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Cold Weather and Strong Winds can’t Stop Hot Fishing at 2002 Opener
By Shawn Arnold
The author with a 4 pound 1 ounce rainbow caught in beautiful Gull Lake.
Mother Nature huffed and she puffed but that did not prevent thousands of hearty anglers from getting their share of fish at this year’s opener. Despite the strong winds and cold weather anglers scored from Bishop to Bridgeport. The following is a brief region-by-region recap of the action that day. Phone numbers are given so you can call for the latest update for that region.
BISHOP AREA
The fishing always starts first in Inyo County. While Mono county anglers can’t wet a line until an hour before sun-up you can start at 12.01 a.m. in Inyo County. Marlon Meade is one angler who has a tradition of making a first cast one minute after the witching hour.
Meade not only starts at that time but he does it on the upper reaches of Bishop Creek, where the temperature often registers in the teens till it warms up.
They say no pain no gain. And as usual Meade endured a little pain to once again become the first person to limit out on opening day. During the day he also enticed a couple of five- pound class rainbows to hit his Trout Trap mini jig.
Gary Olson of Bishop Creek Lodge reported anglers who braved the cold found great fishing in Bishop Creek along with South Lake and Sabrina Lake. The best report that Olson gave is that no one foolishly tried to ice fish the blue colored ice at South Lake. Olson reports it was shaky at best on whether it was worth attempting to fish the ice. I say if there is a miniscule chance of falling in—Don’t Do It!!!
Glenn Hittner of Gavilan Hills used a Kastmaster to catch a 7pound, 8-ounce Alper’s rainbow to get the top honors in the Bishop area. He caught the rainbow in South Bishop Creek.
Anglers trying their skill in the already open Owens River and Pleasant Valley reservoir reported lots of limits on mostly pan sized trout.
Early indications point to a good fishing season this summer says Olson. For the latest information on the Bishop Creek area contact Gary Olson at 760-873-4484. For other parts of Bishop contact the Visitors Bureau at 760-873-8405.
CROWLEY LAKE
Crowley anglers experienced the mildest weather in the sierras. While the largest fish caught here was not that big, most anglers made up for it in quantity. The DFG put out a report that the average angler caught 4.92 trout overall while keeping 4.32. They caught 1.18 trout per hour and the fish averaged 14” and 1.12 pounds.
The largest fish caught from Crowley was a 5.4 rainbow by Harry Groff of Northridge. He was trolling a No.9 Rapala with lead core line in McGee Bay. Twelve-year-old Scott McLeod of Perris caught a 3.98 rainbow on Power Bait.
What was encouraging about the opener was all of the cutthroat trout that were brought in by anglers. The DFG has started an aggressive stocking program on these exotic trout.
For the latest update on fishing at Lake Crowley contact the Marina at 760-935-4301.
CONVICT LAKE /MAMMOTH AREA
Convict Lake kicked out the regions largest fish. It was 8.12 Alpers caught on the north shore with yellow power bait. The lucky angler who caught it was Mike Thomas of Yorba Linda who braved the frigid winds at Convict to get his rainbow.
In fact it was blowing so hard that it made it unsafe for boaters to launch out. It did not deter anglers like Thomas from finding excellent fishing from shore. Infact Tom Snyder of Santa Clarita had a hefty stringer of 16.59 pounds for his five fish limit. He also fished the north shore and tossed Blue Fox spinners at the hungry trout.
Anglers fishing the creek just below the lake found success in the small pools. The best double catch of the day was by Pat Bauer of Long Beach and a raccoon. Bauer had a stringer of fish, which included a rainbow at 3.65 sitting in the water. The masked bandit aka the raccoon grabbed the stringer and tried to run off with it. According to Bauer the bandit only made it about 10 feet before someone yelled at it and the coon dropped his prize.
I received no update on the Mammoth area lakes so I assume that they were iced over and not yet ready to be fished. As they begin to thaw the lakes in this area provide excellent fishing.
Ezra Cluff age 5 from Bishop and Marlon Meade of Anaheim show off 5 Alpers caught on white trout trap stingers.
JUNE LAKE LOOP
This is the area where I spent my opener fishing. Tiny Gull Lake produced a multiple of fish over 4 pounds and I am happy to say that one of those was on my stringer. My 4.1 rainbow was the largest fish caught in my group of 46 and earned me the prestigious Bill Beckett Memorial Trophy. A special thanks must go out to my fishing partner Joe Trgo who netted the beauty as effortlessly as a pool man skimming the pool for bugs.
Just five minutes earlier Trgo had threatened to make sure that the next fish I caught would not be brought in the boat. It seems I had a hand in making sure our novice 13-year-old angler/boat partner Jordan Bickell prevented Joe from bringing his last fish in the boat. I may have done by this telling Jordan whose line was semi crossed over with Joe to go over when he should have gone under etc. In my book an honest mistake. Joe did not think so though. And when an athletic 6’3” 250 pound ticked off man tells you the next fish is not going to make it in the boat you tend to worry.
