Fishing Report

I’ve long been encouraged to keep a journal of my fishing to refer back to for future trips. I finally got around to it and decided that others might benefit from it was well. So here it is.

3/27/09

Fished the McCloud Reservoir. We caught about a dozen rainbows up to 16″. The best fishing was up in the river arm where the water was cloudy. We trolled rainbow trout needlefish about 10-15′ deep. The best spot was just above the bridge. The bite stopped about 2:00. The day started cold but warmed into the 70′s. It was sunny.

5/8/09

Made it out to Shasta lake. It was really windy. The termperature probably reached the lows 80′s by afternoon and the wind died down some. The fishing picked up then. We picked up Bass on Robo worms (prizm Kraw) with some “stinky” smeared on. However, our best results came with rainbow trout Sinkos. The fish seemed to be pretty shallow (5-15 feet). We brought home 8 nice fish.

5/11/09

Fished the evening hatch on River X. Used Parachute Adams and Caddis. Caught a few fish (all small). The high for the day was 81. Got eaten up by mosquitos.

5/15/09

Spent the morning at Lake McCumber on the float tube. It was warm, the wind blew, and the fishing was tough. I caught a few on calibaetis (size 18) on a 6x florocarbon tippet under an indicator. Red Copper Johns were also working. A beautiful morning.

5/29/09

Hit Shasta Lake at first light. Ended up catching about 15 fish by 11:00 am when the rain came and I got tired of being wet. Did really well on top water using a torpedo. The best fish was about 3 pounds. Caught the others on small bass Senkos.

6/6/09

Fished Eagle Lake with little success. Caught one decent fish with a an orange Neddlefish at about 25 feet. Got run off the lake by lightning.

6/9/09

Had a great evening of fishing popper flies on Goodman pond. Caught about 17 bass and blue gill. Great fun. The yellow and green poppers were most effective.

7/3/09

Enjoyed a beautiful sunny and warm day on North Battle Creek Reservoir. While all those lunking powerbait and worms were collecting the recently planted fish, we threw every fly in the box at these trailer trash fish. Finally I coaxed a brown into rising to a damsel. However, the ticket ended up being an olive bugger trolled on sink tip line. Gotta get it down. The trailer trash were distracted long enough from the mesmerizing effects of the speckeld powerbait to chase the bugger and give us a limit.

7/2/10

Wow. I can’t believe it’s been a year since I logged a trip. Visited Manzanita lake today and caught 3 rainbows in the morning on red and white midges about 1 1/2 ‘ under an indicator where the spring comes in close to the inlet.

7/17/2010

We fished Mill Creek on the way to camp. The water was high and I only hooked one fish on a bead head prince nymph. My buddy hooked 4 using gold stones. We had trouble keeping the fish on because of the barbless regulations. They were fiesty. Each fish broke the surface to shake the hook out and give a rasberry to the fisherman.

8/13/10
Fished Castle Lake using a copper streamer and a Wolly Bugger. After no success there, I attempted a damsel fly in dry and nymph due to their abundance. Still no luck. Fish seemed to be rising to mayflies and, as Murphy’s law would have it, I didn’t have any. Fished Gumboot lake later that day with the same result. I think I’ll try the dynamite fly next time.

8/27/10
The three Fishketeers visited river X for an afternoon and evening of stream trout fishing. It was not a good day! (at least as far as the fishing went) Things were beautiful on the stream, but the fishing was severly lacking. I was the only one who landed anything and it was a three inch trophy rainbow. I couldn’t believe he got his mouth over the fly. Maybe the poor fishing had something to do with the near full moon the night before and the low pressure system that was coming in.

9/3/10-9/6/10
Backpacked to Grizzly lake. There were plenty of brookies to be taken in the lake and stream. A Beadhead Prince (size 16) about two feet under an indicator worked best in the lake. However, the fish also took a black Wooly Bugger and a Royal Wulff. It was a good weekend of fishing. The weather was warm, but not hot, and the lake had completely melted off. If you go, go late in the season, unless you want ice. The waterfall out of the lake is breathtaking.

12/31/10

Fished the Smith with a few friends. Landed one 7-8 lb. Steelhead on Roe fishing with Albert Kutzkey and his crew (Craig). There had been a lot of rain, but we had a few days of clear weather before we fished and the river, while still quite full, was coing down. Our group hooked all of our fish around Hiouchi and up.

1/26/11

Spent the afternoon on the lower sac (possee grounds). Fished micro mayflies under an indicator and and caddis flies sub surface. Neither worked. My only consolation was that whatever everyone else was doing wasn’t working either. Sunny and warm (low 70′s).

1/28/11
Fished Baum lake. High temp was low 60′s. Sunny day. Had good action on a red and white zebra midge. Size 18. Also got some action on a caddis fished sub surface.

2/5/11

Fished Keswick with MB. We trolled blue Pee Wee Wiggle Hoochies and caught 4 fish, the largest being about 20″. It was a sunny day, in the mid 70′s. There was a lot of grass further up the lake and we continued to collect salad on our lines there. We caught all of our fish down lower.

7/1/11

Enjoyed an evening on the Fall river. The Hex hatch came late this year due to a late Spring. I hooked two fish on a dry Hex, but neither one was interested in getting into the boat. One fish turned me around for about 5 minutes before going his way. The bite started around 8:15.

7/10/11

Backpacked into Thousand Lakes Wilderness and fished Lake Eiler. Hooked 2 fish but only got one to the net. Both fish liked the Parachute Adams #16. The lake is difficult to fish with a fly rod unless you can get away from the shore. There is no space for a backcast. There are places to wade in should you bring shoes to do so. Those who can get a float tube in will be greatly rewarded. There are some nice fish in this lake. Bring a mosquito net and repellent. This is a place where you can easily get eaten alive.

12/2/11

Spent the morning on the Trinity fishing my two favorite spots for Steelhead. The water was low and clear and the temperature was cold (ice in the guides) . I used #16 red Copper John with a #16 Psycho Prince dropper. I had one hook up on the Psycho Prince, but it was short lived. The steelie broke me off.

12/10/11

Fished the upper Sac. It was tough. My buddy caught one on a #16 Beadhead Prince. It, was, however, quite beautiful. A nice consolation prize.