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TROUT OPENER COLUMN -- odds and ends -- Jim Matthews-ons 27apr05
Trout opener Saturday in Sierra Nevada
Outdoor News Service
One of the last of the sporting traditions, the annual opening of trout season in the Sierra Nevada, will be this Saturday. Thousands of anglers from around the state will make the annual pilgrimage into the snow-carpeted mountains, spending a pot of gold to get to the end of a rainbow.
A leaping rainbow trout. Or maybe a red-spotted brown.
Crowley Lake will be the focal point in the Eastern Sierra. This is where some 8,000 or more anglers will congregate, paying homage to Father Crowley and the fine lake that bears his name, hoping to catch some of the half-million or more trout that are in the lake come opening day. Other anglers will scatter from the small streams out of Lone Pine all the way up Highway 395 to the West Walker River, north of Bridgeport. Everywhere there is open water, there will be bundled up anglers casting lines hoping to hook a memory. Convict Lake is always a popular spot that produces a few big Alper's rainbows from the lake and just below its outlet in Convict Creek. Gull Lake has produced the biggest rainbows in the June Lake Loop for several years, but June Lake has more cutthroats than ever before and Grant Lake is always one of those places that could crank out a big brown trout. Silver Lake is generally considered one of the prettiest spots in the Sierra. Bridgeport Reservoir might have more big trout per surface acre than other waters in the region, and the Twin Lakes at Bridgeport always are watched carefully for one of the monster brown trout that used to come from these waters every year.
Fly anglers will stand shoulder-to-shoulder on Hot Creek, and the East Walker River and upper Owens River will be nearly as crowded with flyfishermen.
The wetter-than-normal winter means that a lot of lakes that are sometimes thawed for trout opener are frozen solid and a small, dedicated cadre of ice-fishermen will have a more choices than normal. In the Bishop Creek drainage, Sabrina and South Lake will have enough ice to support an angler or 20, but North Lake has ice that is getting pretty thin. All of the lakes in the upper Mammoth Lakes Basin are still frozen, but anglers will have to walk in. The road only goes as far as Twin Lakes. And, as always, the Virginia Lakes are solid with thick ice.
Where ever you find a cluster of anglers, you can pretty well bet that one or two guys in each group has been coming to this event for more than a decade, many for several decades. It's not hard to find a campfire in the evening where two or three or four generations of family have gathered to tell stories and watch wood smoke curl up to a sky filled with stars. So its about far more than just fish. But the trout are there waiting, and a river runs through it.
***
Hard-core, practical anglers say the trout opener is overrated. They go to the Colorado River this weekend because the fishing crowds are lighter than normal, it's warm enough to work on a tan, and the flathead catfish are really starting to bite. Flathead anglers might catch two or three fish 20 pounds or bigger this weekend. It's a pretty safe bet that it will be a novelty if anyone in the Sierra catches a limit of five trout that weigh 20 pounds all together.
In Orange County, promoters at Irvine Lake and Santa Ana River Lakes stock extra heavily this weekend. Doug Elliott, owner of the concession at Santa Ana River Lakes, likes to point out that anglers at his lake will catch more big trout this weekend than all the anglers in the entire Sierra. He's predicting 30 or more rainbows over 10 pounds and at least a couple over 20 pounds. With soaring gas prices, he might make some anglers reconsider the trip up Highway 395.
***
While hunters understand the magic of opening day, if they aren't fishermen, the trout opener is wasted on them. And big game hunters giggle about the seeming lunacy: They will ask incredulously of trout fishermen, "You drove 300 miles to catch five, 12-inch trout at Crowley Lake with 8,000 other guys?" Assuming all the nuts will be out of town, the California Deer Association has its annual Southern California banquet starting 5 p.m. Saturday at the National Orange Show. Tickets are still available for $70 each or $100 a couple, but you need to call Merle Binder (909-389-1537), Dave Mahosky (951-237-0573) or Glenn Tessers (310-973-8148) to secure a spot.
***
My brother-and-law and I used to attend the trout opener every year, fly-fishing Hot Creek, the Owens, and some of the other Crowley Lake tributaries for the big, spawning rainbows that are in the streams now. We still think about going each year, but now we wait for warmer weather and smaller crowds. I'm almost ashamed to admit that. Almost.
