Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 9:25AM Here are some pictures from our annual trip to Mammoth. You can get the whole story by signing up for my newsletter at: wwwoffthehookflyshop.com
Christy with a juicy Alper
Jeffro with one of the many nice Rainbows he caught 
For some reason Eileen's fish reminds me of Randy 
Randy caught so many 16"to 18" fish we lost count
A nice Lahonton Cutthroat from the hike to lake
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 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 both had our redbands and we were amazingly 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.
Monday, August 24, 2009 at 10:08AM
Jeffro, Christy, Roy and I did an overnight backpack trip into Desolation Wilderness. It was about a five mile hike into a lake we knew had some brook trout. It was a some what easy hike until you got towards the end, then it became a pretty steep hike. We call it the escalator, because you wish you had one at this point. After completing the escalator we arived at the lake and saw a few fish rising. I immediately put a Stillwater callibaetus nymph on and caught a nice brookie on the first cast. Roy and Jeffro both caught a couple also. The bite shut off pretty quick, so we decided to take a break and hope an evening hatch would come and arouse the fish later that evening.
The evening hatch did come and Jeffro grabbed his rod and ran down to the water. He was instantly into fish. Christy, Roy and I were feeling a little lazy and we decided to just sit on a big rock and watch Jeffro fish. His fishing style is very amusing and we had lots of fun just watching.
wtf is Jeffro doing?
That night it rained and did not stop untill the morning. After breakfast we packed up and headed home. On the hike out we ran accross the wreakage of an old WWII bomber plane. It was really neat to see something like this in Desolation Wilderness.
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 Red Band. 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 Red Band were getting slim.
We knew of 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. The book said the lake only had Eagle Lake Trout, because they were trying to keep other species out of the creek. 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.
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 because 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 Nymph 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.
