Just like kids on Christmas, anglers were up early on Fishmas pulling into the lot about 4:30am. And like on many Christmases, it was a white one. Temps were at 24?? with the windchill down in the teens and a pretty strong breeze with snow flurries, it felt like a typical Opener less an iced-over Lake and not a lot of snow showing on the peaks.

Department of Fish and Wildlife stocked the Lake on Tuesday with a very nice load of decent size fish - many of those fish left the Lake over the weekend. Fishing at the Lake was GREAT! Those angler we talked with said - anything you threw at them they gobbled up! NightCrawlers, PowerBait, Lures - didn't matter. Shore fishing, trolling, still fishing or drifting - didn't matter. Lots of ?? to 1 pound fish came out.

Chip and Tom Hughes from Orange County had their 7-1/4 pound limits in just a couple hours on Red and Gold Thomas Buoyants. Also, getting limits in the wild weather was Kevin, Cameron and Kyle from Castaic on Gold Kastmasters. Gary Temple of Fillmore brought home a 2-1/2 pound Rainbow using a NightCrawler. Mike Van Kirk landed a nice 2 pounder using a fake worm and egg combo. Mike Forrester of Fallbrook caught a 2-pound beaut using a Root Beer colored jig. And then there's the 'Unknown' fisherman who let us take a picture of his 2-3/4 pounder which he caught on a NightCrawler - the reason for the unknown - neither his wife nor his boss knew where he was!

Not only did we have boats out on the Lake, several private boats were out there as well. Just remember, when launching, don't put your trucks back wheels in the Lake - that ground is slimy. We also had a bit of entertainment in watching the cars and trucks slip and slide on the road coming up to the Lake. Heard of one car doing a total 360 down the road right in front of the truck and trailer that jack-knifed .

Forgot to mention back a couple of weeks when we moved up to the Lake, we were greeted with one of our resident Bald Eagles - flew right over after we parked and got out of the truck. Since then we have seen a pair fly over the Lake - quite a sight.

Lake Sabrina Boat Landing will serve Breakfast from 7:00am to 11:00am and Lunch until 4:00pm on Saturday and Sunday for Opener after that it will be Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And, yes, there will be homemade pie and ice cream on the weekends. Our store hours are as follows:

Sunday 7:00 to 6:00pm
Monday 8:00 to 6:00pm
Tuesday 8:00 to 6:00pm
Wednesday CLOSED
Thursday 8:00 to 6:00pm
Friday 8:00 to 6:00pm
Saturday 7:00 to 6:00pm

The campgrounds in the Bishop Creek Canyon will be open for Opener except North Lake, Camp Sabrina and Willow - bit too cool yet for the potable water at those camps. Bishop Creek Lodge, Creekside RV Park and Cardinal Village Resort will all be opened for Opener. Parchers Resort opens mid-May.

If you're coming to the Lake, don't forget sunscreen and dark glasses - there is still some snow around and that sun is pretty bright against the blue sky. You may want to pack some bug juice - prior to the snow storm we had some skeeter lurking - so best to be prepared.

After the wild weekend, the weather will be getting nicer through the week although there may be some afternoon thunderboomers coming in. Temps will be in the low 60s then drop to the high 50s over the weekend with lows in the low 30s then to the high 20's over the weekend. We did have snow every day from last Tuesday thru Opener - at least the trees got a bit of moisture on them. You can check out the weather forecast according to Howard our local weather 'guesser' at www.MammothWeather.com. You can also check out www.weather.gov - enter Aspendell, CA (which is the little community right below Lake Sabrina) in the search field and you'll get the forecast for at the higher elevation. You may need to scoll down on the webpage to see the temps.

Hope to see you soon!