High Sierra Backpack 6/21
On that Eastern Sierra Back Country Fishing Guide I mentioned last report I found Blue Lake less than ¼ mile from the Virginia Lakes Trailhead that, just like Secret Brown Trout Lake, contains brown, rainbow and brook trout. The goal here is to conduct a scientific study to conclude if it could be possible for a High Sierra backcountry lake so close to parking to give up as quality experience as does a similar lake five miles or more into the mountains.
Also, another ½ mile above Blue is Cooney Lake with rainbow and brook trout as a backup in case Lake One is a bust. Half mile more are Frog Lakes that are listed as only brook trout, so scratch those guys off the agenda.
Next curiosity that entered my mind was that since the lake is so close, there will be no hike strain factor, so no need to acclimate in high altitude the first day, meaning there will be no reason to camp out, translating to; I won’t need a truck full of camping gear. Instead I will prepare my pack, stick it into the trunk of Silverfish, drive, strap it on at the trailhead then walk the same day. If I plan on I climbing five miles or more, I camp at high altitude the day before to get used to the thin air in order to ward off altitude sickness.
The other reason to camp out first before a long hike is, once you make it to the trailhead there might not be enough daylight at the end of a the day to be comfortable. It’s rather necessary to see the trail while navigating the forest. Setting up camp in the dark is not good either.
Tuesday morning I departed at 8:30 and thoroughly enjoyed the new exhilarating feeling of passing slowpokes really fast on two-lane highway 395. The last time I drove a car on vacation was way back in 1980 when I owned a snail-paced Chevy Chevette. I’ve been driving small pickup trucks ever since.
My first stop was the Interagency Visitor Center in Lone Pine for an overnight permit for the Hoover Wilderness. For whatever reason, they are not available online through the rec.gov website like all of the John Muir Wilderness. Unfortunately you can’t obtain one in Lone Pine ether, as I found out after standing in line for twenty minutes. The only place I knew where to obtain a permit was at the Toiyabe/Humbolt National Forest ranger station just south of Bridgeport, which is only five miles out of the way of the turnoff to the trailhead. At 4 o’clock, after I finished my BBQ chicken sandwich at the Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining and having driven up Conway Summit to the issuer, I painlessly possessed all my paperwork.
But not without a small amount of controversy. I asked for a permit to camp at Blue Lake, which is barely past the wilderness line. The ranger said, sorry, there is no camping at Blue Lake nor Red Lake. I kind of figured as much, if they allowed camping at a lake so close, the few areas around the water level enough to pitch a tent would get torn up fast. I said ok, how about the next lake up, meaning Cooney, but I couldn’t remember the name at the moment. Mr. Ranger sir suggested if I camp at Frog Lakes there will be no problem making camp; I can access the whole drainage from there. I said ok I’ll take it, gave thanks and was out. Even if I camped at Cooney instead of Frog Lakes at least I had a permit and if by slight chance a ranger was back in there checking, he would likely let me pass Go. In all the years I have been doing this I have never even seen a ranger in the wilderness let alone been checked for permits. I read the whole permit rules page and figured as long as it doesn’t say no camping at Cooney Lake I will stay there and walk the ½ mile down to Blue to fish.
At 5:30 after a comfortable drive, compared to my bumpy 4x4 truck, I was at the trailhead parking lot ready to go. This is the life!
I strapped on my pack and headed out into a 25-mph cold wind. Something like 100 yards into the hike I was at Blue Lake. Dam that was fast. As I gained elevation along the trail at the back of the lake I scouted out a nice looking spot to cast the big Rapala for browns tomorrow. It has to be easy and not too far from the trail as I won’t be done fishing until after dark and I am unfamiliar with this area.
First thing today is to find a flat spot to put up my tent following wilderness rules of 100 feet from the main trail and 100 feet from any water source. I spent over an hour wandering, looking for a good site but could find none immediately. A little later I passed an old miner cabin next to some diggings and was at Cooney with less than an hour of feasible light remaining.
I was surprised how much snow was still lingering after such a disappointing winter. Alas I walked up a small embankment above the lake and found my Shangri-La, complete with a small flat spot and a nice fallen log to set up all my stuff. With a spectacular view of the lake and hidden from the trail, I was ready... for dinner then sleep.
