Mammoth Lakes/June Lakes - Labor Day Weekend 06

[Wahoo!]

Ok, here's my report! I'll let you guys add in your experiences to this.


Saturday
Got up early and headed out to Twin Lakes in Mammoth. I was the first of our group on the water and one of the very first on the lake. I think only 1 other boat was out when I started kicking out. I picked up my first trout within the first 5 minutes and was expecting a decent bite. Unfortunately, the bite was tough and I had to work hard for the fish I caught. I had 3 when a couple of the other guys caught up with me on the deep weedline on the far side of the lake. I know Mark picked up a couple and then I finally got a good fish - a 3# alper that Gary got on camera. I followed that one up a few minutes later with a smaller 1.5 - 2 pound alper that was also on camera. At this point the lake was a parking lot and the fish were pushed down and not biting. I ended up with 6 fish for the morning. The fish I caught were on the power nymphs and mini jigs in natural colors.

Second lake of the day was Mamie. Got out on the water and started dragging a nymph and throwing a small mini jig. Took a while, but managed to land a stocker trout. Bite was dead so we left.

Last lake of the day was Mary. The bite was slow here too I managed 1 nice sized stocker and Gary got some good underwater shots of it. The wind picked up so I called it a day and kicked to shore.

After we got back to the condo, some of us went stream fishing and I picked up my last 2 fish of the day.

Called it a day with 10 trout, but no tagged fish

Sunday
We got a late start on Sunday and got out to Gull lake in the June loop with the sun already out. I got out on the water first and started looking for the fish. I found the fish really quick and was able to locate a huge school of trout up shallow on the weedline swimming just below the surface. By the time the rest of the group joined me I had 4 on the stringer and several released!!! For the next couple hours it was wide open on nice sized fish! We basically just surrounded the school and blocked them against the weedline and picked them off one by one LOL! I was fishing a white mini jig and was getting picked up constantly. The wind came up a little so Russ put down his anchor and I tied off to him to keep in place. We had several double hookups and even a triple hookup at one point! Russ and I even caught the same fish with both of our hooks in it's mouth! At some point, the camera boat came in too close and scattered the school. The fish were gone so I decided to kick down the weeds and see what I could find. About 10 minutes later, I came to a small cove in the weeds and tossed my jig in - nothing. Took a different angle and cast back in and BAM! I yelled back at first I had a big fish hooked. A few seconds later I yelled back to the group I had an alper on the hook. A few seconds after that I saw the tag and really got excited!!! I landed the tagged trout and kicked back to the rest of the guys and had the camera boat get some shots. After that, I rested for a few minutes to recover from the excitement and had Gary come with me to film the process of checking the fish in for the tournament and all that good stuff. Once we got back, the guys said the bite had died and were ready to leave. I ended up with at least 40 fish including the 3# tagged trout! All fish caught on white jigs.

Next and last lake was Silver. The fish were biting on the dropoff, but the wind made it hard to detect bites and set the hook. I landed 3 stockers before the wind just got too bad and I decided I was done.

Ended the day tired, happy, and out of white jigs LOL!

Monday
Got up really early and headed back to Gull! I was on the water at 6am sharp and had a good half hour out there by myself. It was very calm and nice to be the only one on the lake for a while. I started looking for a school like we had on Sunday, but couldn't find one. I was picking up some fish, but they weren't schooling up. I had a decent pick on 3/4 to 1 1/2 pound fish as well as some perch mixed in. As it got a little later, Sean and I found a small school and were able to start picking them off. The bite didn't really start to pick up until it got a little later in the morning. We had a pretty good bite on those fish for a while and then I went back to the spot where I caught the tagged fish the day before. First cast in and fish on! Not the biggest fish, but it worked. Second cast in and fish on again!!! Ok, so this is going well! I cast back in a couple more times and fish on, but this one is big!!! Sean is watching me fight the fish and we both realize I'm hooked into another alper. The fish starts taking off down the weedline so I'm kicking after it and trying to get it turned around. I finally get the fish turned and was able to scoop it into the net enough for me to flip in on my tube and tackle it like always After that, I pulled a few more fish out of the same spot and called it a day.

I ended up with around 30 fish for the morning with the big fish a 5 1/2 pound alper.

This was by far the best fishing I've ever personally had at Gull lake. I know some people were having a tough time out there, but I guess I just had the pattern down. If you guys haven't been to the Gull lake marina recently, you should really check it out. They have a small pond with alpers trout and a vending machine with floating fish food so you can feed them! It's awesome to watch them get into a feeding frenzy jumping after the food.

Anyway, on Monday afternoon I went to the awards ceremony for the trout stock since I had a tagged fish. Only 21 tagged fish were caught over the 2 1/2 day event so I had a good chance of getting a great prize! I ended up getting drawn 3rd and had a chance at either 100k or a really nice prize package. My envelope said prize package so that's what I got. Turns out that they didn't give anyone the grand prize card so nobody got any money (not sure how fair that was).

I had a great time and I'm ready to go back!

