Kirman Newbies

[Ed Wahl]

A pretrip set-up.

Not looking for tips or info, we're just going. In a couple of hours from now.

We'll be hitting the trail round about dawn, or later, depending on stops and such.

We'll be fishing whatever each of us has in his possesion at the time. On whatever lines we have.

I'd get more technical but I think that's been done to death.We're just some schmoes jumping in and doing it.

I'ts me, Phil, and Scott V., and if we don't catch any, well, so freakin what.

I'm packin a flask of Singleton, one or two toasts to the sierras and I'm pretty happy. Fish are a bonus.

We're not "experts" by any means, so if we can crack this nut so can you.

After a lot of thought, I've decided to go anti technical. In my opinion this sport has kind of lost the roots of its origins, ie catching fish on a hook adorned with bits of fur and feather.

In that vein I'm not going to ever mention rod makes or models, line wts or manufacturers,types of reels, or any of the other crap that clutters up what should be just a fishing report.

I'm shooting for the everyman here. Not the rich guy. Not the snob. Just the dude who happens to prefer the fly rod.

Enough for now, I've got an hour and a half's sleep to get.

Late.

Ed

[DFrink]

I like it Ed! Good luck and have a great trip.

Dan

[SHigSpeed]

Are you taking the old truck tire tube and Red Ball waders then? :)

Good luck guys, my legs feel surprisingly fresh this morning - wish I could've gone with!

_SHig

[Scott V]

Well we made our first trip to Kirman and needless to say it was a different and interesting trip. We were suppose to leave my place around 3:30 but it turned out to be about 4:45 instead. We won't go into detail but I will say the delay was a surprise, especially because of who caused, but no big deal we are still going fishing. So none of us has ever been there and we really never talked to anyone to find out exactly which is the correct trail head. From what I read it was just after the marine base, but it turns out it was if you were coming from the opposite direction. So knowing no better we parked at the parking area near the marine base instead of about 4 or so miles closer to 395. After reading the topo and looking at the trail on the topo we decided to take a different route, the "fun" route. So after screwing around for an hour trying to figure out how to cross the creek without getting wet we headed off. After crossing the really cold creek barefooted we made our own trail through the sage bush. We knew which way we needed to go with the help of the topo so we just went where we knew to go. We found a trail that lead to another trail that took us to the lake via Mud Lake and some pretty decent hills. The whole time Ed and I kept saying there is no way older guys rode this trail on a mountain bike, I wouldn't ride this trail on a mountain bike. So after crossing little ridge after little ridge we find the lake, only to find out that you need to put in on the other side, but we are still having a blast. We get to the lake and put in after laughing about the fact we went the totally wrong way. We get on the water and I am the first to hook up, I get the biggest cutthroat I have ever caught. It looks like it is going to be a good day. Well I didn't catch my next fish for a couple hours, but what I did catch was the biggest brookie I have ever caught or seen in person. This thing was a jumper and did not want to give up. Little later Ed gets into a nice brookie as well. The day was really slow and no one else was getting any fish except for one or two first thing before we got there. Phil misses a few hits but goes fish less for the day on Kirman. Ed hooks into another brookie and within seconds I am into another big brookie, we have a double up. So around 4:30 or so we head back down the hill to wards the creek we crossed in the morning. When we were looking for a place to cross in the morning we discovered that they just planted with rainbows up to about 16", we found 2 pools and one had about 60 or so fish in it. I split from Ed and Phil and headed up stream to find a pool with a bunch of strong rainbows willing to take a dry. Ed and Phil stayed downstream and got into some as well. Interesting thing about these trout, they had all their fins and were fat and strong as can be. Some of the nicest planters I have ever seen. All in all a great trip is always with great friends. I plan to go back in 3 weeks and I think it will be all 3 of us again, this time we will take the correct shorter trail.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/PsychoZ/Kirman/IMGP3078.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/PsychoZ/Kirman/IMGP3085.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/PsychoZ/Kirman/IMGP3086.jpg

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http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/PsychoZ/Kirman/IMGP3097.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/PsychoZ/Kirman/IMGP3101.jpg

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http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/PsychoZ/Kirman/IMGP3110.jpg

[SLOwag]

Love the no frills aspect you're pursuing. I was just scouting Kirman the other day using Google Earth, it's great for pre-scouting when you might be walking in under the cover of darkness...but it does bring back the high tech factor you mention.

