Sierra_Smitty
09-20-2007, 12:22 PM
Now that fall is here I’m actually getting at least 1 day off a week, sometimes 2, so it’s my turn to get some fishing and hiking in. My brother Lane and myself had the same days off so I talked him into making a hike with me up to the Treasure Lakes up above South Lake in the Bishop Creek Drainage. The bottom Treasure Lakes hold Golden-Rainbow hybrids and although I’ve caught them out of the outlet stream before, and one hybrid at the mouth of the Treasure Inlet at South Lake, I had yet to actually make it to the Treasures themselves.
The hike wasn’t too bad but was a bit more intense than most of the lakes I hiked to back in 2005. The scenery is fantastic the whole way, gorgeous hike, and seems to keep you mind off of the fact that you’re hiking above 10K feet. The weather and the fishing were both phenomenal. Most of the fish were on the smaller side and measured in the 6-9” range. Some of the fish had more of the characteristic Golden coloration than others and a few looked to be almost fully Golden. We spotted several fish in the 11” range but they were outnumbered by the smaller models. We tossed spinners, jigs, trout worms, a few spoons and the fly/bubble combo. We caught fish on jigs and trout worms but by far the best bite was on the fly/bubble right after the sunlight left the surface of the lake in the evening. We used size 18 mosquito and adams patterns. We fished both of the lower lakes, the larger of which had the larger fish, that we spotted at least.
Here are a few pics I took while up there….these lakes would be a nice place to spend a weekend backpacking for sure.
South Lake on the way to our shortcut to the Treasures
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/fallcolorssouthlake9-16-07.jpg
Treasure Lakes outlet
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/treasurelakesoutletstream9-16-07.jpg
Treasure Lake #1 when you first get there
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/treasurelake19-16-07.jpg
Another view of Treasure Lake #1
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/treasurelake2ndview9-16-07.jpg
Golden Rainbow Hybrid
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/treasurehybrid9-17-07.jpg
And another….
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/treasurelakeshybrid29-17-07.jpg
View to the east from Treasure #1
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/viewtoeast9-17-07.jpg
Peace,
Smitty
The hike wasn’t too bad but was a bit more intense than most of the lakes I hiked to back in 2005. The scenery is fantastic the whole way, gorgeous hike, and seems to keep you mind off of the fact that you’re hiking above 10K feet. The weather and the fishing were both phenomenal. Most of the fish were on the smaller side and measured in the 6-9” range. Some of the fish had more of the characteristic Golden coloration than others and a few looked to be almost fully Golden. We spotted several fish in the 11” range but they were outnumbered by the smaller models. We tossed spinners, jigs, trout worms, a few spoons and the fly/bubble combo. We caught fish on jigs and trout worms but by far the best bite was on the fly/bubble right after the sunlight left the surface of the lake in the evening. We used size 18 mosquito and adams patterns. We fished both of the lower lakes, the larger of which had the larger fish, that we spotted at least.
Here are a few pics I took while up there….these lakes would be a nice place to spend a weekend backpacking for sure.
South Lake on the way to our shortcut to the Treasures
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/fallcolorssouthlake9-16-07.jpg
Treasure Lakes outlet
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/treasurelakesoutletstream9-16-07.jpg
Treasure Lake #1 when you first get there
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/treasurelake19-16-07.jpg
Another view of Treasure Lake #1
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/treasurelake2ndview9-16-07.jpg
Golden Rainbow Hybrid
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/treasurehybrid9-17-07.jpg
And another….
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/treasurelakeshybrid29-17-07.jpg
View to the east from Treasure #1
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o181/sierrasmitty/viewtoeast9-17-07.jpg
Peace,
Smitty