[Local Rookie]

Nice report Jon! Gull Lake was pretty hot for me and Tim too. He was using white jigs like you and kept catching crappie. My old boss told me about Gull Lake and boy was she right on about that lake. Anyway, congrads on your prize! Damn, I want to catch an Alper but just had a bunch of stockers.

[Beresford13861]

well said Jon... epic trip... I caught more fish this trip than a normal season at local lakes.

[DementedFish]

Hmmmm nice report on your end. I'll include what I did:

Saturday I woke up at 9:30 because I was going to meet up with the Lip RipperZ Staff to work at the fish pond. Turns out all the fish in the pond died lol. So I hurried off to meet with the guys at Twin but they were just getting out of the water. When we went to Maime, Jon pretty much described the fishing, it was slow but I was also able to pick up one, and after that we fished Mary but that sucked as well. After that we fished Mammoth creek where I picked up 4 or 5 trout.

Sunday they got a new shipment of trout in the pond so I worked with Lip Ripperz for a few hours and helped kids catch some fish, it was a blast, and all the fish were alpers up to 5 pounds! After that we got invited to fish Tim Alpers ranch and I caught a 10# alpers trout! Fought great, I'll try to get pictures when I can.

Well that's pretty much how the weekend went, Jon described how my monday was. Thanks again to Tony for letting us use his condo!

[Local Rookie]

Whoa! 10lb Alpers! That's cool! Too bad the fish pond trout were dead

[Wahoo!]

Originally Posted by DementedFish

Hmmmm nice report on your end. I'll include what I did:

Saturday I woke up at 9:30 because I was going to meet up with the Lip RipperZ Staff to work at the fish pond. Turns out all the fish in the pond died lol. So I hurried off to meet with the guys at Twin but they were just getting out of the water. When we went to Maime, Jon pretty much described the fishing, it was slow but I was also able to pick up one, and after that we fished Mary but that sucked as well. After that we fished Mammoth creek where I picked up 4 or 5 trout.

Sunday they got a new shipment of trout in the pond so I worked with Lip Ripperz for a few hours and helped kids catch some fish, it was a blast, and all the fish were alpers up to 5 pounds! After that we got invited to fish Tim Alpers ranch and I caught a 10# alpers trout! Fought great, I'll try to get pictures when I can.

Well that's pretty much how the weekend went, Jon described how my monday was. Thanks again to Tony for letting us use his condo!

The 10 pounder must have been fun to catch! How long did it take to land it? How big was the biggest trout you guys pulled out of there?

[DementedFish]

Originally Posted by Wahoo!

The 10 pounder must have been fun to catch! How long did it take to land it? How big was the biggest trout you guys pulled out of there?

It only took a few minutes actually, he didnt fight as hard as I thought he would. The biggest was 11lbs.

[klymons]

Originally Posted by Wahoo!

Ok, here's my report! I'll let you guys add in your experiences to this.


Saturday
Got up early and headed out to Twin Lakes in Mammoth. I was the first of our group on the water and one of the very first on the lake. I think only 1 other boat was out when I started kicking out. I picked up my first trout within the first 5 minutes and was expecting a decent bite. Unfortunately, the bite was tough and I had to work hard for the fish I caught. I had 3 when a couple of the other guys caught up with me on the deep weedline on the far side of the lake. I know Mark picked up a couple and then I finally got a good fish - a 3# alper that Gary got on camera. I followed that one up a few minutes later with a smaller 1.5 - 2 pound alper that was also on camera. At this point the lake was a parking lot and the fish were pushed down and not biting. I ended up with 6 fish for the morning. The fish I caught were on the power nymphs and mini jigs in natural colors.

Second lake of the day was Mamie. Got out on the water and started dragging a nymph and throwing a small mini jig. Took a while, but managed to land a stocker trout. Bite was dead so we left.

Last lake of the day was Mary. The bite was slow here too I managed 1 nice sized stocker and Gary got some good underwater shots of it. The wind picked up so I called it a day and kicked to shore.

After we got back to the condo, some of us went stream fishing and I picked up my last 2 fish of the day.

Called it a day with 10 trout, but no tagged fish

Sunday
We got a late start on Sunday and got out to Gull lake in the June loop with the sun already out. I got out on the water first and started looking for the fish. I found the fish really quick and was able to locate a huge school of trout up shallow on the weedline swimming just below the surface. By the time the rest of the group joined me I had 4 on the stringer and several released!!! For the next couple hours it was wide open on nice sized fish! We basically just surrounded the school and blocked them against the weedline and picked them off one by one LOL! I was fishing a white mini jig and was getting picked up constantly. The wind came up a little so Russ put down his anchor and I tied off to him to keep in place. We had several double hookups and even a triple hookup at one point! Russ and I even caught the same fish with both of our hooks in it's mouth! At some point, the camera boat came in too close and scattered the school. The fish were gone so I decided to kick down the weeds and see what I could find. About 10 minutes later, I came to a small cove in the weeds and tossed my jig in - nothing. Took a different angle and cast back in and BAM! I yelled back at first I had a big fish hooked. A few seconds later I yelled back to the group I had an alper on the hook. A few seconds after that I saw the tag and really got excited!!! I landed the tagged trout and kicked back to the rest of the guys and had the camera boat get some shots. After that, I rested for a few minutes to recover from the excitement and had Gary come with me to film the process of checking the fish in for the tournament and all that good stuff. Once we got back, the guys said the bite had died and were ready to leave. I ended up with at least 40 fish including the 3# tagged trout! All fish caught on white jigs.

