We walked slowly past melting pockets of snow in the shade as we made our way along the short, conifer-lined trail along the shore to get a spot to fish. Virginia Lakes are arguably the most beautiful of any lakes in the Sierra Nevada.

Besides being a beautiful place, Little and Big Virginia Lakes offer excellent fishing for rainbow trout, as well as some brook and brown trout. The Virginia Lakes also serve as a base camp for hiking and pack expeditions by mule and horse into the Hoover Wilderness Area.

When we arrived at a good-looking spot on the shoreline, we saw the six members of the Bennett Family, Scott, Lily Sam, Arvo, Anni and Hannele, catching one fish after another. By 9:30 a.m., they had already caught their limits of rainbow trout on rainbow Power Bait.

However, I didn't have any bites on the Power Bait after finding myself a good spot, and switched to fishing a nightcrawler with split shot along the bottom like you would do with a plastic worm for black bass. I got bit soon as I started moving my nightcrawler across the bottom. The fish couldn't resist it! I first caught a small wild rainbow, followed by a gorgeous wild 12 inch brookie with the gorgeous green, white and orange coloration that these fish acquire in alpine lakes. I then quickly landed three more rainbows in the 11 to 12 inch class. I kept four fish, released one and lost several other trout. As I fished, anglers tossing out flies and lures from float tubes were also hooking into a lot of trout.

I would have kept catching and releasing, trout, since the action was so hot, but my cousin kept reminding me I had to go down to the Bridgeport Fish Festival events before it was too late in the day.

After fishing at Lower Twin Lake during the festival, we returned that afternoon to check out Big Virginia Lake. Big Virginia had similar scenery to Little Virginia, but the fishing was very slow here, with anglers only catching an occasional trout.

We drove back to Little Virginia. For whatever reason, bank anglers were working for every fish they landed here also. The luckiest angler was Ami Andrews, who landed her first two fish ever, one a beautiful Alpers-strain rainbow weighing over 5 pounds. She caught the big fish with Berkley Power Bait and the smaller trout with a nightcrawler.

The Department of Fish and Game stocks the lakes with catchable rainbows, while Mono County plants the lakes with big Alpers Ranch trout and Conway Ranch rainbows. The DFG plants Little Virginia with 7,000 pounds of catchable rainbows each year, while it stocks Big Virginia with 8,000 pounds of catchable rainbows. Nearby Trumble Lake is also planted with 5,000 pounds of rainbows, according to Mike Haynie, supervising biologist for DFG Region #6.

Brook trout are no longer planted in these lakes, so all of the brookies found in them are wild. "We've stopped planting brookies because they become self sustaining," said Haynie. "In fact, the eastern brook trout are too successful in some of the higher lakes and tend to stunt."

The largest rainbows caught in the lakes are Alpers rainbows, which range from 3 to 13 pounds. Carol McCullough holds the Virginia Lakes rainbow trout record with a 13 pound, 4 ounce Alpers that she landed last year. Glen Matsumota bagged a 13 pound rainbow last season, according to John Webb at the Virginia Lakes Resort.

Big browns are also caught in the lakes - the record stands at 26 pounds - but few anglers target them. Trolling Rapalas and Rebels early and late in the season is always a good bet for browns. However, Webb noted that many of the browns are taken incidentally by anglers targeting rainbow and brook trout with Power Bait, nightcrawlers and flies.

The DFG considers Virginia Lakes to be a good fishery that is popular with anglers because of its easy access from the highway. Like other high elevation lakes located in granite basins, this lake has limited fertility and forage because of the short growing season, noted Haynie.

The lake usually ices out by mid-May; this year it iced-out on May 17, but every year is different, according to Webb. The resort generally stays open until October 15. No gasoline motors are allowed on Virginia Lakes or Trumble Lake. Groceries, bait, fishing tackle and supplies are available at the Virginia Lakes Resort Store.

The Virginia Lakes serve as the gateway to many hike-in alpine lakes where you can pursue rainbow, brook and brown trout. Hike-in lakes include Red, Blue Moat, Cooney, Burro and Frog lakes.

The Virginia Lakes Pack Outfit organizes pack trips into the backcountry of Northeast Yosemite and the Bridgeport Area. Among the lakes that anglers can fish are Summit, Hoover, Gilman, Nutter, East, Green, West and Bergona, all located in the Hoover Wilderness Area.

Tom Roberts of Virginia Lakes Pack Outlet recommends using light gear suitable for both the hike-in lakes and Virginia: six pound test line with 1 to 3 pound leader material. Good flies include black gnats, mosquitoes, gray and brown hackle and ginger quill on 12 to 14 hooks. Lures should include 1/15 or 1/8 ounce Panther Martins, Roostertails and Kastmasters.

Health Note: Since Virginia Lakes and the surrounding hike-in lakes are high elevation waters, use caution in acclimating to these lakes. People with heart and lung conditions must be particularly careful because of the extra effort needed to breathe and exert oneself.

For fishing information, contact the Virginia Lakes Resort, (760) 647-6484. For camping information, contact the US Forest Service, Lee Vining Ranger Stations, (760) 647-3044, or Bridgeport Ranger Station, (760) 932-7070. For guided pack trips, contact Virginia Lakes Pack Outfit (760) 937-0326 (summer) and (775) 867-2591 (winter), www.virginialakes.com.

Directions: From Bridgeport, drive south of Highway 395 to Virginia Lakes Road. Drive west 6.5 miles until you get to the parking lot at Little Virginia Lake.