Fathers Day 2009 - An Amazing Weekend

About half of the Northcott family was able to make it up to the Cabin in Aspendell (Eastern Sierra's) for Fathers day. We missed a few family members but it was still a nice full cabin. We had Grandpa and Grandma Northcott, Uncle Tim and Aunt Kathy, Mom and Dad, and Carrie and I.

We ended up taking the boat out for both days at Lake Sabrina to go fishing. It's nice to launch out of Sabrina because it's only a two minute drive and it's usually a consistent producer of trout. South Lake is a little bigger but has not been very consistent the last few years, plus it's about a 15 minute drive, and since we're on vacation and lazy... that is 15 minutes too long.

The first day was successful but a slow day fishing. I got lucky and caught 4 that day, my mom caught 2 and everyone else caught 1 or 2. Carrie's line had a few bites but the fish we're pulling a Harry Houdini on her all day. Despite the slow fishing we all had a great time relaxing at this beautiful lake.

The second day at Sabrina was one of the best lake fishing outings I've had in the Sierra's since last years Fathers day. We decided to take the boat to the other side of the lake near the large inlet since we always done fairly well there and the fishing yesterday wasn't so good on the other side. Plus there were a little less sliding rocks to trip on, although it was pretty funny to see some people take a nice Pete Rose an inch from the water.

The fishing started very slow, even slower than the first day, but after a few hours the bite began to pick up. Carrie, Grandpa and I went out and drifted some Powerbait out on the boat for a few hours while Uncle Tim and Mom and Dad stayed and fished off the point. Grandpa and I each caught a decent sized stocker but two fish in two hours wasn't too fantastic. As we were heading back to our group we saw my Mom bringing in a fish so we knew that the fishing picked up. We all caught a few more fish and were having a great time. It wasn't constant action but the fish consistently were biting about every 20 minutes and everyone was able to catch at least 2 or 3.

It was getting close to the end of the day and that it is when the cherry was topped on the cake. I just put on Eagle Claw "Strawberry" dough bait which was my experiment for the season. Every year I try and get a new color or flavored bait that just looks odd and see if a fish will actually fall for it. And sure enough, this year, the Strawberry bait delivered! I was eating some beef jerky when I look over and see my poll with a nice bend on it. I ran over and set the hook with precise angling technique (hehe) and I noticed that there was quite a lot of weight on the other end and line being taken out. For a big fish it didn't fight me as long as others have but it was still an adrenaline rush when I saw a large tail splash out of the water. As I brought him in closer I noticed that I had him hooked on his lip. To avoid loosing this good size fish I quickly took a few steps into the water and scooped him onto the land and nearly bear hugged him.

This was my 3rd time catching a bigger size trout. Although this one was the smallest of the three (it was 3 pounds), it was one of the most memorable fish to bring in.

All in all this was an amazing fishing trip. We all caught fish, we all had incredible food and got to sleep in. Happy Fathers Day.

Hike to Green Lake October 2008

Carrie and I hiked up to Green Lake in October of 2008, just a few weeks before the end of the fishing season up in the Sierra Nevada's. Green Lake is located in the John Muir wilderness in Bishop Creek. You can find the trail from the parking lot in South Lake. You can hike up to many other beautiful lakes from South Lake such as Long Lake, Riu Lake, the 3 Chocolate Lakes, and Bull Lake.

Green Lake is my favorite hike and favorite lake to fish at in the back-country. It's no big mystery as to why they call it Green Lake, the lake is green from the water being so clear yet the bottom of the lake is mossy green. 

If you ever hike up to Green Lake, do yourself a favor and follow the pipeline. There is a man-made pipeline that scales the mountain and allows you to bypass a lot of switchbacks. If you walk on top of it instead of taking the trail, it nearly cuts your hike in half. The pipeline is safe however, there are a few areas where you need to be extra careful that you don't fall down for a 10 foot drop. The pipeline eventually ends at the trail leaving you with about 40 minutes left in your hike. A few more switch-backs follow but then the rest of the hike is relatively flat and extremely beautiful. You walk through green meadows and valleys with plenty of wildflowers.

You can stop at a lake people call Brown Lake. You pass it on the trail on your way to Green Lake. Brown lake is small but fun to throw a few lures in. You most likely will catch little Brooks and the occasional Rainbow trout with a shiny Thomas Bouyant, Panther Martin or even a rainbow colored bullet jig. Don't stay too long at Brown lake because Green Lake is much bigger and much better fishing.

Unfortunately, when we went this last October, the wind was blowing and as you can tell from the pictures it was also snowing. The snow was beautiful during the hike, but once we got to the lake the wind made it miserably cold. We fished for about an hour and got a few bites but nothing came of it. The cold weather took it's toll on us so we started heading back for the beautiful hike home.

Green Lake is one of the best lakes for fishing in the Sierra back-country. I've have hiked up to this lake about 5 times and almost each time, we all caught our limit within 30 minutes. Shiny Thomas Bouyant's and Panther Martins have done really well. Also, wet fly's such as woolybugers have been great and even orange sparkle Powerbait has produced.