A Lot of Back Country - A Little Fly Fishing

Its been a while since I have posted, but rest assured that it is not a product of not fishing, but rather a different kind of fishing. My spring this year has been spent on the deck of a bass boat fishing tournaments against fellow BRFC contributor Bob. When the new site launches we will have a bass fishing section as well as other sections pertaining to our love of the outdoors so all of our adventures can be followed. In the meantime here is a quick story about a trip i recently took on a section of the Tahoe Rim / Pacific Crest Trail to search for some little rainbows... or something. The trip started off a month ago with a friend suggesting that we begin hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail in sections for some over night back country fun. I immediately decided this would be a great opportunity to see a few new places and drag the fly rod along as well to try and catch a few new fish. The research immediately took the path of finding a section of trail that would offer us at least some degree of fishing possibilities while also providing some great views and a moderately challenging ascent. We chose the section from Big Meadows to Echo Summit deciding on an over-night stop at Showers Lake. There are 3 lakes on (or slightly off) this trail which all hold fish. In hindsight it would have been alot of fun to make a 2 nighter out of this and had been able to fish them all. This wasnt that trip. We made our way to Showers Lake about 8 miles in from the trailhead, we got an early start as we heard this was a popular place to set up camp for the folks through hiking the section, and it lived up to its reputation. We were fortunate enough to score a nice lakeside camp which gave us quick access to the fishing and the mosquitos quick access to our skin. After multiple applications of 99.5% deet we were ready. Fishing would have been much better if we had any foot protection for the very sharp DG in that lake. Alot of the fish were stacking just off the drop off about 60ft from shore. The lake's shore was full of brush preventing much of a back cast so we were targeting the random cruisers we could reach in about 5ft of water. As such the hookups were few and the landing less. We did manage 1 trout to hand with Dan and I each losing 1 or 2 fish. Had we been able to get out and nymph or cast beyond the shelf it would have been a good day. Showers lake itself is only maybe 2 or 3 acres MAX and can feel crowded, but if you can get your line wet they will surely eat most offerings. This is part of the Upper Truckee River watershed I believe and as such there are limits on bait, and you must use single barbless hooks. Check with DFG before heading out as we saw a number of people that appeared to be breaking these rules.