Outdoors with Don Q: A few more days left to fish many California waters

This is my annual reminder that many California waters will close to fishing on Friday, November 15. So if you want to fish any of them, you better hustle because you are rapidly running out of time.

Those waters will not re-open until the last Saturday in April next year (April 26, 2014), and that is a long, long time to wait to wet your line. Here is a partial list of some of the nearby waters that will be closing:

Alpine County:
The East Carson River (with the exception of the stretch from Hangman’s Bridge downstream to the California/Nevada state line), the West Carson River, Markleeville Creek, Red Creek, Silver Creek and Wolf Creek.

The Bridgeport Area:
Bridgeport Reservoir, Hunewill Pond, Kirman Lake, Lundy Lake, Robinson Creek, Upper and Lower Twin Lakes, the Virginia Lakes area, the West Walker River and the Little Walker River.

The June Lake Loop:
Grant Lake, Gull Lake, June Lake and Silver Lake, plus Rush Creek.

Mammoth-Bishop Area:
Convict Lake, Convict Creek, Crowley Lake, Intake II, Mammoth Lakes Basin, North Lake, Sabrina Lake, South Lake, Weir Pond and Bishop Creek.

The Eastern Sierra Backcountry:
East Lake, Fremont Lake, Gilman Lake, Green Lake, Upper and Lower Hoover Lakes, Lane Lake, Leavitt Lake, Nutter Lake, Poore Lake, Roosevelt Lake, Saddlebag, Secret Lake, Summit Lake, Trumbull and West Lake, to name just a few of many hundreds.

The Good News:
However don’t fret about those seasonal closures because there will still be a whole bunch of California waters that will remain open between November 15, 2013 and the last Saturday in April, 2014. Here are some of them:

Alpine County:
The East Carson River from Hangman’s Bridge to the California/Nevada state line, Indian Creek Reservoir, Red Lake, Caples Lake, Silver Lake, etc.

Other nearby areas:
The East Walker River from Bridgeport Reservoir to the California/Nevada state line, also Lake Tahoe, Donner Lake, Boca Reservoir, Stampede Reservoir, Frenchman Reservoir, Davis Lake, to name just a few.

The Bad News:
During the up-coming winter months and most of the early spring, you will need a snowmobile (where they are legal to use), snowshoes or cross country skies to reach many of the higher elevation, backcountry waters.

And, for darn sure, if you do try to fish at any of those backcountry waters, you better have warm layered clothing, insulated waterproof boots, thick wool mittens, ear muffs or wool cap, a big thermos of hot coffee or hot chocolate, plus you'll need an ice auger to cut through ice.

It will be chilly back there so go prepared to stay warm and safe. Here are several suggestions on where to fish in the next few days. Try one or more and have fun before these waters close:

Bridgeport Reservoir:
This reservoir is just out of the Town of Bridgeport. It contains some very impressive-sized Brown and Rainbow trout.

You can do equally well from shore, a float tube, trolling in a boat or still-fishing from a boat.
Be sure to get there early in the morning, as this reservoir is prone to being windy in the late mornings – early afternoons.

June Lake Loop:
This loop is about 100 miles south of Carson City, via a combination of U.S. 395 and the highway around the June Lake Loop. That area contains Grant Lake, Gull Lake, June Lake, Silver Lake and Rush Lake, and you can catch Brown, Cutthroat and Rainbow Trout.

There are all kinds of places to fish either from shore, in chest waders, in float tubes or from a boat. Bait fishing, spincasting, fly fishing or trolling from a boat can all be good.

Twin Lakes - Upper and Lower:
They are about 11 miles west of Bridgeport, via a paved road. Both lakes have Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout and Kokanee Salmon. Generally, you will catch mostly Rainbows, an occasional Brown and maybe, even a small-sized Kokanee.
And, if you are unaware, you should know that the last two state record brown trout have come from these two lakes.

West Carson River:
It runs along S.R. 88 in Woodfords Canyon and in Hope Valley.
The West Carson is planted with planter-sized rainbow trout by the California Department of Fish and Game and trophy-sized rainbows by the Alpine County Fish and Game Commission.
Your best bet to catch a nice rainbow is to fish the deep pools downstream from any of the bridges, where the plantings occur.

Finally:
The last Saturday in April 2014 is a long time from now, so you had better try to get in all of the fishing that you can before those waters close on November 15.
If you do go, good luck to you and don’t forget your camera.

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can’t tell you what Don and Elaine will be doing between now and November 15.
If he grins and says, “Don and Elaine are going to be raking leaves, racking leaves and raking leaves at their house, which is located on the east side of their street and gets all the wind-blown leaves from trees on the west side of that street," he could be someone who has marveled at how many bags of leaves they rake up each year (about 25-30 large plastic bags).

— Don Quilici is the Outdoor editor for Carson Now. He can be reached at donquilici@hotmail.com.