HTC 4: The Eagle Lake Rainbow

Update for Saturday 8.16.11

Okay Eagle Lake! I get it! You don't have trout, you have adult Steelhead! But more on that later. I made it into the Christie Campground at Eagle Lake at about noon (okay HTC researchers -- The Eagle Lake Rainbow is found at Eagle Lake!). I had pretty good information on what to do from a Great Website devoted to information about fishing Eagle Lake. I drove in to the market in Spalding and had a great conversation with the man working the morning shift. After a couple of good jokes (or attempts at such), he told me that the fish are deep. He also stated that all the fly fishermen left two weeks ago and the "die hards" left a week ago. He suggested that I might get lucky for a fish at the southern end of the lake near the Christie picnic area. After a couple more jokes he told me where he was going to be fishing at 5:00 in the morning, from a boat, and gave me directions to drive to the shore. Well, thankfully I have a Subaru because I was 4-wheeling a dirt road for 3 miles but discovered the end of the road that left several hundred yards of walking to get to the spot. I really did not want to get up a 4:00 and drive off road, but it sounded like it was going to be my only chance to catch an Eagle Lake Rainbow.

I set up camp, cleaned out and organized my car, lost my keys for 45 minutes (NOT Fun), and prepared my gear to fish this evening as a warm up. I put my 25 year old Cortland Crown reel, filled with 20+ year old 4-wt floating line, on my two year old Ross Essence, 8.5 foot, 4 piece, 3 / 4 wt rod. Using the information from the website above I put on a size 10 golden brown mohair leech. Actually, the color was blended by Mike at the Eureka Fly Shop and he calls the flies made from his blends G.O.A.T. flies (Greatest Of All Time). The colors are blended for the lagoons and other fishing opportunities on the north coast, but they work elsewhere as I found out today.

Before the finale, I have to state that I need to find a fishing buddy, male or female, older or younger, to make these adventures more fun and successful. I took all my gear down to the edge of the lake (boots, waders, filled vest, long handled net, rod) and got prepared to fish. I started preparing at 5:30 and finally got my waders and boots on at 6:00. It turns out that my old waders fit me like spandex, and I was unable to put on and tie my boots with the combination of form fitting waders and an inflexible back --- well, not so much of the back as the stomach colliding with the quads to create an immovable upper body. You might think I need a fishing buddy to tie my shoes --- NO -- it took a while (although I was about to ask the kids down to the shore to tie my shoes for $5, but then realized that I only had a twenty). I eventually got my boots on and waded out about 30 feet, only to find out that my waders had a hole in them. But I kept going. I cast my line about 35 feet, with the 8 feet of the pole and the 8 feet of leader, my fly was landing about 80 feet from shore, hopefully near a drop off to a deeper area. I was hoping that some fish would move from deep water into the shallows to feed on the evening hatch. I cast and stripped the line back for an hour. Not a fish showed on the surface and I had no hits. A hatch of mayflies was coming off, as well as some midges. I remembered that the recommendation from the web site was to float a small green midge under an indicator when a hatch was on. I then realized that with all the gear I brought down the hill I forgot to bring a pair of line cutters. I was stuck using the one fly that was on the end of my line. So, I need a buddy so I will have what he or she has forgotten while he or she will have what I forgot.

So, what does Eagle Lake have similar to fishing for Steelhead? Well, all I could do is cast out as far as I could and strip my one fly back, changing the timing and length of pull to figure out what triggered these fish -- just like fishing for Steelhead --- cast after cast after cast after cast. But, there was a magical moment when I discovered that if I gently cast my line out, pick it up and cast it again for greater length, I could reach the same distance achieved by muscling and rushing the cast, and without the line tangles. It was a spiritual moment. I gently cast the line with as much effort as bouncing a ping pong ball across a table and the line flew. IT FLEW. I don't think I remember ever being so relaxed casting a line, and with such distance. I knew I would be ready for the fish at 5:00 the following morning.

