Greg Madrigal
07-25-2010, 11:40 PM
I apologize in advance-I usually take more pics, but for some reason, did not on this trip. And I like the scenery a lot, and take pics of things I like, so bear w/me.
My buddy Harv and I hit up the Eastern Sierras for 4 days to get our fly fishin' on. We fished the Mammoth area first, then met up with Beerboy and "That girl" Meagan to fish South Lake from a pontoon on Sat.
Thursday- Day 1
We arrived at Coldwater campground (by lake Mary and Duck Pass trail head)around 2pm and the place was bulging at the seams. Temp was around 80 degrees. I thought there was going to be plenty of walk-in space, but no way. Luckily, we asked the camp hosts and they were able to squeeze us into a spot but only for the 1 night we needed. Note to self: Make reservations online at least 4 days in advance. (that is their minimum)
We set up camp and took ourselves straight up Duck Pass trail to a lake I remembered fishing a few years back when I did a back country hike to Duck & Purple lakes. Lake arrowhead is approx. a mile hike up the trail. We arrived around 5pm to fish rising all along the shore and even within a foot or two! I tied on a squeeter (They were thick almost EVERYWHERE on this trip) on and caught a few nice 11-13" brookies. Lost a bunch of flies to the vegetation and trees, but not impossible to back cast. Harvey worked the inlet and began working the fish on a #16 blue-wing olive. He managed one that had to be 14 or 15". I joined him around 7pm-ish and the fish began rising like crazy all over the surface of the lake. We had our fun then headed back to camp.
Friday- Day 2
We broke camp at 5:45, and headed over to the ski area to make it into Devil's Postpile before the 7 am deadline. If you arrive at the entry gate after 7am, you MUST take a bus in and out. With 8 minutes to spare, we headed for the San Joaquin at Pumice Flat campground to meet the party from the Sierra Pacific Fly Fishers Club. They were doing a "getting started flyfishing outing" and I wanted to tag along to learn the river since I had never fished it. The group never appeared, but, as luck would have it, their were some nice guys staying there and we managed to hook up with two. It was very cool having our own personal "guides." These were some really nice guys, Eric & Rick, from the Sierra Pacific Fly Fishers Club. They took us in and showed us the ropes since they had been fishing there for the last week on their 9th annual week-long trip. Thanks guys! I hooked a small native (No stockers here) on my second drift. My buddy ends up with a 15" brown out of the fast water next to overhanging vegetation. He was the hot stick as he lande around 8 fish mostly browns. I managed a couple of browns and a bow. I think I used and elks-hair, an adams, and a blue dun. I also ran a duel rig and got bit on a F/B Pheasant tail. I missed a bunch of strikes as the water was running high from the late run-off. The scenery, the wild flowers, and the sheer overall beauty of this place made this a magical outing.
After that I took Harv to see Devils Postpile for his first time(my second) The tempo was around 83 degrees. Someone on the trail had heat exhaustion. I heard the rangers talking about it on the radio, so make sure you have PLENTY OF WATER anywhere you go. Only the elevations over 11K seem to stay in teh 70's. Then I went and took a shower in the natural hot springs bath(Shower)house at Red's Meadow campground. I just wanted to say that I did it. That thing was BUSY btw with hikers coming in fom all over on the PCT.
View on the way out looking West- Long Live Team 57!!!!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030206.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030205.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030208.jpg
We headed back to Bishop for some great Mexican food at Las Palmas near Brocks and possibly a few margaritas. Eat there-It's great! Then, we met up with Beerboy and "That girl" Meagan at the El Rancho Motel where we would stay for the next two nights. Another food tip- Rick and Eric told me that the Bowling alley serves up the best burgers anywhere! Yep, the bowling alley....