Calmer heads prevailed and Joe came to his senses. Which was interesting because I always wondered if Joe had any. Alas I brought the best out of the gentle giant and like a team player he overlooked my recent tomfoolery.
The rainbow was caught on a night crawler and a bobber. There was about a seven-foot leader between the two. It was only my second cast with this setup as I spend most the morning tossing Trout Trap mini jigs with great success for mostly pan sized fish. I also used a gold Thomas Buoyant to snare a few nice ones.
Doubling the size of my catch was Wayne Wallace of Alhambra. He caught the biggest fish in the loop with an 8-pound rainbow. He caught the monster on yellow Power Bait while fishing from shore. Wallace received a check for $1000 from www.junelake.com for catching the biggest fish in the loop.
Jeff Devore reeled in a 7 pound, 9-ounce rainbow using a Thomas Buoyant. Pam Schneider who runs the marina with her husband Don said they weighted in six fish over five pounds and that most anglers came in out of the cold with early limits. Rick Ortega of Covina who is pictured in this story caught a rainbow that weighed 7.8 pounds.
At near by June Lake lots of limits were recorded on smaller fish. J.J. Wiggley caught a 6.7- pound rainbow on Power Bait to get top fish honors. Bob Phelan of Newhall pulled out a five-pound rainbow on rainbow Power Bait.
Silver Lake a few miles down the road had brutal weather. The few who braved it out though were rewarded with sensational fishing. Limits were common and came rather quickly. Robert Parls ended up with the largest fish there with a 5.5-pound rainbow. In what is becoming a pattern he caught it on Power Bait.
Rush Creek, which flows between Silver and Grant Lakes, was very crowded. No real big fish were reported but lots of limits were.
At Grant Lake which is home to lots of big brown trout produced a lot at this year’s opener. Seth Kline caught the biggest one this year at 4 pounds even. He was using a night crawler.
For the latest information about the loop look up www.junelake.com or call Ernie’s Tackle at 760-648-7756.
Rick Ortega of Covina, nailed this 7 pound 8 ounce beauty on Crave bait.
BRIDGEPORT AREA
Mother Nature made sure that anglers in this region really wanted their fish as frigid winds and temperatures made for uncomfortable conditions. Usually though bad conditions equate good brown trout fishing. This year was no exception
Ruben Black of Woodland, Ca. took top honors with a 7 pound 6 ounce beauty. It was his first brown trout ever. He caught while trolling a rainbow trout pattern Rapala Dancer in Lower Twin Lakes. A Rapala also enticed a 5 pound, 11 ounce brown for Marc Torres.
The biggest rainbow for Lower Twin Lakes was a 6.14 taken on; you guessed it, a Rapala.
Upper Twin Lakes did well with rainbows but browns were nearly non-existent. Top fish was a 5 pound, 7 ounce catch by Bill Wilson of Corona. He caught on red and white Turbo Power Bait.
At Bridgeport Reservoir the winds kept most boats off the water after 10.00 a.m. Anglers who were on the water before then fared well on hefty 2 to 4 pound browns. Tim Walters of Manteca who nailed a 6 pound, 5 ounce brown on a Rapala, made top catch. Other notable catches were a pair of mid 4 pound browns while trolling.
While the opener is certainly my favorite time to fish the sierras prime fishing awaits anglers between now and November 15. The area makes for a great family vacation. Contact one of the web sites or numbers provided and make a great weekend or week long vacation in the sierras.
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My First Opening Day
By Jordan Bickell - 13 years old
Opening day is a good experience for people that can take the cold and that aren’t wimps. This was my first opener, and the only downfall was the 40 M.P.H. wind piercing through my whole body, and my uncle Joe making fun of me. This experience taught me how to handle the cold and how to fish properly. My uncle Joe A.K.A: The Farmer was a great loser to my good friend Shawn Arnold.
The boat I was in was very competitive and we had a competition going on between the four of us. The categories were the biggest fish, the most fish, and the first fish. Shawn won the biggest, and the most, while Kent Bickell my dad won the first, but farmer Joe and I didn’t win anything. The lake we fished at was Gull Lake and the bait’s we used were Predator, and Power Bait not Crave.
Predator was the most effective bait and the bait Shawn caught his four-pound trout on was a worm and a bobber. I think the funniest part of the trip was when Shawn threw the anchor right next to farmer Joe’s head and got him soaking wet in the 40 M.P.H. wind.
Gull Lake was probably where the most fish were caught, our boat caught about 75 fish and we had a blast. We only kept four of our fish. I would of liked to keep them all but Shawn said if you are not going to eat a trout right away - release it to live another day. Opening Day at Gull Lake is one of the best experiences I’ve had fishing and I recommend it to others.
