Lip Ripperz
04-30-2008, 06:02 PM
Just got back from an amazing 2008 Eastern Sierra Trout Opener!! Ive attached a pic and hopefully will get the video footage in soon!! What a weekend!!
-2008 Eastern Sierra Opener-
Alpers Hunting With Team Lip RipperZ
By Bryan Friedman / Lip RipperZ President
An explosion of bent rods, splashing fish and five of the biggest grins you’ll ever see on a human face, consumed us as we had magically stumbled onto one of the finest days of fishing one could ever imagine. A day that will surely never be forgotten.
It was Friday April 29th, 2008, a date with seemingly little significance, unless of course you were one of the thousands of excited and anxious anglers such as myself driving down the 395 in search of that elusive Alpers trout that seem to haunt your dreams time and time again. To us die hard fisherman, Friday could only mean one thing…one day until the 2008 Eastern Sierra Trout Opener!
It had been a long, yet successful week working and running around servicing several of our many tackle shop accounts in the area. With work finally complete and the excitement of a free weekend, I had anxiously stayed up all night waiting for the rest of the ‘Lip RipperZ Posse’ (the ‘LRP’) to arrive in the morning so we could start fishing.
The crew had finally arrived and we quickly discussed the game plan for the day. We had decided to head straight to Intake II. We found a nice little spot along the shoreline and immediately hooked up into a small one pound rainbow trout with a ‘Snot Rocket’ colored LR (Lip RipperZ) Litl RipperZ jig burried into the side of its mouth. It was a fish here and a fish there, but nothing of size. Don’t get me wrong, catching small fish was fun, but not what we were here looking to do. We were in search of the big boys; the fish that make you want to call home to mama.
A few hours had passed with lots of fish landed (roughly one fish per every six or seven casts), but little to brag about. Right before switching spots, the first big boy had hit!! I set the hook and held on for dear life and an amazing ride on only two pound line. The fish went left, right, over his pole, under hers, this way, that way, and about 10 minutes later I had my first large trout landed in the our 2008 Eastern Sierra Opener. A beautiful 4.5 pound Alpers that had just hammmmmmered a ‘Poopy Doop’ colored LR Litl RipperZ jig! It had been a beautiful start to a beautiful day.
Shortly after, the bite was few and far between. After skipping from lake to lake, our last stop for the day would turn out to be Twin Lakes . A decision that would not only make our day, but ultimately make our lifetimes. The next couple hours would surely never be forgotten...
We pulled up into the lake and I was the first to cast, with a freshly tied red/gold ‘Siberian Tiger’ colored LR Z Spoon onto my line. With roughly five or six cranks and three twitches later, FISH ON!! All I could think of is “wow, this thing was huge!”. I fought the beast for several minutes (which seemed like hours) and yelled at the posse to get the net. Halfway through my sentence, Nick (member of the LRP) had also hooked up into a fish, and it was another monster! Two huge trout hooked in only a few minutes!! Moments later, Jason (also member of the LRP) quickly ran to my assistance and with little hesitation netted my massive 5 pound trout! With only a few passing minutes, Nick’s fish was ready to be brought in as well. In a familiar fashion, Jason had dragged up yet another huge Alpers into his net. This beauty weighing in excess of three and a half pounds.
What would happen next was absolutely unheard of. Alicia hooked up into an Alpers. Then Joseph. Then Me. Then Jason. Then Nick. All five members of the ‘LRP’ were hooked up with our drags screaming in every direction. A five way hookup on huge Alpers Trout?! Thats unhead of! One fish was landed, then another, then another. Less than fifteen minutes later myself and the rest of the ‘LRP’ had hooked and landed all five monster trout on just two pound line. It had been simply amazing! I was tossing an LR Z Spoon while the others were tossing LR Litl RipperZ and LR Trout Worms when the their fish bit, the preferred likings for trout that day.
Over the next two hours, we would proceed to catch and weigh in a total of 25 Alpers Trout weighing in at over 75 pounds to Ricks Sportscenter in Mammoth. And surprisingly that’s not even including the other 10+ Alpers that we had caught and released that very same day.
This was surely a proud day for the ‘Lip RipperZ Posse’. A day whose story will be told years on end. It was one of the finest days of fishing in the Sierras we had ever seen and were thankful to have been a part of it. This was the 2008 Eastern Sierra Opener. A truly remarkable day.
