Fishing arrived as did the normal summer weather we have expected in the Eastern Sierra with a huge explosion on the 4th. The fireworks were better than 2008, which was hard to believe, but I saw every 348 explosions plus the grand finale to beat all finales.

The wind picked up over night dropping the temp, but it calmed down during the daylight and stayed breezy on and off.

There is a fire in Yosemite putting a brown haze on the mountains and the air smells of heavy smoke. Hopefully this will be under control soon. Have not heard of any road closures due to the fire, so I'm assuming it's an interior fire.

Little Virginia got a load of fish from Alpers, and 450lbs from DFG which boosted the morale of those in need to fill that limit. Only a few of the BFEF brown trout hit some stringers and most of them returned to the water.

Nothing large was taken but there were many that hit the "almost" 2lb mark, with a desire to get on the "board" at the Lodge. I keep telling the kids to put a few pebbles in their mouth before bringing them to the store, but the kids think I'm kidding.

Lures were the red/gold Buoyant, Gold fire stripe hot shot, small Mepps "O" gold or silver, rainbow lip ripperz, black Buoyant and the silver plain. Garlic power bait, pink power worms, pink regular power bait and chunky cheese took limits to the cleaning area.

Flies were olive/black BH, Rust BH, Dark brown BH, and the VLR special Matuka. Dries that dimpled the water were green body mosquitoes, Adams Female, Griffith Gnats and the Professor.

Big Virginia also got Alpers and this will be the norm in the future. Hopefully a few nets of them will go into Trumbull Lake also. Trumbull was never on the schedule as one of the original 13 waters to receive Alpers when the contract was approved back in the 90's. Tim Alpers stocked both lakes then and decided that since there were so few anglers on the big lake he would put them all in Little Virginia. The policy recently changed due to some complaints and they will continue to be stocked in Big Virginia on a monthly basis. Until the funding for the trophy trout is increased it is doubtful that Trumbull will get any unless the Board decides they want to add another body of water. If they add another water this would mean that they would have to come from another water reducing fish by whatever the amount they decide will go into Trumbull. Trumbull should have been on the original list as the campground also charges the county occupancy tax for their camp sites.

This next week looks good as predictions say it will continue to stay warm with a few breezy afternoons. Temps will build and possible thunderstorms might occur, but for now it's warm and comfortable. Weekly stocking by DFG has continued even with their budget constraints, and they have to be applauded for their efforts in getting fish to the angling public that pay for the licenses.

See you on the water....carolyn