Not many Anglers at Iron Canyon Reservoir, and the fish are big & fat

Iron Canyon Reservoir - Deadlun, CA (Shasta County)


by The Fly Shop
8-16-2012
Website

Current Lake Conditions: I haven't heard anything from Iron Canyon. Nobody fishes here. It is remote, quiet and the waters hold rainbows, browns (some big, big browns) and rumor has it there's brook trout in there. The water is always cold because it's recycled from McCloud reservoir and then pumped into hydro-electric plants, ending up in lake Shasta. It has hatches of Callibaetis in spring, midges all year long. Hey! there's water boatmen too!

Guaranteed solitude with a few locals hanging around in float tubes or fishing from the bank. The rainbows and browns will clobber nymphs stripped on floating lines or suspended under indicators. Bring a motorized boat, and fish near the inflow at the NE end of the lake. Try stripping buggers on a Type 7 full sinking line.

The Fly Shop's ? Tips: Retrieving or stripping buggers and leech patterns seems to be the best, most productive method of fly fishing Iron Canyon at this time. Look for rainbows and browns along the edges of the lake.

You can fish this lake either one of two ways, indicator and nymphs or sinking lines and streamers. The midge hatches are usually strong in the AM hours, fishing a Blood Midge with a Black Midge Pupa dropper is deadly. For those who want to cast and retrieve flies, Leeches and Bugger style flies work great. Clouser Minnows are a fantastic fly on Iron Canyon, fished on a RIO Deep 7 sinking line, plan on finding the aggressive fish that hang in the depths! Use an intermediate sinking line along the shallower edges of the lake when fishing streamers. Fishing a #16 BH PT Nymph on the end of a tapered leader attached to a floating line is an all time best way to find fish here or any still water. Once flies are cast, use a very slow retrieve, just move the line enough to stay tight to the fly and feel the thuds of the take!x

Lake Level:
• Iron Canyon Lake Level

Suggested Fly Patterns:

Dry Flies:

• Scum Duns - Callibaetis #14
• D&D Cripples - Callibaetis #16

Nymphs/Wet Flies:
• Burk's Sierra Damsel
• Licorice #16
• Pheasant Tail Nymph #14-16
• Hula Damsel
• San Juan Worm - Fire #8-14
• CB Frostbite - #16-18
• Chromies - #16-18
• Zebra Midge - #16-20
• Micro Mayfly - #14-18
• Tungsten Beaded JuJu #16
• Blood Geyser Midge - Red #10-16
• GB Half-Flashback PT - #16-20

Streamers/Leeches:
• Burk's Sierra Damsel
• Hula Damsel
• Freshwater Clouser - Olive/White
• Lite Brite Buggers - #6
• Zonkers - #4
• Zack's Zuggers - Yellow/Brown #8

Fly Fishing Gear:
• Outcast ? Super Fat Cat-LCS Float Tube
• Rio ? Deep 7™ Full Sink Fly Line
• Simms ? WaderWick™
• The Fly Shop's ? X-Country Jacket
• Nautilus FWX Fly Reels
• R.L. Winston Boron IIIx Fly Rod 4-5wt
• The Fly Shop's ? Fresh H2O Fly Rod 4-6wt
• Simms ? Solar Sombrero
• Simms ? ExStream™ Socks
• Angling Evolution's™ Foam Indicators