Trout- The Other Pink Meat

[steveooo]

It’s that time of year again- the time of year where the majority of yakkers are sitting, staring into the kelp forests for hours on end, hoping for one lucky strike, and hoping that spectra does its job and that one lucky strike results in the “fish of a lifetime”. Seems that is happening fairly frequently lately…

Its also the time of year that I like to freeze my cajones off in 20 degree weather and chase fish a little smaller than the bait we typically catch in La Jolla. I couldn’t make the season opener this year due to work conflicts, so I settled for the week after opener to go up to the Eastern Sierra’s. Went up with my family and a pair of good friends. Good time was had by all, I’ll try to keep it short with more pics than text.

Locked and loaded the night before…


Drive through country where we see lots of these



Saw this. BAD ASS! I want one


Day one we fished on the yak at June Lake. Watched the sun rise and the moon go down.

Caught a few of these pesky guys. Was the typical size for the weekend. Trout- The other pink meat


Later that day we decided to ice fishing. Made the drive up to Virginia Lakes. Fished for 35 min for 4 fish before the wind kicked up and made it too tough to have the baby out in those conditions.

The hike in to Virginia lakes


Locked and Loaded


Itsy Bitsy Brooky


Drove home and took a pic of the Mono Valley and had a delicious Malt From Mono Cone


Mono Lake


Later that night we took my new-to-me boat (Thanks Danimal) out to Silver Lake. Caught a couple fish and called it a day early with a couple hours of daylight to spare.


Woke up early again the next morning and took the Gayak out to Silver. After an unfortunate incident in which the fishfinder caught on fire, we were on our way. Caught some fish, but forgot to take pics of them. Took Pics of deer instead


We actually saw lots of deer this trip. Here was a herd of about 20 that I got out of the car to chase shortly after this picture


Later that day we drove into Mammoth. Unfortunately all our good spots were still frozen, but it was still beautiful up there.
Lower Twin Lake


Hiking around, looking for open water



Stopped by Convict and dunked bait for 45 min while the kids napped. Caught nothing, but it still aint a bad place to stop


On the way back to the motel from there we stopped at the Hot Creek Fish Hatchery. Very cool place to take the kids if you have ‘em>>
Lots of bigguns


Underwater shot


Trolled Silver lake again that night for a few cookie cutter models.

Last morning there we took the Gayak to June again and enjoyed a steady pick of little, but feisty guys like this


This is Gay


Gotta love it here

As always, the drive up and back is never boring, and we stop at a bunch of little spots on the way that are special to us for one reason or another.>

Monkey Rock


Ugly guy


Nice little consolation Brownie after losing a larger model on the previous cast.


If you’ve never been there, the sierras are very yak friendly. Water was like glass every morning, we had the lakes to ourselves most days, the launches are free and easy to get to, and it is one of the most relaxing places you could ever think of. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend putting it on your to do list, sooner rather than later. My hotel is booked for next year, and I’m hoping to get up there and camp a few times this summer as well. Pace of life is a little slower up there, and it’s a good place to clear the head and rejuvinate yourself.


Steve