Boil-In-The-Bag-Trout on the John Muir Trail

Boil-In-The-Bag-Trout on the John Muir Trail

Hiked out of Mammoth Lakes area w/ 30+ lbs of gear on me, 10 on my trusty Cattledog & 20+ on the Mrs.  6 days, 5 nights & 10000 miligrams of salt in dehydrated food.

After a brutal (for us) 1600 ft-6 mile climb we found a great camp site thanks to "Wilderness Press' Sierra South".  Conditions & the time of year could not have been  more perfect.  Temperatures from the 50's at night to the high 70's during the day & next-to-no bugs of any kind.

As for fishing I was largely unprepared tactic wise & pretty much gear wise.  We tried for trout with lures & then crickets & finally any kind of winged bug bigger than a cricket. 

The fish were visible in the crystal clear water.  Several would check out my bait sometimes even striking my clasp or bobber.  One even put my bobber entirely in it's mouth & went on a run before spitting it out.

Eventually I was reduced to scrambling thru meadows to catch any kind of live bug I could get my hands on.  They bit on crickets but if you could get something bigger it was a free for all.  I had a moth at one point & the trout went ape s$#@ on it.

After getting a few fish the last dilema was how to cook a trout w/out a pan & w/ out a fire.  Fires were banned above 10k' & below 9k' & I wasn't going to foul my only pot w/ trout.  Eventually we decided to take our trout, boil up some H20 & place both in our left over backpacking food packs.  It worked perfectly.  4 slices in each side & the seasoning from the leftover made the boil-in-the-bag trout perfect!!!!  Later we moved down the JMT below 10k & were able to make trout-dogs on skewers.

A very fun trip, perfect time of year to hit the High Sierra, only next time I'm taking some more tackle so I don't have to watch fish mock me for hours on end!!!!

PJ

Great report and photos.
Sounds like you need a fly fishing pack rod.
Those trout go crazy for that stuff too.

Great pictures and story.    Really enjoyed it.

i absolutely love Mammoth / Eastern Sierras.   One of the greatest places on earth.    Which part did you go to?

Gotta have flies up there....

Beautiful PJ brings back a lot of memories one of my favorite areas been over Donahue Pass up Banner a few times Lake Ediza is one of my favorites.  A little further south Fish Valley is awesome.

Nice pics!
 
Cabela's offers some decent low-cost travel fly rods that would pack in pretty well and help stop the mocking... (I hate when the trout do that).   

Excellent report and photos - thanks for sharing it.   

Great pictures and story.    Really enjoyed it.

i absolutely love Mammoth / Eastern Sierras.   One of the greatest places on earth.    Which part did you go to?

Gotta have flies up there....

We went thru Duck Pass to Duck Lake & then down the JMT to Purple Lake.  We were right above Fish Creek.  We ran into some fisherman that said it was heaven down @ Fish Creek.  It was around a 1700' descent from where we were & we weren't capable of climbing back out of that valley so we just came back thru Ducks Pass.

Next time I will do the fly's as you guys suggest!

PJ

Pic looking west to the Silver Divide across Fish Creek.

The reports around here have been truly epic of late. Cool trip, love your improvised cooking methods.

Great report and pics. next time, if you dont have a fly rod, a nymph(artificial fly) behind a bobber often works well. those tiny crapie lead head swirly tail jigs can work well, and if you MUST make dinner, you can always "cheat" and use power bait. then again, local live bait (bugs) often is BY FAR the most productive (where its legal)..oh yea, caddis nymphs picked off protected rocks can be a suer thing..........

Great Post PJ

It sounds as though the fish are more finicky on the eastside, or maybe it was the late season that slowed the bite.  I have to get to that side soon!  Thanks for the info!

Andy

PJ -

Really sweet report. Really miss backpacking. The Big Sur Commandos are targeting next weekend for a fall adventure. Hope you can make it, weather permitting. 

Scott

PJ, a small clear cast-a-bubble with a 3'-7' 2-4lb leader and a variety of small plastic grubs and a few flies is very effective. you can cast the bubble a mile. if you fill it it sinks slowly. if you half fill it it floats. the only thing is that plastics dissolve the plastic the bubble is made from so you have to store them separate.

great pics, impressed that your dog will take 10lbs of the load, you should get three more and go with only 10lbs for yourself, 

J

Gorgeous land out there.  Nice trip!

My go to lure up there has always been small prop spinners like the Aero Spin and the Roostertail Prop size 1 or smaller.

PJ, a small clear cast-a-bubble with a 3'-7' 2-4lb leader and a variety of small plastic grubs and a few flies is very effective. you can cast the bubble a mile. if you fill it it sinks slowly. if you half fill it it floats. the only thing is that plastics dissolve the plastic the bubble is made from so you have to store them separate.

great pics, impressed that your dog will take 10lbs of the load, you should get three more and go with only 10lbs for yourself, 

J

that's my sure-fire technique in the high country of the Eastern escarpment.  Drie flies behind a clear plastic bobber, half full.  Get the fly floater stuff to keep the drie flies floating, 4-foot leader, fish after fish.

Like John says, you can cast a mile with those things using your spinning gear.
Allen