A Spur Of The Moment Trip

I got this wild hair at 7:00 am this morning that I wanted to see if I could get up to Upper Blue Lake and maybe catch some of those holdovers. With all the snow we had this winter, there was no telling how far I could get. I was so focused, I didn't even stop for coffee at Cooks Station. Must have been something wrong with me.

First stop was Silver Lake. As usual Silver Lake being inherently windy, was windy.

Silver Lake

Up and up I went. I didn't see any snow until I got to 8000 ft and then it was only spotty. Up past Caples Lake and over Carson Pass down to the Hope Valley turnoff (also know as Blue Lakes Rd). I noticed in passing that Caples Lake campground was still closed. As I drove by Hope Valley Campground where we'll be in August as usual, it was also closed. Then a sign that said the road was closed 7 miles ahead. So I did the only logical thing and that was to keep going.

At 7 miles the gate was OPEN, yeh!!! At 20 miles the gate was CLOSED, Boo. So I did a Ya'll can turn and headed back. Thought I take a look at the West Fork of the Carson across from the campground and see if anything was cooking. As you can see below, a lot of water.

downstream

Upstream

I stopped at the turnoff from Highway 88 and chatted with a very nice Highway Patrolman and avid fisherman. He was chomping at the bit to get his son up to Upper Blue Lake to fish, but even with his pull, no go. He mentioned couple things. Always best to talk to the locals.

One, the East Fork of the Carson was completely blown out from all the runoff coming from the snow melt on Ebbitts Pass (Highway 4 above where we were last week). This is the end of June and Ebbits Pass is still not open so you know there is a LOT of snow still up there.

Two, Fish and game isn't planning on planting, even for the holiday weekend, because of the high runoff. He thought maybe Caples because they just opened the launch ramp and that's the only place they will plant.

I headed back and like the glutton for punishment I am, stopped at Red Lake.One guy fishing there, but no bites. I decided to throw a couple lures. Started with a silver Kastmaster, followed with a Gold one, then the pink one, and finally a black/gold Panther Martin. That was the one. Four casts out and I hooked up with a Cutt about 11 inches. Remember I mentioned bonehead, well I left both my camera and my phone in the truck, so no picture of the biggest fish I've caught in Red Lake in about 4 years. That was it for the day.

I pulled off the road and took the shot below of Red Mountain (across from Red Lake), just a different angle.

Red Mountain

And since I had a gold Kastmaster on (the only lure I've caught anything on in Caples in the last 4 years), I decided to pull off at the dead tree and throw a few. Yup, all I did was throw and retrieve.

Toward the end of Caples. Still some snow up there.

Across

And toward the spillway.


Well, that was it for the day. 

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