6-28-25 Fishout Reconnisance

[Thomas Connolly]

Good morning HSFC Members!

This email is about the Fishing reconnaissance we did to support our upcoming 6-28-25 Fishout!

Dave caught 13+ Brook Trout!  Dan caught one after Dave showed him what he was doing… I caught none!  Dang.  More info below

On the morning of Tuesday 6-17-25 Dave Hallett, Dan Osborne and myself met at our proposed meeting place.  The locational coordinates are within the HSFC calendar, pasted below:

We drove from the meet place (there are pit toilets here!) along Blue Lakes Road all the way up to Lower Blue Lakes Campground (there are pit toilets here too).  At Lower Blue Lake the gate leading to Upper Blue Lakes was closed.  We did not fish Lower Blue Lake, our mission was to verify that all gates along Blue Lakes Road leading to Lower Blue Lakes were open.  They are indeed open!  

Fishing at Lower Blue Lakes is available, from the shore, in a float tube or via boat (bring ‘em if ya got ‘em!

We were told by the camp manager that Blue Creek, the tributary flowing out of Lower Blue Lake located on the west side of the Lower Blue Lake Dam, is “loaded” with brook trout.  This is very easy to access via your car.  We did not fish this so no recognizance here.

The drive up and back to Lower Blue Lake along Blue Lakes Road is gorgeous.

Secondly, roughly half way between Lower Blue Lake and our Hwy 88 meeting place we pulled off into a meadow and fished the West Fork of the Carson River.  This meadow was easily visible from the road with a number of wooden erosion dams in the river also visible from the Blue Lakes Road.

The river here is moving pretty slow, easy to park, easy to access and easy to wade.  The river banks were soft with slippery mud at the water/river interface, once in the water wading was easy. There were bugs. Water was cold and Gin Clear!  Be SAFE, fish with a buddy!

All three of us were dry fly fishing.  Dave caught 13+ Brook Trout!  Dan caught one after Dave showed him what he was doing… I caught none!  Dang.  Below are the pics of the fly Dave was using and a pick of the fly I was using.

Dave’s success was in water that had slight ripples on the surface, I was fishing water that was flat, roughly 2 to 3 feet deep.  For me, the bottom was very easy to see.

Below  are pics of the fly Dave was successful with as well as the fly I was using… I can’t believe I did not catch anything!

The west Carson River is easily accessible all along Blue Lakes Road… explore, try many places!

Dave’s flies are the red tailed flies on the left…. My fly is the single fly on the right.

Tight Lines and Loose Drags!

Best,

Thomas Connolly

tco...@gmail.com