2017 Eastern Sierras Challenge

It's hard to believe that in just a few hours, our group of avid fishermen would be in the majestic setting of the high Sierras. This year's enthusiasts were pumped-up because the melting snow had replenished the lakes and stream to their former glory. The anglers gathered ranged from age 9, Diego to our very own the renowned trout slayer, Bob, age 75, as well as last year's champion, Jose from Tucson Arizona.
We were all in good spirits and looking forward to a wonderful week of fishing. This was partly because Bob, who unfortunately couldn't be with us last year, pulled out an array of graphs, maps, pamphlets, notes, diagrams of satellite location points and his GPS. Not to be outdone, Javier also had his notes and statistics on fish caught by lake along with a gadget that is supposed to find fishing holes and a bottle of magic dust. He purchased them at a garage sale from an old-timer.
(click on any picture to make it larger)

Bob's fishing hole finder.

 Javier's fishing hole finder.

Javier's magic dust

                                                                                   

Bob was in the lead car, using his GPS and we followed him on a dirt road perhaps a quarter of a mile from Highway 395. He exited the car and, with his GPS, began searching for the creek. Javier walked away with his magical gadget for searching fishing creeks ... Who do you think found this stream?

This stream was found. We all scampered to get our fishing poles, power bait, night crawlers and rat tails into the water. After a short period of time, el perico, Jorge started moaning, "There are too many flies", "It's too hot", "There's no fish"! I turned my head to see what was bothering him.  His facial expression told me what he was thinking; Dude! WTF? Lets get the hell out of here! He didn't realize he was sitting on pile of dry manure.
Meanwhile, Javier, el dormido, as usual at the nascence of casting his line, immediately sat on a rock and started fighting a branch for his fishing line. Suddenly Diego said that more flies were coming. That's when we noticed that Jorge had placed his chair on a pile of dry manure; the more he moved his chair, the more he attracted flies until they began swarming. We all rushed to the vehicles for cover. Apparently, it was just in time: the cattle were returning to claim their drinking hole.

View of the Eastern Sierras from George's Creek in Long Pine

After getting chased out of the creek by flies, manure and cattle, we made our way to one of Jorge and Jose's  (from Tucson) favorite spots.  George's Creek  in the northern part of Lone Pine is where they both caught their limit last year in just a matter of minutes.

Unfortunately we found the place in poor condition and the water was foamy with a dingy odor. With no anglers in sight, we asked Bob, "What spot is next on your list?" 

According to Bob and Javier, their information pointed to  Intake II.  Diego, our 9 year old angler, said,"I have a feeling that's a good place" We arrived and tried our best for three hours but only three rainbow trout were caught, one by my son, Manny, and two by your truly. After a less than successful day, it was time for dinner and a good night's rest.

The next day, we were fishing Lundy Lake and Little Virginia. The brothers-in-law, Jorge and Jose, were nowhere to be found as we were getting ready to depart.  Then, they came waltzing in with their Starbuck's coffee and doughnuts. Apparently they are in a healthy-start program of walking 10,000 steps daily and eating doughnuts. They try to avoid fruits and yogurts which are part of the hotels free breakfast program.
We headed towards Lundy Lake, a beautiful location some 8000 feet high with mountain cabins in an idealistic setting with snow covered mountain tops.

We are driving to higher altitude leaving the town of Bishop towards Lundy and Little Virginia lakes.  At the top of the road, you see the famous Mono Lake, an ancient saline lake which until a few years ago was drained dry by the Department of Water and Power from Los Angeles. It took years of legal battles for the California Water Resources Board to order DWP to replenish the water level, about 6400 feet above sea level. It still has a long way to go.

We were aware that this year's snow run had replenished most of the lakes to their previous levels. The lakes which were completely empty last year are back to their levels. To our dismay, we were not able to access Lundy Lake.   We were not able to enter because of flooding and the heavy machinery was blocking the entrance. So, we turned around and headed to Little Virginia.

When you are in the mountain you
bring TP or use tree leaves

Diego, Manny, Jose, Bob

Little Virginia with no room to fish from of-shore

 As you can tell from these pictures' everyone in our group was ready for a great fishing day. Our friend from Arizona wondered what all that white stuff was in the mountains. In our excitement, we didn't stop to ask ourselves "Why is this place so empty of fishermen?" Half of our group was fishing

 from off-shore and  half from a boat. Three hours later we gave up!

Javier and Bob went on line to check with their confidential sources on fishing information. It seems that the powers in charge of stocking the lake were caught with their pants down: they did not plant fish as scheduled, fearing that the snow run-off would be lower. It turned out that lakes were over their limit and the currents of the tributaries are too fast for the rainbow trout to hang around in the area. In short, too much water and not enough fish.

The following day, we decided to go to the beautiful lakes in Monmouth. We targeted Lake Mary using power bait and garlic pinch crawlers.  Manny liked this lake. Being a graduate of a particular school of fly fishing, he was ready. He walked up to the shore line, briskly whipped his fly rod a few times as if testing wind resistance, and carefully tied a fly on his line. He swung his arms in circles a few times then with his strong shoulders and neck, swiftly propelled a black/orange bug through the air with precise accuracy into the drift of the peaceful waters of the lake. He repeated this process time and time again with high accuracy, sweeping all points in the lake. Unfortunately, on this aesthetically beautiful morning, they just weren't biting. As a group, we had limited success. We brought in about 9 fish including this beautiful specimen below.

Rainbow trout: 4.5 lbs. at lake Mary in Monmouth using 4 lb. line, with #12 round treble hook and pinched crawler garlic bait.

"¡Sí y que!"

This was the hot bait at Lake Mary in Mammoth.  Most anglers using it had fish on their strings.  

On our last fishing day, we continued the effort in the lakes above Bishop with disappointing results. Well... our fishing trip came to an end. Although we were not as successful as in previous trips, there are a couple of virtues ,we always have success with: our strong friendship of many years. and a strong love for this beautiful part of California.
Here is something that John Quincy Adams composed (yes our seventh president). He was also a diplomat and a writer. We don't have many presidents like him anymore. He wrote the following poem on friendship:

I want a warm and faithful friend,
   to cheer the adverse hour;
Who ne'er to flatter will descend,
   Nor bend the knee to power;
A friend to chide me when I'm wrong, 
   My inmost soul to see;
And that my friendship prove as strong
   To him as his to me.