[Jgoding]

Wow, nice brookies.

[SHigSpeed]

DAAAANG!! Those are some awesome looking brookies! Sucks about the round the mulberry bush trip though. And Phil needs to shake the rust out!

As for those "rainbows", I wonder if they're releases from Junction Lake. That's a private Kamloops hatchery, no fishing.

So, did Ed's two hours of planned sleep (WTF is he doing posting that late, doesn't he know he needs his beauty sleep?) turn into a snooze button fest? :)

I think I'll actually be hitting K on the same weekend that you guys are planning on going. Probably going to be the Monday though so I'll count on some recon from ya to put me in the right direction. :)

BTW, that U-Boat looks like it worked pretty well! If I put an inflatable seat bladder on the sling, it may ride pretty high. Unstitch the extra fabric for the pockets and backrest and it may be a pretty decent packer.

_SHig

[Ed Wahl]

Got a couple of things wrong on that first post.
First.
A tip or two might have been a good thing.
And second.
I got more like 3hrs of sleep instead of an hour and a half. :oops: There were 6 messages on my phone when I finally did get up, each a little more impatient than the last.

I screamed over to Phil's, then we picked up Scott in Eldo and headed up. There's never a dull moment riding with these guys. That alone makes the trip bearable.

After the 3 hr drive we hit, like Scott said, the wrong trailhead. While the one we had would get us there, the other would have been way faster.

Although if we had gone the easy way we'd of never spotted the Peregrine Falcons on the cliffs either.
I've had more fun while lost than I think most have knowing what they're doing.

So after what seemed like days of walking uphill we made it. Had a good laugh at ourselves, drank a beer and hit the water.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/edfish333/Kirman%20Lake/KirmanLake002.jpg

It was quite some time after Scott's Cutt when I hit my first one. A big fat hen Brookie. My day was made right there. Brookie of a lifetime for me.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/edfish333/Kirman%20Lake/KirmanLake005.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/edfish333/Kirman%20Lake/KirmanLake004.jpg

Then it was a looooooong time, and a lunch break, til my next. This time a male in spawning colors.
This is the one I had on when me and Scott doubled up.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/edfish333/Kirman%20Lake/KirmanLake010.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/edfish333/Kirman%20Lake/KirmanLake011.jpg

When we headed back down we moved a truly huge Mule deer doe. Then back down the path to the Walker.
This time when I crossed I put on my water shoes that I tube in, then tossed them back over for Scott to use. That crossing in the morning was pretty damn painful on the feet.

Me and Phil split up with Scott then, he going upstream to those thousands of fish and us going downstream where we could see some risers.

Turned out to be a bit more difficult than I expected. We first just hit 'em with a hopper and a stimi. But all these flys did was create dead zones in the middle of a bunch of rising trout. I tied on a parachute Adams and tried that.
Hmm, same thing. I think Phil tried a small nymph at the same time, with the same results.

Well, we looked upstream into the sun and lo and behold it was a cloud of midges. I rummaged through my stuff and came up with my midge case. I don't even remember throwing it in. But it saved the day for us.

I caught one after about half a dozen casts, it had to be perfect or they wouldn't touch it. Then ran back and had Phil just use my rod for a try.

For Phil's first time playing with picky fish he didn't do bad. Had to go over a few things, like how far ahead of the rise to drop the fly, how to drop the fly, how to drag the fly into your lane ahead of the fish stuff like that.

It was a hoot when he finally got his targeted fish to bite. He wanted a certain one, the biggest one, and after much trial and error he nailed it.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/edfish333/Kirman%20Lake/KirmanLake019.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/edfish333/Kirman%20Lake/KirmanLake012.jpg

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http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/edfish333/Kirman%20Lake/KirmanLake018.jpg

We each caught a couple more as it was getting dark. There were plenty of Fall Caddis flying around as the sun went down. Something to think about for another time.

Here's Phil's last of the day. It's angled up because to land and release the fish one of us had to jump off the bank and stand on the tufts of grass down by the water.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/edfish333/Kirman%20Lake/KirmanLake021.jpg

Walking back through the sage to the truck it was impossible not to notice just what a fine evening that would have been to be camping up there.

Scott's right, we'll be going back.

Phil has a score to settle with Kirman now.

Shig, wish you were there buddy.

Ed

PS....We had one more wrong turn on the ride home. At least we're consistant.

[SHigSpeed]

Aw hell, that was the West Walker you crossed! :)

nice...

