First Annual Fisher Boys Fishing Trip - Mammoth Lakes, CA

After much discussion and many plans, we finally got the first Fisher (and Russell) Boys Fishing Trip off the ground. The destination was Mammoth Lakes, CA. We stayed at a house in Mammoth that a friend graciously let us use. On our first day, we headed down to the Middle Owens River, also known as "The Gorge." The hike was a short but steep descent down to the river. Nobody goes down there apparently because there are too many obstacles. But there were plenty of fish in every hole - wild German Browns. We lost many lures and flies, but we all caught fish. Most of the fish were small but Byron caught a keeper.

Everyone did great on the hike out. We saw the sun setting against the snow covered Sierras. That night we had gumbo, italian sausage sandwiches, and ginger brewskies, and we watched episode 1 of "Into the West." It was very cold at night, and many of us found our clothes frozen in the morning that we had hung out to dry.

The next day we headed to the Upper Owens north of the Benton Crossing bridge. This area was much more regulated and we had to use barbless hooks. However, it was great for fly fishing since there were not any trees and plenty of water to fish in. Dad caught the big winner this day, a 15 1/2 inch (any larger and he would have had to throw it back according to regulations) rainbow trout, caught on a fly.

We also gave Hot Creek a try that day, but with little success. The water was moving very fast and there weren't a lot of holes to cast into. As the sun set we took a drive out to the Minarets lookout. Here are the four fishermen with Mammoth Mountain in the background.

That night we had pizza from John's Pizza Works and fried trout. We also watched episodes 2 - 4 of "Into the
West," which was 4 1/2 hours of video. We all went to bed too late. The followind day we drove home. It was a beautiful drive and we had great gospel conversation. The highlight was seeing the towering Mt. Whitney as we drove through Lone Pine.

We caught fish, we enjoyed the outdoors, we bonded, and we had a great time. Next year it will be Salmon and Halibut fishing in Alaska.