High
Altitude Lakes
Bishop Creek Canyon and beyond...
September, 2003
After a long 6 hour drive from Los Angeles, the GoldenStateTrout.com crew
arrived at Lake Sabrina (elevation 9,128'). To get there, drive to
Bishop on 395, and turn west on route 168. The lake is located
approximately 20 miles southwest of Bishop, at the end of highway 168.
Approaching
4pm, the temperature was already beginning its downward journey. The
brisk afternoon breeze quickly reminded us of our altitude, and the
realistic possibility of near freezing 32º +/-5º temps during the
night. All the same, the lake was as beautiful as I
remembered.
Walking along
the concrete bank towards the damn, we spotted several good sized trout
swimming. Occasionally, the quiet was broken by the sound of a
distant trout attempting to catch a fly.
With nightfall
approaching, we pulled the RV into Camp
Sabrina, located roughly a 1/4 mile east of the lake, on route
168.
At the west end
of Blue Lake, there's a small rock island that you can wade to. I
spotted perhaps 6-7 anglers fishing from the island.
After a nice
picnic in 'Heaven' we started the return journey back to Lake/Camp
Sabrina. Arriving back at camp around 3:30pm, tired and ready for
dinner. Earlier observations indicated that the creek through the
campground was filled with native trout., so I was eager to rush through
the dinner process and get out the fly gear.
With only
around an hour of sunlight left, I quickly found a little spot in the
creek and waded into the stream to just above the knees.
A natural dam of fallen logs and rocks made for a nice wide pool ... with
many natives swimming around. The first offering resulted in most of
the fish running over to take a look at the fly... with no takers.
Too many to count, I'd have to guess there were 40 or more small 6-8"
trout in that area of water.
Since they
seemed interested in following, I slung the fly upstream and let it drift
30' to the little dam. Every time the fly would get close to the
dam, one of the following (or waiting) fish would grab it. Sometimes
trout eager to claim the prize would leap out of the slow moving water on
its momentum. As you well know, each time was as exciting as the last.
Five seconds on
the drift ... fish on ... reeled, released and repeated. I
have no idea how many trout hitched a ride on my fly. Definitely
more than 30 and less than 50. After around the 10th, I slowed my
technique and started pulling fish an average of 1 every minute. I
was having the time of my life with these guys. And I was beginning
to wonder if they'd ever tire of the game. Apparently not., all the
same, my legs were getting cold in that water and ambient temp was
dropping fast... so I reeled it in and called it a day. And what a
day it was. I have to say, this was the most enjoyable 40-50 minutes
of fishing I've ever had (to date). Not to mention, this was only my
third attempt at fly fishing.
The next, and
final, morning we headed for the lake at 7am. Not realizing that
this was too early for trout at this altitude and temperature... we spent
three hours waiting for the fun to begin. Next time, we'll catch a
couple more hours of sleep.
Using
Silver and Gold Kastmaster lures, seemed to get some attention from the
lake trout. They'd follow and on occasion strike. Of the four
that got on, only one 14" trout didn't get away. Others were
having better luck with White and Yellow jigs, go figure.
As always,
before you knew it, it was time to leave. But that's alright ...
We'll
be back
