BY MIKE STEVENS
JUNE LAKE— Wintry conditions didn’t spare the June Lake Loop on Opening Day, and while the first half of the day showed a lot of numbers and little real quality, reports of bigger fish did ultimately trickle in that afternoon. Other than a handful of anglers, each lake in the Loop was essentially a “ghost town” by 4 p.m.
June Lake produced solid numbers for bait dunkers as well as trollers who powered through the conditions, and June also kicked out what was possibly the largest trout caught in whole loop on Opening Day, an 8.75-pound rainbow caught by a shore pounder. There were also a respectable amount of trout over 4 pounds weighed at the Marina including a 5.25 pounder hauled in by David Ramirez.
Ernie’s Tackle in June Lake weighed in a 5.89-pound rainbow for Angel Diaz and a 5.8 for Geovanny Bonilla along with some cutthroat in the 1- to 3-pound range and a handful of browns. In the end, a 7.5-pound June Lake rainbow took top honors at the June Lake Loop Monster Trout Contest at Ernie’s Tackle.
The road side of the lake was the best zone for both trollers and bait-and-wait guys, and Mook Lures, Tasmanian Devils and Thomas Bouyants were tops on the troll. Staffers said it was “the best fishing we’ve seen in years on opening weekend.” June Lake is the most heavily stocked lake in the loop and will be a producer all season.
Gull Lake anglers piled up huge numbers of trout to make up for a relative shortage of biggies, and most of the damage was done in mere hours with blowing snow sending most fisherfolk scurrying for shelter by lunchtime.
Estevan McDonald (goldenstatefishing.shop) caught-and-released over 50 from his kayak as did one of his GSF buddies who also hit Gull. Even during peak snow-and-blow time, ‘yakkers and tubers picked away at rainbows within casting range of Gull Lake Marina. PowerBait soakers did well by the park and campground, but minijigs were the way to go from tubes and yaks.
Some nice ones were caught, however, including a 5.95-pound rainbow that ate a jig for Rojas Marcelino and a 5.2 that ate a Character Lure and won the kid division in the Contest at Ernie’s Tackle.
Silver Lake took a direct hit from the wind and snow, but anglers hung in there along the shoreline on either side of the dock on down to the outlet and along the road on that end of the lake. The Muir family out of Mammoth hits Silver every opening day, and Amanda Muir reached out after bagging a 3.5-pound rainbow on green garlic PowerBait after “freezing to death” in the morning during “round 1.” That catch was made from a boat but close to shore. Silver Lake resort had double-digit numbers of 2- to 5-pound rainbows weighed in on Opening Day. When Western Outdoor News showed up, Anthony Hernandez of San Bernardino was taking a picture with a nice rainbow that ate a minijig for him near the outlet.
Grant Lake seemed to take the gold in the brown trout category on Opening Day with some limits consisting of more browns than rainbows. Jeremy Ross at Ernie’s Tackle said a 4-plus-pound brown trout out of Grant was weighed in at the shop. Shore anglers worked the rocky points along the road, a zone that appeared to offer some shelter from the wind when it kicked up and added to the consistent snowfall.
