OK, OK. I fish everywhere I hike. Well, almost everywhere.

Our last trip took us to the upper reaches of the East Carson River, Golden Creek, and Murray Creek. It's an area that is completely closed to fishing year round. That watershed is now a preserve for the rare Lahontan Cutthroat Trout.

And guess what? There were no people there. No trash. The trails were not well maintained…but there also weren’t a million use trails around every lake and stream, either.

It was beautiful water, by the way.



This area was not particularly remote, but there was simply less evidence of humans, and more wildlife, than we have seen anywhere else. Coincidence? Maybe not.

Just saying. I love fishing in the mountains, and have done it for more than fifty years. But I am glad places like this exist.

I am an AVID fisherman. I caught my first fish about the same time I learned to walk, and have not let up since. I started fly fishing when I was ten and it's led me many great places, including numerous off trail waters in the Sierra. There's streams and ponds near my home in Vt. that contain native brook trout that I don't fish. I watch. I also don't tell a soul about their locations. I have mixed feelings about the Mountain Yellow Legged Frog efforts and the killing off of the trout in many high elevation Sierra lakes. However, it may have the effect of restoring much shoreline to an untrammeled state. I contacted the head of park fisheries in the Grand Canyon before we went in April. I, of course, wanted to catch trout in Bright Angel Creek. He informed me that in his estimation, over 95 percent of the trout had been removed with their electroshocking efforts. So, I didn't bring a rod and ended up watching the spawning efforts of hundreds of flannel mouth suckers, one of the nine endangered native species the trout were preying on. I didn't miss the rod for once. Balzacom, I understand where you're coming from. I'm glad you explored that area and have somewhere unspoiled like it to enjoy.

Another data point...

One of our friends is an engineer, and he often talks about data points….when you get enough points on the chart, you can start seeing a pattern, and then you can come to some conclusions. They might be incorrect, but at least they are supported by the data.

So on our last trip we camped at Leopold Lake in the Emigrant Wilderness, and we were completely alone. Every other lake in the area had some campers, and some had what were described as crowds. But lonely Leopold was quiet—just us three chickens.



It was lovely.

Of course, Leopold doesn’t have any fish to catch…and once again we found that where there is no fishing, there are far fewer people.

Want to get away from it all? Then go someplace where the fish are not jumping. Or if they are, they’re illegal to catch.

It's been interesting to observe over the decades, even if I don't get up there (Emigrant) nearly as often as I did when I lived closer. I have definitely noticed that lakes I once fished now frequently have no fish whatever. Same in Desolation.

The only lake I've seen with active fish eradication (netting across inlets and the outlet, F&G interns camped for the summer) was Helen, near Tower Peak. I suspect, but don't know for sure, that backcountry planting is nearly gone or at least greatly reduced, and that has a greater impact than targeted eradication. As it turns out, many, many former trout lakes can't sustain fish populations. Years of drought are also hammering what once were year-round streams.

Contra all that, I've seen more Sierra osprey in the last five years than in all my other hiking years, combined.