Sierra Trip Report 7/5 - 7/10 w/ pictures

[Troutketcher]

Headed up the 395 the day after 4th of July for our annual Sierra trip with my dad and brother. Couldn’t believe how many cars we saw coming back home from the other direction…it really must have been a packed weekend up there for the holiday! But was surprised not to see many post reports on here from that weekend? Stopped at Jacks in Bishop for a late lunch and arrived in Mammoth at 3:00. We didn’t waste any time and headed straight up to fish the mammoth lakes. Made a quick stop at Ricks who informed us they had just stocked all the Mammoth lakes on Friday so we spent the whole rest of the day fishing Mamie and George…however Rick must have been a liar cause we only caught 1 fish and nobody was really catching anything. Kind of a disappointing start to the trip but knew there would be plenty of more fishing to come.

Day 2
Got to Crowley at 7:30 and shore fished at Alligator Point all morning for 5 fish, 3 normal guys and these 2 which were about 2.5 pounds each. What an awesome fight they give catching them on 2 lb line…never seen fish jump out of the water so many times. Afterwards we fished the Owens just below Browns Campground and found a nice pocket where we needled them on every cast, all stockers and nothing of size put was a great way to end the day.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth201000500.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth10068.jpg

Day 3
Decided to try a new hike we had never tried before out of Lundy Lake. It’s a 3 1/3 mile hike to Oneida Lake. Got to the trailhead at Lundy lake at 8:00 and made it to Oneida at 9:30. It was probably the steepest 3 miles I have ever hiked, we were wiped out when we got there but what a beautiful lake it was. There’s some pretty nice views along the way and you pass through the ruins of a mining camp. Threw our lines in and caught probably about 12 of these guys. Beautiful fish. Hiked back to Lundy and fished the outlet and did pretty well catching another 12 fish. All normal stockers except for this brown, kinda cool cause I had never caught a rainbow, brooke, and brown all in the same day before.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010011.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010029.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010030.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010010.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010042.jpg

Day 4
Headed up to Bridgeport for the first time ever. We had no idea where the good fishing spots were so we decided to hit up the East Walker first where my brother caught this nice brown on a barbless gold kastmaster. The browns were jumping like crazy but couldn’t get any to hit the fly and bubble.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010045.jpg

Next we tried Bridgeport Reservoir off the rocks at the outlet with no luck…it was the middle of the day so we weren’t expecting much. From there we drove to Upper Twin to explore, much more scenic than the reservoir and was quite crowded. Found a shady spot right of the road to fish and once again didn’t have any luck nor was anybody else. From there we decided to stop at Virginia on the way home. We were told they had just stocked that day so we brought out the Thomas Bouyants and caught about 6 stockers.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010068.jpg

Day 5
Drove up to Saddlebag lake and had our traditional pancake breakfast. Bombest pancakes ever!
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth10049.jpg

We actually lucked out cause little did we know that a week earlier the lake was still completely frozen and the day we got there was officially their resort/shop’s opening day. So if we had gotten there one day earlier we would have missed out on the pancakes! After breakfast we fished a few spots around the lake for a steady bite. We were really trying to target the Alpers we saw cruising the shoreline but no luck on those. The shop told us they stocked about 280 Alpers two days before, saw a few on other’s stringers. Caught 10 fish in totally, 7 stockers and 3 brookes.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010077.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010076.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010074.jpg

FYI they are doing some road paving on the Tioga Pass road so expect some delays going up.

Day 6
The final day was the much anticipated hike to Lake Dorothy out of Convict Lake. We had talked about this hike for years and finally decided to go for it. It’s a 6 mile hike to Dorothy from the Convict parking lot…definitely not a short hike. We were at the trailhead at 6:45 and went about 4 miles until we came to this crossing which was pretty much impossible to cross, the water was rushing way too hard and fast. We tried building a bridge with logs and rocks but there was just no chance. It was highly disappointing but the hike was still beautiful and gives us something to look forward to next time in a year with less snowfall. Here are some of the pics.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010081.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010082.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010099.jpg

Later in the day we decided to try fishing a backcountry stream we had never fished before and were rewarded with these guys. Golden/Rainbow hybrids??? Let me know what you guys think they are. Prettiest fish I had ever caught and highlight of the trip for sure.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010089.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth2010092.jpg

Ended the trip by trying Crowley one last time off the rocks. My dad hooked into a monster that instantly snapped his 3 lb line as it lept out of the water. I also hooked into a nice one on a lip ripperz who jumped out of water and shook loose of the lure. Man these fish are smart!
Overall, it was another great trip and was fun catching all the different species, and already have next year’s trip all planned out haha We celebrated the end of the trip by eating the best pizza in the eastern sierras at Giovannis in Mammoth.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u267/brlennox/Mammoth%202010/Mammoth10054.jpg

[flytyingreloader]

AWESOME trip! Those last photos do look like rainbow/golden hybrids.

CA has been in a drought condition for so long that "normal" snow years like the current conditions (103% of normal) seem like "heavy" years. I suspect in a month or so that creek that barred your crossing will be fordable.

