High Sierra Backpack 8/23
I finally hiked to a 76-acre lake I spotted back in the ’80s on the AAA Guide to the Eastern Sierra map that lies in a canyon somewhere along highway 395. The logistics are relatively easy, perfect for the 4-day adventure. You park at a trailhead above the lake then walk downhill 475 feet in less than a mile to the inlet creek and make camp. Also, the famous Eastern Sierra Back Country Fishing Guide from the Department of Fish and Wildlife lists this body of water as containing not brook trout, but brown and rainbow trout.
Since the trail is short and downhill, and the lake is at a relatively low 7,925-foot elevation, there will be no pre-hike acclimation required. This means I can leave home in the morning, drive to the trailhead by the afternoon, pull out my fully stuffed backpack, strap’er on and walk. Last time I did a similar park ’n’ hike I was able to drive my car thanks to the road being paved all the way to the parking lot. The cruise to this trailhead requires travel over a four-mile dirt road, therefore Li’l Miracle would be the vehicle of choice. My car is allergic to dirt.
Tuesday morning I left home at eight o’clock sharp. I picked up two cans of baby nightcrawlers at Culver’s and a turkey sandwich from Mahogany Smoked meats in Bishop. After quick lunch break at the back of Convict Lake, where I also filled my Camelbak with water from the campground spigot, I was at the trailhead a little after four.
To my pack I strapped my bear keg and rod holder, then was descending the trail thirty minutes later. At the top you walk through a mountain mahogany grove with spectacular views of the lake. I was able to pick the spots around the shoreline that looked most fishy. In only twenty minutes I was at the inlet hurriedly searching for a campsite, as the cumulus clouds over the highway were now crashing into each other with booms of thunder.
This is the only problem when coming to a new area so late in the day: the search for level dirt to pitch a tent. At all my secret lakes I have been going to the past 30 years I know every campsite and can access them quickly if the need arises. Today I find myself searching through dense mixed coniferous forest with aspen thickets under darkening skies that are spilling out raindrops and lightning.
Alas I chanced upon Camp Exiguous, a sagebrush flat with two red firs and one Jeffery pine for shade and gear storage. Nobody has camped back in here ever; there are no clearings, minor trails nor footprints. Right next to a good tabletop cooking rock I found an eight-foot long, four-foot wide straight horizontal area to pitch the Eureka Solitaire and cram all my sleeping gear inside before the deluge commenced.
By six I had everything set up and waterproofed. I quickly assembled my 12-pound fishing outfit with a rainbow trout pattern Rapala J-13, gathered up my water bag, creel, and an extra lure, slipped into my rain suit, walked back to the main trail, then veered left on another well-used secondary trail that developed into a sort of esplanade parallel to the north shore. This last wider section looked to be an old jeep road.
Quickly I found a minor point, the perfect milieu to cast from where there was enough of an opening in the tree crowns to fling the big lure without snagging branches. Unlike last month’s monsoon that had bolts lightning dancing every thirty seconds for five hours all around the 10,700-foot lake I was camping at, forcing me to retreat to and cower in my tent, I can stay out all night here. The lower elevation of this area makes tonight’s activities safe, as the electrical touchdowns are far enough away up into the mountains and as an extra bonus the rain was drizzly light.
Two reports ago I was saying you have to watch out where you fish at night because in Inyo County it is legal but in Mono County, where I am now, it is not. Normally when backpacking deep into the mountains you don’t have to worry about game wardens checking you out. Here you will have a better chance at encountering one. The west end of the lake is private, with cabins and boat docks. The DFW guys likely have vouchsafe passage to the road leading to the resort where they park and walk around the lake to the public end where I am. Sunset was at 19:45, meaning you can legally fish until 20:45. My peccant self kept on casting until 21:30, with no hits, before tiredly stumbling back to camp to sleep off a long day.
FIELD TEST:
Last month I was saying I switched from Berkeley 12 XL to their new 12-pound fluorocarbon line and didn’t like it because the cast was rough. This trip I am back using the 12 XL, all my casts were smooth as Gentleman Jack and long distance. Also, three months ago I bought a Shimano Sahara 2500 to replace my old 4-lb reel. I liked its smooth precision in all functions so much I bought another 2500 for my 6-lb small lure rod and a 4000 for my 12-lb big lure launcher. In brick and mortar you might pay $80 each. I found mine on eBay for under $50, all in unopened factory packaging.
Wednesday morning I got up at 10, filled up with water from the inlet creek, ate breakfast and was fishing by noon. On the 4-lb bait rig I used a 2-lb leader, #6 treble hook, and a 1/4-ounce weight. On the hook I wrapped a worm, inflated it, then molded on a wad of Gulp trout bait. I cast as far as I could into the deepest part of the lake from the minor point, put the pole in a holder, attached a bell, then cast a 1/8-ounce rainbow trout pattern silver Kastmaster with my six-pound unit.
Somewhere around 25 casts with the lure I felt a perfervid hit – pulling drag multiple times in both directions – which in general did not want to come to shore. The first fish of the venture was netted and ended up being a 16-inch comely and resplendent chunkmeister brown weighing in at one-and-a-half pounds. Finally, all the work I put into fishing this summer, the last gest of the season produces!
I reeled in the worm rig to find the weight was covered with weeds. I cut off the lead and switched it out with a partially filled cast-a-bubble that will sink slowly.
