High Sierra Topix

giantbrookie wrote:

canukyea wrote:You guys didn't stop by Twin Lakes? They look very small but do they hold any fish?

I had received an earlier report that those lakes have small brookies, so I bypassed them, given how late we were running leaving the upper Geraldines.

Ah ok, I often wonder if there is any correlation between lake size and fish size. The downside of dayhikes is that the number of lakes you can fish thoroughly goes down dramatically. I have sometimes thought "oh yes, let me try here" at the risk of stumbling back to the trailhead way past sunset. Saying no is hard.

canukyea wrote:

giantbrookie wrote:

canukyea wrote:You guys didn't stop by Twin Lakes? They look very small but do they hold any fish?

I had received an earlier report that those lakes have small brookies, so I bypassed them, given how late we were running leaving the upper Geraldines.

Ah ok, I often wonder if there is any correlation between lake size and fish size. The downside of dayhikes is that the number of lakes you can fish thoroughly goes down dramatically. I have sometimes thought "oh yes, let me try here" at the risk of stumbling back to the trailhead way past sunset. Saying no is hard.

Actually, I've encountered a number of small lakes with big fish, just as I have a number of really big lakes with small fish. What governs fish size, so it seems, is the balance between the available food in a given lake and the number of fish. The latter is governed by spawning habitat and/or (if applicable) air drop fingerling allotment. More or less, the lakes with bigger fish have a lower population density than those with the small fish.

As far as dayhikes versus backpacks is concerned you are absolutely right. The hiking time to fishing time ratio tends not to be optimal in many cases. Of course if the hiking is super efficient as it was for the earlier Woodchuck Country dayhike then a large amount of fishing time can be had (5.5 hours in that case versus about 6.5 hours of hiking). In contrast I figure I had a total of 1.5 hours of fishing versus 12.5 hours of hiking on the last trip. Next time will be better.

Great pics. Sounds like a fun trip. I did a direct in and out dayhike to Spanish Lakes early this summer and yes that trail is pretty vague. We were off trial atleast half the time.

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