Trout opener Saturday in Sierra Nevada
Outdoor News Service
One of the last of the sporting traditions, the annual opening of trout season in the Sierra Nevada, will be this Saturday. Thousands of anglers from around the state will make the annual pilgrimage into the snow-carpeted mountains, spending a pot of gold to get to the end of a rainbow.
A leaping rainbow trout. Or maybe a red-spotted brown.
Crowley Lake will be the focal point in the Eastern Sierra. This is where some 8,000 or more anglers will congregate, paying homage to Father Crowley and the fine lake that bears his name, hoping to catch some of the half-million or more trout that are in the lake come opening day. Other anglers will scatter from the small streams out of Lone Pine all the way up Highway 395 to the West Walker River, north of Bridgeport. Everywhere there is open water, there will be bundled up anglers casting lines hoping to hook a memory. Convict Lake is always a popular spot that produces a few big Alper's rainbows from the lake and just below its outlet in Convict Creek. Gull Lake has produced the biggest rainbows in the June Lake Loop for several years, but June Lake has more cutthroats than ever before and Grant Lake is always one of those places that could crank out a big brown trout. Silver Lake is generally considered one of the prettiest spots in the Sierra. Bridgeport Reservoir might have more big trout per surface acre than other waters in the region, and the Twin Lakes at Bridgeport always are watched carefully for one of the monster brown trout that used to come from these waters every year.
Fly anglers will stand shoulder-to-shoulder on Hot Creek, and the East Walker River and upper Owens River will be nearly as crowded with flyfishermen.
The wetter-than-normal winter means that a lot of lakes that are sometimes thawed for trout opener are frozen solid and a small, dedicated cadre of ice-fishermen will have a more choices than normal. In the Bishop Creek drainage, Sabrina and South Lake will have enough ice to support an angler or 20, but North Lake has ice that is getting pretty thin. All of the lakes in the upper Mammoth Lakes Basin are still frozen, but anglers will have to walk in. The road only goes as far as Twin Lakes. And, as always, the Virginia Lakes are solid with thick ice.
Where ever you find a cluster of anglers, you can pretty well bet that one or two guys in each group has been coming to this event for more than a decade, many for several decades. It's not hard to find a campfire in the evening where two or three or four generations of family have gathered to tell stories and watch wood smoke curl up to a sky filled with stars. So its about far more than just fish. But the trout are there waiting, and a river runs through it.
***
Hard-core, practical anglers say the trout opener is overrated. They go to the Colorado River this weekend because the fishing crowds are lighter than normal, it's warm enough to work on a tan, and the flathead catfish are really starting to bite. Flathead anglers might catch two or three fish 20 pounds or bigger this weekend. It's a pretty safe bet that it will be a novelty if anyone in the Sierra catches a limit of five trout that weigh 20 pounds all together.
In Orange County, promoters at Irvine Lake and Santa Ana River Lakes stock extra heavily this weekend. Doug Elliott, owner of the concession at Santa Ana River Lakes, likes to point out that anglers at his lake will catch more big trout this weekend than all the anglers in the entire Sierra. He's predicting 30 or more rainbows over 10 pounds and at least a couple over 20 pounds. With soaring gas prices, he might make some anglers reconsider the trip up Highway 395.
***
While hunters understand the magic of opening day, if they aren't fishermen, the trout opener is wasted on them. And big game hunters giggle about the seeming lunacy: They will ask incredulously of trout fishermen, "You drove 300 miles to catch five, 12-inch trout at Crowley Lake with 8,000 other guys?" Assuming all the nuts will be out of town, the California Deer Association has its annual Southern California banquet starting 5 p.m. Saturday at the National Orange Show. Tickets are still available for $70 each or $100 a couple, but you need to call Merle Binder (909-389-1537), Dave Mahosky (951-237-0573) or Glenn Tessers (310-973-8148) to secure a spot.
***
My brother-and-law and I used to attend the trout opener every year, fly-fishing Hot Creek, the Owens, and some of the other Crowley Lake tributaries for the big, spawning rainbows that are in the streams now. We still think about going each year, but now we wait for warmer weather and smaller crowds. I'm almost ashamed to admit that. Almost.
