Virginia Lakes July 23-30 - California Fishing

mamoo · 07-31-2005, 01:28 AM

Headed up to the Eastern Sierra to fish at the Virginia Lakes for a week. The fishing was great as usual for me and my friends and family.
Day One:
Arived a little late due to breaking a rod in the door but luckily it was one of my cheaper rods so I just went and replaced it really quick. When we arrived I headed out on Little Virginia in my float tube and caght 6 rainbows on a bubble and fly and also froze to death.
Day Two:
Woke up early went out on Little Virginia in my tube and lost count as to how many fish I caught on every color of lip ripperz and power worms that I had with me. I even went out in the middle of the day and caught like 15 or so. This was the case for all of us.
Day Three:
Went out in my tube again this morning on Little Virginia and caught a ton of fish again on the same stuff. Today my dad caught a nice alpers trout which was C&R. It went about 16 inches or so and had brilliant colors. At around 12 me, my dad and my aunt climbed Mt. Olsen, which is the mountain right behind Little Virginia. We started out at 9770 ft and at the top it was 11400 or so. This was one hell of a climb but was worth the view. I could see every lake besides Summit Lake and Burrow Lake from there. It was amazing. The decent was far worse than the climb due to the large amount of shale rock. Again tonight we headed out and caught a bunch of fish including one brown trout my grandpa caught.
Day Four:
Got tired of fishing with the power worms so I tried a red and gold thomas buoyant and caght six to my surprise. Once again everyone else killed them on power worms including me. My first fish of the morning today was 18 inch Alper that put up one Hell of a fight. It stripped out quite a bit of drag and was C&Red. Also, I learned how to fly fish today and was told I am quite good for a beginer. I caught about 10 fish on the fly rod today which was very satisfying.
Day Five:
Caught my first brook trout of the trip today on the Thomas Buoyant along with many other rainbows util the weather turned bad and slowed the fishing.
Day Six:
My friend and I each caught 20 fish today which was absolutely awesome.
Day Seven:
Returned home today but along the way we fished Convict Lake where we caught three trout in a short period and three more trout as well as a nice brown in the creek that goes from Silver Lake to Grant Lake. This was my first time fishing a creek and unfortunately I only had one hit and I missed it.

Overall it was a great trip and I had a lot of fun. I am pissed that I am back in Orange County but what can I do. I am stuck in this hell hole. Oh yea all fish were C&Red.

FishSlayer · 07-31-2005, 07:23 AM

Good times!

DementedFish · 07-31-2005, 11:54 AM

Sounds fun! I hope I can make it up there!

Eric · 07-31-2005, 05:06 PM

sounds like a great week of fishing. thanks for the report..
Eric

mamoo · 08-01-2005, 12:49 AM

A great week is an understatement. The fishing was absolutely stupid. This has to have been one of the best years I have had up there.

PlatinumHooks · 08-01-2005, 03:31 PM

'Moo,

Fricken "A"!!! WTF??? that was great Mamoo. One of the nicest reports I've read in a while. No pix at all? Hey where exactly (geographically) are the Virginia Lakes; they're closer to Tahoe, right?

Eric · 08-01-2005, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony"PltnmHooks"Z.

'Moo,

Fricken "A"!!! WTF??? that was great Mamoo. One of the nicest reports I've read in a while. No pix at all? Hey where exactly (geographically) are the Virginia Lakes; they're closer to Tahoe, right?

North of june and south of bridgeport. fished it for the first time last summer. had a great time..fished from shore for a pretty good bite but nothing like the fishing mamoo had. my fishing partner was able to hit up virgina for the ice out this year and said the fishing was so good it wasn't even funny. had a fish or a hit on every cast.. next year i would love to hit one of those lakes during a ice out...
Eric

PlatinumHooks · 08-01-2005, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric

next year i would love to hit one of those lakes during a ice out...
Eric

Yeah, that sounds great to me...thanks Eric.

mamoo · 08-01-2005, 08:26 PM

The lakes are off the 395 and you have to make a left at the Summit restaurant which is now abandoned. There is a sign saying Virginia Lakes. It is about 15 minutes north of Lee Vining. These are some of the most beautiful lakes in the Eastern Sierra in my opinion. Little Virginia is situated at 9770 ft above sea level. The fishing here is even better in september when there are virtually no crowds and the weather is cooler. I fished here in late September last year and caught 80 fish and two nice alpers in 2 days.

mamoo · 08-01-2005, 08:27 PM

Unfortunately my pics are on a disposable camera or on my camera phone. My dad doesnt let me carry his digital in my float tube.

Wahoo! · 08-02-2005, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamoo

The lakes are off the 395 and you have to make a left at the Summit restaurant which is now abandoned. There is a sign saying Virginia Lakes. It is about 15 minutes north of Lee Vining. These are some of the most beautiful lakes in the Eastern Sierra in my opinion. Little Virginia is situated at 9770 ft above sea level. The fishing here is even better in september when there are virtually no crowds and the weather is cooler. I fished here in late September last year and caught 80 fish and two nice alpers in 2 days.

I was there last year. Here's a pic of the lake taken in May last year -

PlatinumHooks · 08-02-2005, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamoo

The lakes are off the 395 and you have to make a left at the Summit restaurant which is now abandoned. There is a sign saying Virginia Lakes. It is about 15 minutes north of Lee Vining. These are some of the most beautiful lakes in the Eastern Sierra in my opinion. Little Virginia is situated at 9770 ft above sea level. The fishing here is even better in september when there are virtually no crowds and the weather is cooler. I fished here in late September last year and caught 80 fish and two nice alpers in 2 days.

'Moo,

I know where it's at now. As soon as you said the Summit Restaurant I knew. Thanks. I think September or even early October would be a great time to fish these lakes just right before the weather traditionally starts to shift colder in that region.

PlatinumHooks · 08-02-2005, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wahoo!

I was there last year. Here's a pic of the lake -

Cool , Thanks Jon. I was curious about pictures of the lakes.

mamoo · 08-03-2005, 03:27 AM

This year in May, John (the owner of Virginia Lakes Resort) said the cabins were still pretty deep in snow. October may be a little late to fish these lakes without quite a bit of snow around them. The camp site is closed at this time I think and this is when the resort is beging to close up. You would need to call them to see If they are even open or you would have to stay somewhere else and drive there. Well if you get up there the fishing will be very good to say the least.

FishSlayer · 08-03-2005, 08:00 AM

I am really looking forward to going up to the Mammoth area next week, its going to be great!