Sierras (Gold Lakes Area) 2014

                                     (JUNE) 

   My family and I had plans to visit the Sierras right after school got out, which worked out well for me. Last year we went to Mammoth, so I was excited to check out other areas in the Sierras. The area were we were staying is near the Gold Lakes basin, an area with a TON of lakes, and some decent rivers as well. 

   I am going to be frank here, the Gold Lakes area (unless you had a boat) was TERRIBLE. The reason why is because apparently, these lakes only stock once, and that was a month ago. At the lakes that I went to (Gold lake, Sardine lake, and the Sand pond), I saw a grand total of 5 fish. A tiny little dink at the Sand Pond, and a couple of little dinks in a little creek below a mini dam at Gold lake. I did see one decent sized fish, although he got spooked pretty quickly, and I never saw him again. I also wanted to check out the Feather River, which was by the lodge we were staying at (which had a fun little golf course). Turns out, the drought is not that much worse up north, so the "river" is only about 3 feet deep at most, and anyone could jump across it at most spots. I only saw 2 tiny little bluegill.

      Check out this funny poster we saw in a cafe about the Feather Rivers' number 1 gamefish. 

   Thankfully, the lodge we were staying at had a tiny little pond (about 1/4 of an acre) that had been stocked with a lot of hungry 10-16 inch trout, that provided a lot of fun for both me on my fly rod and my little brothers using power bait. I would have made some pretty cool videos with my camera, but I could not find it, so I assumed I had left it at home.  

The Pond 

                                                                     

The average catch at the pond

                                                           

                                                             

  There is one place worth fishing, and that is the.... 

                                     
                                    YUBA RIVER   

   On the way home to the airport, we decided to stop along the Yuba River along highway 49 in certain spots, both for me to fish, and my parents and siblings to enjoy the gorgeous canyon.  

   

 The first part we stopped at was a section of pocket water with a lot of TINY wild rainbows, that no matter how hard they try, they just cant fit their desperately hungry mouths over my stone fly nymph. We decided to move on.

After a couple of casts in a different section of the river, I decided to take a closer look at one spot I had been working, and right when I peeked over this mini island, a fish much bigger than anything I had seen upstream, spooked downstream, and I was actually quite surprised. 
   The next, and last spot we stopped at had an immensely deep hole, that I estimate to be 20- 30 feet deep, but the most shocking part is that I could see the bottom like it was midday. There were much more fish here, but they were not very big at all. After casting an orange spinner across the pool a couple times, the most love I got was a little bit of a follow from one of the larger ones. 
   The time came to leave, and when we got home, I realized that my camera had been in my bag the entire trip. DOOOOOHH!  

Sorry about the lack of pictures, I will not be as dumb next time.




Conclusion: The Gold lakes basin does not have very good fishing at all unless you have a boat, or you are there right after they stock.






-Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, (and the fishes of the sea) I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly; (D&C section 89:12)


-keep sore liping 'em readers 

(BTW, if you know anything about fishing, and you haven't seen Hank Patterson on You Tube, do so. He is HILARIOUS)