Then it happened at 7:00 PM. My fly got caught in the weeds, again, for the 50th time, but I kept retrieving the line through the weeds. Weeds? No, it was a gentle tug of a fish, followed by a much larger tug, followed by a reel screaming run towards the middle of the lake. The fish surfaced and I was amazed at the distance between the tail and the head of the fish. Two more reel screaming runs and I got the fish into my net. I did not horse the fish because I wanted to document it and not lose it. After taking a picture of the fish I kept it in the water and resuscitated it and watched it swim strongly away.

I quit fishing at 8:00, happy to be able to sleep in tomorrow morning and able to head off towards the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. I will be back to Eagle Lake. The experience was more than rewarding. It was like the other experiences on this trip -- it was cleansing.

HTC 3: Goose Lake Redband

Report for Friday 7.15.11

After packing up from the home waters of the McCloud Redband Trout, I headed to the home waters for the Goose Lake Redband Trout. My directions were hazy and I spent more than an hour finding the first turn off. Once I got to the stream, shown above, the action was fast but not furious. I easily had 50 rises, landed 3 fish, and had long line releases for about 6 more, in less than an hour. I only fished about 50 feet of stream. Also, about half the time on the water was spent putting a new fly and tippet on the line. The willows held on to the flies much more strongly than the trout! The fish were hungry and had tons of energy. Each hookup felt like a fish twice its size. These beautiful fish own their stream and I hope to someday fish an extensive section of their stream(s).

After a lot of fun on the Goose Lake Redband stream, I drove to the area that the Eagle Lake Rainbow trout inhabits. Well, the species inhabits most of the world as it is a major variety used to plant trout into streams and lakes, but I'm near it's native heritage range. I don't think this species will be nearly as easy to document as the previous two on this trip. However, if I can document this species tomorrow I will be able to head out for the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout before interrupting my trip by heading home for possible jury duty next Tuesday -- aarrgghh.

I had hoped to document the Warner Lakes Redband Trout on this trip, but will have to drive to it's native range a second time because of the snow still in the mountains. My plan is to head back to the heritage waters of the Warner Lakes Redband Trout after I backpack in the Golden Trout Wilderness in August. It will be a long out of the way trip, but should give me nine of the possible ten HTC trout available (other than the Paiute Cutthroat in closed water). Then, all I will need is a half pounder steelhead on the Klamath River in August to complete my goal of catching all of the HTC trout with the exception of the Paiute. It has been a great trip so far and I'm having a blast. The fish and their homes are beautiful.

HTC 2: The McCloud Redband Trout

Report for Thursday 7.14.11

Well, I returned to the same area that I visited last week. This time I had a wide brimmed hat, a magnifier, a tent, and a well stocked box of dry flies. The campground was nearly empty, just one week later. Perhaps it was because there had been rain in the past week as evidenced by many more puddles in the dirt road. One of them made me happy I had a Subaru with all-wheel-drive because I slid left and right all through the 30 foot puddle (wide, not deep lol). The bad news is that all the standing water created a mass of mosquitoes. They were everywhere and found any spot on your body that did not have DEET on it. I ended up with bites on my forehead, left arm, a finger on my right hand, and on my stomach, even after "soaking" my exposed areas and clothes with DEET. The good news is that these mosquitoes leave an annoying itch for a couple of hours and then it goes away. Not like some of the Sierra Nevada mosquitoes that leave bites that swell up to the size of quarters and hurt for days. Another reason why the campground was empty is that a logging crew started at 5:30 in the morning, approximately 1/4 mile from us. I easily saw the light of the tractor from my tent. Each time a tree fell it sounded like a cannon going off. Somehow, I slept 2 hours through the racket they were making.

The beautiful water from last week left me blank again. No risers showing and no fish rose to my feeble attempts at casting a dry fly for more than 5 inches of drag free float (after a splat). So, I moved to another section of the creek that had a 20 foot riffle section that was about a foot deep. I swung a size 12 black ant through the area and was rewarded with the beautiful McCloud Redband Trout shown above. I forgot to take my picture with the trout because I was surprised, didn't have my net with me, and wanted to get the fish back as soon as possible. I hope it will count for the HTC challenge even though I am not in it..

