Did I mention that the weather was absolutely perfect? High 60's during the
day and around 40 at night with no clouds...aaahhhhhh. We started from
Mammoth on Sunday morning for the road (120?) to Tioga Pass, and enjoyed the
stunning scenery along the ascent. I recently finished reading "Up and Down
California during 1860 to 1864," which details the adventures of the
California geological survey. How this team made it through some of these
passes with no established trails is simply beyond me (A good read BTW).
We paid our $20 at the gate and set off into the eastern part of Yosemite
NP. Five minutes later I was drooling at the river to our left, glimpses of
which were visible through the trees. Couldn't help it had to fish it
stopped and tried it worked it worked it w o r k e d i t nothing oh well
nice damned river anyhow. Onward.

Sensing that other opportunities might present themselves at any bend in the
road, I left the Che Pauss (pronounced KPOS) assembled and tucked under the
wiper blade of the Rav-4 (a neat trick that Danl showed me on the Owens).
At 55-60 mph and with some fairly aggressive driving, the darned thing
stayed in place...nice trick. The only real drawback was the deluge of
comments thrown my way by and endless cast of roadside comedians:
RC: Catch many squirrels with that rig? Hardy har har!
Me: Not much luck today, but I'm gonna tie up a bunch of deerhair acorns
tonight...maybe they'll be biting tomorrow. Aaarrrgghhh! For the
10th time!

Anyhow, the east side of Yosemite was well worth the trip...beautiful in
ways more subtle than the valley itself. Lotsa skeeters though. I tried
the Dana fork of the Tuolumne on the way out of the park...again...and had
nary a nibble. A "dry Reid" woke me up (no nettles to break my fall, hardy
har har), and I called it a day after about an hour. I had promised to put
my very understanding and non-FFing wife onto some fish by the end of the
day, and the lakes were full of stockers...how hard could it be? Stupid
question. The road to Saddlebag was still closed (!), so we settled on
Ellery Lake. This roadside lake at the pass gets HAMMERED, but it's heavily
stocked and I figured it was a sure thing. Falco was reluctant, but I
convinced her to try a few casts from the shore. Remember, she's a
spinfisher...cast reel reel reel...cast reel reel reel...cast reel reel
reel...zip. We tried this for about an hour before she surrendered. I
wanted to get her a fish...even a strike...so I pulled off the road near the
pass.

The creek here contained a nice little run that bounced off a cliff before
if plunged under the highway. Just screwing around I hooked a 13 inch
rainbow that lept three times before I brought it to hand. Falco came
running from the car. I had spotted another fish, and to her credit she
spent the next hour working the damned thing. I was spotting from a high
perch and telling her what her lure was doing, and she would cast
accordingly. The fish followed often, but never struck. Never got the
fish, but by the end of the hour I would have paid a bundle for a stick of
dynamite.

That's about it for the fishing. I left the rod on the windshield as a
pathetic display of my FFing ...well, prowess certainly isn't the
word...passion. Got home through the Vegas traffic and all is well. Until
next time...

Cheers,
Bill

OT: To any eastern Sierra travellers: The Still Life Cafe in Independence
could use your business. French-North African food in the Owens Valley is
worth saving...at least that's what my taste buds tell me. No affiliation,
BTW.