In preparation for our trip up north Mr. P bought a book about trout fishing. As the blurb on the back states “Ronnie Kovach is an outdoor writer, professional angler and fishing guide”. But primarily he is the chief inciter of trout tracking obsessions as his writing style is so compelling, so bold and confident in its assertion that the rivers, streams and lakes are just jumping with trout, that you’ll be forced to come up with strategies for catching and releasing them fast enough to meet state guidelines.

We'd driven up Friday afternoon, checked into the campsite, set up and then went in search of fishing grounds. Only a mile or so from our campground we found a rocky outcrop on the Sacramento River that seemed trout friendly. Mr. P was dry fly fishing, I was mostly messing around, checking out the river and taking pictures. As it got darker and he wasn't having much luck we headed back to camp to rest up for the hike up Castle Crag. And although we occasionally saw a jumper, catch and release didn't seem to be a problem. If only because you'd have to catch a trout in order to subdue and gingerly release it without doing it damage.

After a full day of hiking to the summits of Castle Crag, and a nap, we head north to see what else was going on. Lead on my a passage from Trout Fishing in California we turned off the highway and in search of Lake Siskiyou.

As the book said:"Most rainbows and browns range from 10 inches to 3 pounds, but brood stock is 'put out to pasture' in Siskiyou, so be prepared."

The bass however were in no danger of breaking the 4lbs test line.

We did discover some huge trout. They just happened to be at the fish hatchery.

The trout in this carving is considerably larger than the raptor. However while we were there we saw one red-tailed hawk leisurely swoop in a grab a fat fish whenever he felt like it.

There was a pretty good museum but we had to pack up to drive back and couldn't wait for it to open. This nearly killed Mr. P as the diplays included: Caves and cavers, sport angling, regional minerals and more.