the hatch chart is shifting...

[StevenB]

October Caddis are around until early December on the Upper Sac so I would expect the same on the Mac.

In past years the last two weeks of the regular season (first two weeks of Nov) have produced really good fishing.
This year it is going to the interesting to be able to fish the Mac into Dec or until it snows enough that you can not get there.

Meanwhile, recent reports are fishing is picking up on the Mac. This last week, visibility was still limited (a couple of feet?), but fish were catch-able and some decent dry fly action occurred. No observed rising fish but they were willing to be induced to a dry. water color was light glacial tint almost white.
Lots of silt on the river bottom. I really hope we get decent rain this winter to help flush it,
if not I wonder if PG+E could be convinced to crank up the outflow from the Dam for a few days this winter to force a flush.


Also hearing reports of a fearless bear in the Ah-Di-Na campground, unafraid and willing to raid the campground right in front of people.
Heard other reports second hand that included some car damage caused by the bear. Anyone else hear about that?

[Pupa]

PG&E has bumped flows to 370 below dam/400 at Shasta and appears to be stable at this cfs. Turbidity is rising rapidly. Currently at 12. Praying that turb will drop back down in a week..

[StevenB]

Well, it does not look good for the McCloud anytime soon.
After peaking at just under 740 CFS flows are slowly dropping, currently 707 CFS. turbidity is still bad.
No word from PG&E or other sources as to what is going on.
One person suggested it was some sort of annual test of dam function that was required by regulations.
Be nice if PG&E would communicate.
On a positive note this should really help with blowing a bunch of slit out of the river.

Added Thursday evening:

Oh boy looks like a bit of excitement coming our way:

https://www.wunderground.com/severe/us/ca/castella/KCACASTE6

[StevenB]

printed in the local Paper (Dunsmuir)

Looks like they should start lowering the flows tomorrow.

Aiming for normal flows by Monday 11/21/22

[Pupa]

We fished Bollibokka Nov 2-8. Flows were around 750-780 with turbidity around 7, 47 degrees, with 20" visibility. Nice steelhead green. We could still access some water and pull out some fish on Oct Caddis dries and nymphs + bwo. Stormy weather last day but very few bwo's around. I would say the fishing was fair to poor and most of the fish were in the mini range. The few larger fish appeared malnourished and mostly did not put up much of a fight.

18517
18516

[Pupa]

FYI Flows have finally dropped to normal 280cfs, but turbidity has risen to insane levels (320). This sadly is not looking good for either the trout or insect vitality...

[StevenB]

Man, I do not think I have ever seen that high a NTU rating on the gauge before.

(NTU = Nephelometric Turbidity Units: for those who wonder what the heck my title is saying, yes, it is a weak joke).

I continue to hope that it means a lot of the slit what was on the bottom of the river is getting flushed out.

Late this summer, even when the turbidity clear up enough to fish, you would raise clouds of silt just wading the river.

I was really looking forward to finding out how the river fished in Dec and Jan (weather allowing IE: no snow)
since we have never been able to fish that time of year before.
I did not make it over there last year.

If it were clear enough I bet it would fish really great right now.

It was actually pretty nice today. Had to strip off a couple of layers mid-day, started sweating just walking the gravel bar.