Spooner Lake

(By Erik)

 

Two weeks ago Dad visited.  We spent two days canoeing and swimming in Silver Lake.  We had worms to fish and rods, but after assessing the lake I did not think we would be successful in catching any fish.  I thought it would be a waste of time.  Young kids need constant action or they lose interest and that is how I saw fishing at Silver Lake.  Soren was really disappointed that we did not fish.

This weekend Ashley and I decided to give it another shot.  We went to Spooner Lake.  Spooner Lake is pretty gross.  Its right above Lake Tahoe, but it is manmade.  It is full of pond muck.  Tons of goose poop.  You can’t swim in it and its clearly labeled everywhere “Spooner Lake has leaches.”  The nice thing about Spooner Lake is they stock it all the time with trout and it is in Nevada.  Ashley has a Nevada license, but no California license so she is able to fish.  Plus I read online that it was full of Lahontan Tui Chubs.  Those are the mystery fish we caught at Burnside Lake (see post below). 

We got out late – we arrived at the lake at 4:00.  The fish get hungry around 6:00, so we spent an hour canoeing around the lake.  He have hiked around it numerous times (two mile loop, about the kids limit) and it was cool to see it from the water.  After some canoeing we had a picnic on the shore of the lake and then we did some fishing.

The action was hot again.  The Tui Chubs were biting like crazy.  I was able to locate a bathymetry map of Spooner Lake (contour) and found the deepest location right by the dam.  Svea caught the most (15?), and I don’t think she ever let out over 3 feet of fishing line.  The fish come right up to you.  Attached is a picture of Svea with one of the “big” ones.  The poster at the lake says the lake is “dominated by Tui Chubs which are a relative of the minnow.”  Again – its not quality, its quantity. It was critical that they catch one every few minutes.  This one was actually about 6-inches, not bad.  Svea actually really digs fishing, its great.

 

I fished from the back of the boat.  Everyone used worms, but I used my flyrod.  I go fishing once a week on my own, so I spent most of the time cutting worms, baiting hooks, and removing fish from lines, but I was able to get a “wooly bugger” in.  A wooly bugger simulates a leach or minnow.  It was too big for the Tui Chubs, but I hooked one good rainbow trout that got away and then also landed one.  Pretty good size, and its good to be getting familiar with how to fly fish a lake as I have generally done all my fishing on streams.

 

Soren caught a ton of Tui Chubs mostly about 1.5 feet deep, but he did go after some of the big ones and managed to hook a great rainbow.  That’s his first trout!  He had a blast and kept saying how great the fishing was.  Soren is really into fishing, but I have to make sure we hit places where a catch is guaranteed so that he remains encouraged.

And Ashley was also able to catch her first Nevada Trout (she has caught a few in California).  Unfortunately, the light was wrong and the fish moved so you can’t see it in the photograph.  It was equivalent to Soren’s and mine.  Poor Ashley – no picture to show.

I am the new “Physical Facilities Representative” (PFR) at church.  Basically, I am the church janitor.  It is my job to assign different families to come and clean every Saturday morning.  It kills an hour or two which kind of stinks, but I have been in scouts for 8 years and I really needed a break.  I hope to do scouts again when Soren is old enough, but I an tired of it.  After cleaning the church we went to Wal-Mart for our weekly shopping.  Liv finally has enough hair and is looking a little ratty, so we got her first haircut.  She kind of has a mullet now, but atleast her bangs are not in her face.  She was very calm during the cut.  She didn’t care what was happening.

Lastly – we got Soren a “Bill Nye the Science Guy” video called “solving for x.”  I did not know how Soren would do with algebra, but he was super excited to watch it.  He got a paper and pencil so that he could “take notes.”  Notes he did take – I still don’t think he can solve for X, but for a 6-year old, pretty amazing.  If he does not wind up an electrical engineer I will be surprised.  Although I do question why 2 raised to any power equals 3.

So as you can see – we have it tough.  We only have about 12 Lakes to chose from every week and one of them happens to be one of the biggest, deepest, and cleanest in the world.  Pretty special place.  Great for the kids – and the parents.

Burnside Lake

 

(By Erik)

July 6th was free fishing day in California.  I have a nonresident California fishing license, but Ashley does not.  On Thursday Ashley decided that we needed to take advantage of the free day ($15 normally).  Friday Ashley spent the afternoon packing the car with camping and fishing equipment.  We just got back from 5-days of camping in Monterey and spent the 4th canoeing and fishing Silver Lake, but what the heck, summer only lasts 3 months.