Next and last lake was Silver. The fish were biting on the dropoff, but the wind made it hard to detect bites and set the hook. I landed 3 stockers before the wind just got too bad and I decided I was done.

Ended the day tired, happy, and out of white jigs LOL!

Monday
Got up really early and headed back to Gull! I was on the water at 6am sharp and had a good half hour out there by myself. It was very calm and nice to be the only one on the lake for a while. I started looking for a school like we had on Sunday, but couldn't find one. I was picking up some fish, but they weren't schooling up. I had a decent pick on 3/4 to 1 1/2 pound fish as well as some perch mixed in. As it got a little later, Sean and I found a small school and were able to start picking them off. The bite didn't really start to pick up until it got a little later in the morning. We had a pretty good bite on those fish for a while and then I went back to the spot where I caught the tagged fish the day before. First cast in and fish on! Not the biggest fish, but it worked. Second cast in and fish on again!!! Ok, so this is going well! I cast back in a couple more times and fish on, but this one is big!!! Sean is watching me fight the fish and we both realize I'm hooked into another alper. The fish starts taking off down the weedline so I'm kicking after it and trying to get it turned around. I finally get the fish turned and was able to scoop it into the net enough for me to flip in on my tube and tackle it like always After that, I pulled a few more fish out of the same spot and called it a day.

I ended up with around 30 fish for the morning with the big fish a 5 1/2 pound alper.

This was by far the best fishing I've ever personally had at Gull lake. I know some people were having a tough time out there, but I guess I just had the pattern down. If you guys haven't been to the Gull lake marina recently, you should really check it out. They have a small pond with alpers trout and a vending machine with floating fish food so you can feed them! It's awesome to watch them get into a feeding frenzy jumping after the food.

Anyway, on Monday afternoon I went to the awards ceremony for the trout stock since I had a tagged fish. Only 21 tagged fish were caught over the 2 1/2 day event so I had a good chance of getting a great prize! I ended up getting drawn 3rd and had a chance at either 100k or a really nice prize package. My envelope said prize package so that's what I got. Turns out that they didn't give anyone the grand prize card so nobody got any money (not sure how fair that was).

I had a great time and I'm ready to go back!

Hall Of Fame Report! You really had the pattern wired! And it sounds like everybody else did fairly well, too. Except for a brutal work schedule, I would have been there. Oh, well, maybe next time. Also, congrats on the tagged fish--too bad it wasn't the 100K! But the fishing was good, and that's what really matters!

[El Kabong]

What a guys! What a Guys! Who was those guys?
Great job and great report. So what was in your swag bag, Jon?

[filz]

it sounded like you guys had a great weekend!

do you think you guys will get some airtime?

[cashe]

Good times with you guys. I learned a lot just watching all of you pros. Jon how you look at were the fish should be, then working at getting them to bite. Russ seemed to have a plan and a bag of tricks, more fishing gear than I've seen except in a well stocked store. Ray thanks for the ride. I don't think anyone worked harder to catch fish. Sean should be congratulated for taking the time to help out at the kiddy pond, it cut into his fishing time,but he was rewarded with catching a 10 pound alpers trout,good going sean on the trout and for helping the kids catch fish. Mark had trouble with his gear,and I think this was his first time in a float tube. Never gave up and caught fish, I think at most if not all the lakes and streams.Last I want to thank Tony for asking me to come up to Mammoth to share in all the fun. Tony has already said that he got skunked, he got skunked at every lake and stream,but never blamed his gear,lake, time of day and he keep trying, never giving up. He keep a good attitude.I don't think he could of put in more time or effort. Thanks for the good time,it was niece meeting all of you...Thanks

[PlatinumHooks]

We had a good time. I had a blast with everyone (Richard you are the man). I actually didn't mind getting skunked, it made me appreciate every other single time I've been up to the Sierras and slayed them left and right. No biggie to me. I don't base who someone is or someone's abilites or integrity on how they did at fishing for a day or two.

Definitely going to be an annual thing both competing in the tourney and the television production end of it. It was all good .....it was my lines fault!! LOL Just kiddn'

[Beresford13861]

Originally Posted by PlatinumHooks

We had a good time. I had a blast with everyone (Richard you are the man). I actually didn't mind getting skunked, it made me appreciate every other single time I've been up to the Sierras and slayed them left and right. No biggie to me. I don't base who someone is or someone's abilites or integrity on how they did at fishing for a day or two.

Definitely going to be an annual thing both competing in the tourney and the television production end of it. It was all good .....it was my lines fault!! LOL Just kiddn'

skunkss have to happen to balance trips out, and your spirt was awsome ALL weekend long, you worked very hard, just the fish did not want to bite for you.

[PlatinumHooks]

Thanks Mark,

the skunk is gone....I went surf fishing today.

[MOBassman]

Sounds like you guys had a blast. Ya bums, lol jk. When's the next trip up there going to be?