Less than 2 hours from now, my boys & I will be putting our lines in the water hoping to catch some trout! It'll be ~30° then with possible flurries, but I can't frickin' wait! I'll be waking them up in about 30 minutes to scarf something down & head over. One good thing about Pennsyltucky is that the fish & game dept now has something called Mentored Youth Fishing Day (today) which occurs 1 week before opening day of trout season (next Saturday). So kids under 16 & a mentor can fish before the water is crowded & the fish are all caught! Hope to catch our dinner (& limit)
Have a blast, I know you all will.....For years, the one of but a few days to get off, Trout Season, the Sierra Nevada Lakes are usually frozen this time of year, with every single camp ground full. To get a campground for Opening Trout Season up there, one has to make a reservation a min. of a Year in advance, worth it too..... My favorite Trout Lake, ie South Lake in the Bishop Wilderness.........Clear Snowpack Water, with visibility at least 50 feet deep or more. Lake is 200-300 feet deep depending on time of Year, Trout can be seen swimming in packs. This damn thing has icebergs in it usually thru the summer, and is used as part of CA's. Mulholland venture to bring water to Southern Cal. Northerner's are real touchy over whether or not your from So. Ca. or from their part of the state......like and talk like a Southerner...........!!!
What were you using for bait Hammer? Honestly, I enjoyed fly fishing, yet up in the High Sierra's, I use Yellow (predominatly) Power Bait...... Sure, I use lures, worms, crickets, you name it, but Power Bait seems to always work, when nothing else will, and none are biting. Last time I went fishing up North, Kim and I, both caught our limit from 6am to 7am. 1 Hour, 10 Trout. An elderly Man and His wife pulled up, saw our full catch as we walked by. The Lady asked what we used for bait, of course she used Yellow Power Bait, while the Stubborn Hubby, with his fancy flashy lures, refused to use anything other than his artillery of rubber worms, et al. 1 hour later, after cleaning and fileting our catch, the Woman had her limit (5), and the Hubby ZERO.....
No one who went to the stream/lake we did got a nibble... I marinaded corn in garlic with a red worm, others used powerbait, I also threw spinners out... Nothing... Drove over to another stream after the boys were too cold for more & only one dad/kid combo caught anything... Saying it was even too cold for the trout (a first for me).... So disappointing...
I've only gone fishing about a dozen times in my life & I have the sad distinction of admitting that I have NEVER caught a fish. I think if a diver were to literally put a fish on my hook that I would probably lose it while I was reeling it in.
There's not much more dis-heartening to wait months for Opening Day, and get skunked, it just isn't fair...... I know that feeling, one goes to a lot of work to get everything together for Opening day, and nada...... I used to take a week off, to go to June Lake on Opening Day, rarely would I put a line in the water til the 3rd day or 4th. Where we fished for a week, we'd rent a Trailer for 4 guys, nice and warm when surrounded by Snow at 10,000 feet. The Lakes are packed in the Sierra's on Opening Day Weekend. Funny thing is few catch one or 2 if that. BUT, once they all leave Monday-Thursday was OURS, and by then the Trout were biting pretty good........
Here's one sure fire way Rick, go to the Fish Market, (take your Fishing Pole, already rigged up); slip the Butcher a $5 bill, and have him hook your Fish.....!
I forgot to say, I'm impressed you took Corn and marinaded it in garlic..... Do they stock the lakes you fished in? One major reason I use Yellow Power Bait, the Sierra NV., Dept of Fish and Game, stock the Sierra Lakes heavy with Corn and or Cheese Fed Trout...... Altho' if One is game to pay the $$ and hire a trail guide, to get to the Golden Trout Lakes, it doesn't matter what one uses, as those are pure Wild Trout, in hard to get to trail places, where not even a Chopper could get up there to stock fish...... Golden Trout limits are crazy too, got to be not to big, not to small, got to weigh and be of a specific length that is sooo stringent, its more of a 'Catch and Release' Event, as most don't fall within "Keeper" guidelines, yet, those are literally gorgeous Critters for Fish, even more so than German Brown Trout, which also are much fewer and farther b/t... Both German Browns and Golden's are wild up here, and are not stocked, or Farmed Fish.....
Thanks & most are stocked... But they didn't stock their usual spot this year & instead stocked where there was only a few feet of water (not covered in ice) rather than where the unfrozen stream feeds the lake like in years past...
