First Sierra Slam!!! 6-7-08

[Crawler]

Hit the sierra last weekend. Left Corona at around 8:15pm on friday headed towards the good ol' 395. Niether myself, or my friend Steve had ever been up out of Lone Pine. So we decided to make that our first destination. We arrived at around 11:30 just behind another vehicle. We drove to the end of the road at portal and parked in the one night hiker lot. We asked the other vehicles occupants if they thought it cool of us to sleep in our truck in that lot. Anyway these two guys were headed to the summit... at midnight!!!! With ONE headlamp! Sorry but my cahones have not yet grown to that size. There they went off into the black of night in the portal canyon.

The next morning we went to an undisclosed location and started the day off with some Goldens!! These fish were a first for both of us. They were absolutely stunning looking fish! We fished here for about 2 hours and each caught 6. The stream was very small and moving slow. It was pretty tough to fish but the fish were eager to feed. We called it a morning at about 11:30 and decided to head to the ol' standby, Bishop. Down the hill and up the highway we went.

We arrived in bishop at about 2 and decided to go straight to south lake to fish the back half of south lake, which is a stream right now. Myself and another friend KILLED it there a few years ago. The lake had a little more water this time 'round, and was a much tougher walk to the backside. My ankles were swearing at me by the time we got to the inlet. Well we didnt do as well as before but still managed to get seven fish. Two brooks and two bows for me, and 3 bows for Steve. By this time I had realized that the slam was just a brown away from materializing. My friend steve walked upstream where I had caught the two brooks to get this species knocked out, but to no avail. Knowing a surefire spot for browns inbetween south lake and habbegers, we hauled *** to get out of southlake in time to hit the stream for some browns before sunset. We made it. I must say that every bow we caught up here were holdover fish. All of them had full tails and very nice colors. Major bonus!

We pulled up to the spot and I walked right over to the money hole only to find a guy fishing it. So I quickly moved to hole #2 and hooked up first cast with a small brown. Tossed back out and put another on on the soon-to-be-smoked pile. In the cooler they went and I quickly alerted my friend to the hole. He went over and slammed three real quick like. We double high fived and headed down to habbegers to clean our fish adn re-up on ice. Somewhere along the evening we decided to head up to convict and camp there for the night, and hit the lake bait and wait style. So off we went at about 8pm down the hill and up the highway, once again.

We pulled into convict campground at about 10pm. Setup camp, decided to forgo dinner in favor of our ever coveted Keystone Light. It was Campfire and Keystone untill we figured the time to be about midnight, which was actually 1:15. To sleep we went.

I must note here that the facilitys at Convict lake campround were very nice. The camp we stayed in (#11) was very nice. Setup with a clean, flat spot for your tent, a bear box, picnic table, and fire ring. Not to mention that there bathrooms were very nice, not the pit full of turd with a vent hole called a toilet seat found at higher elevations. They had the full on, stand back, keep your hands clear toilets. Its the little things like this that garner my repsect for a recreational establishment.

Sunday morning 0400 hours... I awoke freezing my ***** off! The new bag I picked up does not cut it. It didnt seem that cold up there and a 25* bag did not keep me warm. I woke up extra early because I decided (while freezing said ***** off) that walking around and making coffee would keep me warmer them my bag. So two cups of coffee later and we cruise over to the lake. I had only been there once and it was about 15 years ago. We cruise over to the last parking lot and fish right down on the corner. Steve pulled in a nice brown (12-13") right off the bat! The rest of the morning consisted of severall hits, and several misses. A few times I could not even set the rod down without getting hit. But they were short and quick. The barbless #10 hooks didnt help with this either. I managed 4 stocker bows, and Steve 3 stocker bows and the one brown. I released one no touch style, the rest went to the soon-to-be-smoked pile. Three of the fish we caught had swallowed hooks with leaders coming out of thier mouths, I only found one while cleaning them. We called it a day at around 11. Broke camp quick fast, cleaned the days fish, sucked down a beer at the cleaning table, and headed towards the 395 for the long drive home. A nice ending to a nice weekend. I wish I was going back next weekend.

Here are some pics for your viewing enjoyment. Sorry for the long report but you know you love it.

