05-26-2003, 03:00 AM
I promised you guys a report.
We headed up to Mammoth Thursday night, hoping to cash in on some good weather, we were rewarded with daytime temps in the mid 80's all over the higher elevations.
Here’s the food and fishing report.
Day 1
Friday Morning, we started out on the Upper Owens, (Below the Monument)
ly the amount of algae in the river was so thick, it was all but impossible to fish any kind of artificial. I tried the trusty Rainbow Trout Rapala with nothing but weeds/moss to show for my effort.
After switching to a single egg hook and flylining eggs I was rewarded with a quick limit in one hole. I only kept 3 fish that were deeply hooked and released everything else including a nice Native Rainbow that was close to 18"
The other 3 guys I was fishing with managed between 3 and 5 fish each in the cooler, not a bad start for this years Sierra adventure.
We headed up to the June Loop around 1:00pm and made a stop at the Tiger Bar for Burgers, Beers and Tiger Chips. MMMMM.
Next stop was Rush Creek, where we found lots of people, and a few open holes. We all managed to fill out our first day's limits, with all fish being planters, and one fish for my Bro-In-Law that was shaped much more like a Bass than a Trout, there was nothing of any size to report this time at Rush.
I caught all my fish there on the RT Rapala in fast moving sections under fallen brush. My big fish from Rush was about 10" but very strong.
Day 2 Saturday
Well, after a late night filled with Adult Beverages, we filled up on Hangover relief at the Breakfast Club in Mammoth. Including way to many homefries, and biscuits smothered in sausage gravy, we rolled down the hill to check out Upper Rock Creek, there are very few big fish here, to me it's all about the stalk, finding a quiet hole with really bright native Rainbows and Browns. I got 2 Rainbows right off the bat on Crickets. And then... nothing, more hiking, more brush busting, but there were no more takers, I will note that there were many anglers fishing the section of creek where we started, and the fish may have been spooked by all the traffic. Matt, My Bro-in-Law went the opposite direction as I did and he managed to bring a couple more fish back to the cooler. His were all on Eggs, and all in the 8-10" range.
Next stop The Upper Owens again, the weeds today were even worse than Friday, I had no biters at all and after walking about 1 Mile of stream with High winds and nearby lightning strikes, I thought twice about standing in the middle of a river in a flat open plain with a 7 foot Graphite lightning rod in my hands, but when I started feeling electricity flowing through my rod I decided to hightail it back to the relative safety of the truck. I think there was one small fish landed by our group for the afternoon.
We hit the showers and headed to Grumpys.
Well that's my report; I had to leave early Sunday to get back to Civilization. Not an epic trip, rather Average I'd say but it's not about filling the freezer its about Fishing.
Rick.
Edit: I almost forgot, on the way home today I got stopped for speeding by a friendly Nye County Sherrif, I was doing 89 in a 70 zone, just south of Beatty, add $135 to the Nye Co. coffers...DAMMIT!
[signature]
We headed up to Mammoth Thursday night, hoping to cash in on some good weather, we were rewarded with daytime temps in the mid 80's all over the higher elevations.
Here’s the food and fishing report.
Day 1
Friday Morning, we started out on the Upper Owens, (Below the Monument)
ly the amount of algae in the river was so thick, it was all but impossible to fish any kind of artificial. I tried the trusty Rainbow Trout Rapala with nothing but weeds/moss to show for my effort.After switching to a single egg hook and flylining eggs I was rewarded with a quick limit in one hole. I only kept 3 fish that were deeply hooked and released everything else including a nice Native Rainbow that was close to 18"
The other 3 guys I was fishing with managed between 3 and 5 fish each in the cooler, not a bad start for this years Sierra adventure.
We headed up to the June Loop around 1:00pm and made a stop at the Tiger Bar for Burgers, Beers and Tiger Chips. MMMMM.
Next stop was Rush Creek, where we found lots of people, and a few open holes. We all managed to fill out our first day's limits, with all fish being planters, and one fish for my Bro-In-Law that was shaped much more like a Bass than a Trout, there was nothing of any size to report this time at Rush.
I caught all my fish there on the RT Rapala in fast moving sections under fallen brush. My big fish from Rush was about 10" but very strong.
Day 2 Saturday
Well, after a late night filled with Adult Beverages, we filled up on Hangover relief at the Breakfast Club in Mammoth. Including way to many homefries, and biscuits smothered in sausage gravy, we rolled down the hill to check out Upper Rock Creek, there are very few big fish here, to me it's all about the stalk, finding a quiet hole with really bright native Rainbows and Browns. I got 2 Rainbows right off the bat on Crickets. And then... nothing, more hiking, more brush busting, but there were no more takers, I will note that there were many anglers fishing the section of creek where we started, and the fish may have been spooked by all the traffic. Matt, My Bro-in-Law went the opposite direction as I did and he managed to bring a couple more fish back to the cooler. His were all on Eggs, and all in the 8-10" range.
Next stop The Upper Owens again, the weeds today were even worse than Friday, I had no biters at all and after walking about 1 Mile of stream with High winds and nearby lightning strikes, I thought twice about standing in the middle of a river in a flat open plain with a 7 foot Graphite lightning rod in my hands, but when I started feeling electricity flowing through my rod I decided to hightail it back to the relative safety of the truck. I think there was one small fish landed by our group for the afternoon.
We hit the showers and headed to Grumpys.
Well that's my report; I had to leave early Sunday to get back to Civilization. Not an epic trip, rather Average I'd say but it's not about filling the freezer its about Fishing.
Rick.
Edit: I almost forgot, on the way home today I got stopped for speeding by a friendly Nye County Sherrif, I was doing 89 in a 70 zone, just south of Beatty, add $135 to the Nye Co. coffers...DAMMIT!
[signature]
