2014 Eastern Sierras LATE Opener report

[RiverWalker]

What up everyone! I finally have some time to share our Opener trip with you guys. Sorry it's a little late but I've busy catching up with work and going to my kids sports functions. Myself and 3 other good friends headed out Friday night made the trek up my favorite HWY, the 395 North like we've done so many times in the past. We changed it up a little and decided to hit June Lake first instead of our normal stops in the Bishop drainage. We were greeted to icy roads, snow, and COLD temps which was expected. You know it's cold when everything is white around you and the water is steaming from the surface because the water temps are lower the the air temp. It took us a while to find the motivation to start gearing up our tubes and hit the water. Once on the water, I lost count of how many boaters we're looking at me like I was crazy asked if I was cold. Luckily we were prepared with multiple layers and I was actually very comfortable. The weather was perfect IMHO. I love fishing in the cold, snow, or rain. I just hate fishing in the wind. I hope you enjoy the pics. Good luck out there!


JUNE LAKE:

The fishing was fairly good for me. I landed 7 nice 14" to 15" bows and farmed another 4 or so. Of the 7 landed, I caught 4 on the fly slow strippin a size 10 black bead head wooly bugger or a size 10 black micro leech w/red flash. I was using a type 3 full sink line. The 3 others that were landed were taken while driften around a chartreuse and orange mice tail with my spinning rod. By 10:00 am, the lake was crowded! Ton of boaters a few tubers and shoulder to shoulder shore anglers. I saw a lot of fish caught and a hand full of the bigger models were being weighed in for the $500 biggest fish contest throughout the morning. The lake was full of fish! The wind started to pick up a little so we packed up and left around 1 ish.








RUSH CREEK:

After June Lake, we retreated to the Rush Creek tree line to escape the wind. The water level was low but not as low as I was expecting. The fishing was a little tough. I tried a tandem setup consisting of Elk hair caddis and a hares ear nymph for my dropper to no avail. We worked about a mile stretch but I found myself just enjoying the scenery more then fishing because by this time, I was beat from the lack of sleep. What unfolded next sure woke me up. 2 of my buds found a run which contained about 6 nice sized Cutties. They worked the spot until the largest model of the group latched on to his white jig and took him for the ride of his life. Check out these pics! And yes...he was released!


















TWIN LAKES MAMMOTH:

For the evening bite, we hit Twin Lakes in Mammoth since it was close to our condo. The sun was just setting as we arrived and it was COLD so we had the entire lake to ourselves. I didn't feel like fiddling around with my fly gear since I really couldn't feel my hands so I grabbed my TSR and a jar of pinch crawlers. In about an 1/2 hour, I caught about 4 little pan sized bows from the normal spots near the bridge and 1 nice size Brookie! It was about 13" or so.



On Sunday, we woke early to extremely windy conditions which sucked arse! We scouted out Convict lake but it was blown out so we left and headed back to the loop. Although it was still pretty windy, we geared up and tubed Silver Lake for a few hours. I got skunked but a few of my friends caught a few pansized bows while trolling small crank baits from a yak. We then decided to retreat again to Rush creek again and then down to the Grant Lake inlet area.

GRANT LAKE and RUSH CREEK:
The fishing was tough due the wind and we sucked it up and worked hard for a few fish. Here's a few Brownies that I landed and released. A few other decent Bows we're also caught from our group.











CROWLEY LAKE:

On the way home on Monday, we decided to tube Crowley for a few hours. We parked and launched at 3 bays. The wind was moderate but the fishing was a little slow. Out of the group we only landed around 5. I caught 2 nice models and the largest of the 2 really made me work! He was caught on a size 10 punk perch streamer in about 25 feet of water.




Two guys in our group headed back up a few days later and worked the Bishop area and absolutely slayed them at Intake 2 and North Lake while tubing. From what I heard, they C&R'ed over 100 fish but nothing too big.


All in all, we had a blast and can't wait to head up again! Until the next time fellas!

[CrownTown]

Thanks for the report. That cutthroat is beautiful, fish of a lifetime there. Looks like something you would see on an advertisement for a guide service. Way to go man!

[socal114]

That cutty is a thing of beauty. Looks like a solid trip...

[cpt_majestic]

These are the reports I look forward to, great job. i leave in 8 days, can't wait

[Sierra_Smitty]

Gorgeous fish...that Cutt is ridiculous!

[Mr T-rex]

That's what you call a nice view!! Nice report

[fishrdi]

Beautiful Cutt & what an awesome trip!
I sure hope those Cutt's find their way back to the lake, and don't end up on someones stringer.

[Matt44]

Great report, sounds like the opener was good to you as well! That fish is beautiful! Gotta love them full tailed wild trout!

[DaFish]

Nice pics and report. Thank you.

I like to see lot of pics like that.

[FSHNLIC]

Excellent report RiverWalker!! Gorgeous fish.. Can't wait to get up there tomorrow! Tight Lines and Full Tails!