Quick trip, glad you got to check it out

Turd sign was pretty funny

I was going to go next week but had to postpone till April 22nd   Fishmas will be fun

Looks like the snow is melting fast

Those Convict Trout are always there, fun to watch and sometimes they bite   

Now Tom needs to make the Trek, a week is necessary to explore and find fish   

Love the sticker posted also!

I'm in awe... shocked... laughing and bewildered all in one post!  I read this yesterday but unfortunately just getting to a response today.  This new job is brutal and I have been totally unplugging on weekends.

Geology up there is awesome!

Fishing looked "___________"
 
I don't know what was funnier, the picture of Koga or the turd lowering sign!  LOL

Great stuff Jeremy!

My bad, you did.  As Jeffrey Lebowski once said "there's a lot going on in the dooders head".  hahaha

Damn, En Fuego!  I thought all that lived in Lake Elsinore was cats and carp.

Went again to Lake Elsinore for recon on Sunday 3/29. Weather has been in the 90s all week and the water temp supposedly rose 6° to 71°.
Water was calm and the level was up a little from last time.
Grey light didn't show much but as soon as the sun started showing, so did the fish. They were frantically eating along the shoreline. They seemed like they were nibbling around the base of the plants.
I had brought my bow on my back and wanted to use it badly, but I wouldn't have anyplace to dump them.

Saw 100s of fish over the mile or so of shoreline. I could've easily got my 30 fish day. But what to do once I've got them.

I would've looked awfully suspicious taking a trash can full of fish to Big Bear to put in their bin when the water there is still too cold.

I ended up just making some super "airbow" shots and getting doubles and triples. Also got some good video and picture, which i don't do while fishing. So I made the best of the couple hours I had then.

Here's some Carp Candy.






- Keith

Alicia decided about a week ago that now is the time that she wants to try a camping trip. I ran through my options. Something local like the Angeles forest would be boring to me. Big Sur would be awesome, but $80 to sleep on the ground with the possibility of her hating it didn't sit well with me. I realized I still hadn't been to the Eastern Sierras, so I started honing in. I almost settled on Tuttle Creek Campground near the Mt. Whitney Portal, but the roads into the mountains were closed for the season which would limit our ability to do anything but check out the small creek there, and the Owens access in that area is limited.

So I decided to go a little further north of that to Goodale Creek Campground, 30 miles south of Bishop, then book it to the Upper Owens the next day in the morning.

First time driving up the 395 was great. A few slow trucks bogged us down but we made good time. I'm in an online Geology class right now which has freshened up my enthusiasm for all the geological varieties and wonders along the way.

We got to the campground at about 1400. Amazing skyline, Mt. Whitney a little south of us...









uhhhhh basalt!!!



Unfortunately, Goodale Creek which flowed just steps from the campground was completely shrouded in trees and shrubs. Basically no access to fish, and the host claimed there were definitely no fish in it. Google has much to say on the contrary, but I had absolutely nothing to work with from the campground. Here was the only fishable spot and it was barren.



Weather was supposed to be 70º/50º, but it felt a lot more like 90º at the afternoon peak and 50º in the morning. Quite a bit of warm wind came off the mountains from sunset until about 0300, which actually made me quite hot through the night until it died off, then I quickly became miserably cold. Relatively miserable sleep despite a healthy dose of ZzzQuil.

About 0700, we packed up camp and headed north. Not before being intercepted by Koga for a toll on the way out of the campground.





We got breakfast at 0800 at Jack's Restaurant, diner with trophy trout mounts and good breakfast.

Next we headed to Convict Lake for a little walk, as Jared made it clear he would not respect a decision on my part to forego visiting it. He was absolutely right to insist.



Bunch of perv trout trying to interrupt two otherwise consenting trouts.



The water was gin clear and the trout were very aware that it's still a month til Fishmas.

I spy:



On to the Owens...I didn't have a ton of time, what with these explorational activities. I put in about an hour and I did not see any fish whatsoever. Quite a few guys fishing and not catching. Beautiful country, but I didn't get sniffed on nymph nor micro spoon.



Alicia insisted we visit a hot spring nearby. It turned out to be 15 minutes down a dirt road. I was hoping it would just be right on the side of the road since we had essentially just done 2 other hikes, but it was down a little canyon and Alicia wanted the closer look.



Thankfully, my whole day, and maybe trip, was made by seeing that the Owens community has rigorous safety standards in their vault toilets, see on the lid:



It turns out that the hot spring is part of broader volcanic activity. This area is known as the Long Valley Caldera, a massive 8x15 mile volcano that is still active and monitored. Further evidence of recent volcanic activity can be seen upon the walls of the vault toilet.

Traffic on the way down was fantastic, took the 14 to the 5 instead of the 15 and only got the backside of 7pm LA traffic. Plus, got gas in Bishop at 5.09, which felt like an absolute steal in this particular moment, and got excellent fuel economy rolling downhill back to SoCal.

Alicia seems to like camping. I'm reminded that it leaves me with much less than 100% in my battery for the day, between the miserable sleep and extra physicality. Gotta love BLM campground pricing though, along with the views. Next time I will probably stay somewhere between the Upper Owens and Bishop and focus all my efforts there, although there are some golden trout opportunities in that Whitney Portal area that I would like to try eventually. Overall beautiful part of the state that I regret not visiting sooner. Maybe one day my salmonid curse will lift and I will have some great fishing days up there as well.

Quote from: jrodda on March 25, 2026, 05:36:41 PM

Quote from: sasquatch on March 25, 2026, 02:30:54 PMUsed to drift a single salmon egg on a hook with a little split shot and get bit in creeks. Wonder if a bead pegged near the hook or slipped over it would work. I know they use beads in the north west.

I was thinking about trying beads. I've got a few people with strong convictions insisting that I fly fish, so I might commit to that. But I would be pretty comfortable with beads and spoons.

I would lean towards being a master baiter over an anal beader, but bring a little spinner fly also if you have one.

Quote from: jrodda on March 24, 2026, 09:02:03 AMBringing 4wt fly rod and UL gear. Gotta start crimping my barbs.

Just walk around with a big weighted treble on the rod and record everyone's reaction. Lol

Have fun boss and good luck with the fairy wand!

Put a fly under a bobber   The old school red and white ones. Tell them it's a strike indicator. Extra style points if you do it on a fly rod.

Quote from: sasquatch on March 25, 2026, 02:30:54 PMUsed to drift a single salmon egg on a hook with a little split shot and get bit in creeks. Wonder if a bead pegged near the hook or slipped over it would work. I know they use beads in the north west.

I was thinking about trying beads. I've got a few people with strong convictions insisting that I fly fish, so I might commit to that. But I would be pretty comfortable with beads and spoons.