First Heritage Trout

Sunday, August 9, 2009 at 8:56AM

Andy and I have decided to go for the California Heritage Trout Challenge. This is a program that the California Department of Fish and Game has put on. The challenge is to catch six of the eleven native trout in California. It makes it more fun that you have to catch them from there historic drainage.DFG does not tell you where that is and it requires lots of research.

We decided the first fish we would go after was the Lahontan Cutthroat. We did our research and found a high sierra lake that qualified. It was about a mile or so in and we both had a couple of free days so we decided to spend the night up there. We walked around the lake to just check it out and we saw lots of bait fish and even saw a Lahontan about 18 inches cruising the shore. We were jazzed .

 

We pumped up our float tubes and put in. We fished the lake for what seemed like forever with out even a bite. We were starting to wonder if we were going to have to pack up and try another lake. I had a Lahontan from a previous trip so I wasn't to worried, but I really wanted Andy to get one. Andy decided to switch from the Sheep Creek special and put a purple wiggle tail on. His first cast he nailed a nice Lahontan. I reeled my line in and paddled my but over to him to get a picture and congratulate him on his first heritage trout. Andy caught another shortly after that, and I had only one bite. I was starting to wonder what was going on , then I felt something. It fought a little strange and when I got it up to my tube I realized I had caught a sandal, nice....... I finally did catch a couple and Andy Caught two more. We ended the day with six Lahontans total. Most of our free time will be chasing these heritage trout. We are trying to finish before winter sets in.

 

Second attempt at a Heritage Trout.

Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 7:29AM

Our second attempt at a California Heritage Trout led us to the McCloud area.

We had heard about a dammed up section of the McCloud River that was a small pond for a mill that was on the river. We thought this might be a feasible place to float tube and could give us a chance at a McCloud River Redband When we got there the water was extremely low and clear. We saw some other people enjoying the area and decided it wasn’t quit right for what we were looking for. We had a backup plan.

 

We knew of a small lake at the headwaters of Trout Creek. If we could get to it , this lake would qualify .. After a few hours on some nasty logging roads and putting Andy’s rental car through some pretty hairy terrain we decided to give up. At this point we were pretty bummed out. We knew our chances of  catching a McCloud Redband were getting slim.

 

I read about a lake that supposedly had Goose Lake red Bands in it. It was a small lake that was connected to the Upper Pit River and years ago Goose Lake over flowed into the Pit and Red Bands worked there way into this lake ... Or so the book said.

After a few hours of driving we finally arrived at the lake. It was a short hike in and we were excited.

Andy got in the water first and hooked up immediately. I was so excited. Would it be this easy to get our Red Bands? Andy’s fish was a brown trout, but we still had hope. We fished for the next couple of hours and caught brown trout after brown trout. At this point we knew we had to leave. I never thought I would be so disappointed in catching brown trout, but we were on a mission and browns do not count.

 

We got back to the car around 8:30 at night and we had a decision to make. Would we stay and get a good nights sleep at the campsite or head to our next destination?

We both decided sleep was over rated and headed for Goose Lake. The plan was to just sleep in the car and wake up and be there. When I woke up the next morning all I could see was mud for miles. We decided we would drive around the lake and try to find a place to put in. The lake was almost dry and it would be impossible for us to fish it.

We were devastated. We had come this far and we had nothing to show for it.

We once again referred to the book and decided to head towards Eagle Lake. We knew Eagle Lake was fishing poorly but the book spoke of a lake that was connected to Pine Creek (a native tributary). The book said the lake only had Eagle Lake Trout.  If we could catch a couple of these fish at least we would have something to show for this 1000 mile over nighter .. After some tough fishing (at least for me ) we had a couple and we could start the trip home. All the way home Andy kept saying he was certain these were just plain old stocker rainbows, and I kept saying “but the book say’s”. The book was wrong and is now at the bottom of my garbage can. We compared our pictures with pictures of Eagle Lakers and we clearly have stockers.

 

After all of this we have nothing to show for our trip.

Oh well................

Until the next adventure.

 

McCloud Redband

Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 8:39AM 

After failing miserably in our first attempt at a McCloud Redband we thought it would be too tough to find this fish and we put it on the back burner. A good friend of mine came into the store and told us of a good spot he felt even we could catch them. This brought our spirits up and we were ready to try again.

   We headed out on a Monday morning bright and early. Rental car loaded with gas, we were determined not to fail this time. We arrived at our destination at around 11:00 in the morning. We were not sure where to go so we pulled into a campsite and asked the camp hosts if they had any idea where our honey hole might be. They knew exactly what we were talking about and made a comment that DFG had been there recently looking for the Redband also. We were jazzed to hear that. When we pulled up to the water It was actually a little bigger than I expected. I had float tubed smaller bodies of water for bass so I was excited.