Saturday- Day 3
We slept in, ate b-fast at Jacks (MMMMMM) and then headed up to Parchers to say Hi to Jared, and his two henchmen Jefe & Ryan. We got the 411 on everything, and then picked up our pontoon for the 12-7 shift. We trolled for two avg. stockers on the way to the NW inlet. We arrived, set up shop next to some poacher throwing bobber n worms and working the poor trout. They took off a while later so we were then able to fish both sides of the inlet where water was coming in.
There was a beautiful waterfall high above this inlet. You can see in the middle of the picture below.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030221.jpg
I love South Lake for this reason:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030219.jpg
We had a steady pic on fly fish and Mike n Meagan (m&m) were schooling the stockers on mini jigs.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030214.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030215.jpg
95% of fly fish were natives. They were so pretty! Here, Harvey nets his first fish in the wenge net I made for him last Christmas. Gotta love the rubber nets! No hook tangling!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030229.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030228.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030227.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030225.jpg
Around 5:00, a storm blew in and within minutes, it was sleeting 1/4" snowballs! See the deck of the boat in this pic:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030239.jpg
Note also the splashes in the lake from the sleet! And I left my jacket in the car cuz it was too hot!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030238.jpg
We got pretty wet, but the storm blew out as fast as it moved in. Then, the fishing went WIDE OPEN!
It was awesome, they bit everything we threw, nymphs, emergers, black ants, dries. God, it was fun. Harbey even showed Mike how to fish and he ended up with at least 4! He's "hooked" now....of course...
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030240.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030242.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030251.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030249.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030245.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030232.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030234.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030235.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030236.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030237.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030240.jpg
Interesting note: All fish caught this day were rainbows except one brookie caught on the fly by Harv.
Rainbow after the storm:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030255.jpg
Even ol' Smitty came out to play afterwards. Thanks for everything Jared! Parchers runs a first-class operation up there. They really made our trip!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030259.jpg
Sunset after a great day on the water:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030258.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030257.jpg
Me n Harv goofing around on the way in:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030265.jpg
m&m doing the same
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030270.jpg
We all slept in Sunday and evaced out since the temp was supposed to be 105 in Bishop today.
Hope you all enjoyed 1% as much as I did!
GM<><
My buddy Harv and I hit up the Eastern Sierras for 4 days to get our fly fishin' on. We fished the Mammoth area first, then met up with Beerboy and "That girl" Meagan to fish South Lake from a pontoon on Sat.
Thursday- Day 1
We arrived at Coldwater campground (by lake Mary and Duck Pass trail head)around 2pm and the place was bulging at the seams. Temp was around 80 degrees. I thought there was going to be plenty of walk-in space, but no way. Luckily, we asked the camp hosts and they were able to squeeze us into a spot but only for the 1 night we needed. Note to self: Make reservations online at least 4 days in advance. (that is their minimum)
We set up camp and took ourselves straight up Duck Pass trail to a lake I remembered fishing a few years back when I did a back country hike to Duck & Purple lakes. Lake arrowhead is approx. a mile hike up the trail. We arrived around 5pm to fish rising all along the shore and even within a foot or two! I tied on a squeeter (They were thick almost EVERYWHERE on this trip) on and caught a few nice 11-13" brookies. Lost a bunch of flies to the vegetation and trees, but not impossible to back cast. Harvey worked the inlet and began working the fish on a #16 blue-wing olive. He managed one that had to be 14 or 15". I joined him around 7pm-ish and the fish began rising like crazy all over the surface of the lake. We had our fun then headed back to camp.
