Hi Everybody, First of all I'd like to thank everybody that gave me advice for my trip to the Sierras. I had a great time visiting this area again after about 20 yrs. My wife & 2 yr old daughter also really enjoyed it for their first time. And, of course, I did manage to get some fishing time in and experience the joy of trout. Prior to this trip I've only gone trout fishing a couple of times (our trout in south florida are quite different) and have had limited success. This trip was much better.
Here's a quick summary of my journey. I think I have some pictures but I didn't bring a camera with me when I went out fishing most of the time. That's probably why I caught fish. :-) Friday 7/15 - Left home in Florida at 5 am EST. Arrive in Sacramento around 12:30 pm PST (3:30 ESt). Get luggage, rental car, leave airport by 3 pm PST. Take the long way for the scenery. Hit traffic. Arrive at Twin Lakes campground in Mammoth by 9:30 pm PST. Very tired. Thankfully my dad & brother had setup camp. Saturday 7/16 - Daughter wakes up at 6am. Still tired. Checked out the lake. Saw some fish rising; made a few casts. Didn't really put effort into it. Go to starbucks in town (nobody brought coffee) in the afternoon. Made side trips to Kitteridge & the Troutfitter. Got some flies and advice in the Troutfitter. Turned out to be dead on. Thanks Alex! Sunday 7/17 (morning)- Woke up before daughter and was out the tent door by 6am or so. Fished from around 6:45 to 9:45. Hit the falls at the campground. Tried olive wooly buggers with no success. A kind gentleman named Glenn from LA was there and suggested small, gray dries (which the troutfitter had suggested as well). That was the trick. I then caught a bunch of brookies, a brown and a rainbow. I also caught a fish that I thought was a brookie but upon reflection and discussion with locals appears to have been a rainbow/golden hybrid. It was a golden brown color, with black spots; reddish lateral line, and a bunch of parr marks. It was around 6-8 inches long. Saw some guys in float tubes bringing in some really big trout (alpers?) but I didn't have any luck on those. Saw 'em, just couldn't get 'em to bite. Sunday 7/17 (afternoon) - With many people with different ideas on what to do, we finally decided on visiting hot creek. Went down and swam around the main swimming area. After awhile I hiked a little bit and found the start of the fishing area with a nice little beach area to swim around. Much better for my daughter in terms of current than the other area. Also it was closer to the fishing area... :) The family started swimming and I started rigging. As I'm rigging a guy tells me that he was snorkeling the creek and saw nice rainbows hugging the bottom. That was enough for me; I started working the area with a beadhead, olive wooly bugger but nothing was happening. Then fish started to hit the surface but I couldn't see what they were hitting on. I watched them for awhile and identified where they were feeding and started casting. Tried a hopper since they seemed to be pretty abundant. That wasn't it. Then I tried that same little grey dry. Bingo. Hooked a bunch and landed 3 or 4 nice little browns in about a half an hour. The last fish was pretty good sized (colors looked like a rainbow or cutthroat but I couldn't get a great look at it) but my tippet broke as I was bringing him in. So I got some hot creek browns! They weren't big but they were a lot of fun. I was pretty happy. Monday 7/18 - Left Mammoth area but not before I went back to the falls in the morning. Hit it about 7am. Tried the opposite side I fished the previous morning since that was where the big rainbows were. Saw a bunch of them, right at my feet. They chose not to bite. Also my casting was off for the first bit; lots of tangles, bad loops and everything. Took me awhile to settle down and get into a rythym. Of course during that time there a couple of powerbait guys also fishing the area. They managed to get a rainbow. Once I found my rythym though things picked up.This time it was mostly rainbows and some brookies. No browns but then again I didn't really try the area I caught the brown the previous morning. Started off with the dry pattern from the previous day, switched to the olive wooly bugger, went back to the dry and then they started to hit. When that slowed down I added a midge dropper Alex from the troutfitter recommended and they went after that. By this time the powerbait guys seemed to be getting frustrated; I didn't see any fish landed after that first rainbow. Then I started noticing bobbers landing suspicously close to my flies. Had to chuckle when my flies were still catching fish despite the proximity of bobbers and powerbait! I also had some other company - seemed that the larger rainbows liked to hang out right next to me when I was wading. They did not seemed inclined to take my flies though; still they were nice company. Had a great morning for a couple of hours, went back, helped break down camp and headed over to Yosemite. Stopped in toulomne to walk the meadow and take a break. Saw some nice fish but didn't get to do any fishing. Drove down to el portal to check into the hotel. Tuesday 7/19 - Hiked toulomne grove to see the giant sequoias. Absolutlely beautiful. Drove to Glacier Point for the views of the park. Again, amazing. Got back to the hotel and fished the Merced across from our hotel. Slow at first then started to see rising fish in the fast current. Tried the olive wooly bugger at first. Nothing. Switched to a couple of different dries, had some hits and takes but nothing solid. It was starting to get dark and I couldn't discern any particular thing they were hitting so i tied on the biggest, bushiest hopper I had. Saw some fish rolling in the setting sun. Absolutley beautiful. Allmost could have been small tarpon from home. Had more takes on the hopper but still nothing solid. Then I figured, what the heck, and I started to smack it on the surface in the area I saw the last fish activity. After about three or four smacks I let it sit. Sure enough, got a hard hit and solid take. Had a nice tussle with the fish in the current for a few minutes. Landed it as quick as I could. Probably too quick because as I was reaching to unhook the fish my tippet broke - yes, the story of my life :) - and he swam away. I'll blame it on smacking the water multiple times with a big fly, a decent sized fish, and me. ;) It was dark, couldn't get a great look, but based on shape, shading (darker on top, really bright silver on bottom) and discussions with locals I'm guessing a rainbow. continued...
