McCloud River

Fishing the McCloud River

The McCloud starts on the south side of Mount Shasta, runs west beside Hwy 89 toward the town of McCloud, then drops through a gorge into Shasta Lake as part of the Sacramento River system. CDFW says the McCloud River redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss calisulat) was probably the only native fish above Middle Falls. Rainbow, brown, and brook trout arrived in the upper river from the late 1800s. Redbands can breed with rainbows, so the purest populations now live mostly in small, isolated headwater creeks that drain Mount Shasta's southern slopes; the main river holds them too, but the brightest usually come from those creeks. CDFW stopped stocking hatchery rainbows in the upper McCloud in 1994 to protect the redband. The river once held California's only bull trout, and they are gone. The top of the river, from Colby Meadow near Bartle down past Algoma Camp and Cattle Camp, is small freestone and meadow water off Hwy 89 and its side roads: riffles, pools, undercut banks and plenty of brush. Below Bigelow Meadow, Lakin Dam holds back Lakin Lake. Downstream, Upper, Middle and Lower Falls each drop into a deep hole with fly water between, and a riverside trail links Lakin Dam, Fowlers Camp and Lower Falls. Just below Lower Falls the banks turn private, including Hearst land at Wyntoon, so the stretch to McCloud Reservoir is a kayak or raft float with no landing. The reservoir fishes best from a boat, with a few bank spots. Below McCloud Dam the river rises and falls fast with releases, and from Ash Camp it runs through a gorge with the Pacific Crest Trail alongside. Ah-Di-Na marks its foot, and from there to the Nature Conservancy's McCloud River Preserve the river has deep pools and bigger trout. The preserve has its own rules and limited access; check them first. The hatch chart runs April through November: mayflies and terrestrials all season, stoneflies April to July, caddis from May, leeches from August. Colby Meadow gets good summer hatches, and flows drop in late summer and fall. Most campgrounds open May 1. Wade the brushy upper water, fish flies in riffles, and save bait and lures for long pools and the holes under the falls. Redbands rarely grow past 14 inches and take ordinary dry flies, nymphs, and small lures, and CDFW encourages catch-and-release with barbless hooks in redband water that is open to fishing. Poison oak is thick on the lower river. During the 2013-2014 drought, CDFW rescued redbands from creeks such as Sheepheaven, Edson, Swamp, and Moosehead and later returned them to the wild. In 2022, CDFW and its partners, including the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, placed endangered winter-run Chinook salmon eggs in the lower McCloud as a pilot project, a recovery effort rather than a fishery. The redband also counts toward CDFW's Heritage Trout Challenge. Some upper-basin creeks are closed to fishing, and regulations change and differ by section, so check the current California Freshwater Sport Fishing Regulations before you go.