Tag: fishing

Loon Lake Campout

Due to the ridiculous government shutdown, my plans to go to Wrights lake were aborted.  However, since Loon Lake is run for the govt. by a concessionaire it was still open.  Loon is also right next to desolation wilderness, the beautiful granite laden high country of the Sierra.  I hadn’t been to Loon in 5 years, I believe, and it was a great reminder of how beautiful it is.  I think its now my favorite lake to camp at.  It’s about 1.75 hours from the house with all smooth road and no traffic.

Fishing was terrific with one day getting strikes or nibbles on practically every cast of rainbow colored powerbait.  I ended up with 5 nice rainbow trout.  It was cold and windy at night with huge winds on Friday morning easily bringing the temperatures into the 30’s considering wind chill factor.  A couple fishing boats left out on the lake overnight were swamped with water from the waves splashing over the stern.  Bad luck had my heater deciding not to work in the rv, but I was able to use the oven and it heated the place up just fine.

With the lake down considerably, hiking along the shore was perfect.  Loon has amazing boulders combined with beautiful sandy beaches,  reminiscent of Sand Harbor in Lake Tahoe.   The ferns and grassy areas all had a yellow autumn color to them however the Aspen trees were just beginning to change. When the shoreline got a little rough for hiking with the dogs I was able to use my Garmin  and bushwack over to the Rubicon trail running parallel to my hike and came back that way.

My campsite, #17, was right next to the lakeshore, protected from the wind by plenty of trees and  with a little path directly to the lake.  A really sweet spot.

Site #17, sweet!
Biggs
Ben
Butt Rock
Me and Ben
Boat left out over night got swamped with water from the waves.
With gusty winds early in the morning the sunlight thru the spray from the waves created beautiful rainbow colors.
I found this crawdad trying to eat my fish.
Friday’s catch
Path from the campsite to the lakeshore

Jackson Meadows Reservoir #2

Site #34 Click this thumbnail to start slide show
Ben and Biggs always get tangled up in their leashes. this time ben knocked over the BBQ twice.
This gizmo, 4-5 pennies in a ziplock bag filled with water, hanging nearby.. keeps the flies away and it works!
Lake about 20 ft low
Kate fixing Old Fashions
View from our campsite
Sierra Buttes in background
Ben swam and swam and swam…
View of Jackson from Pacific Crest trail
Kate at entrance to our RV, gorgeous view from this campsite #34
Geoff and Ben swimming
Passe Creek, way down but still running.
Hiking up Passe Creek
Katie
Evening light, Kate and Ben helping me fish. No luck.
Best campsite in East Meadows Campground
This is what I stared at waiting and watching intently for a nibble. None had.
Katie
Merganser
Merganser
Merganser
Evening light on Jackson Meadows

This was a delightful trip back to Jackson Meadows Reservoir located around the 7,000 foot level in the Sierra Nevada Mtns, Tahoe National Forest.  Weather was cool at night and warm enough during the days for great swimming.   Kate and I  took the tandem inflateable kayak (SeaEagle) and paddled around the lake with Biggs inside and Ben swimming along next to us.  Fishing was lousy.  I tried salmon eggs and power bait.  Even tried my kastmaster lure and then lost it to a snag on the second cast.  We tried the strange method of keeping flies away with pennies in a ziplock bag filled with water and I do believe it worked.   We had site #34 which I believe is the best site in East Meadows campground.  It’s at the far end with a nice forest trail on one side and a straight shot to the lake on the other.  And an awesome view.  Water line was broke so no running water and therefore flush toilet bathrooms shut down for the first day.   Once fixed all was well again.

Passe Creek was still running, with small waterfalls but way down from when I was here two weeks ago.  We hiked north, this time, on the Pacific Crest Trail and it was just a beautiful hike.  I prefer it to the southern direction hike on the PCT.

Jackson Meadows Reservoir June 2013

My first visit to Jackson Meadows this year.  One of my favorite lakes for camping.  Fishing is normally awesome but wouldn’t ya know, this year I actually have a fishing license and it pretty much sucked.  Not even  a nibble.  We were (are) having a heat spell so the water had warmed up to around 70 degrees which I heard caused the fish to be lazy.   Also heard it was because the mosquitoes were plentiful so the fish were full.  I tried fishing both from shore and from a kayak.  Natha.

Kate couldn’t come along but I did meet up with my friends Mike and Vicki who camped right next to me in site #23, I was in #20.  A short path to the water.  Even tho we had a really dry winter the lake was quite high, probably only down about 10 feet.   The warm winter also resulted in bears visiting the campground.  Apparently the night before I got there, the campground was woken at 1am by a woman screaming.  She had gone to the bathroom and found a bear in there.  What a shock that would be.  I hope she held her water.

We hiked up Passe Creek which was still running nicely.  Lots of little waterfalls and the water was so amazingly clear.   Wild flowers were out, as they usually are at this time of year in the Sierra.  Lupines along the highway getting there, were gorgeous.

Swimming in the lake with Ben was a great cool down and fun.  He would spend the entire time in the water if he could.  While we were there, they were experiencing 107 in the Sacramento valley.  I think it was 100 at least at our home in the foothills, in Colfax.

Click the first thumb to start reviewing them at large size.

Mike and Vicki’s campsite, mine in the background
Mike and I went out kayak fishing early in the morning. We got zilch.
Passe Creek
Me and Ben
Biggs
Passe Creek
Biggs
Ben
Biggs and Ben cooling off in the crystal clear water
Mike and Vicki and Ben at Passe Creek
Biggs
Passe Creek
Our campsite #20