Golden Ride V

“Dawn Catches The Big One”

I received an early morning call from George Cecchetti, owner of the Reel Fly Shop, who had some bad news.  His mother had a medical emergency last night and was in the hospital in critical condition.  If her condition wasn’t improved, he was not going to make the trip.  Since I had a similar experience about a year ago, I told him “don’t worry about it, I’ll make the trip without you”.   

Late that evening I arrived in June Lake to find that my group had already turned in for the night.  Since I had a 5:30 am wake up call, I did the same.  The next morning as I was I was leaving for our prearranged 7 am arrival time at the pack station, I saw several of the other riders loading up their gear.  After a brief conversation, we all left for the pack station.

"Packing the Gear"

Our Ride

The weather prediction for the ride was blue skies and warm weather.  That was good news, since it can turn pretty nasty in the high country this time of the year. 

After arriving at the pack station (only a 10 minute drive from the hotel) and unloaded our gear, we all made our way to the cookhouse for breakfast.  They had a hardy breakfast prepared for us of eggs, bacon, potatoes, sliced fruit, coffee and juice.   During breakfast, the conversation turn to George and his mother, we all hoped for the best.  We were given our safety helmet lecture and signed our release forms.

When we finished breakfast, we were given saddlebags and our trail lunch and headed back to the corral to meet our horses.  That was going to be our mode of transportation for the next five days.  Carrie, one of the wranglers, was there to greet us along with Dave, owner of the pack station.  Dave asked, who hadn’t ridden before?  Pat spoke up.   He was concerned about the ride and had taken riding instructions from a good friend and trainer who couldn’t make the trip.     Dave assigned each of us a horse based on our riding experience.  Carrie took over and gave us some basic safety and riding instructions and on it was time to saddle up.

Our head wrangler, Rachel, had left prior to us with the pack mule train.  Kelli, a first year wrangler at the pack station, was to lead our group up the trail to Clark Lake base camp.  She also was in charge of the mule that was packed with all of our fishing equipment. 

Rachel, Head Wrangler

The ride starts with a gradual climb along the mountainside next to Silver Lake.  Then suddenly, we start to climb the rugged pass to Agnew Lake.  At one point on the trail, you are climbing a stair-stepped switch back that over looks the valley 1000’ feet below.  It is a magnificent sight.  As we approach Gem Lake, everyone is feeling good, so we decide to take our break at Rush Creek, which is just 30 minutes up the trail.  Once at Rush Creek, everyone is ready for a well deserved break.  Kelly asked, “is anyone going to fish, I’ll unpack the gear”?  No one responds.   Then they ask, how far to Clark Lake?  It is less than two hours, said Kelly.  The decision was made, let’s push on.

After four hours of riding, getting off the horse can be a challenge.  It sure feels good to stand up and stretch out those leg muscles!  Our camp cook, Goodie, greets us as we dismount and tells us that there are some snacks and drinks on the table.  Our personal gear was already unpacked, waiting for us to pick up and put in our tents.  

The weather was beautiful, nice enough for shorts.  We still had a good part of the afternoon to fish the five lakes that are in walking distance from our base camp.  Looking down at the lake, everyone was getting excited.  I had everyone gather up their fishing equipment and sit down for a group meeting.  I explained to all of them, the lay of the land, where the different lakes were located, best time to fish each and the type of flies that have worked very effectively on past trips.  Since Dawn was a true beginner and her husband, Norman had some fly fishing experience; I decided to assist them first.  The others, Pat, Vern, Curt, Dave, split up and headed off. 

Before I could get Dawn and Norman’s fly rods ready, we could hear the conversation on the lake and the words “fish on”.  Looking down from our vantage point we could see the splashing of a nice brook trout being landed.  Dawn and Norman were getting very excited.  Now it was their turn. 

When Dawn made her first cast, I could tell that see was going to need a lot of help, the good part is we had five days of fishing.  By the end of the afternoon, both Dawn and Norman landed several nice brook trout.

Goodie, was barbequing chicken when we all got back to camp.  Everyone was talking about the good fishing that they had experienced.  Curt and Vern had made their way up to Summit Lake, I had told them that’s where the big boys hang out.  They weren’t disappointed.  Curt hook one over 20” but didn’t land it.  After dinner, I told them that we should fish Summit or Clark Two. 

There was just a slight breeze that evening, a perfect condition for Clark Two.  Curt, Vern, Pat, Dave and I walked the short distance to the lake; Dawn and Norman were just happy staying in camp by the fire.  It was lights out fishing, Dave and Pat were into fish almost every cast before Curt joined in on the fun.  Vern had walked around the other side, it was windy there but it was going to pay off for him later.   By the end of the evening the four of them had caught countless numbers of brook trout.

Goodie was up at 5:30 am the next morning preparing breakfast.  Everyone woke up to a hot cup of coffee and a roaring fire.  As we ate, Rachael and Kelly prepared our horses for the ride to the San Joaquin River.   It’s only a 40-minute ride from our base camp.  Since we got an early start, we decided to fish until 2 pm, that way we still had time to fish late in the afternoon at Clark.

