On Wednesday my bride told me to get outta here and go fishing. She didn't have to say it twice. I was loaded up and gone by 8am.
I headed up the 395 to Bridgeport, went to the East Walker River, No one around. I got my waders on, slid my rod and reel out of the tube and loaded up my pocket with fly boxes... Then it happened. I couldn't find my license! Put the rod back in the tube, got out of the waders and drove back to Ken's in B'port gave up my license receipt along with $9.20 and got a duplicate. Drove back to the river, suited up, got the rod out and slid through the fence. The river was a little swift so I chose not to wade. I found several nice spots along the bank in the Miracle mile stretch and gave it my best shot. 2 on, 2 long distant releases. Fished for a few hours and drove back down the 395 to Bishop stopping to fish Lea Vining Creek (3 C&Rs) then down to Hot Creek.(1 LDR and 1 to hand) I made it back to Bishop about sundown, got in my motel room and dreamed about catching all night.
Thursday morning I drove up Line st to Bishop Creek. Caught a few. Little browns were flying out of the water catching bugs. I caught several on a fly I thought matched the hatch. Tiring of that I moved to So Fork and hammered the stockers on a #10 olive wooly worm. Time to go check out of the motel and head south.
I got a little lunch, went to visit Trace at the fly shop to give him a report and headed south to Big Pine Creek. I took out my 7 foot 3 weight, tied on a # 14 bead head Pheasant tail nymph and the fight was on again. 10 fish later in less than an 8th of a mile of creek and I was tired. Decided it was time to head home to Mama.
She called to inquire about the weather. Said they were having thunderstorms and high winds at home. I told her the wind was blowing but no rain since noon in Bishop. She called the Caltrans hotline to check on road conditions and said there was a mudslide on the 395. Could not get any more info than that so I continued to drive south to the gridlock in Olancha. I parked behind a Caltrans warning sign truck and talked to the man in it. There was a 4' wall of mud about 10 miles south of there closing both sides of the highway. Had one front loader working and the mud kept coming in. Delay time? 4 to 8 hours was his guess. I called my wife and let her know that I could not get home. The Powers that be wanted me to fish one more day up there.
Got a motel, ate, showered and dreamed about catching more fish.
Friday morning I checked Caltrans and learned I could go home. I fished my way down the road catching more fat stockers and a few lively little browns.
I stopped in Ridgecrest and visited and had lunch with my daughter-in-law, granddaughter and grandson. I met them at a park. Then drove on home.
All in all it was a very nice 3 day trip. I forgot to shrink my photos to KBs. Downloaded them and erased the chip. All the downloads are 2.3 to 2.7 MB. Can't figure out how to make them a size I can load on this site. Oh well. You get the idea. Jim