Getting There

The trailhead for this journey is located outside of Bishop, California. The town of Bishop offers many dining and lodging opportunities so staying at a hotel one night before you begin might be a good idea. Pick up your wilderness permits at the White Mountain Ranger Station on the corner of North Main and East Yaney Street. Take route 168 that heads west and out of town to find the Lake Sabrina trailhead. Parking is located about 1/2 mile from the trailhead so expect to park on the side of the road and hike some asphalt for a while.

The Hike

The hike to Sailor Lake starts at the Lake Sabrina Trailhead and winds its way past Blue Lake, the Emerald Lakes, Dingleberry Lake, Topsy Turvey Lake and finally reaches our destination, Drunken Sailor Lake, now known simply as "Sailor Lake". Decidedly, the hike to Blue Lake at the beginning is the most strenuous leg of this journey with many switchbacks foretelling the arrival to Blue Lake. I recommend staying at Blue Lake on your first night to acclimate to the altitude and get some rest before continuing on to the other lakes. Because nearby Moonlight Lake is encompassed on all sides by large boulders and Hungry Packer Lake only has a few suitable campsites, Sailor Lake is the best spot to pitch your tent in this area. Aesthetically, Sailor Lake will be the better choice for setting up a camp site that will give you access to not only Moonlight Lake, but also Hungry Packer Lake, and ultimately Echo Lake. I would surmise at this point that those who are familiar with this watershed know this as well, so try and get there early on a weekday to get a good spot.

The Fishing

The fishing is excellent for small Brook Trout and a few Kamloops Rainbows mixed in. You can back-cast from any inch of shore making fly fishing the preferred method here. I had a blast fishing the inlet stream coming from Hungry Packer into Sailor Lake and then working my way around the southern shore to fish the inlet stream coming from Moonlight Lake. The outlet area is fun to fish as well.

I had luck using brightly colored grasshopper patterns during the day and switched to Mayfly imitations in the evening. Keep your eye on the fly as the slurping of dry flies by an 8 inch fish can be very subtle. I do not recommend using bait here and a spinner with a treble hook is a bit of overkill on fish under 10 inches. I would be very surprised to see a 12 inch fish come out of this fishery. Albeit, if you're not looking for huge fish but rather an amazing camp area and tiny trout, this is a good spot. If you are looking for larger fish, try neighboring Hungry Packer Lake which is rumored to have some husky Rainbows lurking even though I seem to only find small Brookies when I fish there.