Webber Lake is purchased from private owners......

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Major-land-acquisition-in-Sierra-announced-4048622.php

[ladalske]

My uncle took me there about 15 years ago. We caught so many trout in tubes out on that lake. He had his name on the waiting list for a campsite, I guess he will be waiting a bit longer. :)
It would be great to be on that lake again. Hopefully this spring.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I think it was the one that was private with memberships for camping and fishing.

[John Sv]

Hi, my name is John and I work for the Truckee Donner Land Trust, one of the conservation groups that did the acquisition. The press has not been spot on with the release of info, some of which is very important to anglers.

The private fish camp will run for another 4 years, which was part of the deal we did with the sellers. The remaining 2700 acres will open to the public, including Lacey Creek and valley, which is fun small-stream angling. After 4 years the lake and campground will open. You can fish there now and for the next 4 years, but you will need to purchase a day pass from the ranch.
If you have any questions please call me at 530 582 4711
Thanks,
John
PS Bill I am the guy that was asking you about Art Rathburn offline...

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks for the help here John.....

Will you have some helpful info and maps on your web site in the future?

http://northernsierrapartnership.org/project/webber-lake-and-lacey-meadows/

http://www.tpl.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/california/northern-sierra-nevada/webber-lake.html

[John Sv]

Our website is www.tdlandtrust.org, but it too is lacking. We do plan to get on it with maps and plans, but this fall has been crazy with 4 different acquisitions going on. We still have Royal Gorge to do before the end of the year. I'm not 100% sure we will do an update before the New Year, but please bear with us...

[ladalske]

Our website is www.tdlandtrust.org, but it too is lacking. We do plan to get on it with maps and plans, but this fall has been crazy with 4 different acquisitions going on. We still have Royal Gorge to do before the end of the year. I'm not 100% sure we will do an update before the New Year, but please bear with us...

John,

I like the work the td land trust is doing. My parents have had a cabin in Serene Lakes since 88. I am so excited for the land around the lakes to be preserved for use. We donated some money to keep it.

[Ed Wahl]

Unrelated but true story.

Back in the '80s I planned a solo trip searching for some hidden gold up there. Shig can relate.

On the way in I came across a jeeper stuck in some mud. I was driving a Ford Econoline van but when in the backcountry when someone needs a pull you just give it to 'em. Reason being that you could very well be asking for a pull at any time yourself
.
Well, in the end we got the jeep out but at the same time the starter in my van gave it up. The jeepers volunteered to give me a lift to the nearest phone,(cel phones hadn't come on yet). That meant a ride to the resort at Webber Lake. I pleaded my dilemma to the folks there and since they had to go into Sierraville for supplies anyway they'd happily give me a lift.
The only things I took out of my van were my fly rod and vest. They dropped me at the first gas station coming into town. I called my buddy Mark from there and told him to break into my garage,grab my tool box, hit an auto parts store for a starter and come on up. Well, Mark grabbed his fly rod and then did the rest. In the meantime, since I was stuck and there was what appeared to be a ditch close to the gas station I decided to kill some time and check it out. What I found left me dumbfounded. The 'ditch' was a stream. And there were mayflies, big mayflies, everywhere. Trout heads were poking up all over the place. While threading my tippet up through the guides I dropped it 3 times. Very hard to concentrate on knots while that's going on too.
So I got the tippet threaded and went through my rather frugal fly selection. I had to settle on some size 10 Grey Hackle Peacocks, the only thing close to these mayflies that I had.
I manged to hook several rather respectable browns by dapping theses on the surface. It was a great 30 minutes. I bet most of you know excatly what I mean. After that a storm bank moved in and shut it down.

And what a storm. Lightning, rain, wind, and hail.

I was dressed in just a tshirt and shorts, with at least 3 hours til Mark showed up.

I froze. Damn that was cold.

I had a bit of cover in the lee of the now closed up gas station but it wasn't that much comfort.

Mark did eventually show up though. We fixed my van, fished Catfish Lake for,well, a few catfish on dries, them Mark had to boogey back home and I forged on ahead with the first plan.
My plan was foiled shortly after leaving Catfish and running into a 6ft high snowdrift so the gold had to wait another month.

And it did happen, but the journey was as good as the end goal.

I sure hope there are some piss poor young trout bums out there now still going for it the way we had to. The rewards are so far greater in the final tally.

Cheers.

Ed

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

That story reminds me of one of my own adventures.

Some years ago my old friend Neil Hansen and I drove up to the Pit River in the fall looking for the Isonychia mayfly emergence and wild Rainbow trout eating them. As usual we drove into Deep Creek Camp Ground to find it deserted as usual that time of year.

As we got in there and picked a camp spot at the end near Deep Creek we smelled gasoline? I looked under Neil's Dodge Dart Station Wagon and noticed gasoline dripping from the bottom of the fuel tank. We had drug over a rock or two on the way into Deep Creek and made a very small hole in the tank.

I had an idea.....I had on an old leather belt on and cut off a piece. We opened the hood of the car and removed a metal screw that looked semi-unnecessary. We punched a small hole in the leather piece and put the srew through the hole. We then screwed it into the hole in the tank and it stop dripping. Without that fix we were going to leave and drive back into Redding and have it fixed before all the gas was gone.

That fix saved our trip but it was so long ago I don't have any details but we always loved fishing the Pit River.

.

[jayclarkflyfishing]

Ed
That is a great story! I grew up in Sierraville and learned how to fish on that creek (Perry Cr.) Love the emergence of the massive clouds of grey drakes in the springtime. Thanks for sharing.

Jay

[John Sv]

I new a guy that was living in the USFS barracks that back up to Perry Creek. He said there were some surprisingly large fish to rope in that creek.

Went up to Webber today with a photographer from the SF Chron. It was pretty, but the inbound storm looks ominous. Lots of fish in the LT below the lake, but small. The falls looked beautiful with ice formations on both sides of it!

[Darian]

Another article appeared in todays SF Chronicle about the land deal preserving Webber and surrounding land. Check out the link:

http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Webber-Lake-Lacey-Meadows-saved-in-deal-4088521.php

Our member, John Sv, and all others involved deserve a lot of credit and our thanks for their part in working out this deal in everyones behalf. John is director of the Truckee Donner Land trust stewardship, the group the brought about this accomplishment.

I've been through the area a couple of times but paid little attention to it in the past as it was off limits. The photo's accompanying the article show a really beautiful place. I'll have to make it up there this summer.... :cool: