June 16, 2000
Greetings from a warm and crowdless Rock
Creek. After an incredibly busy Memorial Day weekend, the crowds have
left, the weather has warmed dramatically, and the fishing has remained
good. As I write this, a brief thundershower has blown in off of the crest
wetting down the dust and cooling things off a bit. This is the kind of
thunderstorm that causes fires though, because it's high-based. High-based
thunderstorms typically have little precipitation, so a lightning strike can be
a bit dangerous. Here in Rock Creek we feel pretty safe though. We
call this place "Asbestos Canyon" due to the fact that there hasn't
been a large fire in Rock Creek canyon in recent memory. Brief afternoon
thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next 3 days or so, but this is not a
major thunderstorm outbreak. In fact, these storms are welcome because
they're bringing cooling with them. After a high on Wednesday of 78, which
is about the warmest temperature we ever see at this elevation (9,700 feet),
today's cooler temperatures feel GREAT!! Yesterday's high in Bishop was
107, and many locations in the state have been sweltering under triple-digit
temperatures. According to Bill Mork, the state climatologist, Interstate-80
near Fairfield actually buckled due to the high temperatures! Here are
some other scary highs from Wednesday...Downtown San Francisco reached 103 which
tied the all-time record of 103 on 17 Jul 1988. San Jose set new all-time
record with 109, breaking old record of 108 on 14 Jul 1972. Moffett Field
set new all-time record with 106, breaking old record of 105 on 17 Jul
1988. Paso Robles reached 115 which tied the all-time record. Other
records made or tied on Wed/14 Jun included 113 at Borrego Desert Park, 110 at
San Bernadino, 109 at Beaumont, 108 at Santa Rosa, 106 at Cuyama, 106 at
Oakland, 95 at Mount Wilson, 92 at Palomar Mountain, 91 at San Luis Obispo, and
88 at Lompoc. Today's high at Rock Creek Lake of 70 sounds nice, doesn't
it? On to other news...
June has always been the best month for fishing in previous years, and this year
has been good as well. However, the fish have not been as eager to bite as
in years past. The lake and creek were stocked today, so it looks like
DFG's stocking schedule will focus on later in the week for Rock Creek.
Anglers have been catching limits on a regular basis, especially those that have
strayed from bait and tried lures and flies. On the lake, frog Super
Dupers have been the most productive lures. I caught 3 fish in about an
hour before work on Wednesday casting a Super Duper near the lake's
outlet. This is the same lure on which I caught a five-pounder and several
four-pounders last fall. Fly-fishing using either a fly/bubble combo with
a spinning rod or a flyrod is also working well using streamers, such as olive
matukas, Doc's Twin Lakes specials, carey buggers, and wooly buggers.
Surface action is increasing in response to the warmer weather, so try a caddis,
adams, or other dry in the evening. Large black ants can be found all over
the place, so try a black ant for sure. Tie one with wings if you can, as
many are flying ants. Gold-ribbed hare's ears along with prince nymphs
will work when surface flies are not productive. Two nice-sized rainbows
were caught in the past couple of weeks...Tim Strem of Vista caught a 3 pound,
10 ounce rainbow was caught on a big ball of slop. What else do you call
it when a guy puts a nightcrawler, salmon egg, and PowerBait all on the same
hook and catches something that large? Probably lucky I guess. The
second was caught by Diann Durna of Whittier...a 2 pound, 10 ouncer on a
silver/blue Flatfish from shore.
The Rock Creek backcountry is melting out quickly. Although Ruby Lake
still has some ice on it, most lakes in Little Lakes Valley and along the
Tamarack bench are thawed. Teele Manning, the campground host at the lake,
went for a hike up to Francis Lake on Tuesday and did very well fishing up
there. The snow is gone on the trail and bugs and humanity are at a
minimum in the Dorothy Lake/Francis Lake area. Many people have already
made trips over Mono Pass and Morgan Pass. There is still a fair amount of
snow, especially on Mono, but both are definitely passable. Here is some other
great news...this summer's mosquito season is forecasted to be 1/3 of normal
according to the Inyo County mosquito abatement dude that came up here during
the week. YAY!!!! With the drier and warmer than normal spring,
standing water is at a minimum, and consequently so will be the activity of
mosquitoes...great news for backcountry travelers and fishermen. Here
around the lake and resort mosquitoes have been present for a couple of weeks
now, but they are tolerable, especially for those using cutters or Muskol.
Be sure to bring repellant to be safe.
Bear activity has begun in Rock Creek, and in an effort to combat their
destructive tendencies, bear boxes have been installed in the tent sites at the
lake and most sites in Pine Grove and Upper Pine Grove. Each box is quite
large and is able to hold 2 large ice chests according to Billie Manning, the
campground manager at Rock Creek Lake. Each box is extremely expensive, so
the campground concessionaire was unable to cover every site in the canyon, but
this is a good start. Now it's the public's job to use the boxes
responsibly. Other bear boxes will be installed in the future, to
eventually cover the entire canyon.
That's about it for this newsletter. If there's something that you would like me
to include in the next one, let me know. Take it easy and THINK CREEK!!
Tim