NorthState Report

[cdevine]

Made a quick trip up north to hit the magical McCloud and Upper Sac. Water conditions on the McCloud were ideal and crowds were actually fairly moderate/crowded for a weekday. Golden Stones & PMDs were the primary bugs poppn on the McCloud and the Upper reaches of the Sac. Didn't see any salmon flies. That is more of a May thing. I would say the fishing the McCloud was good to very good. Lighten up on the tippet. 5x was fine. I was nymphing up during day and throwing dry dropper in morning and evening. Think Chubby Chernobyl and Prince nymph or pmd dropper. LBS as well. Upper Sac wasn't as good in the middle reaches for me but better up near Dunsmuir. Flows are starting to get thin at 310 CFS so use stealth as water is super clear. One night had most epic stonefly hatch near town. It was fun to just watch.

Also on the McCloud watch for rattlers. Came across 2 and took a pic.

Go see Bob at Ted Fay. He will dial u in.

Have fun. Beautiful area.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Go soon because it will only get tougher mid-summer.

Thanks for the in-depth report.....

That is a beautiful wild trout.

[cdevine]

Thanks Bill. Agree with you. The upper sac is getting tougher because its gin clear and dropping pretty fast. Stealth is a must there. Mccloud is on everybody's bucket list so those fish get pretty smart after seeing a lot of flies. Water temps on Upper sac into the 58 range also. Good time to go is from 4-830pm.

[PV_Premier]

Thanks Bill. Agree with you. The upper sac is getting tougher because its gin clear and dropping pretty fast. Stealth is a must there. Mccloud is on everybody's bucket list so those fish get pretty smart after seeing a lot of flies. Water temps on Upper sac into the 58 range also. Good time to go is from 4-830pm.

thanks for the report. i will be up in that area july 4th, hoping the decent fishing hangs on til then, might have to try to find an overnighter before then, but not looking promising.

it seems like it's going to be a snakey year...lots of them out already...

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

4th of July is an old favorite timing of many for the Truckee River and the NF Yuba River............

[Larry S]

cdevine,
Love the snake shot. Perfect camo!
Always enjoy your reports.
Best,
Larry S
Sun Diego

[cdevine]

Thanks Larry. Appreciate that. Its always nice to share information and experiences. There is a wealth of knowledge out there and I'm always learning. Yeah, I'm not a fan of snakes but i'm in there "hood" so I have to be nice.

[PV_Premier]

Figured I’d add on here versus start a new thread.

Fished the McCloud yesterday, sorta tough fishing. Got a few little guys but nothing over 14”. Even split between dry and dropper.

Upper Sac today was off the hook for us. Fish were really turned onto the stonefly adults and we pounded them from 8:30 until 2:00 on stimulators and PMXs. Didn’t really need the dropper at all — most were on the dry. Hooked one that was 20”+ but he got me in fast water and it was game over before it started.

[cdevine]

Figured I’d add on here versus start a new thread.

Fished the McCloud yesterday, sorta tough fishing. Got a few little guys but nothing over 14”. Even split between dry and dropper.

Upper Sac today was off the hook for us. Fish were really turned onto the stonefly adults and we pounded them from 8:30 until 2:00 on stimulators and PMXs. Didn’t really need the dropper at all — most were on the dry. Hooked one that was 20”+ but he got me in fast water and it was game over before it started.

Thanks for the report. Good stuff! I’m probably going to hit upper sac later this week. Usually it seems to fish better higher up in the summer (towards dunsmuir) as water temps increase. Was that your experience? The “mccrowd” does get tougher in dog days. I like to hit it early and then in fall.

[PV_Premier]

We were fishing a few miles below Dunsmuir on Friday morning, with good results. The overcast sky that hung on until about 1:00 surely helped the bite. After taking a late lunch at the brewery we fished between Scarlett Wy and Mossbrae, and it was ice cold. We retreated to Yaks around 6:00. We intended to fish on Saturday morning but the smoke blew in fierce overnight and the AQI was awful so we drove home.