We camped that the Markleeville Guard Station Campground.  Most USFS campgrounds are $35 which is a little pricy, but since the Markleeville Campground is run by Alpine County it is $15.  It had everything that the USFS campgrounds have, running water and flushing toilets.  The campground was empty – maybe 40% occupied which is pretty good for the 4th of July weekend.  We knew we wanted to get the kids out into the open when we moved here, so we have made a significant investment in tents, camp stove, sleeping bags, air mattresses, cookware, lanterns, ect.  Great campground in the middle of the pines

The next picture is significant – it is the kids looking for firewood.

Dad once told me that “kids need space.”  They did not have that in Phoenix.  Here they do.  They have the opportunity to explore.  They were so excited to look for firewood.

Along the same lines

Papa once told me “kids need  adventure – in NYC they create their own and many times it is destructive or illegal.”  Again the kids have adventure here – everything is an adventure.  Camping, canoeing, hiking, exploring.  Its great.

The campground also has an 18 hole Frisbee golf course.  By the time we set up camp and ate dinner it was a little late, but we gave one hole a shot.  It is hard!, but again, something new. (you can see the “fairway” in the path behind us.)

We were going to go fishing at Indian Creek Reservoir the next morning (right across form the campground).  I thought we could be on the water by 9:30 or 10:00.  We did not even have our camp ground picked up until 11:00.  Being that the high was 91 today and Indian Creek is at elevation 5500-feet I made an executive decision to go to Burnside Lake (google map – Burnside Lake, Alpine, CA) because it is at elevation 8200 feet and much cooler.  The high up there today was 75 degrees – note the picture with Svea wearing her jacket.  It was a difficult dirt road for the Mazda, so I don’t think we will go up there again until we have a real car, but we made it today to try it out. 

I had never been to Burnside Lake before.  Some people on the shore were fishing and had caught nothing.  I was kind of disappointed.  Indian Creek Reservoir is stocked with fish and usually productive.  I wanted the kids to be able to catch some fish so that they would maintain interest in the sport.  We canoed around the lake and found what was probably close to the deepest point – 12-feet.

I cut up a worm and got Soren in the water. Almost right away he claimed that something was nibbling.  I had my doubts.  I got Svea’s worm into the water and 30 seconds later she had the first hit.  She didn’t want to pose with it.  It was a trout (I am 90% sure), but have no idea what kind.  It was not a brooke, rainbow, brown, golden, cutthroat, or lahontan.  It was green on the top and silver underneath, almost bass coloring, but not a bass body.  It was only about 4-inches big.

 

Shortly after Soren reeled in his first fish of the day.

Then Ashley

 

All hand size – but seriously, I was putting worms on and taking fish off so often I could not get a line in the water.  It was every minute and if you did not catch one in a minute it meant your bait was gone.  We caught 40-60 fish.  When I looked over the canoe I could see hundreds of little fish beneath us waiting for our bait.  As we would real one in, the other fish would try to eat the worm out of the caught fish’s mouth.  It was really great – they were small, but the kids loved it.  Soren never suggests that we go fishing, but every time I say we are going he gets excited.  Svea is also becoming an avid fisherwomen.

I did get the last laugh as I did manage to catch the big one of the day – 6 inches.  Still no idea what kind of fish it is.

 

So if you see what we did on the 4th of July and what we did today its pretty amazing what difference a year makes.  As Ashley and I were driving home we were discussing that we felt like we have been on vacation the last week.  I feel totally rested.

I remember mom visiting about 18 months ago in Phoenix.  I  had been looking into the military to serve in the reserves to make the extra money to move my family to Mesa and that door had closed.  I had a home worth 3/5 what I owed.  Had a job that had not given raises in 3 years (actually cuts).  I had added three kids to my family with no additional income.  Most civil engineers were unemployed, so forget advancing in my field, just getting a regular paycheck and having health insurance was a victory.  I told mom, and I was a little emotional “I don’t want to raise my family here.”

Earlier in the year our bishop had challenged me to increase my fast offerings (a collection at church that benefits those who need it) so that the lord would bless me with abundance.  I increased my offering 150% even though I could have used the money.  I paid for over a year and when the military door closed I discussed my disappointment with my bishop that like the brother of Jared I had found my solution to my problem and still nothing happened.  I remember he told me “Brother Nilssen – don’t dispair, the lord is not through with you yet.”  It was less than two months later this job opened up and it was a green light.”  A day does not go by that I am incredibly grateful that somehow this opportunity presented itself.  “County Engineer” is a position that someone with 30 years experience should have and you would have expected someone who was ready to retire that wanted to be here would have put in for it.

