Whew, what a week! It seems as though the time just flew by. Cindy and I went to Lake Tahoe for Labor Day weekend and watched an excellent Chickenfoot concert. We drove home on Labor Day to grab our fishing and camping supplies before heading back up to Blue Lakes. What is normally an hour and a half, maximum, took nearly three hours. We grabbed our stuff, checked our email and then headed up to the cabin at Lower Blue Lake. Rich Lobrovich joined us for that first night and we enjoyed a nice dinner of bar-b-qued ribs and pasta salad. We enjoyed our evening getting settled into a very unique cabin. The cabin had three bedrooms downstairs along with the bathroom and kitchen/dining room. Judging from the PG&E building number the cabin was probably built in the late 1800's or early 1900's. It was still very nice, and definitely beat sleeping in a tent.
Cindy and I spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday working with the Heritage and Wild Trout Program Crew doing electro-shocking on Caples Creek, driving back and forth to the Kirkwood Inn each morning (see Caples Creek Shocking article). We convinced the DFG guys to spend the night at the cabin since we had room. We were joined on Tuesday and Wednesday nights by Ray Mutter and his guest, Larry Griffis. Ray and Larry fished Red Lake Creek and the West Carson on Tuesday and reported very low water in both. Tuesday night Ray and Cindy cooked up an awesome pasta dinner including salad and garlic bread. YUM-O!
Wednesday morning Larry and Ray headed over to fish the Wild Trout section of the East Carson River. That night they reported that they had only caught one fish between them. They had some better luck in the afternoon on Blue Creek below Lower Blue Lake catching some frisky little Brook Trout. After they ate dinner they headed back over to the East Carson to try and catch the evening bight. Unfortunately, they forgot that it is getting dark earlier now and only had about 15 minutes of "the bite." They managed one fish that night before having to walk out in the darkness. I decided in my infinite wisdom that I wanted to fish after hiking up the Caples Creek Canyon all day. I managed to catch a few Brook Trout out of Blue Creek before realizing how tired I really was. That night Cindy and I, along with the DFG guys had a nice dinner and turned in a little earlier than the night before.
Thursday morning Ray and Larry headed down the hill stopping at the Kirkwood Inn and I believe heading into the Meadow on Caples Creek. I never saw them while we were electro-shocking, so I am not sure if they fished it or not...
We ended our day a little earlier on Thursday and headed back to the cabin where we were met by Gary Slade. Gary and I fished Blue Creek for a while having a lot of fun catching the Brook Trout. I think I hooked 20 fish out of one pool alone! We headed back to the cabin and had a nice dinner (along with cocktail hour).
Friday morning Gary wanted to try out the new inflatable boat and trolling motor so we set up and put the boat in at Lower Blue. Me motored up to the upper end and then back down to the dam. Gary landed one Rainbow Trout near the dam on a Wooly Bugger (Type III sink tip) and I managed to have a few follows, but no takes. We headed back to the cabin for lunch and then convinced Cindy to come with us down the creek.
We walked down the severely bumpy 4X4 road until it crossed Clover Meadow and then fished our way back up. Gary and I both hooked 18 fish in various spots and Cindy caught her first Brook Trout! Gary had to head home that afternoon so we broke a little early and walked back up the road to the cabin. Charlie Moore joined us on Friday night and I cannot remember if he fished that day or not...
Saturday morning we had to head down to the Mokelumne River for the Angler Survey Box installation project (see Angler Survey Box Installation Article). Cindy dropped me off and then ran errands. I met up with her later at home and then drove back up the hill to Blue Lakes.
Sunday morning Charlie and I decided to walk back down to Clover Meadow and fish the creek again. I am not sure how well Charlie did as I lost track of him (he was upstream of me) and he had to leave early that afternoon. I know I had an EPIC day! I hooked 73 fish (71 Brook Trout and 2 Rainbows). The first Rainbow was fish #21 and was close to 16" long. Considering that the Brook Trout averaged 6" a 16" Rainbow was a TOAD for that creek. Maybe it washed down from the reservoir above... Unfortunately, I forgot my camera on Sunday so I could not get a picture of that beautiful fish. I had caught that Rainbow in a section Gary pulled me out of to walk upstream on Friday (low hanging bushes over the water CAN be your friend Gary). The second Rainbow was fish #48 if I recall correctly, and was closer to 12-13". Cindy came looking for me around 4:00 because i had not come back to the cabin with Charlie around lunch time.
I also received an email from Dennis Larson stating that he and Barbara Price showed up Saturday looking for us after we had left for Electra. He said that they fished Upper Blue with no luck.