Kelli, Goody, Rachel
 

The San Joaquin River was very low and the water was warm.  The fishing was still very good but the bigger rainbow trout were struggling to survive.  Everyone hooked and landed lots of nice brook trout and Dawn caught 4 rainbows over 14”.  It was a very productive and pleasant afternoon.  The weather was warm and the trail dry and dusty as we made our way back to Clark.  Since we still had several hours before dinner, a bath sounded like a good idea, everyone agreed.

After dinner Dawn and Norman decided to go up to Clark Two while the other four wanted to check out the big fish at Summit.  The wind came up that evening making it harder to fish the area that we had so much success at last night.   By now Dawn’s casting has improved and she can get her fly out to where the fish are rising.   By dark it was getting cold so we made our way back to camp.  The other four weren’t far behind.  They hooked several big fish at Summit, this time landing one over 18”.

After breakfast, we loaded up and headed to Alger Lake, four hours away.  Alger’s is a series of four lakes and an outlet stream.  Three of the lakes and stream have some exceptional golden trout fishing.  Once we climbed over the last hill and looked down at the lake system, everyone was ready to go.  Knowing that the trail was going to be hot, dry and dusty, I had a surprise for everyone when we got to the Alger Lake base camp.  “COLD BEER”  No one complained about the ride.  Curt hooked the first golden trout and everyone was soon to follow.  I could even hear Dawn on the other side of the lake excited about her first golden trout. 

Alger Lake

The warm fire feels good at this altitude but it still doesn’t keep the group up late at night.  That evening, to my surprise, Norman is still without a hookup.   After breakfast, Pat, Curt, Vern and Dave decided to hike up to Alger 3.  Dawn and Norman stay back, and I take them to one of my favorite locations.  When you don’t see rising fish, you just have to be patient, besides we have all day, and I’m confident that by the end of the day Norman will have caught a golden trout.  About two hours into the morning, Norman is rewarded with a beautiful 9” golden trout, his first.   On the other hand, Dawn has already landed four fish up to 14”.  Her success even gets better in the afternoon. 

Earlier that morning back at camp, Goodie asked me if I had time would I give him some fly fishing instructions.   I agreed and told him where on the lake we should meet later in the day.  As I walked along the shoreline I could see a fish working in the distance, I called to Dawn and told her to make her way over.  Within seconds of her fly hitting the water, it was sucked up.  She set the hook and the fight was on.  When the fish jumped I could see it was big, I yelled at her, “let go of the fly line and get it on the reel”.   When I netted the fish, I couldn’t believe it, an 18”+ golden trout!  What a trophy catch.  Norman came running over to see her success.  He was just as excited as she.  After a quick picture we let it go.  Norman was off again.  But Dawn was not through for the day. 

"Dawn's Trophy Catch"

When Goodie showed up, my fly rod was all ready for him.  I told him about Dawn’s big fish, he couldn’t believe it, no one this year was having that kind of success at Alger.  Goodie and I walked the shoreline ahead of Dawn over to another grassy inlet.  We sat way back from the shoreline and Goodie made his first cast.   We were having a nice conversation, when I saw his fly disappear. Are you going to set the hook?  He quickly jerked the fly rod, missed him!  He put the fly back out about in the same location.  A few minutes later, another one came up and ate his fly, this one didn’t get away.  This was Goodie’s first golden trout of the year.  In about two hours he landed five golden trout but none as big as Dawn’s. 

Goody's First Golden

 
Another one by Dawn

Dawn, now the expert of the group, hooked another golden, this time a beautiful trout about 17”.  Norman was still on “one”.  Pat and Dave made their way down the trail from the upper lake.  They reported that the fishing was slow and only caught three.   Dawn still wasn’t done for the day, she hooked another trout about 18”, that’s when Norman decided to walk away and fish by himself.  A little while later, Norman’s patience paid off, he landed very nice fish better that 14”.

 Back at camp, everyone was beaming about their successful day.  But no one could top Dawn’s two 18” golden trout.  Pat, Curt, Dave and Vern each landed between 8 and 10 fish, Norman 3 and Goodie 5.

Norm's Golden

The campfire and dinner that night was our last for this trip.  Everyone was riding high, with lots of fish caught and stories to tell their friends when they got home the next day.  It was a long day, but we still managed to stay up until 10 pm.  

 Since Dave flew his private plane up, he asked if we could get out early, so he had time to get back to the airport and make the flight home.  It still allowed all of us time to spend several hours on the water that morning before making the ride down the mountain.

"The Group"

Riders:
Dawn Worthen
Norm Worthen
Pat Maravelias
Curt Honodel
Vern Lusk
Dave Lannoy
Al Smatsky

Wranglers:
Rachel Axford
Kelli Johnson
Paul "Goody" Goodburn

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