This was my five day fishing trip in the June Lake area with my friend Dan B. (the guy who abandoned me and moved to Texas) and several of his friends, many of whom I know as well. The last time I fished with this group was in 2019 when we did a lot of fishing in the snow. We were scheduled for May of 2020, but that obviously didn’t happen. This year, the weather was much warmer than in 2019.
Day 1
Day one was shockingly enough my travel day. Imagine that. This travel day consisted of me driving to Burbank Airport to pick up Dan, who flew in from Texas. From there, we drove up to June Lake with several stops along the way to use the restroom and have dinner. We arrived at the cabin at nightfall. Here is what our cabin and the area looked like.
We got settled in with Dan and I sharing an upstairs room with two queen beds. The upstairs part had to be mentioned since I had a torn meniscus in my left knee and was scheduled for surgery on the Wednesday after we returned. So of course I ended up with an upstairs room.
Day 2
After our first night in the cabin, Dan earned the nickname “Buzzsaw Burdick.” To say he snores would be an understatement. Luckily, I carry earplugs and they worked quite well.
Our first fishing stop was at Trumbull Lake, an upper elevation lake about an hour drive from where we were staying. We have fished at this lake before and have always had good luck there. There were snow patches around the lake and the scenery was beautiful. Of course I had to fish from one of the snow patches.
After we all struck out, we hiked over to Lower Virginia Lake. Another beautiful spot.
Here is Dan fishing across the lake from me.
Once again, we were all skunked. So far, it was Fish 1, Us 0.
We returned to the cabin, had some lunch and headed off to Lake Crawley to try fishing there since we heard the fish were biting. They were not. Instead, it was hot, and nasty, and not so fun.
We returned to the cabin where Mike S was busy preparing his annual steak dinner. While we waited, we fed the local jays some peanuts on the rail of our patio.
Here is a look at the delicious meal Mike S prepared.
And that concluded our first full day of fishing.
Day 3
Everyone was slow to stir and we finally got our poop together enough to head off to June Lake and try some fishing off of a pontoon boat.
There were 8 of us on the boat and four fish were landed. If you do the math, we were not too successful. I got skunked again, but that seems to be the norm most of the time. I’m just happy being out there. We talked to a local worker who told us the fishing was going to be bad this year because the local hatcheries had a problem and all of the fish had to be destroyed and the hatcheries sanitized. Fishy Covid?? Anyway, that meant none of the lakes in the area were going to be stocked this year. Now it all made sense.
After dinner, I was invited to try some Crayfish fishing. It is done at night with lights, nets, and waders.
During this expedition, I discovered my waders had a hole in them. Many, many holes to be more accurate. I stayed in the freezing water and wondered why I felt so wet. When I came out, I was pouring water out of my waders and had to drive back to the cabin in my skivvies. I hate when that happens. This fishing was successful, as you can see.
We finished just after midnight and went to bed.
Day 4
After two straight days of sub par fishing, we decided to spend our last day visiting the town of Hawthorne, Nevada, a hour drive away. Hawthorne is located in a desert like valley in the middle of nowhere. It used to be the home of the largest munitions dump in the world. It is still the second largest in the world. It used to be a Navy base, holding munitions for the Navy, then it became an Army base. Now it is run by a private company. They have a really cool Ordnance Museum. Here is some of the stuff that was outside of the museum.
There was also a tank you could climb inside. Because of my knee, all I could do was stand in front of the tank while the other guys got to have fun climbing on it.
Here a some pictures from inside the museum.
After the museum visit, we discovered we were visiting on Armed Forces Day. That meant the parade. There is no greater spectacle than a small town parade and this was no exception.
We got to meet Abraham Lincoln, who looked great for his age.
The parade concluded with half the town carrying a huge, four lanes wide and about 50 yards long, American Flag down the street to the main square.
Once at the main square, the flag was attached to a giant flag pole.
Then a snag. The flag stayed in this position for half an hour.
That was until this man ran up with a crank for the flag pole. You have to love it. They started without the right equipment.
After lots of vigorous cranking, the flag was raised.
A truly amazing and enjoyable day. We returned to the cabin, had dinner, and celebrated the birthday of one of Mike S’s sons.
We ended the night with a nice group shot.
Day 5
Dan and I got up early and headed toward Burbank Airport. Of course we had to stop at the Indian Wells Brewing Company and picked up some soda and beer. This is always a must stop when heading north or south on the 14/395.
I got Dan to the airport right on time and he was off.
This was me three days later after knee surgery number 4.
Ya gotta love getting old. I have four and a half weeks to recover for our next trip. A 12 day trip to help Corrianne move to Rowlett, Texas.