Las aventuras del hombre Zee y El Estrella Roquero Pescador

[silverlaker]

Great photos Benny. Thanks for taking so many pictures and documenting the trip. I somehow managed only a few shots this time. It was a great weekend of eating, fishing, and camaraderie. I enjoyed meeting a whole host of new and interesting addicts / future fishing buddies. It was a * send off for Zee, Mike and Isabella. I'm looking forward to their return - so we can do it all over again. Good luck!

I was happy to get into fish. However, there were two that I lost that will not soon be forgotten. The trip ended for me just as it had begun - an evening session with Tony.

Tony putting in the work:


And the reward:


Camp host:




Tom

[Rob909]

Great pics Benny. Glad everyone had a good time


Rob

[Rockstar Fisherman]

My trip started off by picking up Wade in Bakersfield and heading to the Lower Owens. Flows were low and the sun was bright and warm! After some tough times me Zee and Wade all tied into fish using nymphs, streamers and dries! Here is one last shot of the evening.



The pizza party Friday night was nice, it was great to see everyone and meet some new faces. It was an early night Friday because we had to wake up at 4:30am to mine and Zee's favorite backcountry lake that has fished horribly since Zee returned However I was blessed with one amazing catch Saturday, my one and only fish of the day.

A nice 23" personal best cutthroat




Stanbery with a nice brookie


And one of Zee's obese brookies!


Saturday night was great, and I mean I think I gained a couple pounds (a lot for me )!! There was soo much food of all different types and all of it was awesome. Thank you Mark, Ruben, Eric, Jim, Tom and Tony for cooking.

The next morning we all slept in after a food induced coma next to the fire. Amazingly I still had an appetite and ate even more along with everyone else.




Now, Sunday we had trouble getting organized on where we were going to go. Finally the majority of us loaded up around noon for a quick drive up north that was completely worth it!!! All quality fish and easy to catch. I caught the biggest brown I've ever caught in the USA this day.

Thanks Benny for the pic


I know it's not as big of a deal as it is for Zee, but it meant a lot to me that all of you showed up. It was also nice to kinda relive the good old days with my closest fishing buddy back on our old stomping grounds together. I'm not leaving until December 16th for New Zealand but I'm done fishing till then to prepare for the new adventure. I'll be back again and can't wait to fish with you guys. Until then, thanks again I had a blast!! And don't leave the fish with too many sore lips

Mike

[WadeK]

I wanted to say thanks to everyone who had a hand in making this one of the best weekends of my year.
Friday I had an enjoyable trip up with Mike, chatting about anything and everything. I was having a good enough time that I didn’t realize I had left my sleeping bags at home until we hit the 14. I got to show him a place he didn't know had water, let alone wild fish, even though he's gone by it numerous times.
We met up with Zee and hit the LO in a spot near what I have fished, but still new to me. This is when I realized my waders were under the sleeping bags. BRRRR that water’s cold for wet wading. I caught a new LO personal best Rainbow that jumped high with the snow-capped mountains as a backdrop. I had an adventure getting back to the truck, missing the easy trail by <50'. I think Zee called me the Bear in the bushes.
Meeting everyone at the Pizza Factory was cool. Good conversations over a wide variety of good Pizzas and Beer. After I got a new sleeping bag we headed back to camp for a good night’s sleep despite the Raccoons.
4:30 Reveille came awfully early from Stanberry’s phone in the tent next door. Ouch! Up we got and after a little coffee it was time to head for the Pig Factory. A long drive North that didn’t seem so long between talking with Tony and going past some beautiful scenery including Mono Lake and lots of snow capped mountains with fall colored valleys, we arrived around 7. The hike in was easy and pretty with open meadows and a mix of conifers and deciduous trees on the surrounding hills. There were big Brookies waiting for us at the lake but they were tight lipped. You had to work for them. I managed 5 fair caught. The smallest was easily 1.5x as long and 4x the weight of my previous Personal Best Brooky.
That night we had a potluck that added inches to my waistline. Sausages, Pork chops, Steak, Chili, Penne Pasta, Sweet Potatoes, …..capped off with Pear Cobbler. The meal was coupled with various brews like Lobotomy Bock, Modelo Negra and Raspberry Ale. Even the Raccoons thought it was a good spread. The conversations around the were and interesting. The next morning was just as bad (GOOD) with an equally big breakfast and plenty of interesting conversations.
Noon found a few of us on an arm of a big lake to the North that held lots of Browns willing to gently eat midges suspended at their depth. If you fished with a whole hook you could do quite well. I, of course, went through 7 hits before noticing my hook point was broken off.
The trip home seemed to take a little longer as trips home from a place you don’t want to leave often do. The company, scenery, food and fishing were all Stellar.
Thanks again,
Wade