Silver Lake Fourth

We had a great day yesterday.  We loaded up the canoe and headed back to
Silver Lake (the trip we tried but were snowed on for Memorial Day).  It's
about an hour drive.  The weather was beautiful and the young grass and wild
flowers were out. 

We launched the canoe and paddled to a large island in
the middle of the lake.  There was a tiny shady beach just right for us so
we pulled in and spent a few hours swimming in the clear cool water.  Soren
and Svea practiced in their life jackets - Soren didn't trust his vest to
save him if we capsize - and they both made several comments on how fun and
beautiful it was.  Soren called the beach "a perfect paradise".  This was
after wanting to stay home and watch tv all day and complaining the whole
drive!

Poor Liv would have been swimming if it wasn't for her cast!  She had to be
satisfied with splashing her feet and her good hand in the water.  She was
also very happy in the canoe this trip - a great contrast to the constant
screaming of our other trips - trying to touch the water and just quietly
checking out the scenery.

After our lunch on the beach we walked a few steps to a little rocky point.
There were lots of baby trout swimming in the crevices between the boulders.
Erik and the kids fed them some bread, then Erik decided to pull out his fly
rod.  It was so funny, the little fish were attacking his fly but most of
them were too little to fit it in their mouths.  After he caught a fish, it
was my turn to try.  I've never fly fished before, so it was awkward but fun
to try and learn the ropes.  I managed to get the fly in the general area of
the fish and I got one!  It made for a funny first trophy fish picture.

We launched the canoe and paddled around the island.  What a beautiful
place.  More wild flowers, Canada geese, spiky crested ducks, huge boulders,
and pines with their scent filling the air.  We finally pulled into a cove
that Erik had scouted out while swimming across the strait before lunch.
Erik got us all set up to fish with worms off the shore.

After waiting for awhile with no success we decided to try another spot for
fishing.  We canoed back over closer to the boat ramp, put down our anchor
and let down our lines by a huge granite shelf on the shore.  When we drove
up there in May the ranger told us that was a good spot.  Sure enough, I
caught one fish and Erik caught at least four.  Too bad they were once again
tiny baby trout!  The kids weren't getting any action and it was getting
late so we decided to load up and head home.

On the way home, Erik convinced me to try out fly fishing again and took us
to the creek he had fished the night before.  After a few practice holes and
a bunch of mosquito bites I managed to catch two fish, a six inch brook
trout and an eight inch rainbow.  I'm afraid I'm hooked - it was so fun!
Too bad I won't get many chances to practice until the kids are a little
older.  Erik also pulled a fish out of the same hole.  It was a beautiful
area to be in and I can see why Erik loves to get up there as often as he
can.

As we finally drove home the sky over the mountains was filled with a
beautiful  sunset of white and pink clouds over the exquisite pine covered
mountains.  God's own firework show.  I feel so blessed to live in this
beautiful nation and so thankful for my life here.  I'm blessed beyond
words.

Ashley

Welcome December

How do you ring in December in the Sierra Nevada Mountains?  You hit the beach of course.  A huge storm is passing through this weekend with 30 MPH winds on Tahoe.  The surf report today was 2-6 foot waves – tomorrow up to 7 feet.  It was erratic, some great waves followed by periods of smaller waves. Sure the water is 47 degrees and will kill you between 1-3 hours if you unprotected, but with a hooded 5mm wetsuit (Thanks for the early Christmas Ashley) its not that bad (except when you take a direct splash to the face).  If you notice I don’t have boots or gloves yet (they are in the mail and will get here on Tuesday – Thanks Mom!), so my feet hurt so bad.  Every rock stepped on or bump by the body board was painful.  Can’t wait for the boots to arrive.  For gloves I put on thin liners then dishwashing gloves over them and then I duct taped them really tight around the wrists.  It kind of worked.  Unfortunately Ashley’s wetsuit and boots arrive on Tuesday, so she had to sit this one out.  There were three surfers in the water with me.  I am sorry if this is starting to look like a surfing blog, its not the intent, its just its been 18 years since my last summer on Cape Cod regularly body boarding and now to be in a place where you can do it once a month or so has been AWESOME! (Add in fly fishing, hiking, and quiet and I can hardly believe my good fortune – whoever  knew the Genoa greater metropolitan area even existed?)

