If eralfr atib leUr
Fishermen Brave High Country
ICE BREAKS UP NEAR FALLEN GIANT Part of the
ice pack at the north end of Woodpecker Lake began
breaking up last weekend, but the remaining portion of
the deep mountain lake was still encased in an icy shield.
Fishermen had little prospect that the lake, and others
BADGER LAKE SPORTS ICY SEAL A six-inch sheet
of ice crusted Badger Lake, about two miles from Four
Mile Lake via trail, as the trout season opened in waters
alonq the Skyline Trail last Saturday, May 25. Some in
trepid anglers ventured out onto the ice and slipped bait
1-
RESERVOIR SPILLWAY A solitary angler appraises the
spillway of the reservoir near Sprinq Creek Road before
casting his line into the placid waters in the foreground.
NEAT CATCH AT RESERVOIR Several hours of angling at the reservoir on Spring
Creek Road yielded this catch of four crappies and three black bass for Ray Overson,
2793 Crest Street, who was among t host of fishermen producing fine catches in
those waters Sunday.
along tlie Skyline Trail, would be free of its icy surface
before the next two or three weeks. The submerged log
in the bottom of the picture depicts the transparency of
the lake.
through cracks in its mantle to tempt a wary fish, but the
lake's inhabitants had no appetite for such offerings. The
presence of warmer weather accompanied by longer day
light hours is expected to melt the icy shield within the
next several weeks.
Other fishermen tested that part of the reservoir be
hind the spillway with varied success.
STILL WATERS UNVIOLATED Calm waters, relatively undisturbed by fishermen,
greeted some of the anglers who tried their luck at the reservoir on Spring Creek Road
last weekend. Within the next few weeks black bass will begin furrowing depressions
in th bed of the reservoir to form nests far their spawn. Bass shape the nests with
their tails, sending up swirls to the surface the water which betray their presence to
anglers.
Angler Finds
On Opening
By DICK BKIGCS I
That peculiar variety of male
the fisherman, oddly attired,
ascended to the banks o lakes
and streams in the Cascade
Mountain Range beginning last
Saturday and opened its annual
campaign to coax some wary
trout into snapping at a hook
colorfully clothed in feathers and
fuzz and barins but scant re-
emblance to any organism or
creature on the face of the globe.
If the kaleidoscopic hues of
hardware and feathered lures
were more fantastically bedecked
this year than last, tiie trout
were less impressed, at least so
far as concerned the host of an
glers on hand to usher in the
opening day of trout season in the
high country.
Few anglers who tried worms
salmon eggs for bait at Lake
of the Woods, Four Mile or Fish
lakes closed their creels on a
captured trout and a fewer num
ber of the "purists," those fish
ermen who tempt their prey with
artificial lures, did as well.
Other smaller lakes along the
Skyline Trail were still clutched
in the waning grip of winter.
Snow clogged the trail into
Woodpecker and Badger lakes
and a six-inch mantle of ice
shielded the angler from his in
tended victims. Clearly, fishablc
conditions in the mile-high trout
lakes were at least three weeks
away. While anglers in the frosty
high country were flicking their
lures or bait about the air rath
er fruitlessly, their counterparts
BRUSH BLOCKS HIGH TRAILS Trails into the high
country wore either clogged with snow or blocked by
brush as the trout fishing season officially opened in
lakes and streams along the Skyline Trail, last Saturday,
May 25. This tyke did considerable high stepping in his
quest for a wary trout at Four Mile Lake.
Trout Wary
Fishing Day
in the lower altitudes were bask-
inc in considerably warmer tern-
Iperatures and doing rattier well
for themselves.
Many anglers in the lowlands
traveled along asphalt roads,
parked adjacent to river or
stream beds, and caught size
able . rainbows within sight of
their cars.
Meanwhile, that other hardy
tvpe of individual who makes an
adventure of seeking out the
most remote fishing spot gener
ally caught nothing for his ef
forts,' except, perhaps, a case of
sniffles.
Some such individuals sought
to reach Cold Springs, starting
point of the trail to Heavenly
Lakes, and mired their automo
bile in a quagmire near Long
Lake Trail. The fishermen final
ly extricated their vehicle from
the mire and departed for a not
i inaccessible area.
Soon after, along came anoth
er intrepid angler in a truck
pulling a horse trailer, occupied
by an appropriate animal. The
horse, obviously, was to elimi
nate the problem suffered by
those anglers who moved exclu
sively on wheels.
What the horseman did at the
ico covered mountain lakes when
he got there I if. indeed, he did I is
not known, and whether or not
he ever returned is even less cer
tain. The entire subject suggests that
angling in the wild hinterlands
may not be all it's cracked up
to be. Perhaps, one can do just
1 "
as well plunking a huge blob of
nightcrawler. with a one - ounce
sinker attached, into a roadside
stream strewn with trash and
beer cans.
Last weekend, tbe lowlanders
had a few problems, too.
The Williamson River, which
along with the Wood River was
closed until Saturday, Mowed
with the brackish coloring of the
huge marsh it drains from the
north. Despite its unusually mur
key waters, anglers who floated
an appropriate nymph into rif
fles usually did well.
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SUMMERY TERRAIN BELIES SNOW CLOGGED TRAILS Snow-capped Mt. McLough
lin looms above this forest located along the dirt-surfaced road to Cold Springs, take
off point to the trail leading to the Heavenly Twins Lakes area. About three miles
south of Cold Springs, near the Long Lake Trail, a quagmire makes the road impassable
to traffic. Heavenly Twins and other lakes along the Skyline Trail are still locked in a
mantle of snow.
sti- -,tr-'"" W
LOW BRIDGE AWAITS BOAT CARRYING AUTOS Slushy roads bordered with snow
awaited anglers venturing into Four Mil Lake and Fish Lake during the opening of the
fishing season in the high mountain country west of Klamath Falls last Sunday. In
photo above, a partially fallen evergreen, axtendinq across Four Mile Lake road, com
plicated the problems of those anglers who carried boats en the tops of their cars.
Fishermen equipped with car-top boats stopped their vehicles in front of the tree and
motored slowly under it. Fishing was generally slow in the two lakes during the open
ing day weekend.
'ijlfw fllftm
KLAMATH WATERS YIELD LIMIT While most anglers experienced little success in
their efforts in the high lakes which opened to trout fishinq last weekend, other fisher
men did considerably better in streams and rivers et lower altitudes. This limit catch
came from the Klamath River and Spring Creek, with six of the rainbows coming from
Sprinq Creek.
One such fisherman reported
hooking and releasing 20 rain
bows while selecting his limit of
10.
Many oilier anglers shunned the
Williamson River in favor of
Spring Creek, which a short time
before had been slocked with
some SOU trout.
As usual, those who worked
the transparent creek with salm
on eggs made catches ap
proaching limits.
Diamond Lake other waters
that opened to anglers Saturday
produced sizeable fish, but ar-
s.r"
i.Jvi,'iF .s S&r? . i.3 t"Sifa- &
ther south on the Klamath Riv
er, Copco increased the spillage
from the dam near Keno and dis
rupted the fishing for the week
end,
Last week, most of the prize
rainbows in both size and quan
tity were gouig to the fishermen
who ranged in the lowlands of
the Klamath Basin, but some
time within the next month the
high lakes, disrobed of winter's
touch by the warmth of sum
mer, will occupy center stage for
even the most steadfast of the
lowlanders. ;
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