I just got home from a week long trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains above the town of Sierra City into the Lakes Basin Area in the shadow of the Sierra Buttes and amazingly beautiful rocky ridge towering above the surrounding countryside.
This was to be primarily a prospecting trip with a group of friends whom are other board of directors for a club I’m Vice President of “Western States Prospecting Association” WSPA, we were exploring one of our claims with the intention to submit a plan of operation through the Sacramento BLM to move some earth with heavy equipment and claim some new ground for the club to nugget hunt. In addition to metal detectors and other prospecting tools I brought my spay rod and two tenkara rods plus a small net and small chest pack with my flys and tippets.
Once up there and confirming I’d have time to actually do a little fishing I was able to find adequate cell service in Sierra City to access the California fish and game website to purchase my fishing license a ten day non resident fishing license was the best deal and fairly reasonably priced at $62.50 for the ten day stretch.
My first try was at Salmon creek a small stream flowing near the entrance to sardine and packer lakes off gold lake highway. All of my spots for fishing were chosen based on my limitations during recovery from my accident and subsequent back surgery as walking is still painful and difficult in uneven terrain. Using my Dragontail mini 360 I did catch and release one small rainbow trout in this stream fishing a couple spots and dispute being careful did loose my balance then accidentally stepping into the stream before being chased out by nightfall. I’ll add it was equally difficult walking the steep uneven hillsides prospecting even carrying my newly made aid my walking pick a new prospecting pick I’d made with a much longer handle I use to navigate the difficult terrain and of course dig my targets.
The next day I headed out earlier we were getting a little cloud burst high in the mountains so I took the opportunity to try my luck fishing on the Yuba River. Heading down highway 49 I first tried finding a spot I fished as a kid with my grandfather just above Sierra City but that access was no longer available blocked by private property so I headed down below to an area called Goodyears Bar but on getting there it was much to much of a climb down to the river for me and I continued looking farther down river driving a few more miles down river to the Rocky Ridge camp grounds where there is easy access to the River, this is also easy access for swimmers and everyone else so the river and beaches were a little crowded, plus it was still tough for me walking down the rocky shoreline down to the river.
While changing into my wading pants and shoes a local fishing guide stopped to chat and he offered some tips on the river mentioning he’d taken some fish from the area I was heading to the day before. I really have no idea how soon new fish migrate into areas previously fished and have no idea how fishing pressure and swimmers affected my chances but this was really about where I could access cause fishing someplace was better than not fishing at all.
After reaching the river I made my way into the water my felt boot soles helping grip the slippery rocks but I was very uncomfortable making frequent grabs at my walking stick to keep me on my feet as I easily lost my balance in the fast current now almost waste deep in the river. This was my first time in the water and moving around much was not only difficult more so than I’d imagined but exhausting so I kind of stayed planted casting upstream and across the river allowing my fly to drift downstream, I had a few bad casts but mostly casting my fly line went pretty well and I was getting some really long casts diagonally across the river upstream. I fished that spot for maybe an hour then decided to move upstream a little and lost my balance toward the shore line and wound up crawling out of the river rather then trying to stand. It was surprising to my just how heavy my water soaked boots felt and how much more difficult walking in the river was. I didn’t get any bites on any of my casts but it was a interesting experience my first time in the water since the accident and first time ever fly fishing I learned a lot from that attempt,
I also fished upper salmon lake one evening with no luck and this was kind of what I expected having fished lower salmon lake a lot the bite there was very specific to the time early morning and evenings and then always difficult from shore. Next I fished packer lake this time with the dragontail Hellbender and had a couple hits on my fly but no real hook ups same thing giving Snag lake a try a little action but that was it.
All in all it was a great trip and it was fantastic just being there fishing was icing on the cake and a little gold was found too, mostly it was just great being up in the mountains with friends.
This was to be primarily a prospecting trip with a group of friends whom are other board of directors for a club I’m Vice President of “Western States Prospecting Association” WSPA, we were exploring one of our claims with the intention to submit a plan of operation through the Sacramento BLM to move some earth with heavy equipment and claim some new ground for the club to nugget hunt. In addition to metal detectors and other prospecting tools I brought my spay rod and two tenkara rods plus a small net and small chest pack with my flys and tippets.
Once up there and confirming I’d have time to actually do a little fishing I was able to find adequate cell service in Sierra City to access the California fish and game website to purchase my fishing license a ten day non resident fishing license was the best deal and fairly reasonably priced at $62.50 for the ten day stretch.
My first try was at Salmon creek a small stream flowing near the entrance to sardine and packer lakes off gold lake highway. All of my spots for fishing were chosen based on my limitations during recovery from my accident and subsequent back surgery as walking is still painful and difficult in uneven terrain. Using my Dragontail mini 360 I did catch and release one small rainbow trout in this stream fishing a couple spots and dispute being careful did loose my balance then accidentally stepping into the stream before being chased out by nightfall. I’ll add it was equally difficult walking the steep uneven hillsides prospecting even carrying my newly made aid my walking pick a new prospecting pick I’d made with a much longer handle I use to navigate the difficult terrain and of course dig my targets.
The next day I headed out earlier we were getting a little cloud burst high in the mountains so I took the opportunity to try my luck fishing on the Yuba River. Heading down highway 49 I first tried finding a spot I fished as a kid with my grandfather just above Sierra City but that access was no longer available blocked by private property so I headed down below to an area called Goodyears Bar but on getting there it was much to much of a climb down to the river for me and I continued looking farther down river driving a few more miles down river to the Rocky Ridge camp grounds where there is easy access to the River, this is also easy access for swimmers and everyone else so the river and beaches were a little crowded, plus it was still tough for me walking down the rocky shoreline down to the river.
While changing into my wading pants and shoes a local fishing guide stopped to chat and he offered some tips on the river mentioning he’d taken some fish from the area I was heading to the day before. I really have no idea how soon new fish migrate into areas previously fished and have no idea how fishing pressure and swimmers affected my chances but this was really about where I could access cause fishing someplace was better than not fishing at all.
After reaching the river I made my way into the water my felt boot soles helping grip the slippery rocks but I was very uncomfortable making frequent grabs at my walking stick to keep me on my feet as I easily lost my balance in the fast current now almost waste deep in the river. This was my first time in the water and moving around much was not only difficult more so than I’d imagined but exhausting so I kind of stayed planted casting upstream and across the river allowing my fly to drift downstream, I had a few bad casts but mostly casting my fly line went pretty well and I was getting some really long casts diagonally across the river upstream. I fished that spot for maybe an hour then decided to move upstream a little and lost my balance toward the shore line and wound up crawling out of the river rather then trying to stand. It was surprising to my just how heavy my water soaked boots felt and how much more difficult walking in the river was. I didn’t get any bites on any of my casts but it was a interesting experience my first time in the water since the accident and first time ever fly fishing I learned a lot from that attempt,
I also fished upper salmon lake one evening with no luck and this was kind of what I expected having fished lower salmon lake a lot the bite there was very specific to the time early morning and evenings and then always difficult from shore. Next I fished packer lake this time with the dragontail Hellbender and had a couple hits on my fly but no real hook ups same thing giving Snag lake a try a little action but that was it.
All in all it was a great trip and it was fantastic just being there fishing was icing on the cake and a little gold was found too, mostly it was just great being up in the mountains with friends.
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