Week long fishing trip advice needed.

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tim
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Re: Week long fishing trip advice needed.

Post by tim »

Austin E wrote:Doing research over the night, I've found mineral king loop is in Sequoia national park-- so no dogs. South lake to North lake is dog friendly though, and at only 4 1/2 hours from my house, is quite close.
South Lake to North Lake goes into Kings Canyon National Park. No dogs allowed there either. But the loops from North Lake over Piute Pass and heading west and north through Humphreys Basin into the John Muir Wilderness would be OK. Plenty of lakes there.
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Wandering Daisy
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Re: Week long fishing trip advice needed.

Post by Wandering Daisy »

I tried once to do the Mokulumne from Carson Pass early season and could not cross Summit City Creek. I do not think this trip is the best idea at peak runoff. Keep an eye on river flows. This year may be odd enough that peak runoff is long gone by June. I recall that there is a bit of rough rock on this route - not kind on dog paws.

Southern Yosemite out of Fernandez trailhead has fishing (I recall not large fish but abundant) and is dog friendly. If it remains a dry year, the road should be open mid to late June.

What about Emigrant Wilderness? We had pretty good fishing early season on Kennedy Creek (this is an in-and-out 3 day trip only). You can make a good week trip into Emigrant Lakes.
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Austin E
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Re: Week long fishing trip advice needed.

Post by Austin E »

We're off trail experienced, I can read maps and have an Garmin Oregon 600 gps for lite duty. We have 2 bear vaults, as where I hiked and spent time guiding in hell's canyon we have black bears and grizzlys and would often go on 14-20 day long rafting trips. I believe we have all the required equipment-- I have a lighthart solong 6 for our tent, z packs 20 degree bags, etc. If you have any other questions feel free to ask. We spent a lot of time off trail on Mt hood in last summer; just getting "lost" and exploring. The downside up there is almost every time we were out, we got a lot of rain.

We're not necessarily looking for big fish, just ample fishing areas. I'll be fly fishing, he'll be throwing spinners.

I'll look into all of your suggestions. I really appreciate the help. In Portland I had an experienced older backpacker to get me started when I was a lot younger (25 now) so starting over in this rattlesnake country is a new experience.

My German shepherd did go through rattlesnake training about a year ago, also, as I get quite a few rattlesnakes on my property and behind my house all summer and fall.
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Tom_H
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Re: Week long fishing trip advice needed.

Post by Tom_H »

Actually, Russ is right. It isn't just the snakes being there. It may be nigh impossible for the dog(s) to do the bouldering, scrambling, etc. that you do. WD is also right about the water level.

I think (but may be wrong) that at the appropriate flow, the river is runnable from the CA 4 bridge to the reservoir. Here's what I'd suggest, Google search for river runner groups doing the Moke(ulumne). Find a group that already knows the river and run it with them as a way to scout the river for potential backpacking later. I don't know if you can run decked C2s with camping gear stowed below deck on this water or not; I doubt it. If possible, a canoe camping trip might be a thought. I used to guide whitewater trips in C2 opens (high Class III bordering on IV) with floatation and C2 open camping trips on up to low Class III water. My back always hurt in a kayak and I don't know how well modern camping gear is stowable in modern kayaks.

Since WD mentioned Emigrant, specifically Kennedy Creek, you could easily do a loop going up Summit Creek to Emigrant Meadow, then back down Kennedy Creek. There are lakes and streams with fishing. I don't have any secret fishing places to offer, but on Summit Creek I know of a 30' x 8' swimming hole with cliff side walls and a 12 foot waterfall dropping straight into the pool, also a pool in granite that gets hot in the sun and basically provides a solar spa, and a secret secluded valley with a meandering stream through it that is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I'm not going to post openly, but may share with those who PM me. Also in Emigrant, you can make all kinds of loops from Crabtree trailhead. In nearby Hoover, you could also go up the main fork of the West Walker River, climb to some lakes to the west, then hike cross country back down the West Fork of the West Walker. There are a number of lakes tangential to the loop. You also could go up the West Walker, climb to Dorothy Lake, go cross country to Tower Lake, then back down to the West Walker and out.

If you want details on any of these things, just ask; I have a bunch of maps already drawn on CalTopo.com.
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rlown
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Re: Week long fishing trip advice needed.

Post by rlown »

Tom,

Where are you thinking? mark up the map with paint if you desire. Click on the jpeg and edit with paint or other sw..
Capture.JPG
click on it to make full size for manipulation

Russ

PS: I'm totally leaning to Emigrant anywhere other than this unless you want a massive adventure.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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oldranger
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Re: Week long fishing trip advice needed.

Post by oldranger »

No fish in tower lake.

Mike
Mike

Who can't do everything he used to and what he can do takes a hell of a lot longer!
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Tom_H
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Re: Week long fishing trip advice needed.

Post by Tom_H »

Someone who read this thread sent me a PM with a request for info. This afternoon the site was offline for a bit. When it came back online, several recent PMs were missing from both my inbox as well as my sent msg. box. To the person who made the info. request, your PM was lost and I do not remember from whom the request came. If you resend the PM, I will reply.

Post Script, it looks like a couple of days worth of posts in this thread and maybe others disappeared. I don't see any announcement, but I am wondering if the site crashed and they had to reload from backup storage.

PPS I now see Eric's announcement that the host company deleted the entire site and it had to be restored from backup that was a day old. In actuality, it is 2 or more days.
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Austin E
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Re: Week long fishing trip advice needed.

Post by Austin E »

Thank you all for the replies and suggestions.

At this point, I'm seriously researching fishing the upper kern. Starting at horseshoe meadows trailhead and working over to the river, fishing up and down that area for a couple days, and making our way back. It's dog friendly, from the trip reports appears to have ample fish, and lots of places to explore while having a central camp by the river.

Something along the lines of:
Day 1- 15 miles to Little Whitney Meadow
Day 2- 5 miles to Kern, camp near the water somewhere.
Day 3- Fish up and down the kern
Day 4- Day trip to high sierra trail junction, fishing along the way.
Day 5- Keep fishing.
Day 6- Pack up and leave as the sun comes up, 20 miles out

I know it's not an exciting off trail adventure. But it's only 4 hours from the house, and I feel we'll have more time to fish and enjoy the area that way. If something sounds wrong with that plan definitely let me know.

Thanks again,
Austin
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Mike M.
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Re: Week long fishing trip advice needed.

Post by Mike M. »

Sounds like a great plan. Just be aware that once down to the Kern, you are at the southern edge of the national park, where dogs are not allowed in the backcountry. The park boundary is near the Kern Canyon ranger station -- no dogs allowed north of there, even for day hikes.

You probably knew this already.

Mike
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Re: Week long fishing trip advice needed.

Post by Tom_H »

A pal of mine fishes that area a good bit. You know about the "bathtub" at Kern Hot Spring, right?
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