Long Lake Bishop Pass Trail 7-24-10

[sierraimpressions]

Been lurking on this site for a little while and thought I'd post a trip I took yesterday afternoon to Long Lake, off the Bishop Pass Trail, South Lake. Caught two fish, brookie and rainbow, and had several on the line but failed to land em.

I've been pretty casual about fishing, just a few times a summer in the streams mostly. But lately I've seemed to catch the fishing bug and starting to get more serious about it, meaning I'd like to seek out the naitives and do more backcountry fishing. so I just HAD to upgrade my rig last week to do this, haha:LOL:

Picked up a 6' daiwa spinmatic and shimano sonora 1000 w/4# fluro. really liking this setup for the UL fishing in the streams here. So I strapped this to my pack and headed up to south lake. took just under an hour to reach long lake and arrived to distant clapps of thounder and thickening clouds over the crest. By the number of day hikers going down the trail as I was ascending, they must've left early due to the approaching weather.

I spent about 5 hours there from 230 to 700 and had an awesome time, mostly had the area to myself, 'cept the skeeters and the one mouse that kept making a run at my pack!

The fish were feeding on the surface for the most part. First tried my PM lure with just some looky-loos then as the rain started to fall I found some cover and setup my bubble and fly rig. Having never used this before I was curious how I was going to cast this 6' leader. All was good and that thing flew out pretty far. The mosquito fly I was using sat just below the surface. Wasn't sure what kind of action to put on that fly so tried a bunch of different things. Took a few casts 'til I got a bite and hooked a 8-10" brookie, biggest brook I've caught yet. I took his pic and let 'em go.

I eventually worked my way over to the outlet stream and got some fun action on a black/gold PM but I didn't land any of the several bites i had. Almost had one landed but he worked himself free just before I could grab him. Was really fun though, I was casting up stream into the narrow fast current, willows on both sides and lots of rocks. Which was why I was having a hard time hooking the fish, wasn't sure if I was snagging rocks, current, or fish. Turned out it was fish and they hit that lure hard. Guess I just didn't set that hook soon enough. I'm learning!

Towards the end of the day I got several hits on a PM in the lake, even had the fish on the line only to have him leap out of the water and free himself of the lure!! :Shocked: That was pretty impressive!

I eventually landed him on a different PM ‘cause he stopped biting after that little stunt. Though he tried unsuccessfully to do it again on the cast I landed him on! He turned out to be a 8-10” rainbow. Quite the feisty fish!! Tried to get a pic of him but he wouldn’t sit still long enough so off he went.

As the thunderstorm and winds faded the reflections on the lake were just spectacular! Had to put the rod down several times to shoot some pics. Long Lake is becoming one of my favorite backcountry lakes.
Had a great sunset coming down the trail. What more could you ask for, well more fish caught, but I’ll settle for this!! Until next time…..

brookie

http://bishopweather.com/fishingnetwork.net/LL08.JPG

the waiting
http://bishopweather.com/fishingnetwork.net/LL09.JPG

The rest of the pics (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sierra_impressions/sets/72157624453332043/show/)




Cory Freeman

[Mike274]

Congrats and thanks. I am in the same boat. Until 2 years ago I hit the same old haunts year after year. Sure I got plenty of fish, but each time I just wanted more adventure. The past two years I have made it a point to fish at least 1 new lake every trip. Glad to read your post. I will be heading up in a week and half for the family trip. My 14year old son and I will be going up a little early to fish some new spots. I will report as I return.

Tight Lines
Mike

[BishopTrouter]

I was up near there too! I was fishing the Tyee lakes off the south fork though. Ur pictures are great; the wildflowers are so nice right now, as are the mosquitoes...

[tpfishnfool]

Great report and pics.. Whats the elevation at long lake ?

[sierraimpressions]

Great report and pics.. Whats the elevation at long lake ?

thanks! it's just under 10,800. trailhd starts about 9200

[sierraimpressions]

I was up near there too! I was fishing the Tyee lakes off the south fork though. Ur pictures are great; the wildflowers are so nice right now, as are the mosquitoes...

ya, mosquitos suck! ;) even w/ the 40% deet didn't last very long 'til they were smarming again. luckily the wind was keeping them at bay.

[flytyingreloader]

I've been visiting and fishing in Long Lake since 1973. Those PMs are usually "the ticket" in that lake and many other back-country waters. Black body with yellow spots, or yellow body with red spots, gold or silver blade doesn't seem to matter. Kastmasters are another Sierra back-country "standard", gold or silver, and in smaller sizes/weights.

TINY flies are the best for fly-and-bubble spinning or conventional fly fishing in these waters. Size 18 down to size 22 flies get 5X the strikes a #16 or larger fly will attract. One exception to that rule are small Muddler minnows, #8-#12 if you can find them/tie them. Those work all over the Sierras.

[mr. trout]

awesome pics!
i was up there by south lake that day too and the storm did come in pretty fast!!

[sierraimpressions]

@flytyingreloaderthanks: for the great info flytyingreloader! I'll have to try the even smaller flys than what I was using, #16 mosquito. I've been using PM lures as you wrote about in the 0,1,2 range. thanks again for sharing your knowledge about what works.

@mr trout: ya, I was keeping an eye on that storm as it started wrapping around. Luckily it died off and all was good. though I did get caught in a good storm late yesterday afternoon at little lake valley!