Old Report: 4th of July at Twin Lakes/Bridgeport

[gavin310]

The boards have been a little slow lately, so I'm pulling out an old report :Wink: There are only a few fish pictures in here, so sorry about that. That's actually why I never posted this before. But if you like looking at nature photos and a few fish pictures, carry on!!!

Went camping at Twin Lakes over the 4th of July break with my aunt, uncle, three cousins, and one of the cousin's husband and their two kids. Lots of kids, but they were great.

The fishing in Upper Twin Lake was awesome. We were trolling most of the time catching nice sized rainbows, but I brought my fly rod also and caught some smaller sized rainbows that way. While trolling I used a gold kastmaster the entire time and caught more fish than anybody else. It's funny because my cousin's husband put on the exact same lure since I was catching all the fish and he couldn't catch anything, but I was still pulling 'em in! We also hiked up to Barney Lake and the fishing was nothing short of INCREDIBLE. The best trout fishing I've ever experienced, and they were native to top it off. They fought hard and they were beautiful. Again I used my gold kastmaster the entire time. All of the fish at Barney Lake were released, but some of the ones from Twin Lakes weren't so lucky. Most were released though. After leaving Twin Lakes we stopped off at this creek and caught some massive rainbows. No pictures of that trip, but just visualize a nice creek and some big trout :Wink:

Started the trip off in my old home town of Sacramento. Went up to my other aunt's property and fished their homemade pond with my cousin.

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That night we threw some concoction of bread, powerbait, and turkey onto the hook and got bit by a massive catfish. After ripping my line 3 times in long runs it broke off. I wasn't prepared for a catfish that big. My cousin caught the same cat about a year ago and it was like 15 lbs (that's when he relocated it to the pond), so who knows how big it was now.

Went ATV riding and got stuck...

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Met up with my other aunt and we headed out to Bridgeport. First stop was Lake Tahoe just to relax our legs...

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Kept driving towards Bridgeport...

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We spot some cowboys herding cattle across the road.

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Getting close to Twin Lakes! This is our boat that was being towed in front of us...

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We arrive at the campground at set up...

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Rally:

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Rosco:

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A chipmunk:

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We decide to fish a bit from the shore the first day there....

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Early the next morning we decide to take out the boat and do some trolling.

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This wasn't a trout, but I forgot what kind of fish it was. I think my uncle said it was a type of salmon? Any one recognize it?

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/July2008012.jpg?t=1222233796

My uncle with a nice trout:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/July2008021.jpg?t=1222233864

Me with a smaller trout:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/July2008022.jpg?t=1222233898

I threw most of the trout back, but some of them I kept. This one was smaller, so we were probably getting ready to head back and I wanted one more on the stringer :Smile:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/July2008023.jpg?t=1222233921

Some scenics from the boat:

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It's hard not to do the typical reflection shots when it's so beautiful :Smile:

Next we took a hike up to Barney Lake, or "trout heaven" as I now like to call it. Here are some pics of the hike...

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Finally arrived at Barney Lake:

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We caught lots of brown trout. nice sized ones and completely natural. probably average of 12" each...

http://a832.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/56/l_b93d39abc5304658872acaaf169894af.jpg

I was throwing a gold kastmaster the entire time and catching tons of fiesty trout. Had tons of fun doing it.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/July2008035.jpg

So we got back from Barney Lake and relaxed. I took off to do a night shot of the mountains with star trails and this beautiful meadow by our campsite...

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This is the same shot but in the day time...

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And a horizontal version for good measure:

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Rosco again. He's the cutest damn thing I've ever seen:

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Went into town for the 4th of July parade:

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That night I took some pictures of the kids at the fire. They loved these...

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I also made the kids bow and arrows, complete with arrows made with feathers we found. I carved their names into them. They actually turned out very nice and "professional?" looking.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/gavin310/July2008026.jpg

The dogs again:

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One of my 2nd cousins:

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So those are all the photos. Again, sorry for the lack of fish pictures. I was too busy catching them :ROFL: All the fish[ing] pictures except 1 was taken by my aunt, who wasn't fishing.

[gavin310]

Is this report really that boring?! Maybe it should be moved into the General > Photos section?

[billy b]

I enjoyed the report. What kind of dogs are they? How deep were you trolling and were you on Upper or Lower TWin?

Thanks much

[gavin310]

I enjoyed the report. What kind of dogs are they? How deep were you trolling and were you on Upper or Lower TWin?

