TR: North Lake-Puppet Lake 8/31-9/3

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Mradford
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TR: North Lake-Puppet Lake 8/31-9/3

Post by Mradford »

DAY 1 : On thursday night we drove up to the trailhead parking lot and slept on the ground near our cars. The moon was extremely bright and we had originally planned to start hiking in the full moon. But, since my unsuccessful stint earlier in the day left me cramped and totally dehydrated we decided against it. We woke up friday morning around 6 packed up, made a last minute decision to bring our tents and hit the Paiute pass trail. About halfway up the trail the weather took its first nasty turn (thank god we grabbed out tents) and we took shelter in the trees near Loch Leven. After a half hour or so the rain and hail stopped so we headed back up and were hit by another ridiculous cell and stopped again. This time we fished for some brookies on one of the small lakes above Loch Leven. Eventually we made it up the pass and chilled out in the wind and sun enjoying the view.
After chatting it up with a bunch of people we made our way down passed summit lake and started veering nothwest off the main trail and towards our destination. Once we hit Lower deso our group became split on what we should do. So since we were planning to come back this way we decided to split in half and see which way was faster. Two guys kept going up to Upper deso while me and another took the drainage from lower deso up and over the hill to Mesa. We were definitely faster and agreed to go our way on the way back. Best part is while going cross country near the drainage we dropped our map and didnt realize it until we arrived at Mesa ](*,) . Lucky for us we really researched the area and knew exactly where we were going and wouldnt really stray too far from the course. (also, we met up with an UL guy later in the day who had a map and we took some photos just in case.) When we got to Mesa, which was to be our camp for night 1, the wind was HOWLING, picture a werewolf, the wind at mesa was worse. We tried fishing but the wind was ridiculous and we werent having much luck. We cruised around and found two decent sites for tents. Not much protection at this lake. Lucky we set up our tents when we did because a big cell cruised over Glacier Divide and decided to drop rain and hail on us for like 4 hours. We just napped in our tents until it cleared up. Eventually the wind kind of mellowed out for 30 minutes and I managed to hook up with a decent golden before it got too dark. I was the only person to catch a fish at Mesa...bummer.
Day 2: We woke up around 530 ate some breakfast and wanted to try and hit the morning bite, but unfortunately nothing was really happening other than my neck frying like an egg from the reflection off the lake. We cruised around and snapped some photos of the amazing light show that took place over Mount Humphreys and looked over the ledge to Tomahawk lake, which is a rad lake. Eventually we packed up and headed up the drainage toward Carol Col. This was our first cross country pass, and although it wasn't really that hard anyway, it was nice seeing a wear path leading up to the tarn above Mesa. When we reached that spot we were just a little bit confused, having no map trying to decide which Knob to head towards, we agreed it was the one further southwest and headed up that way. We reached the top and were glad to see we were right, and then cruised around looking for the pass sign which was in a weird spot. We moved it closer to the spot we entered on took some photos laughed about how steep the entrance of the pass was and then attacked it. The beginning was a little hairy but once we got closer to the wall everything made sense. It took us about 20 minutes to get down but the experience was pretty rad. We were met at the bottom with 407 mph winds. Seriously though, the wind was ripping, Puppet lake looked surfable, and we knew casting was gunna suck. We checked out the northeastern side of the lake and found an area that was not getting as crushed by the wind. We set up tents again just in case another T storm crept over Pilot knob and we couldnt see it coming. i cruised around the whole lake to see if i saw any cruisers or risers, or some nice dropoffs but didnt see much action so i headed back to camp. Instead of wasting time crying about the wind we headed up the hill and over to the Star lake basin. we got to the top and were greeted with a sweet view of little lake, moon lake and elba lake as well as the waterfall coming out of the Royce lakes area. SICK! We boulder hopped down to moon lake which was protected from the wind a bit and started fishing. Everyone had caught some little goldens within twenty minutes. The lakes were beautiful and we ran into some people who were camping at moon lake. Eventually we made our way down stream to elba lake and then boulder hopped up the hill there back to puppet lake. We were sweaty so we jumped in. Holy crap the water was cold and the rocks were slick. We decided to check out some of the other lakes in the puppet vicinity and went and hung out near Paris lake for a while. On the way back the wind mellowed out and just for fun, we threw some line. I hooked up a killer golden, of course everyone was pissed that i hooked up on both lakes we camped at. The thing fought great! My arm was kind of sore. After that we headed back to the camp and enjoyed the light show above Pilot Knob and then the moon came out and lit up the whole range. Pretty amazing!
Day 3: We woke up and had decided not to fish much but to hit the pass pretty quick before it got sun. We made it to the top in about 40 minutes from leaving the lake snapped some photos hydrated and were off. We stopped by tomahawk lake, which was gorgeous, we wished we would have camped there rather than Mesa, jumped in, soaked the feet, talked to a few people, and looked for some cruisers before we were back on our way. Originally we had planned to stay hear the last night and then head back over toward lower deso, but a last minute thriving for more hiking left us heading out towards glacier divide. We went over the hill the east of Tomahawk and when we got to the top we decided on either staying at Packsaddle or Lower Golden Trout lakes. Packsaddle was like glacial blue and we all wanted to go there but we were feeling it from the two prior days of hiking and decided to go off trail to LGT. Once there we found the ULTIMATE SPOT for camping. Seriously, someone had but some rocks down and logs to make chairs and a table, as well as lots of flat areas in the shade to pitch tents. Once set up we hit the inlet to the lake and it was game on for like 2 hours on the same spot. Literally taking turns casting and catching goldens and brookies. Nothing big but still fun. we headed up the drainage to upper golden trout and up to wahoo lakes as well catching brookies and some goldens all day. We eventually headed back to camp fished out and it was only 1. We lounged by the lake, took some swims, tried to cleanse the scent off. Around 4 we were back at it cruising the lake and fishing more. As the sun set this insane mosquito, or what looked to be mosquitoes, hatch went off. Like size 26 or 28 all over the place, it was crazy. The fish were going nuts, but none of us could catch anything cuz the flies were soo effin small. We ended up just watching the fish jump everywhere while the sun went down and then chilled out and watched the light show again. Purpleness everywhere, crazy. We headed back up to camp and passed out.
Day 4: We woke up a little slower today and after eating and hydrating as well as popping a couple advil we hit the trail, or drainage, or whatever the hell that thing was we followed for a while, seriously, the place is riddled with trails and washouts and places with no grass, its ridiculous. We eventually got on the real trail and headed up to the top of the pass talking with whoever came the opposite. We made it to the bottom and as we met up with the faster dudes in our group we laughed as they literally sat at the trailhead talking to some babe who was washing herself at the water pump :eek: . They were just HOPING for a little show and got none haha!! we made it back to the car headed into town ate some **** food and the trip was over. It was rad, we agreed to come back some day and headed out.

