Backpack to Walker Lake 6/18/2019
Last July after my eight-day Sierra summer camp concluded, I visited The Cousins who were all staying at Pine Cliff Resort near June Lake. They swore me to secrecy about this top-secret new lure they had been trolling the past week in the loop lakes on which they only caught brown trout.
Intrigued, I thought aloud I should fill my box before 2019’s ten-day backpack adventure to Secret Brown Trout Lake. Once I was home, a search of eBay revealed they are not common. There are only a few U.S. sellers of these new gadgets. Also most of the paint jobs are of bright-colored nonsensical patterns. The one that stuck out for me was the brown trout replica that looked pretty good. I bought six one-ounce models at $8 each. I could not find any individually wrapped of the half-ounce variety in the same color. Everyone was sold out. I ended up buying a 4-pack of half ouncers that contained a brown trout, rainbow trout, yellow perch and fire tiger.
But first a run to my other brown trout heaven, Walker Lake near Lee Vining. You drive on a bumpy dirt road to a trailhead at the top of a ridge then descend a mile at a 35-degree angle to the lake. I have my own clandestine campsite in the bushes where nobody can find me. It’s an easy hike to the lake even at nighttime.
Thursday afternoon June 13 after work I drove a pre-loaded truck north on 395, arriving in Bishop by seven. I only needed a couple things: two cans of baby nightcrawlers from Vons and a medium stuff sack from Wilsons. After a satisfying pork burrito from Amigos on Main Street, I drove along a dirt road to the southwest of town to crash on a cot for the night under the stars.
Friday I was up before dawn, throwing all my junk back into the camper shell and found myself at Breakfast Club in Mammoth just after the 06:30 opening for one of their machaca burritos and a giant cinnamon roll, the perfect carb ‘n’ protein preparation for the day’s hike.
After a quick downhill jaunt, by 11 I was at the site setting up camp. After the usual water chore of filling my Camelbak, Nalgene bottle and 2.5 gallon Reliance jug, it was nap time.
At 3 I was out of the tent setting up my pack and poles to be ready to hike the short distance to the water and start casting from the point on the other side of the lake by four.
I had the new half-ounce lure tied to my six-pound seven-foot outfit and that thing flew far out into the lake. I figured since the water is still cold from all the continuing snowmelt and lack of sunshine behind the thunderclouds the fish would be near the surface. I counted down to ten before cranking and whammy, first cast I reeled in a rainbow trout. That never happens.
I released the fish, as it was only ten inches and cast again. This time I did not count down and used a medium retrieve and bingo, another rainbow of the same size landed and carefully released. This is fantastic.
Another cast over to the left with a countdown of ten. The optimal retrieval is neither fast nor slow and you don’t need to give it a jerking motion. With a mere constant crank, this new secret weapon twists, turns and flounces side to side up and down on it’s very own. At first I thought this thing swims too crazily and might frighten the fish but HOOKUP!! A third rainbow on just as many casts, which was released.
The forth cast I snagged the lure on a submerged log and lost it. I tied on the half-ounce rainbow trout pattern but only caught two rainbows in 18 casts. Not as good as the brown trout pattern, obviously.
When I was here in August 2017, there were paper signs taped to small trees informing us anglers, if you catch a Kamloops rainbow trout with its adipose fin removed, it is brood stock and you must return it immediately to the water. We, The California DFW, want to turn Walker Lake into a Kamloops fishery. I mostly caught sizable brown trout on worms and lures that trip. It appears the good ol’ DFW got their wish. The whole lake is filled with rainbows now. The not-so-good news is, they are all under 11 inches. The good news is, every one so far is of high quality with fins intact and orange meat like wild trout, not like the concrete race-burned haggard stocker rainbows. I’d say in two or three years we should have a descent fishery for chunky rainbows, as the lake is extremely nutrient rich.
It is now past five and time to roll out the big guns, the 12-pound stick with the Rapala J-15 rainbow trout at an attempt to hook a remaining larger brown. For the past two years they have been gorging themselves on the plentiful rainbows and are more than twice as big as they were my last trip here. That’s my fantasy, anyway. The air was still and quiet , I am the only angler here except for a bald eagle and an osprey searching for surface feeders to snatch. I wondered if these were the same two birds I encountered last time.
I gave it four hours until nine thirty then had to cut it off to avoid legal jeopardy. Here in Mono County you can only fish until one hour after sunset. My Casio FT-200 fishing timer said 20:05, which means you can fish until 9:05 but I kept casting until 9:30 before hiking back to camp.
FIELD TEST
I shopped around quite a while for a new head lamp before settling on the Pelican 2780. It has one bulb that points downward, another that beams straight ahead and you can turn them on individually or at the same time. It is featherweight, the straps don’t tangle or fall off and it’s very comfortable. It is super bright and I have been using the same four AA batteries for a few months now. It also comes with extra bezels including a glow-in-the dark so if you drop or misplace it after sunset, you can locate it quickly and easily. I had no trouble finding my way through the thick forest back to camp.
Saturday morning I was up around eight, ate, then hiked up into Bloody Canyon for the vistas. The creek was raging and I only got a mile back in there when I encountered a soaked log bridge to cross over. Instead of flirting with that danger, I moseyed back down off-trail through the woods and relaxed with the mountain peaks through the trees.
Back at camp I had a spaghetti lunch and a nap.
Up at three, fishing by four, I flung the rainbow flounce for 90 minutes, landing five, including a brook trout among the other four Kamloops.
Before you knew it, five thirty came and time to launch the big Rapala. Around four, the winds kicked up, the skies darkened and thunder could be heard all around. Rain poured and whitecaps prevailed as I aimed higher and watched the big balsa plug sail far away. Just about every book you read on the subject of brown trout says the big ones go on the prowl during stormy conditions. I hoped rain and white caps are two of the conditions.