Whitney.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08001.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08004.jpg

First golden evar!!

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08011.jpg

Steves first golden.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08021.jpg

I know some might faint at the sight of a bloody golden, so I feel I must advise you that this was the one and only golden to not come up lip hooked, as well as the only golden that was kept. He also happened to be the largest. I will report later on how he tasted.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08030.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08031.jpg

Convict Lake.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08032.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08034.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08036.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08037.jpg

Mandatory Bendo shots.

Myself.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08040.jpg

Steve.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08043.jpg

Soon-to-be-smoked pile from Convict.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/yotamasters/sierras_6-7-08045.jpg

We are going back up the week after fourth of July, but hiking in this time. Does anybody have any recommendations on where to hike to in the eastern sierra that is below the fire restrictions? We have no idea where we are going to hike. We dont care what species of trout we catch. We just need to be able to have a fire, and catch some nice wild fish.

Tight lines everybody.

[Simplyeman]

w:Shocked:w water is sooooo clean

[troutdog]

Congrats on the slam,what an awesome trip!


TD

[Rubble]

Great Pics....& Beautiful Goldens.........:Thumbs Up:

[dockboy]

Nice fish and good trip. Sorry to hear about the golden, sometimes it happens. Too bad he was a bigger fish, but sometimes it just goes that way. Just for your knowledge, try and cut the line as close to the hook as possible. If you use a smaller hook and debarb it, it pays off. Try barbless when you want to release fish. If you can't get it out or you can't see the hook, put the fish back in the water and let it revive itself a bit. Then get it back up and cut it as close as possible. Put the fish back gently and move him back and forth in the water for a few seconds. This gets the water moving through the gills and revives the fish quicker. Let him swim out on his own. The hook will rust out or be digested within a month. The fish can usually still eat with a hook in their tongue or mouth. Another thing with releasing fish is to never touch the gill structure. The gills are fragile and will rupture if touched to hard or exposed too long. Thats why you should never put your finger in a fish gill if you want to release them. I've heard the goldens tasted excellent, but I never keep'em. Accidents happen dude. Like I said, cutting the line close and just getting them back in the water will help, this applies to just about any kind of fishing btw. In any case, great trip and I hope you guys had a lot of fun. I'm going up myself here Friday, I'll get pics and post if possible.

[chris]

awesome report and the goldens are just beatiful

[Badfish2]

Did I miss the part where you caught the Cutthroat?

For easy hiking, inside the fire restricted area.. try Mesquito flats out of Rock Creek Lake.

[fisheromen]

BEAUTIFUL pics!
Thanks for sharing!
:cool:

[Trout-Slayer77]

Beautiful goldens !!!! congrats on those little trophies, and thanks for the report and pics !!

[Crawler]

Did I miss the part where you caught the Cutthroat?

For easy hiking, inside the fire restricted area.. try Mesquito flats out of Rock Creek Lake.

No you did not miss it. A cutt added to the days catch would have qualified me for the "super slam". To the best of my knowledge, a sierra slam is four species in one day. Brook, brown, rainbow, and golden.

But to be honest, we had heard that Convict had cutts, thats why we left Bishop sat night and headed up to Convict. Can anybody confirm or deny cutts in Convict??? :confused:

[steve092]

Nice job out there.

The Goldens are something else.

[Rawkon]

from teh pics it loks like you where at Laurel Lakes for the Goldens. its a pretty sweet area. Ive hit goldens aabout 12 to 14 inches in there. awesome pics man!

[fishfinder]

VERY AWESOME PICTURES. VERY GOOD QUALITY. Could you tell me what kind of camera you were using. i dropped mine and need a new one that i dont have to tape the battery door shut.
i have never heard of convict having cut-throats, but i think crowley does. and i know june does.

[Crawler]

VERY AWESOME PICTURES. VERY GOOD QUALITY. Could you tell me what kind of camera you were using. i dropped mine and need a new one that i dont have to tape the battery door shut.
i have never heard of convict having cut-throats, but i think crowley does. and i know june does.

Thank you. I am using a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3. It has all kinds of adjustments that I never took the time to mess with. I just point and shoot, and it seems to work pretty good.

