Thought someone was taking flash pictures in the backyard - then came the slam, bam, boom, clap of thunder - that's pretty much what everyone on the mountain and in the valley woke up to early Wednesday morning - then the rain and hail came again - went on for a couple of hours on and off - and then, lo and behold, snow on White Mountain and Mt. Tom and it's still only August. Don't see any thunder-boom storms or rain on the horizon, but you never know - a bit more yellow showing in a few different places now - won't be long till the Lake is ringed in yellow, golds, reds and oranges.

New "Feed our Fish" Program Puts Lunkers in Lakes!
A few months back, the Bishop Chamber launched the new "Feed our Fish" program and it's going remarkably well! The concept is straightforward - we've asked people who believe that trout fishing is important to contribute funds that we use to purchase and plant Alpers Trout.

We've collected close to $1,600 and that's enough to buy a load of lunkers that will be planted in the lakes & streams of Bishop Creek Canyon later the month! The fish will be nice size - up to 4 pounds each, with many in the 2-3 pound range.

So far, eighteen individuals and businesses have contributed $10 to $250 each. Many local artists donated beautiful works of art for an auction that was held during the press reception and proceeds were added to the fish fund.

"We hope to keep the program going year-round, stocking Bishop Creek Canyon during the summer and Pleasant Valley Reservoir and Lower Owens River in the winter," explains Tawni Thomson. "Of course, we'll need some more help from people that believe in the importance of fishing here in the Eastern Sierra and any contribution would be greatly appreciated." If you would like to become a "Feed our Fish" sponsor - give Tawni a call at (760)873-8405.

A big THANK YOU to the Bishop Chamber for putting in the first load of Alpers this week. Not sure if it was the Bishop Chamber load of fish or the Wednesday DFG stocking or the lack of rain or your excellent catching skills, but fishing picked up a bit over the week - the normal stuff is still working - if you can find Garlic PowerBait in your neck of the woods - pick it up - can't get the stuff up here!

Fishing the Inlets with NightCrawlers, PowerBait(garlic if you can find it) or jigs. Trolling Thomas Buoyants, NightCrawlers or WoolyBuggers. Drifting the rock piles or shoreline between the two natural lakes with NightCrawlers or PowerBait. Shore fishing with NightCrawler, PowerBait or Salmon Eggs. Pretty much sounds like last week and the week before and the week before!

Well this is the 9th week of working on the bridge and boy are they gettin' it done! Just to recap - the first week - they had roped off the North Lake Hiker parking area at the North Lake road last week - the second week a storage container and forklift were delivered to the roped off area. Now for the 3rd week - we couldn't figure out what was done on the bridge last week. The 4th week progress report - nothing has progressed as far as we can tell. So now for the 5th week - Rick talked with the project manager and apparently they needed a few more permits, but we hear there'll be physical progress this coming week! So the progress for the 6th week is - we now have not one but two stoplights on the Lake Sabrina Road - and we do ask that you obey the lights - or you may be backing up on the narrow road - with the installation of lots of K-rails on the road to protect the bridge crew. They also placed huge concrete blocks down in the creek bed. The 7th week brought more changes in the landscape around the bridge - there's a lot of the dirt & rock to the east of the bridge missing. During the 8th week, they moved masses amounts of earth and rock and I mean masses. They've slowed the water coming out of the Lake as they're working down in the creek bed by the bridge, so the Lake has actually come up a bit - not much, but we'll take anything we can get. And now the 9th week, lots more dirt and rocks have been moved out of the way - they got lucky and hit a natural fracture in the rocks - that will be the new side of the road. Hopefully, next week we'll have a picture of what the cement work will look like around the bridge. We'll keep posting pictures each week to let you know what's happening. THE CYCLE ON THE RED LIGHT TAKES ABOUT 2 MINUTES - PLEASE BE PATIENT - DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU HAVING TO BACK UP ON THE ROAD. We are assured the road will remain open during the season, so do not fret, you will be able to get to the Lake.

KEEPING THIS IN - Remember if you do use some sunscreen, skeeter juice, Foo-foo juice or SANITIZER you need to really wash your hands before fishing - then rub some Salmon Egg juice, worm dirt to take that smell off. Remember your polarized dark glasses and sunscreen - we've seen a few anglers that looked a bit like cooked lobster. Also, wear something on your feet that will protect them from hooks, glass, etc - there's a lot of that stuff around!

Temperatures are expected to be in the mid 70's with lows in the low to mid 40's. DON'T FORGET TO PACK A JACKET WHEN YOU COME TO THE LAKE. Please check www.weather.gov and enter ASPENDELL, CA on the site and it will give you a fairly good hint at the weather or check in with Howard at www.MammothWeather.com.

And, of course, we'll have HOMEMADE pie and ice cream (until it's gone), sodas, beer, wine, coffee, tea and hot cocoa!

Looking forward to seeing you all in the very near future.

Juanita, Rick, Patti, Bryan, Len, Ginny & Thomas