Robert Gebo of Newberry Park landed the largest rainbow taken on the opener, a 9 pound, 4 ounce beauty, using a Thomas Buoyant Lure at Gull Lake in the June Lakes Loop. C.C. Vest of Corona nailed the heftiest Lahontan cutthroat, weighing 2 pounds, 4 ounces, at June during the derby, according to John Logue of Ernie's Bait and Tackle.

A good amount of snow was on the ground at this scenic lake when Bill Shelton, owner of Shelton Products, his son, Bill Jr., Tom Mulderrig and I got on June Lake on opening day at 6:15 a.m. A large flotilla of boats was anchored up or trolling before the Sierra sun ever hit the water. Bill took his boat over to the most protected area of the lake, the southwest side by the tules. The wind was blowing so hard it made it difficult for the anchor to hold, but we got our lines in the water and began to fish Power Bait and nightcrawlers rigged up with Shelton's self releasing hooks and "Tadpole" diving devices as sinkers.

The activity was very slow, with most boaters not catching anything in the first hour. Bill Jr. hooked up a fish briefly, but it came off. "We're fishing in 60 feet of water here," said Bill. "Let's pull up the anchor and move into shallower water close to shore."

The sun spilled across the snowcapped peaks and the bite began to spark up for all of the boats just after we moved. I hooked a holdover trout about 11 inches using Power Bait, followed by a smaller one fooled with Predator Bait. Both Bill, Bill Jr. and Tom also caught rainbows up to 12 inches. Most of the anglers on the lake were bait fishing, though some were trolling.

However, the wind was making it difficult to fish, and Bill decided to go to the marina to buy a second anchor to hold the boat better. We went back to the same area where we had been hooking fish, but we didn't catch anything more.

I talked to 14-year-old Andrew Share, who had caught a limit of big rainbows, including a beautiful 3 pound, 4 ounce pounder that earned him largest "local fish" in the Monster Trout Contest, while fishing Sierra gold with his mom, Veronica. Ralph Nudo also bagged three trout, including a beautiful Lahontan cutthroat, while trolling a Rapala.

"Let's try the swimming beach at the northeast end of the lake," said Bill, as he motored his boat across the lake. "I've done well there before."

The wind was really howling and the beach was even less protected than our other spot. Fortunately, Tom Mulderrig hooked up a hefty 2-1/2 pound rainbow just minutes after he put his nightcrawler in the water. We didn't hook any more fish and Bill decided to move the boat closer to the marina off a cove near a pipe, where we were more protected.

As we watched, several anglers fishing from a dock were catching one rainbow after another. We caught a couple of more fish ourselves, but both Bill and myself needed to go to the marina for a restroom break. After returning, I started throwing out some orange Predator Bait.

The action really turned on suddenly as we found the right spot where the rainbows were holding. I landed several more scrappy rainbows, releasing them, since I already had four fish in the boat and wanted to get more practice releasing the fish with Shelton's hooks. After a lot of practice, I was pulling the sleeve on the self-releasing hook and releasing the fish at boat side with increasing prowess.

"Hey, start using this bait; the trout are hammering it on almost every cast," I said excitedly. Bill Jr. quickly grabbed the Predator Bait and began hooking up rainbows also, followed by Bill Sr. Only Mulderrig persisted with his nightcrawler.

We ended the day catching about 25 fish, keeping six and releasing the rest. It was a fun day of fishing in a high mountain lake with dramatic scenery. Other anglers we saw loading their boats upon trailers at the launch ramp reported similar success.

This lake, one of Shelton's favorites, was the location of an exhaustive study conducted during the summer and fall of 2000 by independent fishery biologist Tom Jenkins, PHD, on the effectiveness of different hooks and techniques in the post release mortality and growth of rainbow trout. The study concluded that "artificial flies and Shelton's bait hooks were equally effective in for catch-and-release fishing in a typical Eastern Sierra lake, and that Circle-C hooks, if left in when deeply imbedded, would be a good second choice."

June Lake, a natural 320 acre glacial lake, is one of four in the June Lake Loop, including Gull, Silver and June. It is the only one with a population of Lahontan cutthroat trout. The DFG plants anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 subcatchables each year, according to Curtis Milliron, DFG fishery biologist.

Though rainbows make up the bulk of the catch, I saw three cutthroats caught at June on opening day. Milliron believes the cutthroats are doing well in June because of the abundance of the Tui chub, their primary forage. The lake cutthroat record is 11 pounds, set by an angler in 1997.

Native browns make up a trophy fishery in June. John Ganz's lake record brown, a 21 pounder caught in 1975, is mounted on the wall of the June Lake Marina Store.

The June Lake Marina management has joined with the DFG in a cooperative fish rearing project raising up to 24,000 rainbow trout annually. The 1 to 2 pound fish will be added to the 87,000 trout that the DFG stocks in the lake each year. This year the project is rearing 10,000 rainbows to 2 pounds. Approximately 1,000 of the fish will be released between now and Memorial Day, said Mickie Frederickson at the June Lake Marina.

The June Lake Marina offers boat rentals, docking up to 20 foot boats, boat and motor repair, a complete tackle shop and California fishing licenses and boat launching. The village of June Lake offers gas, motels, restaurants and sporting good stores. For more information on fishing June Lake, call the June Lake Marina, (760) 648-7726; Ernie's Tackle Shop (760) 648-7756; and the June Lake Chamber of Commerce, (760) 648-7584.