| Heritage Trout adventure #1 We departed from Hayward July 16th 2010 at 4:00 am. Myself and fishing buddy Ken Brunskill were packed and ready for any and all fishing conditions. Our first Targets were the Warner Lake Redband trout, the Goose lake Red band trout and the McCloud River Red band trout. With the anticipation that the Warner Lake Red band would be the furthest and hardest trout to get, we choose to look for that one first. Our destination for the Warner Lake Red band would be the upper North- Eastern corner of California, East of Goose Lake (I think if you miss the turn off you will turn around in Oregon). We were in search of a place called “Dismal Creek” located in “Dismal Swamp”. I’m sure with a name like “Dismal” it isn’t a popular vacation destination. Our drive took us over Hwy 80 to Cabela’s (of course) and north on 395. Ken has a practice of changing drivers every two hours. This I have found really puts a relaxing spin on what could be “rush to get there feeling”, besides it was nice to filter the coffee that often. Stopping for breakfast in Colfax and lunch at Cabela’s we arrived at our camp destination, Cave Lake camp ground. Here we found a small un- crowded camping area with plenty of firewood cut from a post winter clean- up. We had a quick dinner and a comfortable night in the tent. We woke up just after sunrise. With coffee and tea and breakfast in our belly we headed up the dirt road to Dismal creek. We had been warned the road was very rough and a four wheel drive was recommended. We were also advised not to spook the cattle in the area when we drove up to avoid them tromping out the meadow and disturbing Dismal Creek. Ken’s fishing machine (a soccer mom’s minivan) handled the rode just fine. We hiked past snow flowers and Minors Cabbage when we saw some cattle. Driving past slowly not to disturb them we entered Dismal Swamp. Dismal Swamp is swampy yes, but it is more of a lush green high meadow at this time of year. Located at the very top of a mountain pass was Dismal Creek. It is no wider than four feet at the widest spot. Our research told us to fish this early in the day due to the windy conditions on this high plateau. Besides needing a stealthy approach, casting to a spot only two to three feet wide is difficult enough without the help of Mother Nature whipping your 3 weight line around. We located a great spot to start with. Just after the road crossed Dismal Creek we pulled over geared up and worked up stream “buddy fishing”. Ken introduced me to this style of fishing with a true friend. I say true friend because you need to enjoy watching your friend catch fish as well as you. It is where one person fishes a pocket as the other watches out of the way (sometimes even holding the brush back) until he has a “take” and or lands a fish. Then the other buddy fishes on until he gets a “take” or lands his fish. This could go on all day if you wanted to, but we decided as soon as we both caught our fish we were not going to terrorize these rare California Heritage Trout. We were pleasantly surprised that both of us landed our fish rather quickly and within 100 yards of our car!!! Next up, the Goose Lake Red band Trout Harold Whitmore |
| Warner Lake Red Band |
| Dismal Creek |
| California Heritage Trout Challenge |
| Foster City Rod and Gun Club |
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| Click on photos to enlarge |
| Warner Lake Red Band |
