mtshasta.com – jack trout's weblog

*****HAD A VERY BAD VIRUS WILL POST ALL PHOTOS FROM OCT/NOV TONIGHT 11/03/05 STAY TUNED!!*****

Fall is here! Life is grand on the McCloud River right now. Hatches are prolific and fly fishing dry flies between 11 am to 5pm can be very productive. I’ve seen numerous hatches of October Caddis, Little Yellow Stones, Sulphur Duns, Calibaetis and Baetis May flies. Wow! What a great time to be a bug, live sex acts on the river everyday! (I think I’ve spent too many days on the river….The things I’m getting excited about?) Look before you leap! Many of the trout we’re catching are being spotted first. Look in tail-outs and
along the edges for trout holding and feeding; water is very clear right now. (BIG BROWN IS WAITING FOR YOU)

Be stealth and sneaky! Approach McCloud River Rainbows from behind always, and I suggest using a Parachute Adams size 16.
Only show the trout your casting above to your fly, tippet and leader. Many trout are spooked from casting your floating line over them thus effectively lining and scaring the trout.
(Use a colored floating line to avoid this social faux pas).

Aren’t trout aquariums cool!

Todd Francis came to town and brought his old buddy Bob along. The trout were rising good that day on the McCloud, and Todd proceeded to catch trout on the surface!!

Dry fly fishing is always good on the McCloud in October. Lately, I’ve been working on getting PG&E to post the cubic feet per second flows on the internet for all their dams in California including the Mccloud and Pit hydro dams. Wouldn’t it be great to know all the flows before you go out…..PG&E can really put a feather in their cap by truly helping the outdoor enthusiast and sharing this valuable information. Kyackers, fishermen and rafters could only benefit, and save a few bucks at the pump. Interesting enough, PG&E has the ability to post river temps in addition to staging levels and other great info.

We looked up and saw two eagles soaring over head!

The browns are in on the Mccloud! Use Pheasant tails size 14.

Rods are bent over in the Thank You Jesus Hole.

Ray enjoyed his day of fishing on the McCloud River.

I love this view of Mt Shasta from Squaw Valley outside of the town of McCloud.

Over on the Klamath River the salmon are making their way up the fish ladder at Iron Gate Fish Hatchery.

Rich got quite the ride from this 8lb salmon on his 6 wt fly rod!

Later that week Todd Francis brought a group of friends up to check out the fly fishing on the Klamath. This group was so fun, and since none of them really had much experience fly fishing the expectations were low. I had a feeling this was going to be a spectacular day.

One by one each person in the group caught a nice trout and
the energy was high as we made our way for lunch at the Fish Hook Restaurant.

When Austin landed this cromer wild steelheadd after lunch in front of the R Ranch the stage was set! Thanks again Todd Francis Group hope to see you again soon! JT

The next day I took Michelle fly fishing on the Klamath for few hours. Michelle hooked into this screaming jumping steely that gave her an awesome ride!

Nice colors Michelle.

Michelle hooked into this monster salmon that just so happens to be the biggest fish this lady has ever caught with me! How fitting, I know we’re sole-mates now!

Way to go Girlfreind! 18 lb salmon on your fly rod! Your’re my SIZZLER OF THE WEEK! CONGRATULATIONS SIZZLER! YOU’LL BE PRESENTED WITH YOUR AWARD LATER! JACK TROUT

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PLEASE READ MESSAGE SENT TO ME BY THE YUROK TRIBE:

Scott River Water Quality Clean Up Plan (TMDL)
Issue Briefing, Message and Talking Points

Issue Briefing:

Your help is needed to keep plans to clean up water quality in the Klamath River and its major tributaries from being gutted. The current issue is the TMDL and Clean Up (Implementation) Plan for the Scott River. The Farm Bureau and Timber Corporations are in full attack mode to gut these plans in favor of “voluntary actions”. The problem is that “voluntary actions” have not and will not address the key issues in the Scott which is listed as “impaired” because of excessive sediment and water temperature lethal to fish. Here are the core issues:

Main causes of too much sediment:
Σ Clearcutting on steep, unstable slopes leading to massive landsliding during major storms.
Σ
Σ Lack of road maintenance on native surface (dirt) and gravel roads leading to chronic sediment delivery to streams.
Main causes of high water temperature:
Σ Unregulated irrigation wells pumping water that is interconnected with surface flow. Between 1970 and 2000 140 new irrigation wells have been drilled in the valley bottoms of the Scott. As a result stream flow has declined decade by decade and US Forest Service rights to fish flows in the Scott (below the agricultural valley) are not being met even in years of “normal” precipitation. Because flows and temperature are related, we must have adequate flows to fix the temperature problem. FISH CAN NOT LIVE IN MOST SECTIONS OF THE SCOTT RIVER BELOW SCOTT VALLEY BECAUSE THE WATER TEMPERATURE IS LETHALLY HIGH.
Σ
Σ Logging next to streams removes shade and the water heats up. Shade is more effective the higher the stream is in the watershed.

Our Message:

The Yurok People and our communities along the river and the coast are damaged by pollution in the Scott, Shasta and upper Klamath Rivers. The main causes of this pollution are logging and agriculture. The North Coast Water Quality Board has failed for 30 years to clean up this pollution. As a result salmon fisheries and the people and communities who depend on salmon have been damaged. Our way of life is being slowly and surely destroyed as a result of the Water Board’s failure to clean up non-point pollution in the Klamath, Scott and other tributaries.

Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on voluntary actions but water quality has not improved. What is needed is a meaningful clean up plan with teeth and meaningful enforcement of clean water law. The agriculture folks and timber companies need to obey the laws just like everyone else; the Clean Water Act and Porter-Cologne ñ our stateís clean water law ñ must be enforced on agriculture and timber just like they are on all other industries.

The time has come for the North Coast Water Board to step up and finally clean up the Scott, Shasta and Klamath. This is a social, economic and environmental justice issue. The Northcoast Water Board’s 30 year failure has allowed timber and agricultural interest to take the livelihoods and destroy the way of life of tribal people and communities, sport and commercial fishermen and guides, river and coastal businesses and communities. Justice demands clear prohibitions on the non-point pollution that is killing the Scott and the Klamath Rivers. We want effective enforcement of state and federal clean water laws.

If the board fails to do its job water conflict in the Klamath River Basin will intensify. Effective action on the Scott, Shasta, Lost and Klamath River TMDLs will go a long way to ending the wars and healing our communities.

Talking Points:

* Water pollution in the Scott River ñ as well as in the Klamath and other tributaries ñ is destroying the salmon. Indian People can not survive as Indian People without the salmon. Our culture and the livelihoods of many of our people is on the line. Clean-up of the Scott River is therefore an Environmental and Social Justice Issue. It is also an issue of Cultural Survival.

* Agricultural and Timber interests seek to avoid responsibility under California’s Water Quality Control plans and TMDLs with unsubstantiated claims of bad science and Regional Board bias. For over 30 years timber and agriculture have avoided complying with our basic water quality laws ñ both state and federal. It is time for timber and agriculture to accept responsibility and do their part to clean up the Scott, Klamath and other rivers.

* TMDLS must be adopted as enforceable programs (under state law) with described actions, time lines, and monitoring to assure compliance with relevant standards. Voluntary programs that meet applicable standards are acceptable and should be encouraged but they have not cleaned up the river so far even though hundreds of millions of taxpayer funds have been spent. Voluntary programs are not enough; we need real law enforcement to end the social injustice that is the destruction of the salmon.

* The Draft ScottTMDL and Implementation plan have many shortcomings which must be corrected including:
1. Clearcutting on steep unstable slopes which are prone to landsliding must be prohibited
2. Logging along streams must be prohibited
3. Dewatering the Scott through unregulated irrigation pumping must be ended.
4. Landowners must be required to maintain dirt and gravel roads

* Currently the proposed TMDL Action Plan is composed of totally voluntary actions. This does not meet the state and federal mandated necessary standards – 1) description of actions to be taken that would assure final compliance with Water Quality Standards over time, 2) Compliance schedule, 3) Monitoring to assure effectiveness of compliance and adjustment of TMDL over time.

* The Implementation/Action Plan does not describe enforceable actions and timelines and thus, is not compliant with Water Code Section 12342. Let them know they are breaking the law.

Mandy Mager-Planner II
Yurok Tribe
Planning & Community Development
(707) 482-1366 ext. 359
(707) 482-1365 fax

AMager@yuroktribe.nsn.us