I live close enough to Bishop that I can do a daytrip to the Canyon lakes if I leave about 4 A.M. Your post has prompted me to do so, probably Tuesday. THANK YOU!

[Fishbones]

Amazing trip and report, thank you for sharing your fishing vacation,
great pictures too, Congrats on all fish caught and thats a good lookin pizza

[diamondbear]

Great adventure , thanks for sharing .

[hookon]

Great trip! I managed to shore fish Crowley with my family 2 weeks ago, but to no avail.
Are there any 'hot' spots on that lake?

[troutdog]

Looks like you had a great time up the 395, covered lots of water thats for sure....thanks for the report and pics!


TD

[Trout-Slayer77]

troutketcher, thanks for the great read, amazing report and pics !!!! that looks like a great trip, thats cool you did the hike to Oneida lake, i've wondered about that lake for awhile now. cool looking brookies. and those Golden/Rainbow hybrids are awesome looking too ! way to go up there. i cant wait for my week vacation in bridgeport....5 days to go.

[Crawler]

Great report. Thanks for sharing. I must say those are some nice brookies you guys caught. Above average for sure. Im no fish bioligist but I think those last fish are just some really nice looking rainbows. With all the spots below the lateral line, they dont look much like goldens to me. I have caught some unbelievably beautiful rainbows in streams that looked similar to those. Again, thanks for the report and great pics!

[Crawler]

Oh, and that first rainbow pictured. THAT is what a lake dwelling rainbow trout should look like. Just Beautiful!!!!

[bstolton]

awesome report, looks like you guys had a great trip. nice pics and some great looking trout. can`t wait for my trip up the 395 in 2 1/2 weeks.
Bill

[Sierra_Smitty]

Epic report!

Those last two fish are simply incredible - I'd guess hybrids as well - but I will admit that I've never seen anything that looks exactly like those fish....from the side they look like wild bows but the belly orange is a trip.

[dchass]

Those are great looking brookies, did you catch them on the gold kastmaster as well?


AWESOME trip! Those last photos do look like rainbow/golden hybrids.

CA has been in a drought condition for so long that "normal" snow years like the current conditions (103% of normal) seem like "heavy" years. I suspect in a month or so that creek that barred your crossing will be fordable.

I live close enough to Bishop that I can do a daytrip to the Canyon lakes if I leave about 4 A.M. Your post has prompted me to do so, probably Tuesday. THANK YOU!

[SierraPeaks]

The mystery fish almost look as though they have a little cutthroat in them.

I'm going to forward your pics to my buddy with the DFG.

Awesome trip bro...thanks for the pics and report.

[Troutketcher]

Awesome yeah let me know what your friend from the DFG says, the more I try and research what type of trout they are, the more confused I get haha their bright orange bellies are really throwing me off. Based on where we caught them, I didn't expect their to be any golden/hybrids as the elevation was only around 8500 feet and I know goldens are typically above 10,000.

Dchass - the brooks we caught at Saddlebag were caught on nightcrawlers and the brooks at Oneida on an kastmasters and TBs

Hookon - This was actually only the second year we tried fishing Crowley so I don't really know any hotspots, we just drive around the backside of the lake to Alligator Point and fish off the rocks, had more success there last year, this year was a little more slow but still got some quality fish, I think next year we will probably try a boat to try some of the other areas like McGee Bay.

[teejay]

Wow. So many adventures rolled up into one trip. Those mystery fish may have some cutthroat genes but I don't believe that pure cuttys of any variety have white tipped fins like the fish in the picture. They also somewhat resemble the Little Kern Golden but since there's no parr marks on their sides I would rule that out as well. My vote is that they are hybrids of some kind. Regardless, they are certainly beautiful fish.
Thanks for sharring

[SierraPeaks]

I e-mailed the photos of the mystery fish to my buddy Mike Hayden at CA DFG. He wrote back and said they are Cutthroat/Brown hybrids. But he's bewildered about how they got there. He's going to look into it a little deeper and see what he can find out. He said it's got everyone he showed them to stumped as well as far as where they came from.

You got yourself a regular whodunnit here Ketcher.

[n2H2O]

awesome trip..... im jealous!! i think a trip like this might be in my future..
loved that you guys hiked back, thats pertty scenery.

[See Chris Fish]

Great report! Thanks for sharing.

And to top it off you've even got the experts scratching their heads on the species of fish!!!
Maybe they'll name it after you!

[SierraPeaks]

Great report! Thanks for sharing.

And to top it off you've even got the experts scratching their heads on the species of fish!!!
Maybe they'll name it after you!

LMAO....wouldn't that be something ?
DFG names new trout species...."Ketchcutt Brown"

[Troutketcher]

HAHA brown and cutthroat? Wow now I'm even more confused, didn't even know those two could cross! Keep me posted if he gets back to you with any more information, I definetely wouldn't mind having a fish named after me LOL I can't wait to go back to that same spot next year and catch those same fish to see if the colors/patterns change at all when they get bigger...

[adiablo420]

wow... those fish look freakin amazing..... whos down to go to bishop/mammoth