Stalking big browns!

Sometime back in February or March, my buddy Brandon and I managed to get permits for the VERY restrictive Williamson Bowl. They are hard to get and the area is closed to all human activity from July 15th until January. With the impressive snowpack the Sierras has received, as our July 7th departure date loomed near, we realized that there was just going to be too much snow this year. It was a definite disappointment, but rather than squash the whole trip, we decided to do a 5 day loop through some backcountry that is lower in elevation. Some of our stops were familiar to us, some weren't. This is the story of the back up plan.

We arrived on the morning of July 7th, after a couple hours of driving, at our trailhead. We each stashed a beer in the car for our triumphant return in 5 days. Those of you lacking the foresight to do the same, are cheating yourselves out of a wonderful return to civilization.

We slung on our packs of 33lbs for me and what Brandon said was "around 40" for himself. I get the feeling that he does not go through the same trouble of weighing individual items and his full pack like I do. We started off up the trail around 10 a.m.

From Deso Loop July '10

The first few miles of this trail were familiar to us and we charged up it at a pretty good clip. Our itinerary for this trip was pretty flexible, but we were required to stay in a certain area for our first night. Despite this, we opted to take a small detour of a couple miles round trip to swing by an unfamiliar lake. By the time we arrived we were both a little gassed and I welcomed the opportunity to pick up my 8 weight and huck some big chunks of fur and feathers into the turquoise abyss. Yes, an 8 weight in the high country. Not so much for the size of the fish, but I am throwing some pretty big streamers and I like to sling them far. Unfortunately, this lake proved difficult to fly fish for a couple of reasons. Primarily, the lake has a large shallow shelf extending out 60-150 feet from the shore. It was obvious that the lakes large denizens would not be shallow during the middle of the day. The other obstacle I faced was very poor backcasting clearance. Even when I waded manhood deep into the clear, cold water, the casting locations were limited.

As our first hour progressed the thunderheads that had been forecast began to stalk their way into our area. Since I had neglected to put in a packliner, or even bring my pack cover, it was obvious to us that we needed to boogie to the area we were slotted to camp at for the night. We needed to get camp set up before the rain made it to our sleeping bags and other critical gear. Use a packliner people.

From Deso Loop July '10

We finally arrived after crossing snowfields and slogging through a particularly wet and nasty trail. Camp went up quickly and without a hitch and we were pleased to be ready for the rain... that never came. By now it was about 2 in the afternoon. I opted to take a nap since I cleverly allowed myself 4 hours of sleep the night before. By 4 p.m. I was up, the big rod was strung, and I was hunting the big cruising Brown Trout of one of my favorite high country lakes.

From Deso Loop July '10

Like the trout hunting masters of the air, when chasing these big boys I pick a perch high above the water. Sometimes 10ft, sometimes 30ft, but always up high where you can see down into their house. Yes, I fish from up here.

From Deso Loop July '10

I put in a solid 4 hours of big Brown hunting for two good grabs. I missed both, but it was plenty entertaining watching them lazily cruise up to that big chunk of bunny and 'bou and suck it in. I dont know why it is so hard to hook these fish, but it is most likely a combination of being able to see them eat, setting too early, and having a good deal of slack in the line due to my lofty hunting spot. But, as I said, it was enough just to watch them come out and lay down the food chain law on my big streamers.

We had a gourmet meal of ramen and tortilla, and hit the sack. After fighting nature's call for a couple of hours in the pre-dawn morning, I finally drug myself out of my nylon castle and took care of business. Once I'm up, I'm up, so I again grabbed the 8wt. Brandon remained lazily snoozing away as the dedicated hunter stalked out of camp intent on piscivorous persecution.

I worked hard for a couple hours, with a few close calls, and far more flippant rejections from those wily old Browns. Just when the dedication was beginning to wane and the frustration was setting in, I saw a good one come into casting range and laid that big chunk of fur about 15 feet in front of him. I slowly stripped it back to the rocks and the fish did not hesitate, made a bee line over, and munched my streamer! I didnt have my landing net, it's laughably small size would have been like bringing a knife to a gun fight anyway. I got in the water and was eventually able to get hold of the fish. With Brandon still slumbering, I opted to take a quick picture near my rod and let the fish be on it's way. 21 inches as measured against my rod.

From Deso Loop July '10

Success. Not a giant, not nearly the biggest fish this place has to offer, or even the biggest that I had bite that day, but it was a great fish and my day was already made. 9 a.m.

A small side-note. Notice the blue rubber band on my rod. This is a quick easy system I came up with for measuring fish. Hold the fish against the rod, even with the butt, then roll the rubber band down to the fishes nose. Measure at camp, or even at home, and you've got a quick easy tape for the backcountry that weighs practically nothing, and is always conveniently at hand.

I went back to camp and rousted Brandon and he came out to fish. About then, the days thunderstorm arrived on scene. This one meant business. I continued to fish in the rain, in the hopes that it would get the big fish up shallow and more active.

From Deso Loop July '10

I wasn't off base in my hopes. The activity level definitely increased. More big fish were up and milling about. I missed a few more, had some heart thumping rejections, and spooked a whole pile of them off into deeper water.

I love fishing in the rain. The static sound of raindrops on a waveless lake is the sound of peace to me. Those are the moments when I feel truly in my element.

In short order, I spotted a good fish cruising super tight to the bank. I casted down about 20 feet in front of it, waited till it came within sight range of my fly and moved it to within a couple feet of land. As soon as she saw it, she torpedoed over and whacked it! Brandon was quick with the net and she was soon under my control. She was a chunk, clearly full of Redside minnows. 22.5 inches of chubby, streamer chewing goodness. Not bad for an alpine lake way up high in the backcountry!

