2013 Eastern Sierra Opener
I headed down to check out the Eastern Sierras on opening day but I didn’t get a chance to fish this year. This was my first time down to the Eastern Sierra opening day without a fishing pole. Funny how life throws its curves at you. Twenty years ago I fished every opening day. Around a decade ago I missed a few, but I was still able to fish most opening weekends. At that time I had toddlers running around the house and I thought to myself, ” When my kids get a few years older I will get back to going every year.” Then something blindsided me. I never saw this coming. KIDS SPORTS. Yep soccer,softball, and now track. Anyhow, this year I had only a few hours free on Saturday where the wife and I weren’t chauffeuring around kids. I had talk to a couple of fishing buddies who have never been to the Sierra opener and asked them if they wanted to go on a field trip. Over the year I have shared countless story about how these small towns go out of their way to welcome anglers from all over the state . The energy from the excited fishermen is like walking into Chuck E. Cheese and watching the kids go nuts, but its grown men with fishing on the brain.
Our first stop was at June Lake in the June Lake loop at the junction of U.S. 395 and S.R. 158 about 18 miles from Mammoth. As we turned the corner I watched the expression on one of my buddy’s face. He was taking in the beautiful 160 acre lake when, with a puzzled look, he asked, “Are those all boats?” “Yep,” I replied. Right about then my buddies were getting their first taste of opening day. We counted 65 boats. By next weekend we would only be able to find 5to 10 boats on this lake but this is the Eastern Sierra opener.
The next stop was Ernie’s Tackle Shop which is just down the road from June Lake. The store was packed. We actually had to wait our turn to get inside. Once inside, my buddies were overwhelmed by the huge rainbow, brown, and golden trout mounts. The golden trout that they have mounted is over 9 pounds. I like to support any small local business so I waited in line for approximately 5 minutes to purchase a shirt and some snacks. While in line I overheard several fishermen mention how good the fishing was. Outside the store there was a line of fisherman with stringers of trout waiting for their turn to weigh in for Ernie’s monster fishing tournament. The winning fish was a 5 pound 6ounce rainbow. The prize for youth was a 4 pound 7ounce. At one point of the weigh-in I heard on angler scream, “We are having fish tonight,” and the crowd cheered.
Just a short walk down the road is Gull Lake. This could be my favorite lake in the June Lake loop. Gull Lake is only 64 acres and a shore fisherman’s dream. Gull Lake also has a full service marina with a wonderful tackle shop. While in line to purchase another shirt, I noticed a young angler shaking with excitement. When we asked him how the fishing was he replied, “Good, real good!” Then he held up his hand to reveal several packs of fishing hooks. Then he replied, “So good that I need more hooks,” and then he ran out the door. We noticed that there were several factory product representatives armed with backpacks handing out free products to anglers. Spider Wire and Berkeley were there along with a few smaller lure companies, to name a few.
Past Gull Lake, the road heads north to Silver Lake. This could also be my favorite lake in the June Lake loop. “Wow,” I said out load and I think we are starting to see a pattern here. Silver Lake is a 80 acre lake and also full of fish. Every angler that we talked to also had a great day of fishing. We also ran into Ronnie Kovach with the TV show “Fishing Expeditions” who was there filming a TV episode that will be aired at a later date.
Last but not least in the June Lake loop is Grant Lake. This is the big boy in the loop. At 1100 acres of water it is bigger than the other three lakes combined and for some reason had the least amount of boats on the water, or so it seemed. The water level on this lake rises and falls much more than the other three. Grant Lake looked very low at this time of year and after talking to a maintenance worker who was at the dam, we discovered that the lake usually rises slowly in the spring and it may not reach full capacity this year. Once again it seemed like limits with a rule at this lake also.
After eating the best burgers around at Rhinos (the local pub), we headed over to the famous Ken’s Sporting Goods in Bridgeport, California. This has got to be my all-time favorite tackle shop. It’s not big like Scheels or Cabelas, but it has everything an angler needs to catch fish in the area. Once you walk into the small store you are instantly surrounded by giant brown trout mounts. I don’t mean just 10 pound or 20 pound brown mounts, they have those, but they also have the former world record 30 plus pound trout mount. Wow! They also have one of the largest inventory of Rapala I’ve seen and they are super competitively priced. My friend, who airbrushes all his lures, picked up a Rapala F 18 in chartreuse for $8.79. This store is a must stop if you’re ever in the town of Bridgeport, California.
As we check out Bridgeport Reservoir, we noticed that the catch rate of brown to rainbows seem to be 50-50. The lake level seem to be low but Bridgeport Reservoir is absolutely fishable. Once again, anglers had no problem catching their limits here.
Our next stop is at Mono Village, which is located at Upper Twin Lakes. Fishermen with near full stringers were lined up along the shoreline. What my friends found amazing was the number of fish that were caught on Saturday between all the lakes that we visited. Also why so many fish were being harvested for meals. I explained to them that most of these anglers who fish the Eastern Sierra opener only fish once or twice a year and they look forward to eating there catch. This is our tax dollars at work. During 2013, the California Fish and Game plans to stock 664,300 pounds of 12-14 inch trout in Mono County alone. The Bridgeport Fish Enhancement Foundation will plant 40,000 to 50,000 of Alpers. These lunkers are from 4 to 11 pounds.
Our last stop of the day is by far my favorite lake which is Eastern Sierra’s Lower Twin Lake. My family spends a week of their vacation each year on this lake. My kids love going to the marina and hand feeding the rainbows that run wild in the marina and I never get tired of looking at John Minami former state record brown trout mount located in the boathouse. The body shape of this former record is amazing. Fishing for stocker rainbows is excellent on this lake and today was no different. Most anglers had full stringers of rainbows. Lower Twin Lake has a 5 mile speed limit which keeps the boat traffic to a minimum. I love fishing for trophy brown trout and this lake is full of them. Once again Lower Twin Lake puts out the biggest and baddest trout on opening day. Not one but two browns over 10 pounds were caught on Saturday. Jerry Hill caught a Male 10lbs 3oz, Glenn Plowman caught five pounder. Jerry and Glen were in the same boat. My friend, Steve Marti , caught and a 10 pound 4 ounce trout, which is the biggest catch for opening day 2013.
Looking back maybe I should’ve fished………….
Brad Stout
