Fishing 2020

[Kas99]

 

[Kas99]

Hi everyone I am trying to make it around to other areas of the forum instead of just sticking to the exchange. Here are a few highlights from this year.

 

[Mark Knapp]

Hi everyone I am trying to make it around to other areas of the forum instead of just sticking to the exchange. Here are a few highlights from this year.

Nice.

 

[rpdur]

Rainbow on a 3wt, dry-fly.

 

[Horsewright]

All the fires here in Cali have kept me and the wife from drowning a lot of flies this year. Places have just been closed. Course compared with folks losing their homes, me not being able to go fishing is not that big a deal. Finally able to get a trip in. Still smokey though, ya can see the smoke in the sky behind the wife below:

Couldn't ID these guys as far as what type of trout were they. Sent the pics to Ca Fish and Wildlife. They had a scientist respond very quickly. He identified them as a Calif Golden/Rainbow hybrid. Not huge but vibrant and chunky.

Three and four weight rods with size 16 elk hair caddis flies.

 

[Mark Knapp]

All the fires here in Cali have kept me and the wife from drowning a lot of flies this year. Places have just been closed. Course compared with folks losing their homes, me not being able to go fishing is not that big a deal. Finally able to get a trip in. Still smokey though, ya can see the smoke in the sky behind the wife below:

Couldn't ID these guys as far as what type of trout were they. Sent the pics to Ca Fish and Wildlife. They had a scientist respond very quickly. He identified them as a Calif Golden/Rainbow hybrid. Not huge but vibrant and chunky.

Three and four weight rods with size 16 elk hair caddis flies.

Glad you guys got out. Pretty fish. Nice looking water.

 

[lambertiana]

All the fires here in Cali have kept me and the wife from drowning a lot of flies this year. Places have just been closed. Course compared with folks losing their homes, me not being able to go fishing is not that big a deal. Finally able to get a trip in. Still smokey though, ya can see the smoke in the sky behind the wife below:

Couldn't ID these guys as far as what type of trout were they. Sent the pics to Ca Fish and Wildlife. They had a scientist respond very quickly. He identified them as a Calif Golden/Rainbow hybrid. Not huge but vibrant and chunky.

Three and four weight rods with size 16 elk hair caddis flies.

Where were you fishing? It's been a while since I saw Goldens come out of the water, and I have never seen a golden/rainbow hybrid.

 

[Horsewright]

Glad you guys got out. Pretty fish. Nice looking water.

Thanks Mark!

Where were you fishing? It's been a while since I saw Goldens come out of the water, and I have never seen a golden/rainbow hybrid.

We were camped at Horton Creek (north west of Bishop) in Round Valley:

Drove a couple of miles up to Pine Creek road and then head west on Pine Creek till the road stops. This little pool right after the bridge yielded about 12-15 fish, but we caught fish up and down the creek. Wherever it was not brushed choked enough to get too. Here's the daughter with one:

I've caught hybrids before out of the South Fork of the Kern near Kennedy Meadows. They were much more rainbow looking though:

I should mention I've caught hundreds of pure Goldens too (Golden Trout Creek and Volcano Creek) so am very familiar with them too. But that was back in pre digital pics days, so no pics.

 

[lambertiana]

We were camped at Horton Creek (north west of Bishop) in Round Valley:

Drove a couple of miles up to Pine Creek road and then head west on Pine Creek till the road stops. This little pool right after the bridge yielded about 12-15 fish, but we caught fish up and down the creek. Wherever it was not brushed choked enough to get too. Here's the daughter with one:

I've caught hybrids before out of the South Fork of the Kern near Kennedy Meadows. They were much more rainbow looking though:

I should mention I've caught hundreds of pure Goldens too (Golden Trout Creek and Volcano Creek) so am very familiar with them too. But that was back in pre digital pics days, so no pics.

By far the best tasting trout I have ever eaten was true Goldens that came out of Bear Creek above Lake Thomas Edison. Obviously planted at some point because Bear Creek is not part of their native range. Delicious, with pink flesh like a salmon. And I have seen pictures of monster Goldens (looked to be up to five pounds) that were caught in Miter Basin in lakes above 11,000'.

 

[Horsewright]

By far the best tasting trout I have ever eaten was true Goldens that came out of Bear Creek above Lake Thomas Edison. Obviously planted at some point because Bear Creek is not part of their native range. Delicious, with pink flesh like a salmon. And I have seen pictures of monster Goldens (looked to be up to five pounds) that were caught in Miter Basin in lakes above 11,000'.

I have heard of those fish in Miter. My days of going to such places are probably over. If I can’t get that trailer there probably ain’t going. A guy has to pick his battles ya know...

 

[lambertiana]

I have heard of those fish in Miter. My days of going to such places are probably over. If I can’t get that trailer there probably ain’t going. A guy has to pick his battles ya know...

One day on a horse gets you to Miter. With a couple mules or pack horses carrying gear, you could go in style. Of course, finding grazing or browse for the stock might be a problem there. You could camp where the trail from Cottonwood meets Rock Creek, where there is grazing, and day hike up to Miter from there. This picture was taken just below where the trail meets Rock Creek, looking up toward Miter Basin:

 

[Mark Knapp]

Finally got enough ice to fish safely. There's eight inches of ice, and believe it or not, people were driving on it. Not me.

Here's the environment. Quartz Lake in interior Alaska. It's ten below zero.

