Backpacking to THE Golden Trout Lake...

[seal]

I am jealous! Makes me want to go shed my extra fat layers from winter (yes I like to hold on to them until the next winter) and go for a hike up there.

I bet after all that work those were the best tasting trout ever, sure looked good! Congratulations and I am soooo glad that there was only one hate response on this post.

Guys chose your battles wisely if you want to do some good. If you continue to post hate responses on guys keeping legal fish, whether it be LMB's, trout or whatever then your message will be watered down and will not have the impact it should. Kind of like the boy that cry's Wolf thing.

[Bashman]

Thanks for the support everyone. I figured there would be at least one to say something stupid.
Like I mentioned before, we only caught enough to eat. I would have loved to continue fishing, even with a lure, but I didn't want to take a chance in harming a Golden if I wasn't going to have it for dinner. They have a tendency to swallow anything they are planning on eating. A little different from Rainbows on how they take a bait. At least that's what I noticed.

What we should be really concerned about is how Dept. of Fish and Game is netting many lakes in the Eastern Sierra. Many people don't even know about this. There were thriving trout lakes not to long ago, but DFG decided to get rid of all the trout in some lakes because a particular trout didn't belong there. Unfortunetly some of these extremists have found themselves in government jobs that make such decisions. Pretty soon, they will exclude us from there, because we were not originally supposed to be there....

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in...

[IK13]

They have a tendency to swallow anything they are planning on eating. A little different from Rainbows on how they take a bait.

I don't think it's a species, but rather a habitat thing. Up there they have considerably less food and only few months when there are any insects available. My explanation is that they are just plain hungry and if not spooked they'll go for it hard.

What we should be really concerned about is how Dept. of Fish and Game is netting many lakes in the Eastern Sierra. Many people don't even know about this. There were thriving trout lakes not to long ago, but DFG decided to get rid of all the trout in some lakes because a particular trout didn't belong there. Unfortunetly some of these extremists have found themselves in government jobs that make such decisions. Pretty soon, they will exclude us from there, because we were not originally supposed to be there....

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in...

Is this because of the yellow legged (or whatever it was) frog or just because somebody is a dumb@ss?

By the way - this is epic man, my hat is off to you!

I can't even dream of doing this.

[Natural Lefty]

Bashman, I think it is because of the Mountain Yellow Legged Frog that some lakes are having the fish removed. That doesn't make sense to me, either, given that disease and pollution seem to be the main culprits in the frog's decline, and there are already plently of fishless lakes and ponds where the frog can be introduced in the Sierras. One exception I heard of was the Rocky Basin Lakes in the Golden Trout creek drainage, which the DFG said had gotten some Rainbows in there which hybridized with the Goldens, so those lakes were gillnetted. That was done only because it was in a native Golden drainage. I am not sure whether Goldens were actually native to the Rocky Basin Lakes themselves, but they drain into Golden Trout Creek. Hopefully, they will be restocked with Goldens.

Count me as one of the jealous ones upon seeing your catch. Those Goldens are real beauties, good sized and I am sure they were delicious. The only other meat I have seen as red as that was from some (not all) Sockeye Salmon. The place you went to, I think may be a place my brothers went to long ago, if I am guessing correctly, and they had terrific Golden fishing. I was too young to go, and still haven't been there all these years later. It makes me feel like going out, buying some backpacking equipment, and heading to that area. By the way, I have eaten Goldens, too, I am sure without impacting the fisheries involved. They are really good to eat, and often have very pink meat, especially from lakes, but we never caught any with meat as red as those, or as large.

By the way, regarding the "haters," you can see how I helped shortcircuit some Bass Nazi replies regarding keeping Bass from DVL. I wrote something to the effect that I think people who tell other people what to do need to explain their reasons. It seems to work, and it is a lesson out of Ethics 1a, as far as I am concerned.

[Sierra_Smitty]

Is this because of the yellow legged (or whatever it was) frog or just because somebody is a dumb@ss?

Yup - it's because of the frog.

[Sparky70]

If a person hikes that far, they deserve to eat what they catch, sounds yummy to me.

[Sparky70]

EAT EM IF U CATCH THEM,
There will be many more to catch later!

[Natural Lefty]

As I have heard many people say at Lake Perris, "release to the grease."

[gotstofish]

I almost cried.j/k That is the best looking golden.Congrats.Beautiful report
Reddest meat I've ever seen on a fish cooking.You earned it.

[teejay]

From the color of that meat, those fish are either chowing down on scuds or perhaps feasting on red powerbait