Dad mentored me on fishing Sierra streams, sharing what he’d learned from his grandfather. The best tip: fish where few fish. That can mean smaller streams with no campgrounds to larger and more popular ones, but in between the campgrounds. Many fisherfolk are lazy and just fish nearby. So find streams with the road far from the creek, and a good walk through brush brings you to almost virgin water. The fish have more time to grow and…
Read MoreOf Fish and Bones
Early October of this year featured a five-day trip to Rock Creek, about 25 miles north of Bishop on 395. This celebrated a Riter centennial: Dad first traveled up here on a washboard dirt road in 1925, and he got me hooked on Sierra fishing, camping, and Fords. On the second day, my sis now living in Kentucky called, and the topic of trout came up. She declared she didn’t care for them, too many bones. Being trained in debate, and knowing the tastiness of trout, I used an old line, “Life is like eating fish: pick out and discard the bones, and enjoy the meat.”
She didn’t buy that, but…
Read MorePlan for Plan B
Over the last five years or so, Brad proved himself as “the Wizard of Waze” on our Gray Hogs trips—he’d enter our ultimate destination, calculate in any traffic issues, add in some stops along the way, and we’d blissfully follow his lead, never worrying nor looking at our maps, just riding. We got spoiled, until…
Read MoreBeauty As Its Own Reward
I’m a decent stream fisherman for trout. On a Sierra trip a couple of years back, in 13 hours of fishing I pulled in 43, some up to 15”. That’s pretty good for smaller Sierra streams. No brag, just fact. (Kudos to the first that gets that allusion about “no brag”). Then came McGee Creek.
Driving south on old 395, I saw the line of trees marking McGee, and was ready to drive on by. Why? In ten or twelve stops there over the years, I have caught the grand and humbling total of two trout there, both last spring. Yep, entirely shut out before. But the stream’s beauty continues to entrance me—gorgeous holes that…
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Grace and Power
Early August saw my son in law David and two grandsons Josh and Gavin and me heading to the Sierras for some stream trout fishing. We use the classic Sierra stream rig: a limber fly rod with automatic fly reel and 4 lb. monofilament with nightcrawlers, or grasshoppers—when we can catch them. That set up allows us to reach all of a stream, with brush and trees at the water’s edge, without spooking the wild trout. The key is…
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