The beauty of the fish really amazed me, although I hardly got a chance to look at it (I get the fish back in the water as fast as possible). That we can catch a genetically pure species of trout, living in a very small habitat range makes me appreciate the opportunities we have in California to get into nature and to see wildlife, forests, and of course, streams. There is something cleansing about breathing fresh air and finding trout that are special, and beautiful. Makes the rest of the world seem a little more manageable.

McCloud Redband Trout: Infinity. Me: Zero

I thought I would head out for a quick 4-day HTC trip as a shake down trip for my two week journey in the near future. Well, the only thing that got shaken out was Me! I left my dry flies at home. I left my wide brimmed hat with the attached magnifier at home (Five minutes to get the tippet through a size 16 eye!). I had five size 14 parachute adams with me , and left them in the willows within a half hour. This was supposed to be a no-brainer -- walk to the creek and catch a McCloud Redband Trout in ten minutes. Well, 3 hours and 3 spots led to one underwater flash from a 4-inch fish. I then found that I don't fit well within my Subaru Forester now that I put storage units in the back. AArrgghh! I also don't fit well within stream side willows, but I doubt anyone does.

I hooked zero fish and landed zero fish. I'm pretty sure that 0 / 0 equals infinity, although someone will probably tell me that the limit of 0 / 0 is zero. It doesn't really matter when out in the wilderness walking along pristine creeks hoping to land a genetically pure specimen of a very isolated species.

So, I have some tying to do before my next trip. And, fortunately, the trip was cleansing. It is amazing how traveling out in the wilderness and breathing fresh air, closer to the clouds, makes all the things on one's mind a lot smaller. I can't wait to get out again next week.

Now, I just have to find my hat, my tent, and my dry flies. Not too bad a list to find in 4 days.

Take care,
Shane

HTC: First Trout

Well, I caught my first Coastal Cutthroat Trout in my life yesterday. This was the first fish of the day. I used a silver leech pattern, size 10, and the pond I was fishing was full of 5 to 6 inch fish. The small pond is reputed to have 2 lb cutthroat in it, but I was happy to release this little beauty. The orange colors of their throats were spectacular. I will return to this spot again, but I will bring my waders and mosquito repellent!! I also went to a local river to see if I could catch a Coastal Rainbow smolt. The hatchery lets out 8 to 11 inch fish and even though they are hatchery fish, they qualify for the HTC challenge. Alas, I only found three inch Coho smolts, and after releasing two (one for a picture and one at a long line release), I quit fishing to not harass these beautiful young fish. I found out today that the hatchery lets their smolts out in March, so it looks like I'll have to get a half pounder steelhead in August for my HTC Coastal Rainbow.

This picture is blurry and I apologize. I recently purchased an Olympus 540WP, new, for $80, and another $15 for an 8 GB micro SD card. It is waterproof to only 10 feet, but that is fine with me. I don't like carrying my good camera near water, and my cell phone has 8 MB pictures but costs twice what my good camera cost, so 10 feet of water protection for under $100 is fine with me. However, after looking at online reviews, this camera got poor ratings, mostly in speed. I'm fine with the speed that the camera takes pictures, but I need to figure out how to get a squiggling trout in focus. The water and fishing line behind the trout are in focus, but not the beautiful fish. I guess I had better start taking lots of pictures of my hand holding a "virtual fish" to figure out how to get the "fish" in focus.

So much fun for 50 dollars

Well, I'm stuck at home to clean out my large storage locker. The end is in sight but it will cost me another 3 to 5 days of fishing at the lake. However, I will be saving $150 per month for the rest of my life, so it isn't too bad a deal. Now, how can I spend some of my savings in advance, in a way that will also save me money in the long run? A fly materials shopping spree!!! In my earlier posts I expressed my interest in obtaining all of the native trout in California in their heritage waters. With the snow runoff putting the trip off until late July, I figured I had better start tying flies for the small streams that I will be visiting. Fortunately, Tom Chandler at The Trout Underground found a great small creek pattern from the Arizona Wanderings blog. Thus, my foray into our local fly shop and our local Michael's crafts store.

