Posted ByMatt on June 04, 2003 at 15:18:17:
Decided to take an overnight to the Sespe Creek Lions Camp area on Sat, May 31. The road closure has been moved from the Ojai Valley Gun Club down the road to the fork for Lions Camp and the other campground (can't remember the name). Makes for a much easier hike- it's only about 1/2 hour to Lions Camp. We hiked past Lions for about another 45 minutes to where we knew there was a large pool and beach. There is a nice heavily shaded spot to camp. The pool has since been filled in by silt, and is now pretty much just a long shallow run. Set up camp and went fishing at about 2:30. Water was lower than I had expected, and warmer. Lots af algae on the rocks. Karen got a few hits right away on a black bodied Elk Hair Caddis, I couldn't buy a bite. Tried several different flies- Adams, Grey Hackle Peacock, Black Gnat, no takers. Hit another pool upstream, this on has also been filled by silt. Tried a Hare's Ear at the head, and had a nice fish on immediately. I lost him about 10 seconds later. We decided to wait until it got cooler to try agai. Back to camp for a rest. It was hot and very buggy. Some kind of small buzzing gnat, and some big biting horselys. Left cvamp about 7:30 pm, and when we got to the main trail, I turned downstream, and Karen whispered "look behind you!" I turned, and standing in the trail about a hundred yards up the trail was a large black bear. Before I could get the camera focused, he was off into the brush. We walked up to where he left the trail to check out his footprints. They were bigger than my hand from heel to fingertip. Fished for about an hour, did not get any hits, Karen got a couple but landed no fish. Broke camp on Sunday morning, and it took about an hour to get back to the car. I'm sure fishing would be better here in the winter and spring when the water is cooler. Matt