My Cabela's pop-up fishing shelter. It's insulated and heats really easily with a propane heater.



In ten minutes, we had the first fish. The rainbows are pretty in this lake.

Along with the rainbows, we have stocked kings, silvers and char. Here's a king.



My buddy Dave with one of our nicest rainbows of the trip.



This is the nicest one we caught on this trip, a 22 incher.



We had planned to just eat, fish and sleep the whole three days, no cooking and no washing dishes. Everything's frozen so the water system in the RV wasn't going to work. Like all things mechanical, nothing was working in the cold. The microwave oven and the propane oven didn't want to work in my new-used 1991 class "C" mobile ice fishing headquarters either. We didn't even bring frying pans because we were just going to eat frozen sandwiches and chips. We ended up using a snow shovel to heat up the breakfast sandwiches.



We caught about fifty fish in the three days and kept three of the biggest rainbows to eat, 20 to 22 inches long.



Dave and I had a great time and can't wait to go again, next time with more winterization on the motor home and a bigger generator so the microwave will work.

I almost forgot to mention the highlight of the trip was the thirty inch rainbow I watched bite my jig, I had him on for just a fraction of a second and then he spit the hook.

 

[Horsewright]

Finally got enough ice to fish safely. There's eight inches of ice, and believe it or not, people were driving on it. Not me.

Here's the environment. Quartz Lake in interior Alaska. It's ten below zero.

My Cabela's pop-up fishing shelter. It's insulated and heats really easily with a propane heater.



In ten minutes, we had the first fish. The rainbows are pretty in this lake.

Along with the rainbows, we have stocked kings, silvers and char. Here's a king.



My buddy Dave with one of our nicest rainbows of the trip.



This is the nicest one we caught on this trip, a 22 incher.



We had planned to just eat, fish and sleep the whole three days, no cooking and no washing dishes. Everything's frozen so the water system in the RV wasn't going to work. Like all things mechanical, nothing was working in the cold. The microwave oven and the propane oven didn't want to work in my new-used 1991 class "C" mobile ice fishing headquarters either. We didn't even bring frying pans because we were just going to eat frozen sandwiches and chips. We ended up using a snow shovel to heat up the breakfast sandwiches.



We caught about fifty fish in the three days and kept three of the biggest rainbows to eat, 20 to 22 inches long.



Dave and I had a great time and can't wait to go again, next time with more winterization on the motor home and a bigger generator so the microwave will work.

I almost forgot to mention the highlight of the trip was the thirty inch rainbow I watched bight my jig, I had him on for just a fraction of a second and then he spit the hook.

See how things are different? We run two generators to make sure we have enough juice for the AC!

 

[Mark Knapp]

See how things are different? We run two generators to make sure we have enough juice for the AC!

Yep, that's a little different.

 

[EvanMacLeod]

I would also like to fish there, but because of covid, I can't. I wanted to go this year to Portugal and fish there at "Pacotes de pesca", but I have decided that it will be better to stay home and prevent any unnecessary trips in which I can get infected. My son asks me every day to go somewhere fishing, but I am too afraid to go somewhere. I have seen that a lot of people have caught big fish after the period of quarantine. I hope that when all this will end, and I will go fishing I will beat my records and will catch the biggest fish in my life.

 

[Mark Knapp]

Because of this covid I am too afraid to go fishing, it's too dangerous.

Are you kidding, I can't think of a better place to isolate than to go fishing.

 

[Mark Knapp]

On Friday after Thanksgiving I loaded up my Mobile Ice Fishing Headquarters (MIFH) with gear and friends for four days of ice fishing 100 miles south east of Fairbanks.



My Mobile Ice Fishing Headquarters, a 1991 Jamboree by Fleetwood.

The sled loaded with the escape pod, gear and lunches.



Here are some of the usual suspects, my cousin Dianna and her most significant other, Erik. I'm warming up to Erik quickly because he takes me to remote places in his airplane. At first I wasn't too sure about him because he was just some guy she met on an airstrip and she fell for his best pick-up line, "You want to go flying?" His airplane is a chick magnet. Now that he takes me flying too sometimes, I think he's OK.

Steve, another one of my best buds. He's praying to the fish gods.



Dave with one of our best fish of the trip, a chunky 20 incher.



And then there was me, sometimes they call me "The fishin' magician" a nick name I reluctantly accept, what are ya gunna do? I'm double fisting it with two jigging poles.

The escape pod all set up and ready to go with a full moon in the clear morning sky.



Dave with a nice stocked king.



The Cuz. with her first of the day. We're using home tied jigs and home cured baits.



Erik with a nice rainbow.

The geezer with one of seventy five we caught in the four days.

Our biggest of the trip, a 22 inch rainbow.



A pretty one. This is one of the five we kept for eating.

Another good'n. I like to fish one un-baited pole and one baited one.

The sun sets on another fantastic trip. The MIFH is parked way over there. I can't wait to go again.

 

[giffiest]

Fishing has been my only escape from all the horror of the past three years. There are disasters and pandemics in the world, and I'm very worried about all that. Fishing gives me a chance to relax and be quiet in nature. Every month I buy new fishing accessories on hoopladoopla.com and go out all weekend to fish in a beautiful place.
Sometimes I take my friends or family with me, but most of the time my wife comes with me. She doesn't like fishing but enjoys spending time in nature, reading, and meditating. Maybe I would also prefer to go out into nature sometimes, even if I didn't fish.