Friday- Day 2
We broke camp at 5:45, and headed over to the ski area to make it into Devil's Postpile before the 7 am deadline. If you arrive at the entry gate after 7am, you MUST take a bus in and out. With 8 minutes to spare, we headed for the San Joaquin at Pumice Flat campground to meet the party from the Sierra Pacific Fly Fishers Club. They were doing a "getting started flyfishing outing" and I wanted to tag along to learn the river since I had never fished it. The group never appeared, but, as luck would have it, their were some nice guys staying there and we managed to hook up with two. It was very cool having our own personal "guides." These were some really nice guys, Eric & Rick, from the Sierra Pacific Fly Fishers Club. They took us in and showed us the ropes since they had been fishing there for the last week on their 9th annual week-long trip. Thanks guys! I hooked a small native (No stockers here) on my second drift. My buddy ends up with a 15" brown out of the fast water next to overhanging vegetation. He was the hot stick as he lande around 8 fish mostly browns. I managed a couple of browns and a bow. I think I used and elks-hair, an adams, and a blue dun. I also ran a duel rig and got bit on a F/B Pheasant tail. I missed a bunch of strikes as the water was running high from the late run-off. The scenery, the wild flowers, and the sheer overall beauty of this place made this a magical outing.
After that I took Harv to see Devils Postpile for his first time(my second) The tempo was around 83 degrees. Someone on the trail had heat exhaustion. I heard the rangers talking about it on the radio, so make sure you have PLENTY OF WATER anywhere you go. Only the elevations over 11K seem to stay in teh 70's. Then I went and took a shower in the natural hot springs bath(Shower)house at Red's Meadow campground. I just wanted to say that I did it. That thing was BUSY btw with hikers coming in fom all over on the PCT.
View on the way out looking West- Long Live Team 57!!!!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030206.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030205.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030208.jpg
We headed back to Bishop for some great Mexican food at Las Palmas near Brocks and possibly a few margaritas. Eat there-It's great! Then, we met up with Beerboy and "That girl" Meagan at the El Rancho Motel where we would stay for the next two nights. Another food tip- Rick and Eric told me that the Bowling alley serves up the best burgers anywhere! Yep, the bowling alley....
Saturday- Day 3
We slept in, ate b-fast at Jacks (MMMMMM) and then headed up to Parchers to say Hi to Jared, and his two henchmen Jefe & Ryan. We got the 411 on everything, and then picked up our pontoon for the 12-7 shift. We trolled for two avg. stockers on the way to the NW inlet. We arrived, set up shop next to some poacher throwing bobber n worms and working the poor trout. They took off a while later so we were then able to fish both sides of the inlet where water was coming in.
There was a beautiful waterfall high above this inlet. You can see in the middle of the picture below.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030221.jpg
I love South Lake for this reason:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030219.jpg
We had a steady pic on fly fish and Mike n Meagan (m&m) were schooling the stockers on mini jigs.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030214.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030215.jpg
95% of fly fish were natives. They were so pretty! Here, Harvey nets his first fish in the wenge net I made for him last Christmas. Gotta love the rubber nets! No hook tangling!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030229.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030228.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030227.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030225.jpg
Around 5:00, a storm blew in and within minutes, it was sleeting 1/4" snowballs! See the deck of the boat in this pic:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030239.jpg
Note also the splashes in the lake from the sleet! And I left my jacket in the car cuz it was too hot!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030238.jpg
We got pretty wet, but the storm blew out as fast as it moved in. Then, the fishing went WIDE OPEN!
It was awesome, they bit everything we threw, nymphs, emergers, black ants, dries. God, it was fun. Harbey even showed Mike how to fish and he ended up with at least 4! He's "hooked" now....of course...
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030240.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030242.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030251.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030249.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030245.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030232.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030234.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030235.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030236.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030237.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030240.jpg
Interesting note: All fish caught this day were rainbows except one brookie caught on the fly by Harv.
Rainbow after the storm:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030255.jpg
Even ol' Smitty came out to play afterwards. Thanks for everything Jared! Parchers runs a first-class operation up there. They really made our trip!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030259.jpg
Sunset after a great day on the water:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030258.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030257.jpg
Me n Harv goofing around on the way in:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030265.jpg
m&m doing the same
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/Sierras%207-10/P1030270.jpg
We all slept in Sunday and evaced out since the temp was supposed to be 105 in Bishop today.
Hope you all enjoyed 1% as much as I did!
GM<><