Thanks much

I've just never had a post up here for this long without a reply... thanks :Wink:

Those are Maltese, but they're trimmed short. The little one was only about 14 weeks.

That was Upper Twin. We were leaving it up to the lures to decide how deep we fished. My small kastmaster was probably down about 2 feet at our 1.2 knot average. It was actually my first time trolling, so I had a great time.

[fishing_addict]

Great report, actually I'm glad you posted it late. I'm heading up there next week and your post has gotten me and my buddies all the more excited! I'm not certain by the way but I think the fish you were catching in Barney Lake were brook trout, not browns.... at least the photo you took of the one laying on the ground looks more like a brookie with those white leading edges on the fins. Also, the silver fish you caught was a Kokanee salmon which by the way is pretty rare to catch, nice job! Which campground did you guys stay at while at Twin Lakes?

[gavin310]

Great report, actually I'm glad you posted it late. I'm heading up there next week and your post has gotten me and my buddies all the more excited! I'm not certain by the way but I think the fish you were catching in Barney Lake were brook trout, not browns.... at least the photo you took of the one laying on the ground looks more like a brookie with those white leading edges on the fins. Also, the silver fish you caught was a Kokanee salmon which by the way is pretty rare to catch, nice job! Which campground did you guys stay at while at Twin Lakes?

They were probably brook trout then, I get the two confused. I'm not sure the name of the campground... There were two campgrounds by Upper Twin. One was closer to the docks, tackle shop, etc. and the other was away further separated by a meadow. We were at the one closer to the docks. Try to get an "end spot" or you'll get surrounded by other campers. We had a nice spot with no campsite on one side, so we had a nice view and kids could play and shoot their bow and arrows out there without bugging other campers.

[fishing_addict]

I was up there last October and we stayed down the road a couple miles at Honeymoon Flat campground (forest service campground) and had a blast. However this year we are bringing our wives so we will probably stay closer to the Village so they can have access to the showers, restaurant, internet etc. Thanks again for the post!

[DCCTrouserTrout]

Cool report. Makes me want to get up there one last time...

[azer]

How long of a hike is it from Twin Lakes to Barney Lake? Is it an easy hike?

[gavin310]

How long of a hike is it from Twin Lakes to Barney Lake? Is it an easy hike?

It was maybe 3 hours there and 1.5 hours back. It's not a difficult hike, but it's long.

[FemaleFishinFool]

Hello!

Thanks for the kewl report ; )

I enjoyed it as well; and the pups are very cute!

I have a question, tho......
Are these the same Twin Lakes ABOVE Mammoth, near the Tamarack Lodge?!?!?
I was just up there and they told us motor-driven (be it electric or gas) were prohibited on both. Only paddle-driven (row, canoes, kayaks) and /or float tubes were allowed.

Or is there "another" Twin Lakes above Bridgeport up towards the Tioga Pass?!?!?

Thanks,
FFF

Oh yeah...that little blonde-haired tyke in the last photo could be a model :Wink:

[gavin310]

Hello!

Thanks for the kewl report ; )

I enjoyed it as well; and the pups are very cute!

I have a question, tho......
Are these the same Twin Lakes ABOVE Mammoth, near the Tamarack Lodge?!?!?
I was just up there and they told us motor-driven (be it electric or gas) were prohibited on both. Only paddle-driven (row, canoes, kayaks) and /or float tubes were allowed.

Or is there "another" Twin Lakes above Bridgeport up towards the Tioga Pass?!?!?

Thanks,
FFF

Oh yeah...that little blonde-haired tyke in the last photo could be a model :Wink:

That's definitely the same Twin Lakes. I have no idea why there are no boats allowed. That's weird. I don't know much about the lake though, so maybe this time of year it's normal? I highly doubt that though. I'd give them a call and say WTF :Smile:

[billy b]

Yep ...

There are 2 pairs of lakes. One pair is in the Mammoth area (along with Mamie, George, etc.) and one pair is out of Bridgeport. The only distinction I have heard between the two is that people say Twin Lakes ... Mammoth or Bridgeport.

Twin out of Bridgeport has motorized boats and even the large pontoons. I think this report originated out of Twin-Bridgeport ... if my memory serves me correctly ... not sure.

FWIW, to get to Twin - Bport ... you take a turnoff at the north end of Bport (at the gas station - B4 you're completely out of town) and head west about 8-10 miles or so. It is also a very pretty lake ... just like the Twins out of Mammoth

just my .02

[Badfish2]

This report would have been a lot cooler 3 months ago... best picture was the CHP photo