While that soaked, I fan cast the lure. I caught another smallish brown that I released and a rainbow of ten inches I also let go.
I had a hit on the worm rig but didn’t hook it up. I cut off the treble hook and went with a #8 baitholder hook and only the inflated crawler instead of the bait combo. It was like magic. Only two minutes from casting out I had a hit that pulled hard as I loosened the drag knob so as to not break the small diameter leader material. Moments later my net scooped up another healthy brown of fifteen inches. I have found Shangri-La.
At three it was time for lunch and a nap in order to convalesce before the nighttime casting of the big Rapala reconvened. At 17:30 I was back out there casting like crazy from the minor point with a disappointing no hits to show for the effort by the usual 21:30 quitting time.
Thursday morning I was up kind of early at eight. After the normal water run and breakfast I was back to the lake walking past the minor point to this other big boulder sticking out from shore. From that higher vantage point I could see in the clear water many browns and rainbows hunting for bugs close by.
I went back to using the inflated crawler only I tied the egg sinker back on, as the weather was changing. Thirty mile per hour gusts were now blowing out any of the dark cumulus from the past two days. The bobber trick stops working in these conditions. It ends up blowing uncontrollably all over the lake.
I caught a nice fat 12-inch wild rainbow with the Kastmaster, which was deposited into my creel. I reeled in the worm for an inspection and again was bringing in a large wad of weeds wrapped around the weight. As I slowly cranked it in, a 14-inch brown zoomed in from nowhere and attacked the worm, took out line enough to rid the weight of the tangle, and into my bag went another beauty. I love this place.
Soon I got the idea I should put down the Kastmaster and focus on the worm. I dropped the egg sinker down to a 1/8 ounce and didn’t cast out as far – only about 15 feet from shore – to avoid the weed beds. I immediately landed a wild rainbow, re-baited and in less than ten minutes had a 12-inch brown in my net, both keepers. Soon I possessed a daily limit mix of three rainbows and two browns.
One of the rainbows in the bag I saw swimming by and could tell it was terribly hungry by the way it voraciously taste tested every kind of tree litter blown into the lake by the wind. I dropped my worm in its swim path ten feet away, it went right for the offering without much cajoling and inhaled it. This thing looked big so I gently set the hook and held on for the initial drag-burning run... which never materialized. The eighteen-inch rainbow lackadaisically came right in without any sort of fight at all. Once in the net I could see why. It was a big ol’ goofy looking hatchery trout with a large head, skinny body and worn down fins. It had just enough meat to make one meal which is why I kept it.
Back at camp, after gutting the fish, cutting their heads off and throwing all the unwanted viscera into the bushes near camp, I stashed these five with yesterday’s two browns already being kept cold under rocks in the creek by first zipping them in one-gallon bags then wrapping both bags in a large trash bag.
After lunch and nap I was back at the lake casting the big lure at 17:30. I noticed the past couple days most of the booboisie fishing the waters work the south shore right at the end of the trail from the parking lot. Most were laughing, partying and frightening the fish over to my side of the lake. Thanks for that, guys.
I still needed few more fish to fill out a limit and the inflated crawler held down by the 1/8 egg sinker again proved to be the hot tip. I actually caught four more by 19:00, keeping the largest three, which were two 12-inch wild rainbows and another gorgeous fat 14-inch brown.
I moved over and cast the Rapala from another rock closer to the back of the lake where the deep water meets shallow, hoping a big brown was patrolling the break line for prey after the sun was off the water. If present, they were hep to any of my piscatorial chicanery, as again for the third night I had no hits using the big Rapala. At 22:00 I was back at camp cleaning three more fish for the ride home tomorrow.
Sometime around 1am I heard an animal crunch through the thicket twenty feet away from my tent, snapping off dead branches from the fir trees as it encroached. I thought, oh cool, I know I am for once in known bear territory, there are many fish guts strewn about from where the noise is emanating, so I got up out of my tent half naked with my headlight and camera ready to take that bruin pic I’ve been ‘dying’ for all these many years. I look over, it was only a huge doe munching aspen leaves. Boring. The whole back of the lake all day every day I saw deer of every size from big mommas to little fawnies.
Friday morning I slept in until ten, rolled up camp, ate breakfast, started hiking back to the truck and was there in an hour and ten minutes and for once carrying out a limit of ten fatties with nary a brook trout in the bunch.
At home, the rainbows I froze for frying later, all of the browns I filleted, lightly salted, and smoked in the BBQ the next day. The technique is simple. You light seven Kingsford briquettes, when they are ½ white you put a chunk of your favorite wood on top until it flames. Position the fillets skin side down on the Pam covered grill on the opposite end from the coals so the meat is not directly above the heat. Crack open the air vents on the bottom of the BBQ 1/8th inch and open the smoke holes atop the BBQ lid all the way and station them above the fillets. By the time the coals and wood burn out the meat is done.
*****
Fish News:
Don't eat brown trout from California lakes The ocean isn't the only water to be concerned about.
My last trip ended a day short due to severe thunderstorms over The Sierra. Here is a report from the Lower Owens River only a few days later.
DWP take on Lower Owens River flooding
Silver King Creek will be poisoned to restore Paiute cutthroat trout.
For me, P.V. fishes better when there is no kelp in your casting way.
Tuna caught off California are radioactive
World's largest shark caught off Huntington Beach
Monster Louisiana stingray is new record.
