June 3rd to June 5th Report - Independence to June Loop
Hello Everyone.
Finally recovered from our 1st trip of the year to the Eastern Sierras with the guys. I'm starting to realize that my body can no longer handle these overnight drives with no or little sleep and then fish for 3 full days. I'm trying but damm it took me until today to finally feel normal again! Oh wells. Although the catching wasn't the greatest, it was still worth it!
Now for the report...Sorry no pics. I was Tubing most of the time and it was Freezing out there so I didn't want to be messing around with a camera. Especially with semi-numb frozen hands.
Met up with the rest of the guys at about 10:30 pm on Thursday and loaded up. Arrived into Bishop at about 3:30 am. Tried to catch a few hours of sleep before heading up to Intake 2 but that wasn't happening. Too much adrenaline running through my veins as usual. Happens every time!
PLACE: INTAKE 2 (BISHOP)
ANGLERS: 7
WATER TEMP: 42 Degrees
CONDITIONS: Overcast / little sun / little wind
Pumped up our tubes and hit the water at around 6 ish. The water was about 42 degrees and the wind wasn't too bad. Out of 7 heads, we managed to catch a total of around 20. Not the wide open fishing I had there during the closer last year. Out of the 20, two of us caught about 15 of them. All of mine were released. No fish over a pound. Two were small browns and the rest we're bows. I mostly jigged Gulp and Crave worms in Orange and Pink. Also caught one using a green/brown mini jig. The other guys were either jiggin or throwing gold/red Thomas Buoyant. The TB's did well as usual this weekend. Headed out at about 12:00 pm or so.
PLACE: SABRINA LAKE (BISHOP)
ANGLERS: 7
WATER TEMP: 51 Degrees
CONDITIONS: Overcast / little sun / Windy
Wow! Sabrina lake is LOW! Decided to jump on our tubes and try it anyways near the dam. Metered a ton of fish but they were down deep at about 18 feet. I managed to catch 1 pan size Bow while drifting a Gulp Crawler. While fighting the wind on the tube, I cramped up and decided I should get out ASAP! The wind was really howling at this point and pushing all of us towards the dam. 1 fish total in about 1 hour of fishing. Conditions sucked!
PLACE: BISHOP CREEK (BELOW SABRINA)
ANGLERS: 7
WATER TEMP: DIDN'T CHECK
CONDITIONS: Overcast / little sun / Windy
Found a few fish pooled up near the big rock and by the bridge so we gave it a try. I caught 1 little bow 'Fly Spinning' a Stimulator and a cricket fly. A buddy of mine also caught his first Brookie! We stayed her for about an hour or so then headed back into Bishop for a late lunch. We usually hit up a lot more sections of the creek on both forks but ran out of time. North Lake was still frozen and the road was closed. I love that place! Same goes for South Lake I believe.
Headed over to Mammoth to check into our condo. Had a little time left before sundown so we tried to hit one of the Mammoth lakes. Unfortunately the roads were still unplowed and closed. With little time left, we opted to fish Mammoth Creek.
PLACE: MAMMOTH CREEK (Down stream from Bridge on Old Mammoth road)
ANGLERS: 7
WATER TEMP: DIDN'T CHECK
CONDITIONS: Overcast / little sun / little wind
I caught 1 decent size bow on a salmon egg and 1 busted up knee from tripping on a root! Still hurts! =) 2 of my other friends found a nice pool and pulled out close to 10 decent sized Bows in about 20 minutes or so. Called it the day.
PLACE: GRANT LAKE (LUNE LOOP) (INLET)
ANGLERS: 7
WATER TEMP: 46 DEGREES
CONDITIONS: Dark Clouds / WINDY/ Moderate to heavy Drizzle All day!
We wanted to make the drive to the Virginia Lakes but since it was frozen, we decided to hit Grant lake instead. Heard good reports from Rick's sporting goods in Mammoth. Grant lake had a lot water! Most I've seen in years. We all launched our tubes in the lake but near the Inlet side. My buddy immediately catches 2 nice Bows on Gold/Red TB lures on the first drift out. I decided to kick my way towards the actual inlet to Rush creek to get out of the wind. Let me tell you, the inlet is really nice right now for tubers who could actually access it. Shoreline fishing would be impossible with all of the surrounding vegetation. I back into a reeds and other plants to block the wind and started working the multiple forks of the creek/inlet. It was deep and fishy! I saw a nice 4 pound Bow jump right in front of me like 4 different times. It was only a matter of time before I caught my first fish. In total, I managed to catch 14 really nice Bows. All we're in the 1 to 1.5 pound class. A few Alpers mixed in too. I feel a little bad about it because my friends didn't find me for a while and they didn't catch much after the first two on the first drift out. I would of gladly called them over but I was too far. I need to come back to this spot! I caught 2 on a Red/Gold TB Lure, 1 on a green/brown mini jig, and the rest on either a Orange gold worm or Orange Gulp Crawler.
PLACE: RUSH CREEK
ANGLERS: 7
WATER TEMP: DIDN'T CHECK
CONDITIONS: WINDY AND RAINING
It was raining pretty bad at this point but we still hit it anyways. I managed to catch 3 more nice Bows on Salmon eggs. Rush creek looks really nice but the fishing was pretty tough. Another guy caught a nice 18" Bow as well. Lots of nice deep pools and runs. Nice pocket water too. Little fish though. Probably could of worked it harder but everyone was tired so we called it the day after about hour or so.
PLACE: PVR (Owens river from the Power Plant)
ANGLERS: 4
WATER TEMP: DIDN'T CHECK
CONDITIONS: WINDY WINDY WINDY
Some of the guys headed home early so the people in my ride decided to hit the Owens river that flows into the PVR. We walked in about 1/4 mile and just fished the river. Unfortunately DWP turned on the flows and the water was raging pretty good. Still fishable though until the winds picked up and made the river look like it was flowing the opposite direction. My friend manage to catch 3 nice bows on Rebel lures.
We then tried to fish the Lower Owens on Warm Springs road and the sand traps in Independence but the wind was just too bad. We caught a couple more and decided to head back home. Overall I had a great trip even though the conditions sucked! I could deal with the cold and snow and even some rain but I absolutely hate dealing with strong winds. My Sierras itch was definitely not satisfied. Luckily I have a family and friends camping trip planned later this month in the Western sierras! Hopefully the conditions are much better then.
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Originally Posted by cpt_majestic
