Lake fishing

After Friday’s cool weather and evening fish-fest on the Upper Sac, Saturday dawned clear and hot. The L&T Nancy and I stayed home long enough to see American Floyd Landis clinch the Tour de France, and then headed for the mountains.

Our destination was Upper Gray Rock Lake; a small mountain Brookie lake where – 1.5 years ago – I’d caught a 14″ male in full spawning colors. I’ve fished it once since, but had been frustrated by its fly fishing unfriendliness.

“One day,” I vowed secretly to myself (notice the dramatic use of self-narration) “I’ll drag a float tube up to that lake and show those Brook Trout who’s boss.”

Today, it seemed, was that day. [cue the dramatic music]

The view from Gray Rock Lake. It’s worth a hot, sweaty hike.

First, the float tube… Even jammed in a backpack, a float tube and all the gear is heavy. And while the trail to Upper Gray Rock is only 2.5 miles long, it’s a very rocky, hilly, exposed-to-the-burning sun 2.5 miles, where – at several points – the old truism about “a little hard work never killed anybody” seemed like it was about to be proven false.

The trailhead. TC’s Sense of Humor was never heard from again… (L&T Nancy photo)

On the water, things didn’t quickly improve. Something grabbed my “lazy leech” right off the bat, but I didn’t hook up (an ominous portent), and after fishing the whole lake, I realized the fish were holding deep in the a long slot, which I proceeded to flog to the tune of better than a dozen grabs before I landed my first brookie – a 6″ specimen.

An hour later I hoisted my second brookie – a 7″ fish – to my tube. Clearly, I was missing all the fish because the fish in question were barely big enough to eat a #10 hook.

A 7″ brook trout looks a lot like this. The lake is clear enough that only his head is out of the water. Check out those fins.

And that, as they say, was the whole of it. No 14″ males. No hatches. No rises. No revelations.

Still – except for the heart stoppages on the trail in, a great time was had by all (I challenge you to find a better place to spend a Saturday). Even Wally the Wonderdog – though he looks ready to lunge in his picture – ran his paws off exploring, and the L&T Nancy hiked to an imposing overhead ridge and then swam away the soreness – getting to star in our first Trout Underground Swimsuit Issue in the process.

Wally the Wonderdog. He’s a wild, vicious killer – if you come between him and his food bowl.

The L&T Nancy knows how to stay comfortable a lot better than your average, dumb fly fisher…

The hike back was cooler and downhill (and the 4-wheel road out was “exhilarating”), but I didn’t know if I had Upper Grayrock out of my system or if another trip – in cooler weather – wasn’t in order. Had I plumbed the depths and discovered only small fish? I’m still thinking about one more try. I’ll show those brookies who’s boss…

Every day of fishing should end like this.

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.