Wednesday morning I didn’t even feel like getting up until Noon. I wore earplugs all night as the wind really picked up around 9pm and was howling loudly through the trees. Lazily I fixed breakfast, set up three fishing outfits, prepared my pack and was back down the trail to Blue by 1:30. After a water fill at a creek crossing the trail, I made my first casts by two. I went with what worked last summer at Secret Brown Trout Lake, a quarter ounce rainbow trout patterned Kastmaster on 6-lb line and an inflated baby nightcrawler/Gulp trout bait combo on the 4-lb set-up with a treble hook, 2-lb leader and half-ounce egg sinker. The lake is plenty deep, now we hope there are big ones feeding on scuds off the bottom way out there. As usual I will save the big gun, the five-inch brook trout jointed Rapala on 12-lb test, after the sun is off the water.
By that time, which was at 6pm, I had already landed fifteen trout with the lure and bait but they were all puny, not one of the brookies were over six inches. We can see where this experiment is going.
Once it was Rapala time I put away the bait and Kastmaster, pulled up a rock and sat and cast by the light of the moon into the now windless cold air until ten . After last month’s experience in that hand-numbing freezing wind, you’d think I would have brought along my hand warmers and thick gloves. Nope, not in the habit. I never think about having to use such a gadget in the summertime but maybe this trip will teach me to keep them in my pack always just in case. For four hours my hands were just as cold and miserable as that last trip. Around eight I was warmed up somewhat as I caught a 12-inch wild rainbow with the Rap. This keeper was in great shape, nice and fat with all its fins intact. Very beautiful.
Once again we had the perfect glassy water conditions all Sierra anglers anticipate giddily as they witness the evening rise only to find absolutely nothing here. Just like last month at the golden trout lake, the lack of rings and boils are quite odd as if this lake has been picked clean of fish.
Thursday morning around four the wind kicked up again blasting through the trees with gusts up to 40 mph. Back in went the earplugs.
Getting up at 11:30, I figured it would be pointless to go back to Blue since those pesky brook trout attack your offerings before something substantial has a chance. I figure if that lake does indeed contain browns, it would be better to camp at the regular campground near the trailhead, walk to the lake at 5pm and cast the big lure all night, then walk back to camp. Be careful because in Mono County the legal fishing hours are one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. In Inyo County on the other hand you can fish 24 hours per day during the regular season. At Blue Lake since it is so close to parking you’d have a better chance of encountering a Fish and Wildlife warden than if you hiked in five miles or more.
After breakfast I fished the back side of Cooney Lake at the main ledge near the inlet where the water is deep and the wind would be at my back. The only tradeoff was at 3:30 the spot was in the shade and I was cold for more hours than yesterday. The bright side was that the brookies were bigger and fatter than at Blue and also I caught two more rainbows of ten inches while using the Kastmaster and worm/Gulp combo. What I found is that the brookies don’t even have enough power to ring your bell They bite but just sit there trying to digest your hook. Instead of relying on a ding-a-ling for notification, you have to check about every 15 minutes to see if there is resistance when you reel in. That way I was able to catch ten brookies in about three hours. You could tell straight away you hooked a rainbow, as the bell not only rang but just about came unclipped from the pole it got yanked so hard.
Sometime around 5pm I was tired of being cold and headed
back to the inlet where thirty more minutes of sun will shine. This
was to keep my hands from freezing solid while I cleaned my fish.
Basically I remove the head and guts and rinse them off in the lake before
filling a plastic zip bag. The smallest rainbow was full of something
I cannot remember seeing in any fish in the Sierra:
worms. And
I mean big ones. They were in the meat too. Just then I turned
around to see a California Gull from Mono Lake drift by eyeing my
activities. He dined merrily upon all my guts except for the wormy fish, which I burried
video. No point in causing the bird any problems.
For the rest of the night I cast a three-inch version of the jointed Rapala brook trout pattern on the 6-lb test outfit all around the inlet and was again disappointed, as the wind died down, there was no evening rise to be seen. Normally if you notice where a bunch of fish are surfacing they will gladly take the Rapala. As it was, I caught nothing.
Friday morning I didn’t’ even bother to fish. I packed up ate breakfast and jammed, only taking 25 minutes to return to the trailhead. On the way down I came across a baby tree that had been blown down the other night. I don't remember seeing it laying there when I came up.
Free for the picking was a whole meadow of wild onions. I dug up a pound with my plastic trowel to take home to make fresh salsa.
The whole time I was back in I saw probably 50 people hiking or on horseback with only about a tenth of them with fishing equipment. All the time I spent on the water I only saw two other anglers fishing Blue Lake. Even though, the results of this week’s experiment dictates if you want a lot of big trout you will more than likely have to pack way back in there.
Another advantage to driving a car is I got 500 miles on a tank of gas at 30 mpg. Whoa! Li’l Miracle only gets 16 – 18. And how fun is it to put all 305 horseies to use passing 10 cars and 5 trucks in about 15 seconds? EEEEOOWWWW!