Died and gone to Fishing Heaven (South Lake and Bishop creek report) 8/30-9/2

[allanon]

So went on our annual camping trip to Bishop and got serious about the fishing this time.
Overall, the fishing was simply AWESOME!
I estimate I caught about 50 or so fish for the weekend, and that was with limited fishing time due to "family duties" :)


Here is rundown of the trip.

Thursday - We drove up and get to our campsite around 3pm. Got the tent and campsite setup by around 430pm or so.
Hit up the local creek, saw many many fish in there. Tried pinched nightcrawlers and BAM fish after first few casts. Only thing slowing me down was the occasional request from the family to help with this or that, help others setup camp when they arrived, and the tangled line, snag in a tree, retie and rebaiting.
Once I figured out the correct presentation and placement for casts, each spot on the creek was good for about 2 fish, then moved on to next spot. Rinse and repeat until I got to max distance from the campsite I could go (had to keep tabs on wife and kids) then would go back to beginning and start again. Finished fishing at around 600pm and ended up with about 10 fish or so. (Can't honestly remember, but I do know it was double digits)... Mostly brookies, but a few smaller rainbow trout.
I did try salmon eggs and mealworms, but got no bites on those after a few tries and went back to nightcrawlers.

P.S. My brother was fishing plastics and lures and got 1 fish in about 45 min of fishing.


Friday morning - Missed my watch alarm so got on the creek at about 630 instead of the planned 600am. Did same routine as the night before, and fished until around 730am. It was wide open fishing. (plus I had learned to NOT get tangled up in the trees, brush, etc...) Had to perform some family duties, and then was on the creek again from 900am to 12, but with my two sons (5 yrs and 3 yrs old). That was fun, as I would cast, and they would retrieve. They even cast a few, my youngest actually randomly hooked up on the biggest fish I'd seen in that creek, maybe 2-3lbs, but it snapped off as he yanked the rod too hard (it was 4lb test).
Ended up with about 12 or so fish for morning session.

Friday afternoon - We had reservations for a boat at South Lake, but when we drove up the lake was closed due to the rain earlier in the day. It was also VERY windy, so probably for the best. Our group (we had 8 people 4 kids and 4 adults) then just drove up and down the creek looking for spots. We fished a few spots for usually a fish here or there, it was tough to fish as the spots were a bit precarious and my kids and wife were with me. We did find one spot, that was basically fishing heaven. Something I had read others have experienced, but never seen for myself. It was a beaver dam on the stream that created a nice big pool of slower moving water. When I saw it, I immediately could see 10-15 trout swimming around in it at first glance. After convincing my wife we HAD to stay (she was worried our kids would fall in the water as there was very little shore area to fish from) I finally started fishing there. I would cast, my boys would retrieve. We ended up with only 3 fish from the little pool, but mostly because my wife just couldn't take it anymore and we had to move on. :(
We ended up back at the campsite and I had some "alone time" fishing at dusk, and the fish were still biting.
Ended up with about 12-16 fish for the afternoon/evening.

My brother started the day with plastics/lures, but changed out to nightcrawlers and ended with about 15 for the entire day.


Sat morning - woke up early this time and got first line in the creek at 545am. Fish on immediately. Decided to mix it up and try some plastics, the salmon eggs again, lures, but the only thing the would bite were the nightcrawlers. Fished until around 8am had over 10 (stopped counting at this point).

My brother fished nightcrawlers and ended up with probably 15 or so. (he's a much better fisherman than I)

Sat afternoon - finally got to fish South Lake as weather was good and we had reservations for two boats. (Pontoons were no longer allowed on the lake as they couldn't be launched since the lake water was extremely low.) We had two boats and 7 people. (3 adults 4 kids). Once we got to our spot, the fishing was WIDE OPEN and stayed that way for the next 4 hours until we left.
It was the best fishing I have EVER experienced. I literally could only keep 1 rod in the water as I had to manage the 2 kids (my 5 yr old son and 14 yr old friend's son). I would basically set up the line, and would cast for my son, let him reel the fish in, then fix the other kids tangle, rebait, and let him cast and reel in the fish. We did this over and over, until my boy got bored and we dropped him off on shore so he could play with the others. Then the older kid decided to fish from shore instead of the boat. Finally, I got to fish my own lines and retreive my own fish. What a great time! I ended up catching fish on just about everything. Plastics worked. Salmon Eggs, nightcrawlers, even just powerbait was working. The most deadly was the pinched nightcrawlers under a slip bobber. Once I figured out the proper depth, it was fish on every cast it seemed.
Our final count on the fish were:
older kid - 12 fish
my son - 8-9 fish (he got bored and stopped fishing)
myself - well over 10 fish (stopped counting at 10 - probably had about 15 fish conservatively)


The other boat had 2 adults and two kids (both around 11 yrs old).
They ended up with around 40 fish conservatively.
We ended up keeping about 10 fish that we could not release safely. Ended up giving them away to some nice hikers that stopped by.


Additional note, we were fishing in about 10-12 feet of water, but the water was very clear and when I used the powerbait for a few casts, I could actually see the powerbait floating just above the rocks, and would see the fish swimming around it until it would just disappear and it was fish on. Never actually seen a fish hit powerbait before so that was kinda cool.


Didn't do anymore fishing on Sat as I was completely burned out (that has NEVER happened to me before) after the wide open action at the lake.

Sunday morning - we were leaving so only fished about 45 min, and was a bit more casual about it. Ended up with 5 from the creek, and hunted and caught a bigger 2-3 lb rainbow. I saw him chase one of the little brookies that I caught so I knew he was there. I rebaited with a 2/3 of a nightcrawler and let the current take right next to his undercut bank he was hiding out in. Sure enough, once the worm was in the zone, he hit it hard. As I was fishing 2lb test, it took a bit to bring him in, but it was a fun time!



Overall Great fishing! Can't wait to go back again next year! Sorry no pics....
Pix from friends camera added
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[angelsfan951]

way to go out there ill be up there in a month for my first time ever and hopefully i have the same amount of fun.

[JAG107]

Glad you could get on some great action, sounds like the kids had a blast too!

[JimG]

If your releasing fish caught on bait your killing fish

[DC5fishR]

Thanks for the detailed report! It looks like south lake is down pretty low based on your pics. I'm debating on where I should go for my fall trip.

[GdHkSet1]

That sounds like a fun trip with the family-Look fwd in getting up there later this month for our annual trip, will be fishin the June loop area for 3 days. Thanks for the detailed report and pics

[cpt_majestic]

Wow South Lake is really low and it looks like those other pictures are Table Mountain??


I leave in a week and plan a one day stop off at north lake and stream fishing before Mammoth