No Doubt About Trout : Heavy Stocking Brings Teeming Waters to Eastern Sierra; Wind-Damaged Crowley Lake Dock Repaired and Ready for Boon
Trout in unprecedented numbers have been liberated from Eastern Sierra hatcheries and the rainbow-colored fish are teeming in practically every creek, river and lake from Big Pine to Bridgeport.
All of this will translate, many say, into perhaps the greatest trout opener.
“This will be the greatest year in history,” predicts Don Barrett, 46, of Barrett’s Landing, which overlooks the scenic, trout-rich Lake Mary, nestled in the mountains above town at 9,000 feet.
But down U.S. 395, at Crowley Lake, always the most popular lake on opening day, John Frederickson is keeping his fingers crossed.
Frederickson, president of Crowley Lake Fish Camp, Inc., only last week put his boats in the water. And as soon as he did, the wind began howling.
“It’s happening again?” he wondered aloud.
It doesn’t take much wind to remind Frederickson of the gale that raged over the Crowley grounds for hours on May 3, 1993, only a little more than a week after the opener.
It blew out all the windows at the tackle store, tore the docks from their anchorage and blew Frederickson’s boats across the lake like so many paper plates.
Most of the private boaters had gotten their craft safely ashore.
But a south to southwesterly wind that began at 2:30 picked up steadily until gusts up to 140 m.p.h. were blasting down from the steep mountain canyons, blowing clouds of dust and rocks across the largely barren ground at Crowley.
Frederickson’s boats might have been OK, had not the docks given way.
“When it came loose, everything came loose,” Frederickson said.
Every window was blown out of the tackle store and the canvas roof was ripped off and carried away.
“By 6:30 we had had it,” Frederickson said. “We lost 27 boats in the storm. Fifteen will never go back in water. The others we were able to repair.”
They’re back in the water now, ready for the fishermen. As for the docks, they don’t figure to be going anywhere soon.
“There are 17 anchor points, and each weighs 12,900 pounds, held together by three-quarter-inch steel cable,” Frederickson said.
Whether they will withstand a 140-m.p.h. wind is anyone’s guess. Frederickson hopes he will never have to find out.
“I still wake up with a cold chill, thinking about that wind,” he said. “But it’s fun time now. Time to replenish the bank account.”
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Frederickson’s sentiments are shared by businesses throughout the Eastern Sierra, as up to 100,000 fishermen are expected this weekend.
The estimate might be higher than usual, but then this will be an unusual opener.
Access at most of the popular lakes, despite the recent storm, is the best in years. Last year, for instance, heavy snow restricted access to all but the lower lakes and streams, or those on busy roads that are plowed regularly.
But the main reason for optimism is that the Department of Fish and Game, which says it can no longer afford to feed and maintain so many hatchery trout, has turned hundreds of thousands of them loose.
“We’ve stocked three times as many trout as normal,” said Chris Boone at the Hot Creek Hatchery in Mammoth.
Crowley Lake, between Bishop and Mammoth, received its usual allotment of 350,000 rainbow trout late last summer, and an additional 1,300 trout weighing between three and seven pounds from a private hatchery.
Last year’s opening-day anglers complained not only about slow fishing, but about the lack of fight in the fish that did bite.
“They were frozen,” said Curtis Milliron, a DFG fisheries biologist based in Bishop.
This time around, fishing should be much better. The lake has been ice-free since late February, the water temperature, 39 degrees for last year’s opener, is holding at 52.
Milliron said all the fish he caught last week for studies were full of midge larvae, which in his words means, “They’re chowing big time.”
Good news for fishermen, bad news for Crowley trout when the horn sounds at dawn Saturday.
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A brief rundown on the four major Eastern Sierra trout-fishing regions:
BISHOP
Leave the augers at home. For the first time in three years, there will be no ice fishing in the Bishop area.
Lake Sabrina is ice-free and the ice on South Lake began breaking up Monday. North Lake still is iced over, but the Bishop Chamber of Commerce is discouraging fishermen from venturing out onto the ice.
“It’s been an unusually warm spring,” said Sharon Lundstrom, spokeswoman for the city. “When that ice turns to slush in the day and then refreezes at night it becomes weak.”