 

We decided to walk around the pond first to see if there were any fish present. As we got towards the inlet I noticed a fish swimming out from under a rock. It was a Redband. We grabbed our float tubes and started fishing. We did not catch anything for awhile except for one small brookie that Andy caught. We remembered that Mike had caught his fish as the sun went down so we were not too worried. After awhile a few cars showed up loaded with teenagers and dogs. They walked over to the sand bar at the end of the pond and sat there patiently waiting for us to get off of the water so they could swim. I told Andy that this was a swimming hole first and a fishing hole second. We left and let them swim. We figured they would be gone by the evening and we would have it to ourselves.

      We left there and ran over to the dammed up mill pond that we did not fish last time. I put in and paddled towards the dam and Andy went towards the inlet. When I got near the dam the pond had opened up and was very deep. I made a cast and instantly caught one. It was a little brown trout. Andy showed up shortly after. We hung out at the mill pond catching brown trout and brook trout one after the other. We were having fun but we needed a redband.

 

 

We headed back over to our original spot hoping the swimmers had left.

They were gone and fish were rising. I caught a small redband on a dry fly and was pretty excited. I decided to get off the water and take some pictures and let Andy have it to himself. After losing one and feeling the pressure Andy calmed down a little and caught about a half dozen or so. We now both had our redbands and we were dam excited for catching such small fish.

 

That night over dinner we decided we would drive across the state over to the coast for a cutthroat. We left at 9:30 at night and arrived at the ocean at around 1:30 am. We slept in the car that night, got up early scarffed down some breakfast and put in. We fished our butts off till about 2:00 in the afternoon without a bite. We were a little down but we knew we were a little early to catch the Coastal Cutthroat. We headed out discussing the plans for the next trip all the way home..

 

  

Attempting two more Redbands

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 8:37AM

Sept 28-29

We decided we would head back to Modoc County and try again for a Warner and Goose Lake Redband. Andy got off work on Sunday night around 8:00 p.m and the plan was to swing by my house and pick me up around 9:30. Mr distracto got distracted and showed up around 11:00. That was ok, the plan was to drive all night and sleep on the side of the road. If we did it this way we would be closer to the spot and start fishing at first light.

We arrived in Alturas at around 4:00 a.m. We were both feeling pretty good so we decided to try and find the trailhead and try to get a couple of hours of sleep and be ready to rock and roll. We found the trailhead and grabbed an hour or so of sleep. The next morning we had a beautiful two mile hike into a small lake that was fed by a creek that we knew had Goose Lake redbands. We arrived at the lake and noticed fish rising and cruising the shore. Andy caught a fish on his first cast. I paddled over to take a picture and to my disgust, it was what appeared to be a beautiful wild rainbow. A few minutes later I caught a nice little fish that looked like it may be a redband except it was more silver and its parr marks and red band were extremely faded. We decided to take a few pictures of these fish. I was told by a biologist that when fish spend time in a lake they loose there natural colors. This made us believe that these fish may indeed be redbands. I was getting hungry and figured it was time to head into Alturas and grab a bite to eat and discuss our next plan.

      A friend had told us about a beaver pond that was located in a creek that contained redbands. The beaver pond would be large enough to float tube and I was excited to get started. As we were driving towards Goose Lake we noticed a grayish brown cloud coming towards us.  I could not make out what it was until it hit us. It was the biggest dust storm I had ever seen. It looked like something out of the movie Hildago. It was so massive we had to slow down to 10 miles per hour on highway 395 just so we could see.   

The rest of the day had an over cast look to it and we were filthy from all of the dust in the air. When we arrived at the creek Andy just shook his head and gave me a funny look. The creek was only two feet wide. If anyone saw us carrying our float tubes we would look pretty funny. We found the beaver pond and it was much larger than we expected. We pumped up our tubes and put in. We were into fish right away. Could it be we caught two redbands in one day???

No ………When we got back I received an email from somebody I knew in the DFG office in that area. He had confirmed that the first pond we fished had been stocked with rainbows. We would come back from this trip with only one Heritage trout.

      Oh well until the next adventure.

Heritage trout numbers 4 and 5

October 12-13 2009
   We were ready for the Eagle Lake Rainbow. Every person that turned in an Eagle Lake Rainbow for the Heritage Challenge turned there fish in from Eagle Lake, except for one gentlemen who turned his in from Pine Creek. We wanted to be different, we wanted to qualify with one from a lake that wasn’t Eagle Lake. Could this even be possible? Well with a little research we found a hike to lake that was in the drainage and  would qualify. We knew it would be a tough bite and we put two days aside to do it. The plan was to fish this lake first and if we caught our fish on the first day, we would stop at a lake for coastal rainbows on the way home.   

