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Literary accounts of fishouts in the recent past,
to make you sorry you didn't go.

Mammoth Fishout
by John Cook

Week One - Sept. 15-22: The first week's fishing was slow with rain, wind and snow. But in spite of these conditions, most had a great time. It was fun to watch all the new people to the fishout learn about the area and experience the variety of fishing venues.
Paul Pursely caught a large fish on Crowley Lake but couldn't get it in close enough to net it, so Jim Otis netted it for him. Another time, Paul saw an extremely large fish and got so excited he started stuttering when he tried to tell others about it.
Tom Schwab, who came with the bare essentials with which to fish, and a little experience, ended up catching a fish all on his own. Tom, thanks for the fresh vegetables and fruits from your garden.
Randy Moon fancied stream fishing and hard-to-get-to places. He concentrated so hard on his fly, he looked like a dog on point.
Richard Kline's cousin Cindy and her husband, Mike, were also new to Mammoth fishing. Cindy caught three nice fish on Crowley, out-fishing Richard. Mike was happy because he caught fish several days in a row, in different places.
Then there the usual suspects: John and Elaine Cook, Doug Severin, Betty Rentz, Tim Loomis, Jim Otis, Deanna Raudman, Lynette West, Harry Schoobaert and Sam and Karla Nigh. Oh, I almost forgot; Sam had great fishing. He found the hole on the Owens River where they dump in the planted fish. He got a sore arm from catching fish, poor guy.

Week Two - Sept. 22-29: The storm broke at the start of week two, leaving the mountains dusted with snow, which enhanced the beauty of the area. Colder weather brought by the storm helped to cool down the waters of the area. We think this created better fishing conditions.
Crowley, which is usually the hot spot, gave way to other waters. Pleasant Valley, the Owens River above Crowley, and Hot Creek became the hot spots. A day of fishing at Pleasant Valley produced dozens of fish for Elaine Cook, Betty Rentz, Sophia and Jane, Tom Pelikan, Tim Loomis and Kelly Lehrian. Dave Lehrian went also, but caught only a few fish as he floated by his wife, Kelly, as she pulled in fish after fish. Later in the week, Dave had a better day on the Owens River, where he caught dozens of fish. Good come-back, Dave, and thanks for the homemade beer!
Harry Schoobaert had a great day on Hot Creek, where several other people also had good fishing. This is what is so great about fishing the east side of the Sierras. If one place is not fishing well, some other place will be.

I hope we get our regulars back next year, and some new people, too!

The Bear Valley fishout this year was an adventure. Doug Severin, Richard Kline, John Steele and I arrived Thursday night with the idea of going over to Henin Lake on Friday to fish for Lahonton cutthroats. We woke up to an inch of snow, with it lightly snowing, 23 degrees. Ebbetts Pass closed later in the morning, so Richard, John and I took our tubes to Alpine and float-tubed in the snow. At times we couldn't even see each other, as the snow increased and dropped about four inches by early afternoon. Tom Schwab thought we were nuts. Sophia, Marla, Efrain and Scott and Janna arrived later Friday. Saturday and Sunday were beautiful days with bright sunshine, although it was cold enough Saturday morning for ice to form in the guides. We all had a good time although fishing was only so-so. Fly fishermen never have a bad time!

There were four of us: Kirk Mathew ("thats one 't' and no 's'"), Troy Mayers, Patrick Marshall and myself.
We started early. Troy and Patrick fished until noon. Troy gave everyone a spey clinic for an hour during our lunch break and caught a few fish on top with a white gurgler.
Patrick dazzled us again with his canny ability to traverse the impound with the greatest of ease in his great white pontoon boat, but for Patrick, fishing was a bit of a challenge that day. Troy and Patrick left at noon.
Kirk and I fished till sundown. Kirk and I caught a total of 13 in the morning and 15 in the afternoon. Kirk caught the largest fish in the afternoon, a 22-incher on a 21/2 inch brown over white Clouser close to shore in 5 feet of water. I was using a large chartreuse/white whistler.
Kirk and I spent the entire day fishing and talking in general. One of many topics that came up was remote controlled gliders which Kirk is into. He spoke about the physics involved in keeping a glider in the air. Some of what he was telling me I knew, some I did not but I can tell you now that I am better informed on this subject as a result of our conversation. Remember "Flight of the Phoenix", with Jimmy Stewart? A German aircraft designer is among the survivors of a plane crash in the desert. As time is running out for their survival he proposes building a plane from the usable parts of the wreck to fly them to safety. As the prototype reaches completion he lets slip out that he is a designer of small remote control hobby aircraft and not the large craft that everyone assumed he designed. From that point on the movie goes from good to great.
So go on a fishout. You'll meet interesting people, learn something new and wax nostalgic.

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