FIELD TEST
I need a new rain suit and selected the Frogg Toggs Pro Action Pants and ToadRage jacket in Realtree camouflage. The bottoms fit over your boots and pants and the top easily can envelop your jacket. Thing is, even though they are not insulated, I didn’t even need a jacket. Both articles kept me dry and toasty with only a long sleeve cotton T-shirt and a dri-fit button-up shirt underneath. The super heavy duty material held up well through any forest snag.
I listened to baseball on the radio, chewed home made beef jerky and cast until nine thirty without noticing a hit.
Sunday morning I awoke around seven and when I threw back my sleeping bag, I noticed a large tick on my leg that hadn’t stuck his face in me yet. This is a first. In all my outdoor adventures I never saw a tick on my skin. I have only seen them on my outer clothing. I pinched it off and smashed it between my fingernails. Now my brain is tuned in to the tick frequency and I noticed a slight itch on my lower back. I reached around and felt another, only this one was in full suck mode. I plucked it off, smashed it, and could feel a small welt on my back. The thing didn’t have any blood in it. The bugs didn’t surprise me, as this is a relatively low elevation lake (8,000 ft) and you bushwhack for a quarter mile each way to the lake and back. More surprising is I have not had any stick me before. I always wear long sleeves and long pants. I’ll have to try the rubber band trick around the wrists and ankles next time.
FIELD TEST
My 23-year-old Kelty mummy bag wasn’t keeping me comfortable any more. Plus I found out right after I bought it that I don’t like mummy bags. Too constraining. Last month I picked up a new Kelty Galactic 30 bag. It weighs a little over two pounds, which saved me 5 pounds of carry weight compared to the 7-pound mummy and it rolls up to less than half the size. It is very wide and for a test, after the rain stopped last night, I kept my tent covers rolled up and slept naked in 45-degree degree air under the bug screen and I stayed warm all night.
I ate, then moseyed on down to the water for more fun. Last time I was here, I used my four-pound getup to toss an inflated baby night crawler on a three-foot leader, anchored by a quarter ounce bullet weight out ten feet and reeled in several 12 to 14-inch brown trout. After yesterday’s casting session I had a grand idea what today’s catch was going to be. I pinned a bell to the pole and then flung the flounce lure with my other six-pound pole. I wasn’t even half way reeled in when the bell went off. Instead of letting the lure sink while I attended to the worm rod, I cranked it in fast then went over to set the hook. This time it was one of those previously described haggard stocker trout with a big head, gaunt body and nubby fins. Yuck. On the other hand the Kamloops have small heads, fat bodies and full finnage. I slipped this one into a nearby gopher hole and capped it with a rock to keep it handy for when the eagle comes around, in which case, I will toss it out in front of me in the hopes I can get a GoPro video of the bird swooping down and snagging it.
After landing three Kamloops and finally one small brown trout (released), I took a break from casting the flounce lure. I resorted to using the baby crawler rig, casting farther out to see what would happen but as I thought, I reeled in a clump of weeds. I cast closer to shore each of the next five times until I found the weed line about 20 feet out and left it there. Basically you toss out with a fresh inflated bait each time and wait five or ten minutes and you catch one. I landed over ten in the next three hours, keeping the five fattest 11-inch Kamloops to take home. In that total were only two other ragged-looking stocker rainbows. The rest appeared real healthy.
In the afternoon after lunch ‘n’ nap, I brought with me to the lake only my big Rapala stick, as due to the early roll-in of the thunderheads from the west, the sun was off the water before four. As I cast the lure right, straight out, and to the left with the wind, I admired the eagle atop a dead tree along the shoreline a quarter mile away. 90 minutes later I saw it take off and fly this way. I pulled that stocker trout from this morning out of the rat hole and threw it out in front of me and readied my GoPro. I was in my full camouflage outfit and hid behind a tree but he already saw me over here for a while, ignored my offering and kept flapping over the lake and into the back canyon. Oh well nice try.
The thing with the big Rapala is, you don’t get many hits but when you do it will be of size. I can sit here for many days over several trips and never catch anything with it. The faith I have in it would be comparable to Linus waiting for The Great Brown Trout all night. And again by nine thirty no hits and back to camp.
Monday morning after a very good sleep, I was out of the tent at six for a tick check.
FIELD TEST
A few months ago I bought ta pair of My Pillows. They came via US Mail rolled up into two shipping tubes. You pull them out, shake them about five times and poof, they fluff up and feel great. This got me thinking. I should junk that crappy old backpacker fold-a-pillow I’ve used for 30 years and take one of the My Pillows with me. This is why I needed that stuff sack from Bishop. The My Pillow rolled up and fit perfectly inside the Sea To Summit 9L medium sack for the most comfortable backcountry camp ever.
Sure enough when I checked I had one tick sticking me in the boob and another on my leg. I felt around my back but didn’t notice any. Very creepy.
I ate then gathered up my bait and flounce rigs and was casting by seven thirty. All I wanted to do today was catch another five to fill a limit of ten, then pack out this afternoon. I caught three more on the flounce lure and I forget how many using the baby crawler. By noon I had the five fatties I wished for then back to camp for the usual lunch ‘n’ nap.
At two I rolled up camp, boiled water for one last freeze-dry power meal, consumed that and was hiking up the steep trail by three. I guesstimated this trip my pack weighed less than 70 pounds and I have been training all late winter and spring in the local mountains, including the summiting last Saturday of Mt. Baden Powel in the San Gabriels. In just 90 minutes I was back at the truck sipping an ice cold Pepsi from my Yeti 65.