Trucking up to June Lake for the glorious Fourth is a longstanding tradition and there will be a cooler full of vacuum pack yellowtail to turn into tacos and gifts for my local friends going with.

The trip will start out the best way -- fishing. An old bro from OC who moved to Florida and raised a family is meeting me up in June with his 16- and 18-year-old sons and we're going to see if we can't get into some fat trout at Crowley, Convict, in the June Loop and/or off some trail wherever the runoff/snow level will allow access.

"I want to show my boys some real mountains," said Dave Gauthier. "They've been to the Smokies in the Carolinas, but it's not the same."

Before he ventured West with his family, Dave asked for advice on some trout setups. I told him a light spinning rod rated for 2 to 4-pound test and a 500 size spinning reel. He said he was able to put some rigs together, but ran into one problem -- "I couldn't find anything lighter than 5-pound test in Florida."

The southeast is definitely not a light line haven. In one of the stories that's going in the Silver Eagles Reunion program for the big event July 15 at the Boulder Station in Las Vegas, a story by George Kramer recounts that Don Doty, a Southern California concrete contractor turned bass pro, made the Bassmaster Classic with the help of local anglers like Bobby Murray. "I got to Florida and the lightest line Bobby had was 14-pound test and the heaviest I had was 10-pound test," recalled Doty.

It's going to be a great reunion of the Western bass fishing family with events all day that Friday. Gary Klein is the latest confirmed bass fishing star going to attend. For more info, contact the Gathering of Silver Eagles at silvereagle715@aol.com

Meanwhile, headquarters for Rich Holland moves to June Lake for a week or so. I'll give you a report.

Photo: JUNE LAKE as seen from Oh! Ridge around opening day earlier this year. This has to be one of the most photographed spots in the world.