From the craft store I found an 8.5 x 11 inch piece of leather that has the perfect color for making earthworm flies (yes, I've pounded half pounder water for hours only to have an earthworm guy move through the water hooking several fish -- figured I'd give it a try with an earthworm fly). I also found a small 3 x 9" leather trim piece, darker, that could also work, in combination or alone. The final piece was a lifetime supply of foam sheets (65 at 6" x 9" in several colors) to be used for the mini-hoppers described above. Not bad for $18.50 including California sales tax.

Then, off to my local fly shop. In the picture you will find a small patch of Elk Body Hair for the mini-hoppers. Rabbit Zonkers in natural brown for easy to grab Hare's Ears tails, ThingamaBobbers for floating Lewiston Lake, Black Hareline Dubbin, and materials for legs (speckled orange and black, speckled copper brown and black, and amber barred sili legs) round out the materials to tie dozens of dozens of mini-hoppers. I ran out of the shop for $24.50...not too bad and I got to talk to some nice ladies who were raiding all the Hoffman hackles. Social interactions along with feeding the fly tying addiction. Bonus!!

Not a bad day shopping, and certainly more fun than hours in the storage unit (although it is "kind of fun" looking through all the boxes). Now to tie up a couple of mini-hoppers for practice and then head out for the storage unit. July is coming up fast and it WILL be my month of fishing first, everything else last.

Take care,
Shane

Heritage Trout Challenge Part 2

Ever since I heard about the California Heritage Trout Challenge, earlier this year, it has been my goal to complete it this summer. I have free time from June 15 through August 15, except for tennis practices for my team and such, to attempt this challenge. However, this is a very wet year with water levels in the snow packs at 200% of normal, so many places will not open up until mid-July.

So, I was prowling around the HTC information on the net and found that DFG is giving additional awards out to persons who have caught all eleven species of heritage trout in the State of California (Bull Trout are on the list but are extinct in California). The toughest trout to catch is the Paiute Trout, a species that is endangered and fishing is prohibited from it's native waters. But, it appears that DFG is planting Paiute Trout into other waters within it's native system.

Therefore, goal one is to catch, photograph, and release 6 of the 11 native species of trout in their heritage waters, within two months this summer (actually, some consider Steelhead a different species than resident coastal rainbow trout, so I could try to all 12). Goal number two is to catch, photograph, and release all eleven species within a two month period. At least four of the species require hiking in several miles (6 to 13 for some), and being 100+ pounds overweight, I had better get on the track and the hiking trails.

I am fortunate that I live on the coast of northern California. The coastal cutthroat and coastal rainbow trout are in my backyard. The McCloud Redband Trout lives in an area that I call home, in the sense that I still can see the beauty of Fowlers Campground and surround area in my mind's eye. The Goose Lake Redband appears to be a tough one to get, and if I can catch it, the Eagle Lake Rainbow and Lahontan Rainbow's waters are easily found. That will give me 6 of the 11 (12) heritage trout and qualify me for the Hertitage Trout Challenge. Another tough one, for number 7, will be the Warner Lakes Redband Trout. I figure that 6 of these 7, and all of these 7, in one summer, would be very lucky and phenomenal.

Then, the tough ones, down in the hot, hot parts of California: The Golden Trout, the Little Kern Golden Trout, and the Kern River Rainbow appear to require backpacking and hiking, and hiking and backpacking. With travel this will take at least a week for one shot at these species.

And then, the tough one. the Paiute Cutthroat Trout. I may be able to get some information from other fishermen on this one, but I don't want to ask until I have earned the other fish above. Yes, right now it is a challenge, and a life list, but in many ways it will be a spiritual journey. A last chance for me to catch native fish in their native waters within my home state. The journey will be worth it, and even if I don't accomplish my goals, it still will be a summer of a lifetime.