Heres some photos:
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Mradford
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Re: TR: North Lake-Puppet Lake 8/31-9/3

Post by Mradford »

a few more shots:
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Re: TR: North Lake-Puppet Lake 8/31-9/3

Post by rlown »

a very nice report. I wonder how many times that plaque has been moved. When we found it, we put it in a rock with a niche in it so the snow load wouldn't move it. The rock where it was epoxied and apparently pried from by some idiot is about 35' to the west of where we put it.

Next time, I'm bringing some epoxy and putting it back.

Russ

PS: I hope that was a barbless fly in the face.
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Re: TR: North Lake-Puppet Lake 8/31-9/3

Post by windknot »

Thanks for the report! Great pictures and a compelling story. Looks like you guys persevered through some nasty weather.
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Re: TR: North Lake-Puppet Lake 8/31-9/3

Post by SSSdave »

reminded me of being a young twentysomething again haha...
thanks
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Re: TR: North Lake-Puppet Lake 8/31-9/3

Post by Maddog61 »

Great report! ... But I'm new to fly fishing. Was that Cheek Nymphing, or Chin Nymphing? :-)

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TR: North Lake-Puppet Lake 8/31-9/3

Post by Hobbes »

Nice report. We were planning on hiking from Agnew to Tuolumne during the same time, but cancelled at the last moment. The reason was two-fold: the weather forecast, which based on your experience turned out as predicted. And ... the largest south swell to hit SoCal this summer.

The Sierra will always be there, but these kind of waves last only days:

Image

We're going to follow in your footsteps in two-weeks time, except we're going to continue over Feather & Italy, and then head out to Pine Creek.
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Re: TR: North Lake-Puppet Lake 8/31-9/3

Post by Mradford »

It's actually czin nymphing!
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Re: TR: North Lake-Puppet Lake 8/31-9/3

Post by Mradford »

Nice dude. Know I heard about wedge being really good from all my bodysurfing buds.
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Re: TR: North Lake-Puppet Lake 8/31-9/3

Post by Fly Guy Dave »

Really nice TR! Sounds like a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. I like the descriptive narrative and pics added a lot to it as well. Good job!

I recall you saying that your buddy that likes to catch flies with parts of his body doesn't mash down the barbs on his flies. "I'd rather lose a finger than a fish..." I believe is a quote from him, no? All I can say is...OUCH! At least he was wearing sunglasses. I've seen a few photos of people with barbed flies in their eyeballs and that's REALLY gross...and unnecessary.
"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man." --The Dude (Jeff Lebowski)

Some pics of native salmonids: http://flyguydave.wordpress.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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