Lassen Park brook trout

I try to take a vacation every year in August for my birthday. This year we went to Lassen Park. I have driven through the park but never fished it. We camped at Manzanita Lake. The campground was great, plenty of shade, water, and toilets. This was primarily a family camping trip, so I didn't bring my pontoon boat, and I didn't fish the lake.

Pyroclastic

I did get a chance to fish Hat Lake which wasn't a lake at all, but a creek. It was a beautiful creek. Crystal clear and slow with a few pieces of pocket water. It looked very fishy. I started at the highway, and quickly missed a strike on a mini hopper. I moved upstream until I could see a pod of fish. I made a cast, got a refusal from a bigger fish, and then hooked a little wild brookie.

I went back down to the first hole, and was able to land this guy.

Beautiful, this was actually the best fish of the trip.

We headed back to camp for some naps, and relaxation.

The best two handed card game ever invented.

The best two handed cocktail ever invented.

Wet shoes.

The next morning we headed for the King's Creek Falls hike. It was about a mile down to the falls, and a mile back up. It was a bit more strenuous than I expected, but if a 3,5,and 8 year old could make it I could too.

King's Creek Falls

I brought my fly rod on the hike, and fished a few fishy pools with no luck.  I talked to a fly fisherman on the way out, and he said that there are brook trout in there, but with no cover they are very skittish. He said on a good day he was likely to catch 3 or 4 trout in four hours.

We made it back to camp, and I decided to try my luck at Hat Lake again. I headed further upstream, but wasn't able to hook any in the long, slow, clear pools.

Hat Lake ducks.

I decided to nymph the deep pool below some falls on the opposite side of the highway.  I was rewarded with a few small brookies.

We had a lot of fun on this trip including some late night board games.

The view of Manzanita Lake on our last night.