Team Lip RipperZ fish Counts:
Bryan Friedman LRP, Walnut, Ca (5 fish) 18.4 lbs
Jason Schumacher LRP, Chino, Ca (5 fish) 15.8 lbs
Alicia Schumacher LRP, Chino Hills, Ca (5 fish) 13.4 lbs
Nick Perez, LRP Hacienda Heights, Ca (5 fish) 14.5 lbs
Joseph Maldonado LRP, Walnut, Ca (5 fish) 13.2 lbs
-2008 Eastern Sierra Opener-
Alpers Hunting With Team Lip RipperZ
By Bryan Friedman / Lip RipperZ President
An explosion of bent rods, splashing fish and five of the biggest grins you’ll ever see on a human face, consumed us as we had magically stumbled onto one of the finest days of fishing one could ever imagine. A day that will surely never be forgotten.
It was Friday April 29th, 2008, a date with seemingly little significance, unless of course you were one of the thousands of excited and anxious anglers such as myself driving down the 395 in search of that elusive Alpers trout that seem to haunt your dreams time and time again. To us die hard fisherman, Friday could only mean one thing…one day until the 2008 Eastern Sierra Trout Opener!
It had been a long, yet successful week working and running around servicing several of our many tackle shop accounts in the area. With work finally complete and the excitement of a free weekend, I had anxiously stayed up all night waiting for the rest of the ‘Lip RipperZ Posse’ (the ‘LRP’) to arrive in the morning so we could start fishing.
The crew had finally arrived and we quickly discussed the game plan for the day. We had decided to head straight to Intake II. We found a nice little spot along the shoreline and immediately hooked up into a small one pound rainbow trout with a ‘Snot Rocket’ colored LR (Lip RipperZ) Litl RipperZ jig burried into the side of its mouth. It was a fish here and a fish there, but nothing of size. Don’t get me wrong, catching small fish was fun, but not what we were here looking to do. We were in search of the big boys; the fish that make you want to call home to mama.
A few hours had passed with lots of fish landed (roughly one fish per every six or seven casts), but little to brag about. Right before switching spots, the first big boy had hit!! I set the hook and held on for dear life and an amazing ride on only two pound line. The fish went left, right, over his pole, under hers, this way, that way, and about 10 minutes later I had my first large trout landed in the our 2008 Eastern Sierra Opener. A beautiful 4.5 pound Alpers that had just hammmmmmered a ‘Poopy Doop’ colored LR Litl RipperZ jig! It had been a beautiful start to a beautiful day.
Shortly after, the bite was few and far between. After skipping from lake to lake, our last stop for the day would turn out to be Twin Lakes . A decision that would not only make our day, but ultimately make our lifetimes. The next couple hours would surely never be forgotten...
We pulled up into the lake and I was the first to cast, with a freshly tied red/gold ‘Siberian Tiger’ colored LR Z Spoon onto my line. With roughly five or six cranks and three twitches later, FISH ON!! All I could think of is “wow, this thing was huge!”. I fought the beast for several minutes (which seemed like hours) and yelled at the posse to get the net. Halfway through my sentence, Nick (member of the LRP) had also hooked up into a fish, and it was another monster! Two huge trout hooked in only a few minutes!! Moments later, Jason (also member of the LRP) quickly ran to my assistance and with little hesitation netted my massive 5 pound trout! With only a few passing minutes, Nick’s fish was ready to be brought in as well. In a familiar fashion, Jason had dragged up yet another huge Alpers into his net. This beauty weighing in excess of three and a half pounds.
What would happen next was absolutely unheard of. Alicia hooked up into an Alpers. Then Joseph. Then Me. Then Jason. Then Nick. All five members of the ‘LRP’ were hooked up with our drags screaming in every direction. A five way hookup on huge Alpers Trout?! Thats unhead of! One fish was landed, then another, then another. Less than fifteen minutes later myself and the rest of the ‘LRP’ had hooked and landed all five monster trout on just two pound line. It had been simply amazing! I was tossing an LR Z Spoon while the others were tossing LR Litl RipperZ and LR Trout Worms when the their fish bit, the preferred likings for trout that day.
Over the next two hours, we would proceed to catch and weigh in a total of 25 Alpers Trout weighing in at over 75 pounds to Ricks Sportscenter in Mammoth. And surprisingly that’s not even including the other 10+ Alpers that we had caught and released that very same day.
This was surely a proud day for the ‘Lip RipperZ Posse’. A day whose story will be told years on end. It was one of the finest days of fishing in the Sierras we had ever seen and were thankful to have been a part of it. This was the 2008 Eastern Sierra Opener. A truly remarkable day.
Team Lip RipperZ fish Counts:
Bryan Friedman LRP, Walnut, Ca (5 fish) 18.4 lbs
Jason Schumacher LRP, Chino, Ca (5 fish) 15.8 lbs
Alicia Schumacher LRP, Chino Hills, Ca (5 fish) 13.4 lbs
Nick Perez, LRP Hacienda Heights, Ca (5 fish) 14.5 lbs
Joseph Maldonado LRP, Walnut, Ca (5 fish) 13.2 lbs