TR: Dinkey Lakes Wilderness 7/25-7/27 2014
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 11:48 am
On July 25-27, I went into the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness on my first backpack trip in over a year, since having 2 back surgeries in the fall of 2013. It was great to get out into the Sierra again, away from roads, and cities, and test my capabilities. I had never been to this area, and think I had avoided it because I had heard it receives much use. The easy trail, and lakes being within 3 miles of the trail-head were just right by me for a first trip. The road in is rough! As much use as this area gets, I would love to see them fill in some potholes.
There are plenty of trip reports and info out there on the Dinkey Lakes, so I will keep it brief. I stayed at Swede Lake, which is quite pretty. After setting up camp in a nice established site, I headed up on a day hike to snap a few pictures, and catch a few fish, to South Lake and First Dinkey Lake. There were a few groups already camped at South Lake. The number of people at First Dinkey Lake surprised me. Boats out on the lake, people swimming, fishing, quite a crowd for a wilderness area. I didn't bother wetting a line after seeing one stringer full of a dozen small fish, and the apparent owners eagerly tossing out power bait. Later that afternoon, after getting back to South Lake, I fished about half of the lake's perimeter, catching and releasing a few fish in the 8-9" class.
The next morning, I headed up to Second Dinkey Lake, and after a brief stay, spent several hours fishing, relaxing, and reading a "Honor Harrington" paperback at Island Lake. Seemed more like the High Sierra to me. Fishing was for goldens, and golden hybrids, up to 10".
One thing that struck me on this trip was how shallow most of these lakes seemed. Also, the inlet and outlet creeks were all dry, bone dry. Most of my fishing, I cast way out with a Kastmaster or Z-Ray hoping to get out to the deeper, cooler water, letting the lure settle to the bottom before retrieving. Modest success..nothing big, and maybe 10 fish landed all 3 days. The last lake I visited on Saturday was Rock Lake, which seemed to have the deepest water, but I had no bites there, but fishing at 2 pm is often not the best time to judge whether a lake has fish or not.
I had a great time, great sunsets, nice scenery, and I am eagerly looking forward to the next trip already. I took pictures with my new, lightweight, Sony RX100 Mk 3 compact camera, and it is easy to carry, and fun to use. I posted a response in the Photography forum to someone's question about battery use and that particular camera. I think it is a nice camera if you need or want to leave the larger camera at home.
There are plenty of trip reports and info out there on the Dinkey Lakes, so I will keep it brief. I stayed at Swede Lake, which is quite pretty. After setting up camp in a nice established site, I headed up on a day hike to snap a few pictures, and catch a few fish, to South Lake and First Dinkey Lake. There were a few groups already camped at South Lake. The number of people at First Dinkey Lake surprised me. Boats out on the lake, people swimming, fishing, quite a crowd for a wilderness area. I didn't bother wetting a line after seeing one stringer full of a dozen small fish, and the apparent owners eagerly tossing out power bait. Later that afternoon, after getting back to South Lake, I fished about half of the lake's perimeter, catching and releasing a few fish in the 8-9" class.
The next morning, I headed up to Second Dinkey Lake, and after a brief stay, spent several hours fishing, relaxing, and reading a "Honor Harrington" paperback at Island Lake. Seemed more like the High Sierra to me. Fishing was for goldens, and golden hybrids, up to 10".
One thing that struck me on this trip was how shallow most of these lakes seemed. Also, the inlet and outlet creeks were all dry, bone dry. Most of my fishing, I cast way out with a Kastmaster or Z-Ray hoping to get out to the deeper, cooler water, letting the lure settle to the bottom before retrieving. Modest success..nothing big, and maybe 10 fish landed all 3 days. The last lake I visited on Saturday was Rock Lake, which seemed to have the deepest water, but I had no bites there, but fishing at 2 pm is often not the best time to judge whether a lake has fish or not.
I had a great time, great sunsets, nice scenery, and I am eagerly looking forward to the next trip already. I took pictures with my new, lightweight, Sony RX100 Mk 3 compact camera, and it is easy to carry, and fun to use. I posted a response in the Photography forum to someone's question about battery use and that particular camera. I think it is a nice camera if you need or want to leave the larger camera at home.