Eastern Sierra Opener '09

[jimsnarocks]

I went, I saw, I fished. My three buddies and I pulled out Friday morning to make the 4 hour trek to our Mecca. It was windy but not cold when we pulled into Bishop, CA at noon.
We stopped at our motel and got checked in, unloaded our luggage and left for the river for a couple of hours.
We went to Jacks for dinner then the motel for a good night's sleep.
It was overcast and a brisk 17 degrees farenheit when we arrived on the mountain Saturday morning. We started fishing on South fork Bishop Creek just below the Willows campground. A few snow flurries came along about 9 AM but it wasn't too bad. There was a rollover and another traffic incident on the road to Sabrina causing the CHP to close both roads until they could be plowed.
We had a late breakfast at Cardinal Village, warmed up with their good coffee, then went up to Bishop creek at the North Lake cutoff. Lots of stockers there as you can see in a few of the photos.
At about noon we headed North to Benton Crossing and the fishing monument on the upper Owens. It wasn't elbo to elbo, but it was crowded with one or two people about every 25 to 50 feet from the monument to where the river flows into Lake Crowley.
We finished the day's fishing at the power plant above Pleasant Valley res.
After cleaning ourselves and some fish at the motel we headed for Las Palmas for Mexican food and then back for a good night's sleep.
Sunday morning we packed up, checked out and after breakfast at Denny's and a stop at Eric Schat's Bakkery for bread, headed south to Big Pine Creek in the Glacier Lodge area.
There it seemed the stockers were bigger than Bishop Creek. Fewer People and better fishing for a couple of us. We stayed in that area for several hours and had a pretty nice time. It was pretty brushy and I resorted to my 7' WW Griggs 3 weight and #22 parachute adams to catch a few feisty native browns.
The ride home was full of conversation, rehash and should'ves about the weekend.
All in all it was a pleasant weekend. Fish were caught by all.
BTW. My wife and I had fresh trout for supper last night.

[jimsnarocks]

Here are a few more photos of the trip.
The first one is the Sierras from Benton Crossing.
The rest are of Big Pine creek west of Big Pine. Jim

[JohnScott]

Jim -

Sounds like you all really ate that place up !!

Neat report and pics. Glad you didn't break anything.

John

[kglissmeyer]

Great report. Looks and sounds like fun.
Kelly.

[TyroneFly]

Jim,

Great report. Love the pics. Sounds like you guys had a wonderful trip.

I love the Sierra. I usually fish the western slop above Sonora and make my way up to the Sonora Pass. A couple of times a year I make it up and over the top and enjoy the east side. Beautiful country.

[jimsnarocks]

I thought I'd post 5 more photos.
1.Upper Owens River south of the fishing monument. Minarets under clouds in the background.
2.Lower Owens off 5 bridges road. Caught fishes in the seams.
3.Access parking at SF Bishop Creek below Willows CG
4. Mountains around there during snow flurries
5.South Fork Bishop Creek honey hole. Some guys were leaving this spot as we pulled up. Western Outdoor News reporter showed up and did an interview and photo shoot. They all had stringers of big fish. Watch for the article next issue. Jim
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