Skyler
08-09-2009, 05:30 PM
Sorry for the week-late report here. Been busy with school lately. Anyways, finally convinced these two to come up to the sierras with me last weekend for a little peace, quiet, and R&R (for me, a little C&R, he he he)...
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3087/1001322d.jpg
Spent three days up in native golden country without a rainbow or brown as far as the eye could see. Had an awesome time with my wife, daughter and dog. Eating food cooked over an open fire, sleeping in tents, and stalking wild trout!
After a few days of spending all my free time doing this, I was ready to go, he he:
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5655/1001263s.jpg
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/6884/1001268p.jpg
Got up there friday night and set up camp after the 4 hour drive. Cooked up some BBQ chicken, baked potatoes, and corn on the cobb, and put back a few drinks...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4858/1001275s.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/7664/1001278drl.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4453/1001279z.jpg
My daughter and I headed down on a midnight hike to a beaver dam I spotted a fat beaver at. Got there and the beaver wasn't out, but we did catch this little guy, which we used to scare the bejesus out of my wife, lol. Here he is hopping around the tent...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/1213/1001281c.jpg
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3267/1001283i.jpg
Next day came and I was up at 7 am breaking camp. I soaked in the view, and bid farewell to our sweet river side campsite...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4669/1001285h.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/5192/1001287p.jpg
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/4521/1001288v.jpg
We headed up to the actual fishing grounds and secured our next camp by 9 am...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/3412/1001289f.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/1752/1001290n.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4615/1001291c.jpg
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5924/1001293s.jpg
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5995/1001307c.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3789/1001310r.jpg
I spent half of the day chasing goldens. My wife and daughter spent it at camp playing a Nintendo DS, lol. I caught about a dozen or so of these guys after finally finding out where they were holding and what they were eating (took almost two hours for me to catch my first fish, then it was WIDE OPEN!). The water was VERY low, and there were few fishable pools, but luckily I tryed some slingshot casts through the most hellish of cover, and found them! They were all in slow shady log-jam type areas with overhanging braches. When I say low, I mean LOW! I normally wouldn't fish water this low, for the fish's sake, but I had already spent enough time and money just getting up there, and I wasn't about to go home with a skunk! This pic will give you an idea. This is the exact spot I caught my first golden. It was 3 feet deep then!
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4931/1001297z.jpg
No more long casting across open meadows for golden trout. Time for ninja stalking through thick brush and belly-crawling over logjams...My specialty, he he he...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9214/1001299yxm.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4435/1001300g.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/5632/1001301w.jpg
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/4869/1001302r.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3200/1001303b.jpg
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/9800/1001304g.jpg
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/9822/1001305rtr.jpg
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/6131/1001306w.jpg
While fishing, I somehow managed to lose a fly box somewhere on the way (see attached pic. It had far more flies in it than the pic shows though. 28 to be exact, all hand tied, lol) with about 15 hours of my work in it!!!! Well worth it though IMO. I'd tie 30 dry flies any day to catch a couple of these beautiful 10" native Goldens, he he. If anybody comes across it, don't worry about returning it. Enjoy the flies. They work quite well up there, he he...
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/3450/1001272b.jpg
That night, we had a nice dinner of hot dogs and baked beans, lol. Caught this guy attacking my flashlight:
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4079/1001312n.jpg
Next day, we woke up to the beautiful sierra mist, packed up camp and headed to a different stretch of stream...
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6033/1001317h.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/3371/1001318o.jpg
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6209/1001320qdd.jpg
The goal? To get my six-year-old daughter on her first golden trout. Well, it didn't take long. After about 15 minutes, the mission was accomplished, and fought over a 5 foot tall beaver dam to boot! My daughter can slaughter! A nice 10"er! Caught on a brown Berkely trout worm...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9595/1001321y.jpg
At this point I set my camera down and unhooked her fish for her. My wife and her headed back toward the truck to eat lunch, and I headed upstream (SANS CAMERA!!!) Caught a few dinks then found a HUGE golden sitting in a pool upstream. In fact, he measured right at 12"! I cast for about 5 minutes with an irresistable dry fly, creating my own hatch from all dirrections (If a fish isn't biting, I can MAKE him bite now, he he he), and got a few missed rises before I hit the fly with the Zink and sunk it below the surface film.
Well, after about 5 wet casts, he couldn't take the fly floating right past his face anymore and munched it with a vengance. WHAM! Fish on! He fought as hard as any two pound bass I've ever hooked, and made three awesome leaps out of the water, one of which got him 5 feet of air! I stripped him in and landed him, reached for my camera, and my heart sank as I realized the camera case on my belt was empty! Apparently I spent all that time teasing the fish, and yet the only pic of my PB Golden is in my head!
At that point, I started the hike back along my own footsteps. I'm glad I do a lot of hunting, cause I was pretty easy to track, lol. Well, I got back to the beaver dam where the rugrat caught her fish and found the camera sitting right where I left it! Thank GOD!! I was happy enough just to have found it, and since my wife, kid, and dog were waiting for me at the truck, I took it as a sign and decided to cut the day short (mainly to beat the southbound traffic on sunday). I was just happy enough to get Sakura's first Golden on film. My PB was inconsequential. So I headed back to the car, told my tale, and we took the long trek southbound to hell. We arrived in San Bernardino at around 4:00 pm, much earlier than planned, which was nice, and took our first shower in three days (always welcome after sleeping in the dirt, lol). Anyways, spooky fish were caught, zen was found, and a good time was had by all. Hope you guys enjoyed the report. Tight lines.
