Monday - August 6, 2007

Nothing like that first breath of mountain air when you jump out of the truck at 7000 feet. Monday we got to Huntington Lake around 5pm. By 6 I was on the water to sneak an hour in before dinner. The weather was beautiful, a little cool, and it stayed that way all week.

I drifted salmon eggs for the first hour, catching a trout on my third cast and six more to follow. They stocked the lake heavily this year and there was no shortage of planter rainbows. The dinner bell was about to ring when I ventured a few casts with the Pins Minnow. I was a little surprised when two fat 13-14" rainbows jumped on it.

I was even more surprised when a larger trout came flying up out of the dark water and smashed my bait. The speed of the fish and the strength of the tug actually got my heart rate up. I knew it was a brown right away and backed off the drag to let the fish run on the 4lb Triple Fish Camo I was fishing.

The fish was in heavy current and stubbornly refused to come past a fast stretch close to shore. Finally after over 10 minutes it eased through the fast water and I gently held it up for a photo. I have no idea how much the fish weighed or what it measured, but it was definitely the largest brown I've caught at Huntington in 24 summers spent fishing there. It was a neat moment, Summer shot a nice sequence of photos, and the fish eased off the shore and back to it's dark water.

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_6_07_brown2.jpg

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_6_07_brown1.jpg

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_6_07_brown3.jpg

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_6_07_brown4.jpg

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_6_07_brown5.jpg

Tuesday - August 7, 2007

Summer, my dad, and my sister came down to the lake to sample the fishing action. We fished for perhaps 3 hours in the afternoon, drifting the always popular 'balls of fire'. Three split shots with a small gamakatsu egg hook are all you need in the river section at Huntington.

We caught and released about 25 rainbows during the course of the afternoon. Many bait-stealers were encountered which is always entertaining :) I caught 4 or 5 rainbows on the Pins Minnow and missed one 14" + brown. We took pictures, laughed, and worked on our farmer tans.

dad
http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_7_07_dad.jpg

me
http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_7_07_rob.jpg

J
http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_7_07_sister.jpg

Summer
http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_7_07_summer.jpg

Wednesday - August 8, 2007

Our friends the Lange's have been going to Huntington Lake the same week as us for over 15 years. We usually go for a trout slaughter at the Portal Forebay but with fishing at the lake so strong this year, we opted for the 5 minute drive vs. the 45 minute drive.

Fishing was outstanding again. I was running up and down the bank releasing trout for the first hour. We kept a half dozen for barbeque and breakfast purposes. Our friend Bonnie caught the jackpot rainbow for the week, a 15-incher that made a chrome bright leap at the shore. A good time was had by all with over 30 trout landed for the session.

Action!
http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_8_07_action.jpg

Bonnie with her lunker
http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_8_07_bonnie.jpg

Cory
http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_8_07_cory.jpg

Dad with stick-fish
http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_8_07_dad.jpg

me
http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/8_8_07_rob.jpg

Thursday - August 9, 2007

The General Store at Big Creek is known for tasty ice cream sandwiches. Or perhaps the ice cream just tastes better at elevation. In any case, we took the winding road below Huntington Dam #1 and of course I had to bring a rod along. The report can be summarized in this first paragraph - I caught one 10" rainbow on the Pins Minnow below the power plant. The water felt sterile, and the one fish I did catch looked like it had been in there for some time, with full - white tipped fins.

Friday - August 10, 2007

The last day of the trip is such a downer. To console myself I spent 3 hours at Rancheria using up the last of the Pautskeez. The weekenders were arriving in force. My favorite representative was a Lexus with a trout net strapped to the roof :)

Trout were being pinned to metal stringers at a surprising rate when I arrived. And unfortunately all the good holes were staked out. I walked up and down the bank, landing about 10 rainbows and one small brown on the Pins Minnow. The brown struck as I was lifting the lure out and wound up on the shore. Lucky for the fish it didn't wind up in some rocky crevasse and I scooped it back to its home. I missed a good fish on the Pins Minnow, either a exceptionally large rainbow or a brown. It was an 18" fish, pricked for an instant on the rear treble, darn.

Driving down the mountain in to the haze of the Central Valley and on to the wet humidity of the coast always gives me a nostalgic twinge. There's something about the High Sierra that makes everything feel crisper.

Thats how you release a nice Fish. Good going.

Sweet Brown!
Sounds like an outstanding trip, it's been to long since we've spent a proper amount of time in the sierra's. Thanks for bringing back the memories.

Can't beat the Pinz, my go to everytime. Love those visual strikes & misses.
Watch those little hooks though I've straightened 'em on 4 lb.

Nice fish. I love fishing huntington during the spring and fall but try to stay away during the summer due to all of the sailboats.

One of these days you should try throwing a swimbait and go after the browns that eat the planters, especially if you see the truck dumping the rainbows in. It's an awesome sight to see rainbows jumping out of the water with large browns right behind them, mouths open.

nice brown Rob
Nice shades Summer :+

byron - I'd be way in to fishing for the big browns with swimbaits if the opportunity ever presented itself :) The thing with Huntington is that we go for a family vacation, not for a serious fishing trip - so we go in August every year. In all the years fishing there I've only seen big browns once.

Two fish, easily over 10lbs, swam up in to the river and surfaced several times right in front of us. Then they both turned and swam down the river together. It was a cool sight to see. I've never seen a big one since. Maybe someday I'll go up there in October and give a more serious try, but the bass fishing thing takes up most of my time these days :)

When is fishing not a serious trip :7 It's funny to see how crazy and serious a bank fishermen will act trying to catch a little 10-11" planter.

You can enjoy both a family and trophy trip by focusing on the trophies before/at sunrise since most people are asleep and like to sleep in. The evening time is harder since it's time for dinner and smores.

If you ever want to try a trophy spring/fall trip, shoot an email out to me since Huntington is one of my local lakes. Plus a large brown is a lot pretty than a big mouth bass:P

Nice family Rob, REALLY nice. I though your dad was maybe a big brother when I first saw the pictures and you both had the same hat on, but then I saw you'd labeled it "Dad". It looks like a WONDERFUL place and I think you are doing the right thing by keeping it a "Family" thing, 'cause you can go fishin' fer tha Loonkaas any time, but it's not so easy to get EVERYONE in the family together at one time. TREASURED TIMES with loved ones my friend, TREASURED TIMES....... Be Well, Alex