McCloud River Report

My wife Bev and I had a beautiful time in northern California this past
weekend. We stayed at historical Stoney Brook Inn in McCloud. The Hotel was
built in 1922 for the loggers who worked the saw mills. In the 60's it was
converted to an Inn and then later to a bed and breakfast. The town of
McCloud is quite small, but 12 miles away is Mt. Shasta city which has
fairly nice restaurants and boutique shops.

We headed up to the Upper McCloud falls after breakfast the next morning. I
did manage to get in a little fishing as the weather was just perfect with a
very slight breeze. The McCloud falls are beautiful and to my surprise we
were the only ones there. Bev and I took a mild hike around the surrounding
area. I could see the hatch and once in a while, a trout on the raise. I do
enjoy observing fish behavior probably even more than catching fish. I also
like reading the waters and looking for potential areas of interest that
fish may lay. I knew I was going to be in a bit of trouble when I saw the
hatch of the small light PMD's in what looked like #22's. I only brought
three patterns with me, the Adams #16, the Light Cahill #16 and the Grizzly
Elk Hair in #18.

After thirty minutes of scouting the area I decided to string up. The #16
Light Cahill was closest to the pattern of the PDM, and although off in size
thought it was my best choice. I didn't even bother getting into my waders.
I waited for a trout to raise, then cast about five feet upstream from his
location. On the first cast, I wasn't surprise when the rainbow refused the
fly, was thinking it was because of size. The refusal is very quick, within
tenths of a second. After two more refusals in the same manner, my next
thought was to shorten up the cast, match the current speed, keep the rod up
high with very little slack in the line and use a quick strip set. I waited
for another raising rainbow, the cast again up stream from his location. I
was able to hook one and bring it in by hand line retrieval.

After catching one on the Light Cahill, I switched over to the #16 Adams.
After seven cast with not even a refusal, I got lucky and hooked another.
The trout are small, about seven inches long, and both were released
unharmed. I was satisfied and done for the day. I'm not interested in
catching a lot of trout, two is enough for me and was pleased with patterns.

Bev and I headed back into town and then to the Mt. Shasta city to spend the
rest of the day. I do recommend Mike & Tony's restaurant for dinner, a great
selection of wines.

Bev took these pictures of the falls:
http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/McCloud1.JPG



http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/McCloud2.JPG



http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/McCloud3.JPG



fwiw,

-Tom