Western Sport Shop Fly Fishing Guru Carlo Bongio strapped on the backpack and headed out to the High Sierras recently - enjoy his photos and comments below - and if you have any questions, call him or see him up at our Santa Rosa location - 707-542-4432.

Carlo -

"These photos are of my son Anton and me fishing the Golden Trout Wilderness Area out of Lone Pine, CA. We alsofished Hot Creek (near Mammoth Lakes), Mammoth Creek and Red Lake Creek. We caught Golden Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow and Brook Trout. Plus, we had the bonus of finding Porcini mushrooms in the High Sierra. Enjoy!"

At left is one of the wild Golden Trout caught and released during their trip - the Golden Trout is the state fish of California.

The colors of the Golden Trout are unparalleled among freshwater fish.

Anton shows off a nice Golden caught in the Golden Trout Wilderness /Inyo National Forest.

Of course, leave it to Carlo to find something like this...

While hiking and fishing for Goldens, the twosome found some reasonably impressive Porcini Mushrooms*. For Carlo, a mushroom hunter from way back, this rivaled the fishing! They were certainly larger than some of the high sierra trout!

*And, just so we've said it, there are inherent dangers in eating mushrooms in the wild, including death. Carlo knows what he is doing. If you have any questions, DON'T DO IT without the help of an expert.