All Work and No Play makes this a dull Blog..

It seems like for the past two or three weeks all I've done is work. The last time I fished was the East Walker last month and I still haven't posted anything about the trip. Well here it is, the awaited East Walker Trip report.

So Thomas and I had planned to meet up with anyone from the Stanislaus Fly Fishers Club at Crowley Lake on Saturday but as it went, it seemed like no one was going to make it. We had planned to head to the East Walker on Friday anyway so we just decided to stay there all weekend. We packed up the Xterra to the roof with everything we could possibly need and headed East over Sonora Pass about 4 PM. As we hit the valley on the other side, the rains were crazy. But within minutes, two rainbows appeared paralled on the horizon and we figured we may have about a hour to fish if the rain drizzled out. It did and we fished, but no luck that night. We set up camp off the road in the dark and hit the rack so we could rise bright and early.



The next morning we made it to the river around 6 AM and we were the first ones out. Early Bird gets the worm right. Well within the first half hour I had landed two, with one nice 14" Rainbow in the net.



For the next few hours we headed down the river hooking up small perch and some white fish and found another nice hole where Thomas was on fire. He hooked into this nice Rainbow there.



We took lunch and headed back out. By this time, I swear there was a person fishing the miracle mile every 100 feet. It was rediculous. We snuck into a spot down river in between two people on a bend and took our chances. Thomas had to use the bush, so I went to work. My first cast with a deadly Zuggler and WHAMMM. I hit the jackpot. I yelled back at Thomas and told him I was goning to need the BIG net. With kind of disbelief, he strolled down to the shore and saw my 5wt rod bent in two and was like, oh he's serious. He went out about ten feet and saw the beast. He says 24" Brown atleast. I say this because as he was about 3 ft away, the fish turned and "SNAP" off he went with my fly in mouth. DAMMIT! I yelled. That was it, that was the reason we drove 3+ hours to fish this magical drainage. The thrill of the hunt is about all I can say. I felt the raw power of this beast of a fish and I will be back again. Dont you worry. So as it goes, that was about all of the excitement for the rest of the East Walker portion of the trip. The next day rained and not much in the way of fish.



So we headed back over the pass and I convinced Thomas that we should stop off at the Beardlsy Afterbay and see if it was hopping, and it was. Fish jumping all over the place on the 1 pm hatch. Thomas hooked into a very nice brown within minutes of slinging his first cast into the water and an amazing battle ensued. Five, ten minutes of fighting and he was getting tired. Thomas that is, not the fish. Then as he got the fish within netting range, Snap! away the fish went. I had to laugh. It was the story of the weekend. Fish on, Battle, and lose em right at the net.

Here's a shot of the Beardlsy battle in progress. Happy Tying! D.