    Andy got off work around 2:00 am and we were off and running. We arrived at the trail head at around 7:00 am. We did the two mile hike fairly quick. When we arrived at the lake we did not see any fish rising and our enthusiasm was low. We pumped up our float tubes and started fishing. I hooked up within fifteen or twenty minutes. The fish was much bigger than I expected and I got worked. I lost the fish and I kept wondering if that was my only chance. Andy and I both lost a few more fish and we were starting to stress. It was now around noon and neither one of us had landed a fish. I went to shore to take a little break. I heard Andy scream and he had put a 20” fish in the net. I was jazzed. A few seconds later I heard Andy scream again. He had just dropped his fish in the water before we could get a photo.  He was devastated. I knew He was thinking, that fish could haunt him. Andy came to shore to take a quick break, on his way back out he hooked up again real shallow, but that fish came unbuttoned. Man we were having a tough bite. I saw that last fish was shallow so I moved in and started stripping an orange wiggle tail nymph. Bam I hooked up. This fish was mine I played him so cautious , I was not going to lose this fish. I got him to the net and was so relieved . This had been one of the most difficult bites we had ever faced and I did not want to come back here. I had my Eagle Lake rainbow, and it was like I felt a blanket of relief cover me. Now it was Andy’s turn. He started fishing shallow but the fish would not cooperate. It was getting late. I knew the fact that Andy had already caught a fish, but dropped it was eating him alive. Five hours have now passed since our last bite. I thought for sure we would have to hike out, sleep in the car and hike back in the morning. Just when I was about to call out to Andy that we only had about thirty minutes of light left, I had noticed him fighting a fish. He did not say a word. I could feel the tension and stress he was going through from across the lake.  When I saw the fish get swept into the net I screamed for joy.  I just wanted to go home. The fish was about nineteen inches and was a perfect example of an Eagle Lake rainbow. A few photos and we were out of there.

Click to enlarge all photos below (!)

The next morning we were after a coastal rainbow. I believe that for a coastal rainbow to count, it has to be in a drainage on the west side of the Sierras. It also has to be in a body of water that coastal rainbows could of reached historically from the ocean. With that being said, dams would not be an issue because we are talking historically. Planter rainbows would count, but we wanted to qualify with a wild and beautiful specimen.  There are only a few lakes in California that have wild rainbows, but we knew of one that was on our way home. We arrived at the lake about 7:30 am.  Andy hooked up with a smallmouth bass right away, but it broke him off. No big deal we were after rainbows anyways. Within a few minutes we were both into rainbows and had our qualifying fish. Andy had caught the most beautiful rainbow I had ever seen come from a lake. We knew that would be the photo he would turn in. Well that’s what we thought. About thirty minutes later Andy caught one about twenty inches long. This fish was perfect. The previous fish was a real beauty, but at only twelve inches long Andy had to turn in the big one. It was a great day and the great fishing made up for the stress of the previous day. We were on our way home with two more qualifying fish.  

Heritage Trout # 6

Andy and I were one fish from finishing the California Heritage Trout Challenge. We decided we would head west again and try for the Coastal Cutthroat. We had some great advice, once again from our good friend Mike. We knew it would be a super tough bite but we were still very excited. Mike had suggested a side road directly off highway 1 that would enable us to drive right down to the water. Mike had caught his coastal cutthroat here and we felt it would be a good start. We pumped up our float tubes and put in. I noticed some duck hunters on the shore and started heading to deeper water, to stay out of there way. I hooked up instantly. I looked behind me to give Andy a little heads up that I had a fish already. He was too busy to notice because he was releasing one. We had both just caught a couple of small steelhead. Fun fish but we were after cutthroat. We started heading towards the main creek inlet. We were getting bit the whole way, but not able to land anything. Andy headed towards the mouth of the creek. He was catching a few small steelhead. I stayed out on the main body. I was getting bites, but just could not close the deal. I was starting to get a little frustrated. Then Andy called me on the walky talky, “I got a cutthroat” he was yelling. I was very excited for him, but now the pressure was on me. Andy said there were more in the creek mouth and I needed to get over there.

Andy decided to stop fishing and move off the spot so I would have a chance. By this time I was almost back at where we started and it would take me an hour to get over to the inlet. I started trolling really fast trying to make up some time, while the same time hoping a fish would be willing to eat my wiggle tail. I hooked one pretty quick. This fish looked a little different so I checked under his gills and sure enough he had the red slashes that indicated a cutthroat. I took a few pictures and headed towards Andy. I was relieved and now I felt I could just relax and fish. I opened up my camera to look at the picture I just took. I was not happy with the photo and figured I would get over to the inlet and get a better photo of a cutthroat. When I arrived at the inlet fish were rising like crazy. I caught small steelie after steelie. Man I need a cutthroat. I fished for an hour or so, but just kept catching steelies. By now it was starting to get late and we had a six hour drive to get home. Andy called me on the radio, his waders were leaking it was starting to rain and we had to split. The picture I had, would have to do. All the way home I kept looking at the picture, hoping it would look better on the computer screen than on the small camera screen.

When I got home the first thing I did was open my computer and load the picture. It looked much better than I expected and we were good to go.

 

  

 

The California Heritage Trout challenge is complete.

We took three months, drove over five thousand miles and fished lakes, ponds, swamps and lagoons.

It was an amazing adventure. Andy and I fished places we would of never seen or even thought of going. It also brought us back together as fishing buds. I will remember this adventure for the rest of my life.