6/27-7/2 Wishon/Courtright Trip

[Trout-Tuna-For.Me]

Just returned from a camping/fishing trip to Wishon and Courtright Resavoirs N/E of Fresno on the west side of the Sierras. Another great trip as usual since I go there just about every year. We camped at Wishon Village, a very nice and well maintained private campground for both tent and RV camping. They have regular bathrooms with showers and 110v outlets for the girls curling irons and hair dryers.
Weather conditions were great with daytime highs in the high 70s and night lows in the low 40s. We did get an hour of rain Sunday late afternoon and early Tuesday morning, those Sierra storms don't last long so it wasn't a problem.
Fishing at Wishon was great, knowing where and what the fish like to eat helps. Around the dam chartreuse/glitter and orange/glitter and inflated nightcrawlers worked well. I fished mostly where the Kings River enters the Res. since there's more natural rainbows, browns, and an occasional brookie can be caught.....all on more natural baits, flies, or lures. I used live crickets mostly (which I stopped and bought at Shaver Sports on my way to Wishon), catching the same number of browns as rainbows, all being 13 to 19 inches. Trollers at Wishon did well catching all rainbows on gold flashers and nightcrawlers down 3 colors on leadcore.
Courtright Res. fishing went well also. I trolled chrome flashers with a nightcrawler and had 16 fish in an hour. I was C&R all of them, just seeing what they would bite. Rainbows were caught down 2 colors to 4 colors on leadcore with flashers and crawlers. I was getting tired of putting a new crawler on the hook after every fish, so I starting using half of one, then every fish after on that same half I'd leave the inch of worm on the hook and they still bit the damn thing. THESE GUYS WERE HUNGRY OR WHAT?! The other fishing method that worked near the dam at Courtright was a slip bobber with a crawler giving it a slow sink or dangling it a few feet below the surface.
We took a drive up to Huntimgton Lake but didn't fish it, so we took Kaiser Pass to Portal Forebay. I fished there for just over an hour, ending up C&R 14 rainbows. Any bait will work there since the DFG plants it regularly. I mainly fish there because there are also browns and brookies secretly hiding and not many know about them.
All in all this was another great trip. Wishon Village has a site where you can see pics and make reservations for both tent and RV sites........www.wishonvillage.com
Anyone needing info about the area just ask, I've fished all the waters and have stayed at some of the campsites near the lakes. And, anyone who likes the Sierras should try this place.
I tried to upload pics but wasn't successful. I did put them in an album on this site so if you want to see them you'll have to go there.....sorry.
TTFM

[TrouTHeAd]

Sounded like you had a great time up there. I try to fish Wishon every other week. The fishing has been great for me up there. Courtwright is also another great place to fish at. You can't go wrong with either resevior. Those are the places to go if you want to catch trouts.

[sky]

delete info outdated

[KaliDawgFan]

Wishon and Courtright are awesome. We went back in May. The weather went from high 80's to low 90's during the day and 30's at night. The fishing was awesome!

[TrouTHeAd]

The water level was up a few weeks back, but the water level dropped again. I'm not exactly sure about how low it is, but I have seen the lake at maximum. I was there today for the Kiwaniis Special Olympics fundraiser trout tournament.

[Trout-Tuna-For.Me]

With the hydro-electric plant at Wishon, the water rises and lowers up to 2 feet a day because the water that runs the plant is pumped up back to Courtright so there's never a shortage of water to make electricity. The water level was at it's highest it's ever been in the past 5 or 6 years, maybe 20 feet short of max full going over the dam spillway. Still a lot of fishing access from shore on the other side of the dam. If you guys really want to catch a number of browns I'd advise trailering or renting a boat and going where the Kings River enters the res. Also stop at Shaver Sporting Goods on your way to Wishon and get some live crickets (brown trout candy bait).
Have fun, and "Pack it in, Pack it out" ....... Keeping trash from polluting the great scenery in our National Forests !
TTFM

[Wkendwarior]

Hey guys,

I am taking a trip on the Dusy/Ershim Trail and hitting a few lakes along the way. If you guys can give me any info them that would be great.

Lakes are :
Courtright Reservoir
Thompson Lake
Summit Lake
East Lake
Ershim Lake
Lakecamp Lake

Any info would be great, bait, lures, types of fish, where are easy spots to get to lakes

Thanks ahead a time

Troy