[briansII]

Looks like another awesome, addict get together!

Is Mr. Early Riser taking a nap?


briansII

[Rockstar Fisherman]

Is Mr. Early Riser taking a nap?


briansII

[Sasha]

Great report, enjoyed the photos.

[fly addict]

Is Mr. Early Riser taking a nap?


briansII

It looks like two soda-pops were a bit too much for him...

[stanbery]

Is Mr. Early Riser taking a nap?


briansII

No was not taking a nap.
You guys are funny.
Jon

[fish-on-bro]

Guess Jon thought we were boring.

Chuck....

[darrin terry]

Looks like another awesome, addict get together!

Is Mr. Early Riser taking a nap?


briansII

I was going to suggest he was maybe wrapping a rod, but thought that would likely be taken wrong. Then it occurred to me the he was tying a fly (with no vise) and that sounded bad too…

[Wildman]

It was a great deal of fun for everyone....lots of the good food and beverage...lots of fish and a lot of memories for Zee and Mike to take with them to New Zealand. Here are a few of my pics.
Fished with Stanbery on Thursday after we secured a campsite on the river at PVR.

Jon, knows all the hidden places the Owens can share and this was one of them. We caught all the usual suspects.

Well...some of us caught more then others...I did manage a few of my own at this spot. Water was at 100cfs.




One of Jon's



Jon knew I was writing my Viet Nam memoirs so he decided to see if he could give me flashbacks...



We went on this way for a while to his secret spot.

Jon proceeded to catch 15 fish to my one and I caught that one after he snagged my line...pulled it in and put his flies on my line. He then proceeded to catch even bigger fish with new flies in the same hole. Like this 15 incher!

To add insult to injury, he caught a Smallmouth as a final fish.

We then found a great source for firewood courtesy of DWP and saw some very large fish as well.

Lots of good cooks and food for all meals.

I'm getting better at the biscuits

Jon and Zee fishing PVR for one fish

We went to a high mountain lake where I crashed in the truck with pneumonia

Pizza was fun and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.


These were in great supply

Camp

Tom Greek, myself, Rueben and Benny fished the upper for mostly small browns but three massive breakoffs got the heart pumping! A beautiful day up there. Tom looking for the one big guy!

Each night was another feast. No one went hungry.




Raccoons had plenty to eat

Benny waking up

Final morning


Zee and Isabella. I can only wonder what her first impressions of our country were on her whirlwind tour?

Eric and I finished our trip fishing together and caught a wonderful hatch on #20 BWO's.




It was a good send off for two good friends and excellent fishermen. Looking forward to hearing their adventures in their new home.

Jim

[1mocast]

WOW! Great TRIP Report from everyone! The Big lake looks even lower than ever.

Thanks for taking us along.

[czech flyfisherman]

Thank you all of you who show up for this adveture. It was realy nice to see you all. The fishing was ok, but my favorite lake was kind of off the hook:-), but next time it will be much better. Thank you for all the realy great food. And for sure we have to do it next time when me, Izabela and Mike we will be here.

thanks again Zee & Izabela