PICK UP YOUR FISHING LICENSE BEFORE COMING TO THE LAKE

WATCH OUT FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS - THEY MAY BE LURKING AROUND THE NEXT CORNER ON THE ROAD!

And the color is on! - Lots of color showing around the Lake this week - there's orange by Sabrina Camp and we understand the yellows in the South Fork of Bishop Creek Canyon have started there, too! You couldn't have asked for a better week - nice temps in the mid 70's, cool breezes and the views - ahhhhhhhh!

The Lake is going down - Southern California Edison is taking us down to empty once again - a bit more dam work on the outflow structure - the front part of the Lake is scheduled to be empty by November 1, 2012. Now that doesn't mean you can't come up and fish - the season closes November 15th - you'll just have a bit of a hike ahead of you - but the fishing will be awesome - with all those fish concentrated in the two natural lakes. We'll be going to our Fall hours this Monday - Sept 17th - the Café will be open this week and then close Monday thru Thursday starting Sept 24th - and will be opened Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

STARTING September 24, 2012
Café Hours FALL HOURS

Friday Breakfast
8:00am to 11:00am

Lunch
11:00am to 4:00pm

Saturday Breakfast
7:00am to 11:00am

Lunch
11:00am to 4:00pm

Sunday Breakfast
7:00am to 11:00am

Lunch
11:00am to 4:00pm

The Café will be closed Monday thru Thursday starting Monday, September 24, 2012. We'll still have cold drink, hot drinks, candy, chips & homemade pie & ice cream!

Store Hours FALL HOURS

Sunday
7:00am to 6:00am

Monday - Friday
8:00am to 6:00am

Saturday
7:00am to 7:00am

Fishing, this week started on the slow slide, but by Saturday the catching had picked up. As the Lake is going down, when fishing the Inlets, you need to stay out a bit as the water is very shallow close in - NightCrawlers, PowerBait and jigs are working near the Inlets. Trolling the shoreline with Thomas Buoyants, NightCrawlers or flasher and a NightCrawler - but remember to WATCH FOR ROCKS with the Lake being so low. Drifting the rockpiles with NightCrawlers or PowerBait. If you're fishing the shore, use Salmon Eggs, NightCrawler of PowerBait. We got a bunch of fish on Thursday from the DFG.

Frazier Park resident, Justen Peltier, pictured picked up a nice 2-3/4 pound Alper using a Red & Gold Thomas Buoyant.

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 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.

Well this is the 12th 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 8thweek, 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. 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. And the 10th week, boy, have they moved tons of rock and dirt or what - they worked from morning to evening this week - and progress was made as you can see in the picture - didn't get a chance to get the picture of what the cement work will look like - but keep the faith - we'll get it for you. And now to the 11th week, still didn't get the picture of the cement mold, but don't lose hope. They've moved tons of more rocks and dirt and have a bit more of the new road showing. So now it's week 12 of the bridge replacement - they poured the abutment on the south side and their getting ready to drill the pilling on the north side. We'll keep posting pictures each week to let you know what's happening. THE CYCLE ON THE RED LIGHT TAKES ABOUT 2 - 3 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!

September is the month of change - Temperatures are expected to be in the mid 70's with lows in the low 40's to high 30'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.

Haven't heard the Campground schedule yet, but as soon as we do we'll let you know!

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