This year I had the privilege to fish the McCloud 3 times in the beginning of the season. By far the best fishing I had was the the third time.
It was the first of July and the Fly Shop bulletin warned the water agency was playing with the flows; some days it would be too high to fish. I got to Ash Camp at 8p.m. with the intention of fishing the the following day. Morning arrived I met my neighbor in the site next to mine. He reiterated the warning of the erratic flows and added that he had seen 2 rattle snakes and a bear had been in the back of his truck last night. Parr for the course. I got my gear and self ready to fish by noon. There were few people in the camp site so I was confident I would have the river pretty much to myself. Crossing over the foot bridge and hiking down The Pacific Crest Trail I took the the first exit to the river.
As soon as I reached the river's edge I saw a fish rise. From then (about 2p.m ) until dark multiple hatches of P.E.D.s, Golden Stones and caddis flies increased. As the number of flies on the water increased the number of fish rising to them did too. By dusk it was a frenetic blizzard of bugs and splashing fish. As Al Swearengen would say, "It was fucking great" - too bad they can't put that on the board at The Fly Shop.
The next day the flows were up again. I was off to put some pictures at The Brown Trout Gallery in Dunsmuir and home.
