Fly fishing Gumboot Lake and Improvisational Nature Theater…

Earlier I posted about the alpine lakes, and my tendency to fish them too little and too late to really get in on the fun. This year I’ve made a better start, and Monday evening – with the L&T Nancy at a board meeting – I drove up to Gumboot Lake, threw the float tube in the water, and let the evening pass me by.

The fish in alpine lakes aren’t always big, but the lakes are beautiful…

Despite its rugged beauty, Gumboot is hardly a pristine wilderness experience; you can drive right up to it and it’s heavily stocked by the local hatchery. Still, the local eagles and osprey love it – it’s shallow and clear, and the stocked trout transform it from alpine lake into the wilderness equivalent of a Trout Cafeteria.

To prove the point, while I struggled to land a handful of fish, an Osprey flew by, hovered briefly, crashed into the water, and struggled aloft with a trout in his grasp.

It sure as hell wasn’t the first time I’ve been outfished, but in this case it was by something far better looking than my usual fishing buddies…

Only minutes later, a yearling eagle circled overhead before he got his dinner. A mother duck towed a string of her dirty yellow baby ducks across the lake, one which also became dinner for yet another osprey.

Running through this nature theater were the trout, many of whom I could see hovering over a shallow spring in a few feet of water. (Notice I said I could see them, not catch them.) Things were looking great.

Hip Hop Wilderness…

The evening was just starting to set in nicely when two carloads of kids showed up. They argued loudly about the best campsite, and then blasted hip-hop loud enough to spook a couple deer drinking on the far side of the lake. They seemed oblivous to what was happening right in front of them. Ahh, the majesty of humanity…

The water was clear enough that I could stick my waterproof Pentax WP10 under the surface, which resulted in some weird, weird images. In the Underground’s ongoing quest to bring you the best in point-and-shoot, won’t-move-a-foot-to-get-a-better-angle nature photography, expect more underwater experiments in the future.

I used my waterproof point-and-shoot Pentax to get this view of a lilly pad from the trout’s perspective…

Today’s Underground Entertainment

Since your Underground Leader is rushing around in an attempt to get some work done, I’m going to leave you with a couple of very interesting links. The first is a piece on the Ted Williams’ Conservation Blog about the recovery of the Gila Trout and how a pair of rogue ranchers almost killed the project.

The second link is to an interesting story posted on MidCurrent. According to this report, fly fishing saw a 20% reduction in the number of participants. Some great analysis by the Marshal at MidCurrent, and worth a read.

Finally, an odd story from our odd friends at Collateral Damage about eggs with… advertising on them. Scheez…

With temperatures in the area going through the roof this week and weekend (forecast over 100 degrees for Mt. Shasta), what fishing I do is probably going to be done in the hills. See you on the lakes, Tom Chandler.