Ashley always just gets videos of me on the small waves I swear.  I catch some real monsters.


We did that for an hour or so.  Then we drove to South Lake Tahoe for lunch at one of our favorite burger places Izzy’s



Then we drove over the Luther Pass into national forest.  We purchased a Christmas Tree permit for $10.  The only rules are the tree cannot have a diameter of greater than 6-inches (that’s huge!), it must be within 10-feet of another tree (reduces competition for nutrients), and it has to be within a mapped area.  Helps thin the forest and allows you to get a great tree.  It was a little difficult as we only had limited hiking stamina and terrain due to three kids.  Everything close to the road was pretty much picked over so I would up going up the side of a steep mountain.  I found an unbelievable tree.  I cut it down then realized how heavy it was, how far away from everyone I was, and how steep the mountain side was.  I put the thing on my back and made it down.  Most trees you find in the wild are wind blown on one side or crooked, but this one is awesome.  I feel guilty for cutting it down, but I have to remind myself I did the forest a favor.  That was a lot of driving for one day.


It was a tough week at work with some really politically difficult situations rearing their heads. I love where I live. I feel peace being at home.  When its been 9 years since you can say that, and I did not hate Phoenix I was very neutral there except I didn’t feel safe in my own home, it makes anything that happens at work worth it (except getting canned, because then you can’t live here anymore).

Good Bye Summer!

As I stated on a previous blog post when winds at Lake Tahoe are 20-25 MPH and gusts hit 20-25 you can surf the lake.  Today was one of those days – winds of 22 MPH with gusts up to 41 MPH.  I know it is Sunday, but we went as the final opportunity to surf Tahoe for the year.  When we moved here I never would have believed that you would dare enter Tahoe at the end of October.  Many people were walking the beach in winter coats and hats.  They must have thought we were nuts to be out in the water - and we probably were. Tomorrow Tahoe is supposed to receive 3-5 inches of snow.  As you can see from the car thermometer (maybe not the most accurate) the air temp was 46 degrees and with wind chill felt like 36 degrees.  Even in the summer Lake Tahoe’s water temperature approaches 70 degrees, today it is closer to 60.  It makes Cape Cod feel like Key West.

The body boarding was wonderful.  Depending on the gusts, waves were 3-4 feet.  Ashley and I have “Spring Suits” (2mm wet suits).  There were two other people there surfing with 3mm wet suits.  A purchase for next year will be the full 5mm suits.  We only stayed for about an hour because the kids were having a hard time with the cold weather and wind. 
The water was warmer than the land, but getting wet hair and then having the cold wind blow across really numbed your face.  Now – 4 hours after being home, I still have a headache.  It was also pretty cold on your feet.  Getting out was the hardest part.
So that’s it – done for the year.  Put the wet suits and body boards away (and fly fishing gear) and get the skies out.  Ashley and I now have about 5 websites we use to track wind and weather at Tahoe (the wind must be blowing from the SSW for surfing).  Next year after the additional equipment we should be able to get in the water year round.  Its fun to live in a place were this is possible – I caught a wave next to one of the surfers and he yelled “You don’t get to do this every day!” Its true, but being in a place where you can do it a few times a month is awesome!

Ashley Shredding

                                               At the end of the day – Good Bye Summer!

Bonus picture – our backyard on Saturday -

Shreddin' Some Gnar

When I first knew that we were going to move to Lake Tahoe I was curious if the waves ever kicked up enough to surf.  Sure enough I found a website http://www.surf6200.com/nv/ that is dedicate do people who surf Lake Tahoe (it has not been updated in 2 years).  If you look at some of the videos you cannot tell the difference between the Lake and San Diego.  The conditions must be 20-25 mph winds with 25 mph gusts.  Most of those storms are in the fall and spring and I do not imagine getting in the freezing water during those times.  Today we had 10 mph winds with 15 mph gusts.  I did break out the body board.  It was not ocean like, but was big enough to just give you a taste of what it is like.

Living here is great, but it has made me covetous – If it is this good here, how great would it be in Hawaii or Oregon Coast (Can’t live in California because of their messed up financial situation)?
The best part about body boarding Lake Tahoe is when you take a big gulp, it actually tastes really good!