McCloud and Mt. Shasta report

[jhaquett]

Hi, I'm going up to McCloud from the 14th-16th, I was just wondering how busy it was up there for you guys? I haven't made any camping reservations and am just going to wing it to find a site.

[PatrickM]

No guarantees, but I think if you're going up there on Thursday you should be ok. I was up there from a Tuesday through Thursday, and the campground was less than half full. A few cars pulled in on Thursday, but there were still plenty of spots available when I left.
Good luck.

[DBlanch41]

I fished the McCloud a few weeks ago with some family and friends. One of my friends and ran across some "locals" fishing with worms and a spinning tackle. He said these two had a "string" of fish they had killed. He told them it was considered "poaching" and that those techniques were not allowed. Since it is rather remote and you never do know how far these "confrontations" will go, my friend let it be.

I've never seen poaching on the McCloud and were all rather offended by this act. I think those of us that fish the McCloud feel as if the river belong to us in quite a personal way.

Any thing else we might have done?

[Scott V]

I've never seen poaching on the McCloud and were all rather offended by this act. I think those of us that fish the McCloud feel as if the river belong to us in quite a personal way.

Any thing else we might have done?

Confronting poachers in the wilderness is and can be complete suicide. Do a visual of the people, write down a description of the people and the gear that they had. But do it so they can not see you, then just head to another area. When you leave either look for a ranger or make a call to the poachers hotline when you get a chance. 1-888-DFG-CALTIP.

[jhaquett]

As was just said, it is very important to assess both yourself and the poachers themselves. There can be some real "mountain folk" around poaching and you have to be aware of that. Most times people just don't realize the actual regulations in that area and a quick "hey, thought you should know" works like a charm.
Only if I am with another friend my age will I approach two or more people that look sketchy, and a friend and I got in a sticky situation one time....we approached two salmon poachers on a local creek here (butte creek) and told them that they were poaching. Well, long story short, they weren't happy about it, especially one of the guys. Things got hairy EXTREMELY fast but luckily for me my girlfriend's dad is a fourth degree blackbelt in jujitsu and judo and he has tought me some work and I was able to neutralize one of the guy's as he was swinging around an 8 inch buck knife at me!!
The other guy wasn't as rough and tumble, I suppose he was far too shocked since he did just see his friend try to gut someone!
So anyways, even though I didn't get hurt I was still scared s***less at that moment because I had never been in a fight with a deadly weapon, so I rarely approach those type of people anymore, and I really suggest the same to anyone else unless they are trained or have a gun or something!

[dtp916]

That is really hairy, all that because you told them they were poaching - its not like you were out to arrest them....Good thing for the self defense training!

[jhaquett]

Tell me about it....my tone of voice and my presentation to them wasn't threatening at all either, it really showed me that people can be just as unpredictable as a wild animal!