McCloud River, Northern California

And there it is gang, right where we all want to be. Wandering aimlessly up a trout stream, fly rod in hand. Well, now’s a good time to put that getaway together. Here’s a quick roundup:

Upper Sacramento: At this writing it’s about 1750cfs at Delta, which means it’s still a bit high but not out of the question. I would give it a another week or two. try to catch it on the high side of prime.. trust me.

Lower McCloud (below McCloud Res): This is a good bet. I am concerned that they will spill some water eventually as the reservoir fills up - but they haven’t yet. Ash Camp has the best flows now, but the whole river down through ah-di-na is fishable.

Hat Creek: A little far if you’re coming from the Rogue valley, but worth the trek. A very consistent early season fishery. Good bug activity early on. I had good fishing down there this last weekend.

Wild Hat Creek Rainbow

Diamond Lake: From Diamond Lake Resort: As of this morning, May 9th, folks are launching boat from the north boat ramp nearest to the Resort. The lake is 75% ICE FREE! There is still slushy ice at the north and south ends of the lake but the center of the lake is all open water. The continued warm weather will likely have nearly all the ice off the lake by the weekend.
Time to “Stretch Your String!!”

Noth Boat Ramp - May 9

Springtime Salmonflies

Big Bugs Rule!

5500 and climbing

Major releases out of the Rogue - hopefully this will mean we will be into the snowpack a bit and have some more resonable flows for the Salmonfly Hatch! Lost Creek is full though, so thats always good.

Four Steelhead Fly Fishers with cabin fever cozied up to our cafeteria tables this weekend for Jon Bon Hazlett’s annual Steelhead flies class! Some awesome (and double secret) patterns were tied and a good time was had by all. Thanks everyone!!

Steelhead flies blessed by Buddha!

umm.. you're not supposed to see that.

keep it clean gang...

Thanks for coming everyone! See you next month!!

Trick is to look like you know what you're talking about!

Switch rod demo to start the day.. Even the channel was quite high!

Loop of the day goes to Dr. Pena! Nice form!

A great day to talk tackle

Lots of good rod & reel match ups

Aim for the trees!

flows creeping down

Good news for people hoping for a last gasp Winter Steelhead fix… looks like they are creeping the flows down a bit out of the dam and they are now down to about 2600, which is still high but more fishable for fly flingers. Up around the Dam down to Casey Park should be a good bet for late winters.

For some reason there was a spike in flows further down the river last night, must have been some decent rain squalls in the area.  That put flows at Dodge back up around 4000 and probably pretty colored up I would imagine.

Rogue at Dodge Bridge

Please join The Ashland Fly Shop at Tou Velle Park on the Rogue River the 3rd Sunday of every month from 10 to 1 ish for a gathering of spey casting enthusiasts & local instructors! Were putting this together to help people with an interest in Spey Casting to get a first hand look at the techniques as well as those who’ve already taken the plunge an avenue to get tips & feedback on casting issues.. and for fun!  Call the shop for more info! 541 488 6454

AFS Employee Jake Crawford and the Sage VXP 6129

We’ve met in October & November and had a strong turnout each time. We hope this will turn into a cool regular event where people can come and get some insight into this increasingly popular technique.

Good form Brauner!

We will have lots of different Rods and Lines on hand from different manufacturers for you to demo. Sage, Winston, Airflo, Rio etc..

Please give us a call at the shop for more info!! We hope to see you!! 541 488 6454

Lost Creek Dam Outflow (Holy Water)

3-31-12  I really wish we could have prayed for rain in groups last month instead of all at once. It appears someone in charge of the taps was listening.

That number to the left? Thats 10,000 cfs

I have been disappointing people all day long who have been calling with a glimmer of hope for the fishing.