Tuesday February 17, 2026
Comstock’s Magazine —
Gary Mulcahy steps through tufts of wild rye spilling down a bank of the Sacramento River, tromping into a clearing where several men have their rods and reels fixed under the branches of a blue oak.
Mulcahy has fished up and down this river for most of his life, beginning with catching salmon as a teen in Shasta County. Mulcahy was raised there in the homeland of his people, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. Later, he would fish for sturgeon off boats near the riverbend he’s staring at now — the north gateway to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.