_SHig

[Troutstalker55B]

It's posts like these that keep me coming back for more on this forum, and what a great one it is. Those brookies are so cool when they are that big - Frickin awesome! You guys rule - Thanks for posting.

Jon.

[Phil Synhorst]

:o:oWell what can I say, I've had a few real good outings this year, guess it was time to have the ego put in check. I tried pretty much everything I knew about lake fishing, changed flies and retrieves more times than I ever remember having to do.

Scott and Ed on the other hand, caught more fish between the two of them, than everyone else out there. Scott nailed that first Cutt within 100' of launching.....usually the sign of great fish numbers.:?:

Well, it was a good day all around. In the high country, on the water with friends. Got home exhausted, and thanks to the W. Walker, with a little fish smell on my hands.:)

p.s. Maybe one day we'll learn to account for cold weather too.:-k

p.p.s. to Kirman Lake......"I'll be back".

[gene goss]

Nothing like a great venture with friends.....lots of excitement around every corner....and the fish gods smilled on you with some nice fish....great pictures. The only time i fish Kirman i had this DFG friend that lived in Coleville....and he had a key for the gates....Soooooo he drove the DFG truck right up to the Lake.....Kirman has a lot of scuds....a scud pattem with a little orange under it....works

[Hairstacker]

Man, those are some awesome brookies! Pretty cool that you guys packed your float tubes in like that. Phil, is that a Tully you're sporting? If so, which model and how do you like it? In any event, that's some great fishing and reporting right there. :cool:

[Phil Synhorst]

Good eye Mike, that is a Tilley. I've had it about 12 years, and love it. Sometimes wish the brim was a little wider....but, what the heck. I tried to find a model on it for you, all I could find was a tag behind the measurement tag that has 199 on it. It is pretty old, they may not have had many styles back then.


Gene, we knew those bruisers fed heavily on Scuds. You would think that at least one of us would bring a few, wouldn't ya?:-s We concurred on the way out that it was pretty dumb not to have 'em. Although, Scott got his last fish on a Damsel nymph that I believe he said you showed him.:)

[Hairstacker]

Phil, yes, a Tilley, not a, uh, Tully. :oops: Was just curious because so many fellas swear by them. Thanks for checking! :)

Pretty interesting about the scuds . . . bet you're all carrying 'em next time. :lol: Come to think of it, that may be one fly swap we haven't had yet around here. May be a good one to have after the current swap wraps up.

[Ed Wahl]

Phil, yes, a Tilley, not a, uh, Tully. :oops: Was just curious because so many fellas swear by them. Thanks for checking! :)

Pretty interesting about the scuds . . . bet you're all carrying 'em next time. :lol: Come to think of it, that may be one fly swap we haven't had yet around here. May be a good one to have after the current swap wraps up.

What, Phil doesn't change his shorts for a couple of years and now that they're antiques he's suppose to care? :-\"

I got a pair of Tillies for ya, just let me go check my laundry basket.:?

"Pretty interesting about the scuds . . . bet you're all carrying 'em next time. :lol:"

Oh Stacker, always the simpleton.:lol::lol::lol:

Don't quit your day job. :lol::lol::lol:

Carry scud patterns to a known scud lake, :lol:, Mike, you're killing me. :lol::lol:

[Hairstacker]

I am always happy to entertain . . . I just wish I always intended it. :lol::lol::lol:

Actually, I didn't realize it was a scud lake until Gene mentioned it. :oops: I probably wouldn't have had 'em either. :lol::lol::lol:

[Ed Wahl]

And that, my friends, takes me right back to my first post.

Full circle, so to speak.

I got past the whole technical, expensive gear stuff, just to be tripped up by Phil's hat.

I was wearing Fruit of the Looms, but does anyone care? No. Not technical enough.

So here you go, once again.

This is the important stuff, no more, no less.

Study it closely and it will reveal the secrets of life and death.


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/edfish333/Kirman%20Lake/KirmanLake012.jpg

[Hairstacker]

Uh Ed, I hope you realize I was talking about his hat. With that said, you can't go wrong with Fruit of the Loom.

[Phil Synhorst]

Just for edification; Fruit of the Loom, boxer briefs, and I swear by 'em.:lol:

Mike, back to the hat. I have seen more styles of the Tilley online, some with a wider brim, mesh vented top, etc. I think they are worth every penny....well, at least I think mine is.:)