'bout Time for a Fishing Report!
I just got back from a couple of weeks of fly fishing in the Sierras (high and otherwise) and I thought I’d share some highlights with y’all.
I started out fishing this really small, extremely overgrown and most likely unknown to the masses, stream. Not actually in the Sierras proper, but darn close. Just finding some water to fish was a chore, not to mention the heat, the biting red ants, and the truck-busting 4WD road it took to get in this far.
Why would I endure all of that? For one of these; of course. The Paiute Cutthroat trout.
Caught on my Tenkara rod, whose shadow you can see conveniently running across the trout’s body. Also note the fin clip. This guy has been sampled by someone, probably from DFG, perhaps for genetic purity, but I’m only speculating.
I moved from there back to the Sierras proper, where I picked up my wilderness permit and hit the trail early the next morning, with the alpenglow on some of the highest peaks.
Later in the day, looking back down the trail, some 3,000 feet (give or take) of elevation to get to the pass.
I finally arrived at the lake in early afternoon, shown here. Which lake is it? Some of you might know, but I’m not telling!
I rigged up, tied on a scud pattern, and landed this nice golden on my first cast (no fish story!) I caught a few more, the scud being the hot fly. But since that was the case, I promptly lost both of the two scuds flies I had in my fly box and had to resort to other patterns, which worked, but none as well as the scud. DOH!
By and large, fishing for goldens was excellent, the time of day being a bigger factor than the fly pattern. I fished some other local lakes, one fishing so well, that in an hour of fishing, I only made four casts that didn’t get some kind of response, as in a trout, a strike, or a fish on, but not landed. That time I was using a positively chewed-on hopper pattern which I cast out and twitched as I stripped the line in slowly. Another view of my “home” lake on my way back from fishing another.
One evening, as I was heading back to my campsite, I was treated to this beautiful sunset. I had to stop, sit and watch, as walking amongst granite rocks and not watching your step, can be hazardous!
After a few days, I headed back down the trail to some of the lakes that I passed on my way in to the high country. I spent a couple of days there, catching as many of these that I wanted to. Cast out just about any midge pattern and it would soon be slammed. Not big, but certainly plentiful.
Arriving back in civilization, I treated myself to a night in a motel (complete with a long, hot shower and soft bed) and a jumbo burrito dinner, and a few brews, I was back on it the next day. Further north in the Sierras, I spent a night at the trail head and then hiked into this remote, but really fishy stream in this meadow. I caught bunches of rainbows, none of which I bothered to photograph.
I was there a couple of days and then spent a final night at a lake on the way home, where I caught this wondrous lenticular cloud sunset. Pretty cool.
Well, a rough outline of my trip, lacking specifics and details, but I think you’ll get the idea. Enjoy!
--Fly Guy Dave
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Originally Posted by k.hanley
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