Literary accounts of fishouts in the recent past,
to make you sorry you didn't go.
Bear Valley Fishout
by Pat Steele
Bear Valley Fishout
by Pat Steele
This Bear Valley Fishout was one of those outings best described as "gemuetlichkeit" a word from my childhood. I remember my German-born, maternal grandmother using it whenever we were bundled up in blankets, tucked in our beds, or when her friends would come over, have tea, sew, and chat. As a child, you might not know what the English translation of a word is, but you know when it's something good, and that word always made me feel that all was right with the world.
The weather in Bear Valley was just right, sunny and warm, but not beastly hot, and the breeze came up in the afternoons, but that was all right, too, since the fish usually took a siesta then anyway. I can't attest to the fishing elsewhere, but at Alpine Lake, it was great. John and I putted up and down the far shore in our boat, keeping in the shade in the mornings, trolling with an assortment of wooly buggers, bead head Prince nymphs, bird's nests, and some flies that Tim Loomis gave us to experiment with. Everything except the black fly Tim gave us worked on the naive little hatchery rainbows. On Friday, I caught twenty-two of them. In the mornings, they all liked the Prince nymph, and in the afternoons, they all liked the bird's nest. I guess they figured one was breakfast and the other was lunch.
The float tubers, Elaine Cook, Kennette Roberts, Mary Breckenridge, Mike Grisez, Kent Hull, Tom Pelikan, Tim Loomis, Kirk Matthew and Betty Rentz, all did very well, trolling along with pretty much the same sorts of flies we were using from the boat, catching many fish in the 14"-16" range. Betty even caught a good-sized brown trout. John Cook, Bob Roberts and Doug Severin fished the bank, catching the dry fly action in the shadows, in the mornings.
John and I caught some dry fly action, too, nabbing a few fish on Parachute Adams, which was a lot of fun. John built a rod I didn't even know he had (I suspect there are others in the closet, too!), a 10-foot, 4 piece 4 weight Sage XL, with which I really could hurl some line, so I could spot rises and cast to them without much effort.
Tom and Sonia Deetz preferred to hike in to the San Joaquin River, taking their dogs with them, and Sharon Hull, not yet converted to fly fishing (we'll have to work on her!) spent her time at Alpine Lake bird watching, getting a close-up view with her high-powered binoculars, of the ospreys and eagles soaring and diving.
The evening get-togethers were full of food and revelry, enhanced by Kirk's talent on the guitar. Doug Severin's contribution of his now-famous barbecued tri-tip steak didn't hurt, either, nor did all the other gustatory delights the group heaped on the table for everyone's enjoyment. Our dinner guest, Grey Foy, who was camping in the area nearby, gave up his dinner of cheese and crackers to join us, and was very glad he did.
Over all, this fishout had everything, good weather, good fishing, good food, and most of all, good friends. Our club is a curious mix of all types of people, but I think that's what makes us unique, and why we all have such a good time with each other. It was, as my grandmother would have said, "gemuetlichkeit."