[Badfish2]

No you did not miss it. A cutt added to the days catch would have qualified me for the "super slam". To the best of my knowledge, a sierra slam is four species in one day. Brook, brown, rainbow, and golden.

But to be honest, we had heard that Convict had cutts, thats why we left Bishop sat night and headed up to Convict. Can anybody confirm or deny cutts in Convict??? :confused:

I see, well, I've been fishing in the sierras for over 20 years, and a Sierra Slam has always been 5 species in one day.

Golden
Brown
Brook
Rainbow
Cutt.

Either way, good job. You can get a sierra slam out of June Lake, but it's very hard to do out of one lake. There are no cutts in Convict.

[Crawler]

I see, well, I've been fishing in the sierras for over 20 years, and a Sierra Slam has always been 5 species in one day.

Golden
Brown
Brook
Rainbow
Cutt.

Either way, good job. You can get a sierra slam out of June Lake, but it's very hard to do out of one lake. There are no cutts in Convict.

Cool, I have also been fishing the sierras for over 20 years and a sierra slam has always been 4 species in one day. Go figure.

Thanks for the heads up on Convict.

[Socal man]

I thought thst s grand slam was four species and a sierra slam was five, maybe every one has a different opinion

[brn2fis]

Silver Lake and Gull have Cutt's

[tacklejunkie]

Nice pics!
Brookies and Goldens are on my list one of these days. Never caught either.
Good job out there :cool: Those goldens are beautiful!

[deanhall32]

Nice report Crawler. Hey Dockboy- thanks for the advice. Let's see some more of your Sierra caught trout and less of your advise.

[IncredibleHuck]

Great pictures and good job on the slam!

The sierra slam I know of, doesn't include the cutt's so great job!


Not too sure where the fire restrictions are but two hikes I would reccommend are either the Lil Lakes Valley above Rock Creek or the 20 lakes basin on the back side of Saddlebag! Both are awesome hikes and lots of fishing to boot!

[Crawler]

Great pictures and good job on the slam!

The sierra slam I know of, doesn't include the cutt's so great job!


Not too sure where the fire restrictions are but two hikes I would reccommend are either the Lil Lakes Valley above Rock Creek or the 20 lakes basin on the back side of Saddlebag! Both are awesome hikes and lots of fishing to boot!

We are headed back up in about 2 hours. We are going to scout little lakes valley out of rock creek. Should be there around midnight, and back around midnight saturday. :Envious: Full report can be expected on fathers day.

[brn2fis]

Nice fish and good trip. Sorry to hear about the golden, sometimes it happens. Too bad he was a bigger fish, but sometimes it just goes that way. Just for your knowledge, try and cut the line as close to the hook as possible. If you use a smaller hook and debarb it, it pays off. Try barbless when you want to release fish. If you can't get it out or you can't see the hook, put the fish back in the water and let it revive itself a bit. Then get it back up and cut it as close as possible. Put the fish back gently and move him back and forth in the water for a few seconds. This gets the water moving through the gills and revives the fish quicker. Let him swim out on his own. The hook will rust out or be digested within a month. The fish can usually still eat with a hook in their tongue or mouth. Another thing with releasing fish is to never touch the gill structure. The gills are fragile and will rupture if touched to hard or exposed too long. Thats why you should never put your finger in a fish gill if you want to release them. I've heard the goldens tasted excellent, but I never keep'em. Accidents happen dude. Like I said, cutting the line close and just getting them back in the water will help, this applies to just about any kind of fishing btw. In any case, great trip and I hope you guys had a lot of fun. I'm going up myself here Friday, I'll get pics and post if possible.


Dockboy very good advice. I have seen way to many people using those red hook removers stuffed down a trouts mouth and then releasing them thinking they will live. Like you said cut the line as close as you can and gently release them to live another day.

[SoCalGuy7]

Great pics and report....Seems something is wrong with the last picture....

There isn't 6 feet of green sludgy moss....:LOL:
Heading up to Parchers next week, your report was a nice preview...

SCG7

[Troutman Dan]

Cool, I have also been fishing the sierras for over 20 years and a sierra slam has always been 4 species in one day. Go figure.

Thanks for the heads up on Convict.

4 fish Sierra slam 5 fish a dream of a lifetime