A little backcountry hike for tiny trout

Took a hike into the backcountry with my buddy in the hopes of finding Pauite trout.  The most prized trout to catch.  Silver King Creek is it's home waters but the DFG in their wisdom years ago decided to add rainbows to the mix, and we all know what that means.  Hybrid fish and the destruction of a native genetically pure fish.  I regret to say we caught nothing but rainbows, tons of rainbows.  As of Monday the DFW has poisoned the water so they can replant native Pauite's, only problem is that the water will not be fishable for at least 5 years.  Thanks jerks, boy do they know how to kill off native fish.  Not matter, we had a great time and it was a great hike.  In the trail picture we went to the valley in the far mountains, it was all down hill for 4 miles.  The first half miles is a 20% incline, tons of fun with a 35 pound pack.  So this made the hike out grueling since it was all up hill for 4 miles and that last downhill was a knee killer.  But this is what we do and what we love.  Once we found a nice spot to camp, which I had a nice view out the door to the creek, we hiked another 3 miles upstream looking for the right trout.  But ass I stated, nothing but rainbows.  I used my Tenkara rod the whole trip and threw rubber legged stimu's.  I love my new Tenkara rod.  I look forward to many many more trips, this is my passion, outdoors with no one around but nature and your friends.

It is not the size of the fish that matters or how many you caught, it is about the trip!!

Thanks for sharing the trip and pictures with us Scott.

It is not the size of the fish that matters or how many you caught, it is about the trip!!

Word!

Bummer about the lack of Paiute.  But small-stream trout fishing is always a blast.  It brings back a lot of childhood memories whenever I do it.  How can anyone NOT enjoy seeing a trout grab an Adams floating on the surface??

nice man!  I've been thinking about getting a tenkara rod for backpacking.  what length would you recommend for sierra streams and lakes?

nice man!  I've been thinking about getting a tenkara rod for backpacking.  what length would you recommend for sierra streams and lakes?

Right now I am using the 11' Iwana, but I got that for real small water like the pic above and for places like Silverfork.  The biggest fish you can land with this rod is about 17 inches and even that is pushing it.  Not sure about using one on a lake, if I am on still water I will stick with my regular 5 weight and an intermediate line.  If you wind up getting one, let me know so we can get together.  The tough part is learning how to land the fish, it takes some time to figure it out.

Your post brought back a lot of memories of when I was a kid.  Thanks for sharing your trip even with no Paiutes still looks like a fun outing.

Nice Scottv!
Love the small stream scene, packing-in.
Just have not done any of it since the kayaks entered the picture.
Come to think about it, I haven't done much kayak fishing lately either.

good stuff - I miss backcountry fishing 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who proudly posts small fish. Nice Pics Scott.

caught and released on a barbless rooster tail

Scott, were you actually on the Silver King? If so, then you must have been below the falls? Or did DFG poison the whole drainage? I got turned on to Paiute trout in the late 80's, after reading a book by Colin Fletcher, but by that time the Silver King was closed.

At any rate, I hope this turns out like the eradication/re-introduction of Bonneville cutts in the Great Basin NP area. We stopped to fish for an hour there last year. Both Maggie and I hooked up repeatedly, with each of us getting fish to hand. All while dapping using the top two sections of a 10' rod. We were seriously fish hunting - crawling, being vewwy vewwy qwiet. All in what was probably a 1 cfs or less rivulet. Seriously good fun in the desert.

Scott,
yes I was on Silver King but you can not fish above the waterfall, that area is no touchy.  They said they are poisoning from the waterfall down and then in a few years reintroduce the Pauite cutthroats.  Probably can't fish it for at least 5 years.  They are basically fixing their screw up.

Scott,
yes I was on Silver King but you can not fish above the waterfall, that area is no touchy.  They said they are poisoning from the waterfall down and then in a few years reintroduce the Pauite cutthroats.  Probably can't fish it for at least 5 years.  They are basically fixing their screw up.

The screwup goes back many decades, so I don't hold the current DFW personnel responsible at all. As  mentioned, last year we picked up re-introduced Bonneville cutts. Not mentioned was that earlier while out in CO, we'd caught re-introduced Greenback cutts as well.  Put me on the side of "kill ALL de browns, brookies and rainbows", if that means my boys might be able to fish the original waters for Paiutes.

5 years would be pretty optimistic, I'd think, if they don't re-introduce for two more years.

Do you have any contacts that have fished the streams that hold Paiutes that are open to fishing? I'm not going to mention names on teh interweb, but there's a USF&W document on the Paiute Recovery Plan that names them. A bit longer drive for us than the Silver King, but not much...