-Skyler
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3087/1001322d.jpg
Spent three days up in native golden country without a rainbow or brown as far as the eye could see. Had an awesome time with my wife, daughter and dog. Eating food cooked over an open fire, sleeping in tents, and stalking wild trout!
After a few days of spending all my free time doing this, I was ready to go, he he:
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5655/1001263s.jpg
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/6884/1001268p.jpg
Got up there friday night and set up camp after the 4 hour drive. Cooked up some BBQ chicken, baked potatoes, and corn on the cobb, and put back a few drinks...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4858/1001275s.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/7664/1001278drl.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4453/1001279z.jpg
My daughter and I headed down on a midnight hike to a beaver dam I spotted a fat beaver at. Got there and the beaver wasn't out, but we did catch this little guy, which we used to scare the bejesus out of my wife, lol. Here he is hopping around the tent...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/1213/1001281c.jpg
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3267/1001283i.jpg
Next day came and I was up at 7 am breaking camp. I soaked in the view, and bid farewell to our sweet river side campsite...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4669/1001285h.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/5192/1001287p.jpg
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/4521/1001288v.jpg
We headed up to the actual fishing grounds and secured our next camp by 9 am...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/3412/1001289f.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/1752/1001290n.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4615/1001291c.jpg
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5924/1001293s.jpg
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5995/1001307c.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3789/1001310r.jpg
I spent half of the day chasing goldens. My wife and daughter spent it at camp playing a Nintendo DS, lol. I caught about a dozen or so of these guys after finally finding out where they were holding and what they were eating (took almost two hours for me to catch my first fish, then it was WIDE OPEN!). The water was VERY low, and there were few fishable pools, but luckily I tryed some slingshot casts through the most hellish of cover, and found them! They were all in slow shady log-jam type areas with overhanging braches. When I say low, I mean LOW! I normally wouldn't fish water this low, for the fish's sake, but I had already spent enough time and money just getting up there, and I wasn't about to go home with a skunk! This pic will give you an idea. This is the exact spot I caught my first golden. It was 3 feet deep then!
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4931/1001297z.jpg
No more long casting across open meadows for golden trout. Time for ninja stalking through thick brush and belly-crawling over logjams...My specialty, he he he...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9214/1001299yxm.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4435/1001300g.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/5632/1001301w.jpg
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/4869/1001302r.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3200/1001303b.jpg
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/9800/1001304g.jpg
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/9822/1001305rtr.jpg
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/6131/1001306w.jpg
While fishing, I somehow managed to lose a fly box somewhere on the way (see attached pic. It had far more flies in it than the pic shows though. 28 to be exact, all hand tied, lol) with about 15 hours of my work in it!!!! Well worth it though IMO. I'd tie 30 dry flies any day to catch a couple of these beautiful 10" native Goldens, he he. If anybody comes across it, don't worry about returning it. Enjoy the flies. They work quite well up there, he he...
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/3450/1001272b.jpg
That night, we had a nice dinner of hot dogs and baked beans, lol. Caught this guy attacking my flashlight:
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4079/1001312n.jpg
Next day, we woke up to the beautiful sierra mist, packed up camp and headed to a different stretch of stream...
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6033/1001317h.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/3371/1001318o.jpg
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6209/1001320qdd.jpg
The goal? To get my six-year-old daughter on her first golden trout. Well, it didn't take long. After about 15 minutes, the mission was accomplished, and fought over a 5 foot tall beaver dam to boot! My daughter can slaughter! A nice 10"er! Caught on a brown Berkely trout worm...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9595/1001321y.jpg
At this point I set my camera down and unhooked her fish for her. My wife and her headed back toward the truck to eat lunch, and I headed upstream (SANS CAMERA!!!) Caught a few dinks then found a HUGE golden sitting in a pool upstream. In fact, he measured right at 12"! I cast for about 5 minutes with an irresistable dry fly, creating my own hatch from all dirrections (If a fish isn't biting, I can MAKE him bite now, he he he), and got a few missed rises before I hit the fly with the Zink and sunk it below the surface film.
Well, after about 5 wet casts, he couldn't take the fly floating right past his face anymore and munched it with a vengance. WHAM! Fish on! He fought as hard as any two pound bass I've ever hooked, and made three awesome leaps out of the water, one of which got him 5 feet of air! I stripped him in and landed him, reached for my camera, and my heart sank as I realized the camera case on my belt was empty! Apparently I spent all that time teasing the fish, and yet the only pic of my PB Golden is in my head!
At that point, I started the hike back along my own footsteps. I'm glad I do a lot of hunting, cause I was pretty easy to track, lol. Well, I got back to the beaver dam where the rugrat caught her fish and found the camera sitting right where I left it! Thank GOD!! I was happy enough just to have found it, and since my wife, kid, and dog were waiting for me at the truck, I took it as a sign and decided to cut the day short (mainly to beat the southbound traffic on sunday). I was just happy enough to get Sakura's first Golden on film. My PB was inconsequential. So I headed back to the car, told my tale, and we took the long trek southbound to hell. We arrived in San Bernardino at around 4:00 pm, much earlier than planned, which was nice, and took our first shower in three days (always welcome after sleeping in the dirt, lol). Anyways, spooky fish were caught, zen was found, and a good time was had by all. Hope you guys enjoyed the report. Tight lines.
-Skyler