North Lake and South Lake are reachable only by foot because of snow, requiring walks of about a mile. Below the higher-elevation lakes is a Bishop Creek basin loaded with fish. “It may be a crazy opener,” said Gary Gunsolley, owner of Brock’s Sporting Goods in Bishop.
MAMMOTH
Last year there was so much snow on opening day that fishermen had to walk, ski or snowmobile to their favorite fishing holes.
Now things are somewhat back to normal, whatever that may be.
“Last year we had 500 inches of snow. So I don’t know what a normal year is, drought or snow,” said David Watson, mayor of Mammoth Lakes.
Anyway, the road to the lakes is open to Tamarack Lodge at Twin Lakes. The opening-day crowd will have to do some legwork to reach the lakes above upper and lower Twin. Lakes Mary and Mamie should be at least partially free of ice by Saturday. Lake George and Horseshoe will be iced over. But cutting through the ice should be relatively easy compared to last year.
“Last year we had two to three feet of snow on top of four feet of ice,” said Barrett, watching a cross-country skier glide along the shore of Lake Mary. “We had to put an extension on our ice augers.”
Down the road at Convict Lake, which in the last two years has produced several trophy-class rainbows on opening day, access is no problem and fishing is expected to be outstanding again.
JUNE
All four lakes along Highway 158, a.k.a., the June loop, are glimmering under the sun, reflecting the pines and steep peaks of the Sierra. There’s no ice on June, Silver, Gull or Grant. Trout are so numerous in Rush Creek that they can be seen in almost every pool of the fast-moving water.
Parker Lake and Walker Lake, both hike-in lakes, should be mostly ice-free and anglers might find the hike worthwhile. Parker Lake is a fair brook trout fishery, so anglers could conceivably catch a five-fish limit of rainbows, then hike to Parker and catch a 10-fish limit of brookies. Walker Lake usually yields a big brown or two.
Higher up, lakes Gem and Agnew are still frozen over, and Fern Lake--another brook trout fishery--may also be. But anglers might find themselves on thin ice.
BRIDGEPORT
Prospects on the lower East Walker River are the best since the Walker Irrigation District all but drained Bridgeport Reservoir in 1988, and silting from the outflow through the East Walker led to a massive fish kill in the famed brown trout fishery.
“We’ve finally got the environment cleaned up down there; now it’s paying off,” said Rick Rockel of Ken’s Sporting Goods and a stream keeper for CalTrout.
Last year’s flushing and silt cleanup appears to have worked wonders. Catch-and-release anglers on the special-restriction portion of the East Walker should be pleasantly surprised.
On prospects in the region in general, Rockel said things “should be cooking.”
“From a fishing standpoint it should be an incredible opener for relatively basic reason: We already have 20% of our total allocation (of hatchery trout) in the water, plus it has been much warmer than normal,” Rockel said.
“There has been a lot of insect activity. Right across the border in Nevada, they’re catching huge fish on dry flies right now, which is very unusual for this time of year. So I expect everything to really be cooking on opening day.”
Best bets: Bridgeport Reservoir and the East Walker, above and below town. Twin Lakes and Robinson Creek should also produce limits.
“Bridgeport (Reservoir) will be the hot spot for medium- to large-size fish,” Rockel said. “There will be plenty of fish coming out of Twin, but the bulk will be catchable size, 12-14 inches.”
In the higher elevations, Virginia Lakes is almost reachable by car. A short hike is necessary and the lake is iced over. But walk on the ice at your own risk.
“It is our opinion that the ice is not safe,” Rockel said.
Kirman Lake, a popular brook trout fishery, let a lot of fishermen down last year and will probably do so again this year because of the DFG’s decision two years ago to cut the plant of brook trout fingerlings in half.
Meanwhile, it is the rainbow trout that takes center stage this weekend, assuming of course that Mother Nature cooperates. The current storm is expected to pass, but the wind might blow.
Watching the wind whip the lake into a froth late last week, Frederickson searched for a silver lining.
“I’d rather have the wind this week than next week,” he said. “So let’s keep our fingers crossed.”
