Upper Sac and McCloud Fly Fishing Reports
Hot weather has left the house and cooler days are prevailing. The big 4th of July holiday stampede has come and gone with limited collateral damage and battle scars. Things are settling in nicely now and both of our favorite rivers are giving us some good fishing. Right now is a great time to be here for the fishing and all the other accessories that the area has to offer. Long range forecasting is showing very mild conditions for the next couple of weeks.
The McCloud River is fishing good. This last week offered up some very nice fish for father/son Keith and Willie. The river is slowly coloring up but is still very fishable. I would guess the visibility is around 2 feet. This means caution when wading … try letting your feet be your eyes. It is hard to predict if this is a short term or long term event. The lake does not show any mud field so as in some previous years I have experienced it could just be the milky McCloud for the summer. Bobbercator style has produced the best, some streamer success has been had and evening hatches of caddis and mayflies has been spotty. Look for fish in some of those aint worth it spots you passed over earlier in the season.
The Upper Sac has had water temps spike into the mid
70’s on the lower sections. Stay away from there when it like this.
The fish are stressed enough and do not need any additional tension in
their lives when the river gets this warm. The current cooler weather
will help the high temps. Checkout this website for real time flows
and temps … http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/staMeta?station_id=DLT.
I would stay from Gibson up to Ney Springs and as long as the
cooler weather sticks around you should find good fishing all day.
Currently the fish are either deep in the runs and pools or are in the
heavy oxygenated water … choose your poison.
Rick Cox
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