Camping at Silver Lake and fishing at June Lake, 8/4-5
Work has been incredibly busy and hectic lately I haven’t had much time to fish! I have been working with the 4 boys at Manzanar for the past 2 months, and I am exhausted from it….lol. Technically, I only have 1 more day with them this week, and then I start my historic research/paperwork next week for the next 4 months on my own.
Anyways, I had a friend come up and visit me this past weekend in Independence. I had a ball showing my friend where I live, giving a huge tour of Manzanar and us wandering around the small town. We decided Friday night that we would camp up at June Lake Loop over the weekend. We went to the small library in Independence and did a little research. We probably should’ve made reservations for the campsites up there since it gets busy over the weekend. We just decided to wing it! We went shopping, bought ourselves some drinks and good camping food and went back to my house to watch Monty Python (funny movie!!).
The next morning, Saturday, we woke up a bit late and then we drove up to June Lake Loop. Since my friend Lisa had never been on the eastern side of the Sierras we stopped off in Mammoth, drove around Crowley Lake and then got to June Lakes Loop.
I learned many new things about camping here! They have a little mini beach by Oh Ridge. Also, at each lake in the loop are all these little cute stores and coffee shops. There are tons of trails surrounding everything as well. Once we got there I was ready to PLAY!
We tried finding a spot at June Lake…nothing! We went over to Gull Lake…nothing. Finally, we get over to Silver Lake and BEHOLD…..there are two empty spots to camp. YEAH!! We quickly snagged one of the sites.
Our camp site where Lisa is setting up her tent:
Me by my tent:
We quickly changed, and I got all my fishing gear together. I was going to float tube it but found out that my pump wouldn’t work in her car since she didn’t have the right hook-up for it. Blah!
Soooo we drove over to June Lake in anticipation of renting a boat and both of us in our swim suits ready to fish.
Me by June Lake:
We quickly got a boat and got out on June Lake around 3:30pm. We had some fun using our motor boat getting across the lake.
Lisa driving the boat:
I was enjoying myself for sure. Plus, there were tons of young fishermen to talk to while we were out there…hehe! The first couple of hours we weren’t catching anything! Plus, Lisa hadn’t fished in a LONG time so I had to teach her all over again. I let her try the pink power worms, gulp eggs and spinners. I used my spinners, gulp eggs and craws.
We just goofed off in the boat the first couple of hours and then around 6pm I started getting several bites. Then I started catchin my trout.
I lost many of them which frustrated me so I think after awhile we were going insane…haha!
Here are some of the fish I caught by the end of the day:
Me with my catch:
Basically, all rainbows around 12 inches were caught between 3:30-7:30pm. The most entertaining part was that our engine stopped working so the last half hour we rowed ourselves back in against the wind. That was a workout for sure!! I really wanted to catch a brown so I think next time I need to try some more stuff.
That night we went shopping and bought some garlic butter for our fish. We came back to our camp site only to find that our neighbors had saved our tents. They had blown away since it was so windy!
We spent that night cooking our fish, and hot dogs over the fire while a small show was going on in the background. Right next to our camp site a guy was playing the guitar and singing while telling some history of the area. I really enjoyed it! Unfortunately, it was very windy so we had to eat in the car and neither of us slept much that night.
The next morning, Sunday, we stopped off at a cute coffee shop and ate breakfast by June Lake. Then I went on a hike while Lisa read in the car.
View while hiking:
Shortly after we went over to the little beach by Oh Ridge and waded in the water.
Lisa in the water:
We left later that day to come back exhausted and dirty. We had great fun! Before she left my town we drove through the Alabama Hills where several westerns were filmed in Lone Pine.
Part of the Alabama Hills:
We climbed all over the hills like crazy! I definitely had a blast last weekend and got to show her quite a bit! Is anyone else up for a visit to my area and trying their luck at fishing?? Haha!
(When I get more energy I will do some more fishing up here. There is sooo much history for me to take in….I am definitely having a blast! )
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