From Deso Loop July '10

From Deso Loop July '10

The storm eventually passed. With it went the big browns. Back to the murky depths to digest their meals and toy with me no longer. They really did drop back down. I dont think I had another sign of interest for the rest of the day. But that was fine by me. I was grateful for what I got. These fish are notoriously wily. It seems that most guys struggle trip after trip to get one. Maybe I fish harder, maybe I fish longer, maybe I am lucky. Whatever the case may be, I'll take it!

I did manage to get a roughly twelve inch Brookie. His kindness in my time of hunger was summarily rewarded with a bonk on the head and a trip to the frying pan. Fear not, trout lovers, he was joined by wild onions, olive oil, parmesan, crushed red pepper, and some salt and lemon pepper. I topped that off with yet another round of ramen and tortillas.

Our last night at this lake was a good one. I had a full belly and slept great. Our final morning was bright and clear, without a ripple to be seen on the water. A typical post frontal day. In my experience, these days suck for fishing, especially with the larger, more wary fish.

Well, I love being right, but I love catching fish more. So unfortunately, when my prediction proved true and the fish didnt show, I was unable to add another picture of spotted gold and chocolate to my album. Luckily, I am not a completely one dimensional creature and I fully enjoyed just hanging out, trying to cast out every inch of my line, and finally taking a little dip to wash the clothes and body.

From Deso Loop July '10

We packed up camp and headed up to our next destination. We were slated to hike about 5 miles this day. We took our time since we had not got to see this country before. Plenty of awesome scenery.

From Deso Loop July '10

From Deso Loop July '10

From Deso Loop July '10

Marmot at the top of the saddle.

From Deso Loop July '10

We stopped at the very top to have lunch. Did your lunch break have this kind of a view today?

From Deso Loop July '10

We were soon on our way and got to walk along the shore of the Desolation's centerpiece for awhile.

From Deso Loop July '10

From Deso Loop July '10

After awhile we peeled off the trail and did a little cross country to get to the backside of what was to be our destination for the night.

From Deso Loop July '10

We fished for a little while. I did see one very nice cruising Rainbow who smirked at my bug and kept on truckin. That was it. The casting situation was not good, very difficult to find room to back cast and too much depth to wade. Add to that the crowded atmosphere and it had all the ingredients for a bailout. So we did. Back out the cross country route to check out some other lakes. The views going back out to the trail were too great not to share.

From Deso Loop July '10

We hiked around for awhile, going past a couple lakes that our wonderful DFG had decided to gill net over the winter to free up habitat for the Mountain Yellow Legged Frog. We opted to continue on, to what was slated as our destination for our final night, pushing up our arrival there by a day. By this time we had done a bunch of hiking and were starting to feel a little zapped. We slogged on for another few miles. Stopping occasionally to whine, talk about food unavailable to us in the hills, and take a few pictures. McDonald's double cheeseburgers seemed to be a running theme this stretch.

From Deso Loop July '10

We drug ourselves to the lake somewhere around 6 or 7 in the evening. We set up camp and watched all the bugs on the lake. They were not being harassed at all. We feared that perhaps the lake had become barren due to cessation of air dropping. Completely wiped, we made the call that we would just make this our last night and come out a day early. With that decision made, we gorged ourselves on double rations, and fell into our bags. Best night of backcountry sleep ever. My new Big Agnes pad and my sleeping bag unzipped and draped over me was the best combination ever.

When I finally drug myself out of the tent, I fired up the stove to boil water for oatmeal, coffee, and Earl Grey. The oatmeal went down fast, and I moved to a nice sunny boulder to enjoy my morning tea.

From Deso Loop July '10

As it was the night before, the bugs were everywhere, the trout were not. As I voiced my suggestion of breaking camp and heading for home, a beautiful Rainbow of about 16" cruised right past my rock and I saw it daintily suck in an invisible bug subsurface. Killer. We had fish, they were cruising, and they were eating. It's ON!

Over the next three hours, we witnessed a good number of fish, all in the same, nice, size class. Not big but good quality for the high country. The only problem was, these guys had PhD's in artificial avoidance. I was down to 7X tippet and size 22 midges. No dice. Not one munch. Brandon claimed to have gotten bit on a dry, I claim shenanigans.

After being thoroughly demoralized, beat down, and abused by the crafty residents of this tiny mountain gem, we decided to pack it up and head down the trail. I had picked a short, steep, unmaintained trail for closing our loop. We walked the top of a ridge for awhile before dropping down. The views alone were worth what we were about to endure.

From Deso Loop July '10

Soon, we came to the end of our ridge and got just a glimpse of what we were in for.

From Deso Loop July '10

We had to lose all of that elevation, in what appeared to be half of a mile on the map. D A N G !

From Deso Loop July '10

From Deso Loop July '10

It was incredibly slow going. This was no trail. It was a collection of run off trenches, granite steps, crazy slides down loose detritus, and tunneling through dense vegetation with running water around our ankles. All the while with 35lb packs and four days worth of wiped out weighing us down. It was miserable to the point of being fun. There were several occasions where I felt like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole.

From Deso Loop July '10

Yes, there is a "trail" there! We eventually found our way to the car. We put our feet and more importantly, our friends from the beginning of this tale, into the stream and wound down a bit.

From Deso Loop July '10

We made our way directly to the nearest McDonald's. I had 5 double cheeseburgers, large fries, and 2 large iced teas. After that we were ready for the drive home.

A good trip.