Welcome to our national forest and fire season

Latest from the USForest Service. For those thinking of a wilderness experience it’s not going to happen for awhile until they have a handle on all the fires ravaging the forest. I’m thinking at least the end of this month at best for accessing their jurisdictions, this is already the second extension and the fires in northern California are not contained. Realize too that with fires comes smoke, we’re living the summer of smoke here, hopefully not the new norm. Makes you want to escape to the coast for blue skies and fresh air. Read it and weep….

This order supersedes the current Closure Order for Nine National Forests. It is effective from 11:59 p.m. tomorrow (8/31/21) and is (currently) in effect through 11:59 Pm on September 17, 2021

To make matters worse the McCloud River is no where close to fishing even if it was open. As you can see from the pictures below it continues to pulsate with mud flows and if you look closely you can get an idea of the magnitude of the pulses that come through. The pipeline shown in the picture is the main water source for the town of McCloud and if a flow large enough comes down it could take that out. A good source for checking out the turbidity (clarity) of the water is provided by a gauge down by Bollibokka. Having dealt with these mud events over last 25 years I’ve come to personally view these numbers as a idea as to when the McCloud River is worth fishing. My benchmark number is when it gets down to single digits. The 5-10 range offers challenging wading but if you know your spots go for it. The below 5 range is prime time to get on the river and have some fun. When and if the numbers get to this point there should be some good fishing to be had.

The Upper Sac on the other hand is the only game in town and is starting to slowly come out of its dog daze phase. The river continues to hold in the 150 cfs range and the temps are gradually coming down both for the water and the days. I’m seeing mornings dipping into the 40’s now and the heat of the day is a much shorter window with the day light getting shorter too. This is the recipe that I look for. A recent outing produced a few bigger fish, something besides the dinks of summer. Again the theme for me was the smaller flies that I preach about …. LBS otherwise known as little black shit. Think lighter tippet too, the water is super clear. The heavier water is definitely producing better than the slow pokey stuff. Caution, there’s a lot of slippery moss covered rock, I fell on my keister while wading, actually the water felt real good.

Cheers and follow your bliss. Oh….and apologies once again for the crappy news.

Rick Cox Fly Fishing - offering 40 years of fly fishing experience for hourly or half day lessons and trips for beginners to ole dawgs. Checkout my Instagram post at rick_fly

530-925-0446

ricmcfly@gmail.com

If you have any further questions give the shop a shout and the next time you are in the area stop in and bug Bob.